Avoid Cultural Clash: 6 Tips Every ESL Teachers Should Know

If we have a chance to teach in the classroom which is full of international students, how should we avoid speaking something bad to our students.
Here are 6 tips to avoid the cultural clash and sum up from this link http://busyteacher.org/23104-avoid-cultural-clash-6-tips-esl-teachers.html

1. Many Idioms Come from Culture
When you teach idioms to your students, pay attention to any references to culture. You probably don’t even think about it, but there might just be information your students will need to understand the idiom(s) you are teaching. Take a look at the words themselves as well as the implied setting of the idioms. Not every idiom will be culturally based, but some are, so it’s worth taking a closer look at them before presenting them to your class.

2. Tread Carefully Among Taboo Subjects
Every culture has subjects that aren’t acceptable to talk about in mixed groups.

3. Make Comparisons When Possible
Rather than going into exhaustive detail about a cultural point your students do not understand, try to compare it to something they do understand.

4. Keep Your Explanations As Simple As You Can
When talking about cultural topics, use language that is at the appropriate level for your students. Don’t use complex grammar structures or unfamiliar vocabulary when simple will do just fine.

5.Welcome and Encourage Students to Ask Questions
Sometimes we don’t realize that something we say or do is related to our culture. Sometimes we don’t realize something our students are doing is cultural. For example, most of Asia students call "teacher" instead of addressing name to respect the person who teach them.

6. Don’t Take It Personally
Culture is such a deep part of who we as people are, and we often don’t even realize that a certain belief or value is based in our culture. if you teach ESL for any length of time, you are sure to be offended or at least feel uncomfortable with something your students are doing or saying. Just let it go when that happens.We need to pause and think then choose to respond rather than allowing our instincts to react. Just a few seconds can be all you need to diffuse a situation rather than making it worse.



Benjamad 023 3EN