Five Tips for Teaching Cultural Analysis

So, you’ve found a great target culture video. How do you use it to help students make cultural connections?

I walked into my new French classroom and gasped in amazement. A huge pile of colorful posters covered my new desk. The back wall was lined with a row of six filing cabinets, and every drawer was crammed full of beautiful teaching resources. When my predecessor retired, she generously left me her lifetime collection of French-themed photos, bulletin boards, books, flags, and trinkets. The classroom was exploding with realia galore!

There was only one problem. I didn’t know what to do with it.

Of course, I hung posters and set out cheerful displays of children’s books and models of Paris monuments. My classroom was Pinterest-worthy (before that was a thing).

“The success and depth of subsequent target culture analysis is greatly facilitated by a deep and thoughtful look at students’ first culture. ”

But, deep down I knew that was just window dressing. I wanted my students to dig into francophone culture – and especially into cultures beyond Europe. Hanging some posters wasn’t going to do it.

Today, it’s a lot easier to find authentic resources that it was 20 years ago when I started teaching. A quick web search can yield almost any target language resource imaginable. Finding authentic resources is easier than ever, but the same troubling question remains:

I have a great website, video or image. So what do I do with it?

The answer is simple: Let the resource speak for itself! I’ve found five principles that help me teach cultural analysis at any level and on almost any topic.

Let the Resource Speak for Itself: Five Principles for Teaching Cultural Analysis

1) Help students articulate their own cultural products and practices

It’s valuable to discuss our own cultural practices in depth, because we (all humans) are blind to our own culture. Therefore, the first step to analyzing culture is to identify practices we do intuitively.

For example: Describe what you do when grocery shopping.

• What do you see & do when you first enter the store?

• How are products organized? How do you find what you’re looking for?

• How do you know the prices on the items?

• Who do you talk to in the store?

• How do you decide what to purchase?

• When it’s time to pay, how does that work?

• How do you get your groceries home?

• How often do you grocery shop?

Click to purchase a lesson on Grocery Shopping in my culture and in Cameroon

Click for a FREE introduction to Spain culture activity

Really work with students to articulate details of their culture. Students may need help recognizing practices they take for granted, such as (for American grocery shopping): availability of a parking lot in front of the store, the store providing free shopping carts and plastic take home bags, one-stop shopping, self-service scales in the produce section, etc. Imagine you were describing shopping to someone from another country who had never seen it before, and describe the process in great detail.

Sometimes students resist this close analysis, feeling it is too simplistic or obvious. However, I’ve found the success and depth of subsequent target culture analysis is greatly facilitated by a deep and thoughtful look at students’ first culture.

2) Neutrally observe the target cultural products and practices

Now it’s time to look at the target language resource. It’s best to use a resource designed for and by members of the target culture. I don’t want to know what Americans think of Cameroonians, I want to know what Cameroonians say about themselves!

“Hanging some posters isn’t enough. Teachers must find quality cultural resources, and then let those resources speak for themselves.”

As students observe, have them identify the same factors in the target culture that they identified in their own. For the grocery shopping example, how do customers enter the store or market? What products are available, and how do they find the price? Who do they interact with? How do they pay? With their own cultural practices at the front of mind, students are prepared to thoughtfully observe the target culture.

It’s important to work with students to be emotionally neutral during this observation. We are not judging whether the target culture is good or bad, better or worse than our own. The culture might be different – and different is not necessarily wrong! We are simply observing, without judgement or agenda.

3) Compare Products and Practices of students’ first culture(s) and the target culture.

This step happens pretty naturally; students will begin to point out comparisons quickly following the close observations of steps one and two. A Venn diagram can be a helpful tool in recording the cultural comparison.

As a teacher, I try to help students recognize that no matter how different they may be, there are ALWAYS some similarities in cultural practices. The local super Wal Mart and the Cameroonian market may appear very different, but the most basic elements of exchanging money for food are the same. My school and the target language school may have different resources, curriculum, and structure, but the foundational goal of educating children is nearly universal.

Click above for a FREE editable observation form to use with any cultural video

Click for a FREE intro to analysis of African Culture

4) Hypothesize: what might these similarities and differences reveal about cultural perspectives?

This is the trickiest step, especially when we are analyzing a culture we don’t personally know well. It helps to have students identify their own cultural perspectives as they hypothesize about the target culture. I also encourage students to use phrases like:

• it seems...

• maybe...

• - tend to…

In the shopping example, Americans tend to value a quick, efficient shopping experience. Are there exceptions? Of course. Does every American always want shopping to be speedy? No. There are individual and situational variations. But, this is a tendency of American culture and grocery stores tend to be organized accordingly.

In looking at the target culture resources, it seems that French people value high quality food, while the Cameroonian shoppers seem to enjoy a warm interpersonal exchange between shopper and vendor. The products and practices we observe help us hypothesize about target culture perspectives. The goal of this step is helping students begin looking for these connections.

5) Be Humble. Be Curious.

Students (and teachers) must be ever open to revising our conclusions. We might be wrong!

Humility and curiosity are critical factors in cultural analysis. Even within our own culture, we experience interpersonal conflict due to miscommunication and competing priorities. How much more so when working cross-culturally? Teach students to observe neutrally, to ask questions, and use equivocal language (such as “Americans tend to…. Cameroonians seem to… I notice…. I wonder...”). Model these behaviors and this language. Through careful observation and thoughtful analysis, your students can become insightful cultural observers from the earliest levels of language study!

Learn more! My African Culture lessons help students develop skill in cultural analysis with a fun, hands-on apporach to la francophonie! Go beyond facts and statistics to help students make thoughtful cultural comparisons and experience positive aspects of African culture!

Find them on my TPT store.

How have you sparked cultural curiosity with your students? Share in the comments!