Deep Culture

“Man is the measure of all things”

I used to believe that the work of a TESOL teacher was to teach English and that was all. However, I realized we deal with cultural issues more than any other type of teacher. Languages are part of what makes a man therefore language its part of culture.

The benefits of teaching our students that there are many different ways to interpret the world are many. There is probe that a positive correlation between highly creative individuals and exposure to cultural diversity exist, it makes perfect sense because when a person is exposed to different points of view then there is a higher chance to question everything.

This sound like something we all wish for our students, however, when we hear (at least me) culture we think about celebrations, dances, music and food. This is essential, that is right but if we want our students to develop creativity we need to teach deep culture.

Deep culture goes beyond mariachis and the day of the dead, it is also about manners, expressivity, ought-selves, paradigms. Our students need to know that there is more than one way to think.

It can certainly be a challenge to discuss deep culture with younger students because of their maturity, their own culture paradigms etc. However, we can include culture with simple activities that hopefully enhance their view the world.

For example, we can explain how some gestures have different meanings all over the world and then play “A day in…” you can pretend that that day you will be at a classroom in Japan instead of Mexico and the whole class has to use the correct manners according to the Japanese culture.