On Some Teaching Methods in Cultivating Students’ Cross—cultural Awareness

张莉

【Abstract】With the constant appearance of cultural shocks in the cross-cultural communication， a large number of English educators are thinking about how to cultivate students cross-cultural awareness in daily English teaching. This paper aims to list some effective English teaching methods， hoping to work with all the English teachers to make students become “communicative winners”

【Key words】Cross-cultural awareness； English Teaching Methods

To achieve the purpose of cultivating students cross-cultural awareness， it is necessary for teachers to adopt various teaching methods in class and out of class. Here， some practical and effective methods are listed as follows：

I. Comparative teaching method

Since there are great differences between Chinese culture and western culture， it is difficult for learners to discover and master these cultural characteristics. It is teachers task to help them clarify the similarities and differences between cultures， including vocabulary， customs， education， body language and so on. Take the teaching of words for example， in China， “red” symbolizes happiness and represents “luck” and “blessing”. However， in western culture， it is an unlucky one meaning “blood” and “war”. As teachers， it is helpful to make a comparison of different cultural information.

II. Communicative teaching method

We can not intend that the communicative method is the most useful tool in language teaching， but we do think language learning and teaching should be as close as possible to language use in real life.

1. Role play

It refers to students stimulating intercultural communication situations in daily life such as greetings， telephone talk， shopping， seeing the doctor and so on. Students can benefit a lot from this activity because it not only helps students to understand cultural differences but also provides opportunities for oral communication. For example， in NEW SENIOR ENGLISH FOR CHINA STUDENTS BOOK 4， Unit 4 is aimed at introducing the cultural differences in body language. Teachers can encourage students to perform different ways of greetings in different countries to make a role play. In this way， students interest in intercultural communication will easily be aroused.

2. English corner

English corner is a good form for students to practice speaking and listening， where they can not only learn how to use appropriate expressions to express ideas in this mind but also consolidate what they have learned. We teachers should encourage students to join in such an activity and try our best to provide valuable resources， such as meaningful topics， timely guidance as well as a relaxing environment， etc. Actually， in English textbooks， there are many popular topics about different cultural background knowledge， which can be made full use of.

3. Discussion or debate

Teachers can choose some topics about cultural disagreements or shocks to encourage students to discuss or debate. For example， which would you prefer， American educational system or Chinese educational system？ Does western food equals to junk food？ After discussion or debate， teachers need to teach students the importance of critical thinking and know how to summarize the main point in discussion or debate. Meanwhile， it is important to give encouragement and clear feedback to students in order to help students correct or improve themselves.

III. Audio-visual teaching method

The audio-visual teaching method means guiding students to experience the cultural content of English-speaking countries by the use of various audio-visual aids， such as pictures， tapes， videos， computers， and so on. Just as an English proverb says， “A picture is worth a thousand words.” In a non-English-speaking country， this method is particularly effective. Luckily， the high-technology of IT industry has made it possible for students to watch the latest movies， videos and plats in original version of the target culture at home. In this way， Students can learn about the polite behavior， etiquette， ways to solve conflicts， techniques of negotiation， debates， ways of showing love， dating， body language， as well as morality， religion and values， etc.

In this paper， the author put forward some teaching methods from the perspective of English teachers. As English teachers， we must set strict demands on ourselves and take actions in no time.

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