Your classroom is full of cultural landmines you don’t even know about yet.
Students from cultures with little concept of personal space are getting too close to female Saudi students who can’t be touched by men outside their family. Korean students are asking direct questions about age while the Americans in their communities recoil in horror. Someone is always making a gesture that’s friendly in their culture but deeply offensive in someone else’s.
Welcome to teaching adult ESL.
Cultural differences aren’t just “interesting” or “enriching” (though they are). They’re essential to understand if you want to avoid classroom disasters and create an environment where all your students feel safe, respected, and willing to participate.
Why Culture Can’t Wait Until They “Know Enough English”
Understanding cultural differences creates an inclusive environment. When students feel valued and understood, they engage. When they feel confused or uncomfortable because nobody explained the unspoken rules, they shut down.
If you’re new to a student’s culture, Google is your friend. Find out everything you can. What are the norms around personal space? Eye contact? Gender interactions? Asking personal questions? Showing emotion? These things run the gamut, and what’s polite in one culture is rude in another.
Learning about different cultures enhances learning for everyone. Your students are curious about each other. They want to know why their classmate does things differently. When you make cultural differences part of your lessons, you give them unspoken permission to ask questions and learn from each other. (It’s easier to ask a question that might be viewed as offensive when both parties know you have a genuine reason for asking.
Understanding different cultures and customs helps students develop empathy and appreciation for others. It also gives them context for the cultural norms they’re coming across in their new environment.
Discussing cultural experiences improves language proficiency. When students share their own cultural experiences and perspectives, they practice language skills in an authentic, meaningful way. Instead of just parroting textbook dialogues, they’re talking about things that matter to them.
4 Ways to Teach About Cultural Differences
Your students are already encountering cultural differences every time they step outside the classroom, so addressing culture directly will make your lessons more relevant and engaging. Try these four techniques to get started.
1. Use Discussion Questions
Start conversations about cultural differences through open-ended questions.
“What is a typical holiday celebration in your culture?”
“What are some important values or customs in your culture?”
“How do people in your culture show respect to elders?”
“What’s considered polite or rude when eating in your culture?”
“How do people typically greet each other in your culture?”
Push students to share their thoughts and experiences. These discussions often lead to fascinating revelations and “wait, THAT’S why you do that?” moments.
2. Encourage Cultural Exchange
Give students structured opportunities to share their cultural traditions and customs.
Cultural fairs or presentations: Students create displays or presentations showcasing their cultural heritage (traditions, customs, artifacts). This works especially well if you give them time to prepare and make it low stakes (not graded heavily on presentation skills they’re still developing).
“Guess the culture” game: Students bring in cultural artifacts or photographs. The class guesses which culture they represent. Follow up with discussion about the characteristics and traditions of that culture.
This can backfire if students feel put on the spot or if their culture gets reduced to stereotypes, so facilitate carefully. Make sure the conversation stays respectful and curious, not judgmental.
Cultural cooking demonstrations: Students bring in traditional dishes and demonstrate how to prepare them. Follow with a tasting session where students sample each other’s dishes and learn about the cultural significance of the food.
Fair warning: this requires managing food allergies, dietary restrictions, and access to cooking facilities. But when it works, students love it.
3. Weave Cultural Themes into Lesson Plans
Don’t just tack culture onto existing lessons as an afterthought. Build lessons around cultural themes.
Identify cultural themes that align with your lesson objectives. Teaching about food and cooking? Incorporate food traditions, customs, and cuisine from your students’ cultures. Teaching about celebrations? Explore different holiday traditions. Teaching about family? Discuss family structures and expectations across cultures.
Use authentic materials. Articles, videos, photos, and resources that provide real insight into cultures and traditions are all great, but don’t use the sanitized, touristy versions. You want to show the actual customs and perspectives of people from those cultures.
Start discussions and activities from the cultural theme. Encourage students to share their own experiences and perspectives. This brings about cultural exchange and understanding in a safe and interesting way.
Include language-specific activities focused on the theme. Think vocabulary development, grammar practice, and communication skills related to the cultural theme. The language practice becomes more meaningful because it’s tied to something students care about.
4. Use Role-Plays to Explore Cultural Differences
Role-plays let students experience cultural differences in a safe, low-stakes environment.
Cultural role reversal: Students role-play a conversation between two people from different cultures, but with roles reversed. A student from a collectivist culture plays an individualist and vice versa. This helps students understand and appreciate different cultural perspectives.
For example, have students role-play a conversation about living arrangements. The collectivist-playing-individualist might say “I want my own apartment so that I have independence.” The individualist-playing-collectivist might say “I need to live near my parents so I can help care for them.”
This gets awkward and enlightening in the best way.
Cultural misunderstandings: Students role-play a conversation where two people from different cultures experience a misunderstanding due to cultural differences. Follow up with discussion on how to resolve such misunderstandings and the importance of cultural sensitivity.
Example scenarios:
- someone from a direct communication culture speaking to someone from an indirect communication culture
- different concepts of punctuality causing conflict
- misunderstanding around appropriate gift-giving
- confusion about appropriate dress for an occasion
- conflicting ideas about appropriate volume/tone in conversation
After the role-play, debrief. What caused the misunderstanding? How did each person feel? (not the students themselves, their characters) How could they resolve it while respecting both cultural perspectives?
Things that Will Go Wrong…and how to handle them
Students will make generalizations or stereotypes. They’ll say “In MY culture, we ALL do X” when really, it’s just what their family does or what’s common in their region. Gently push back. “That’s interesting. Does EVERYONE in your country do that, or is it more common in certain regions or families?”
Students will judge each other’s cultures. Someone will say something is “weird” or “wrong” instead of just “different.” Shut this down immediately but kindly. “We’re not here to judge which cultural practice is better. We’re here to understand different perspectives.”
You’ll accidentally step in something offensive. You’ll use an example that’s culturally insensitive. You’ll group students in a way that creates discomfort. You’ll bring up a topic that’s taboo in someone’s culture. Apologize, learn from it, and move on. Your students know you’re not trying to offend them.
Some students won’t want to share. Not everyone wants to be the spokesperson for their entire culture. Don’t force it. Offer options to participate without being in the spotlight.
Cultural differences will cause actual conflict in your classroom. Students from cultures with different gender norms, personal space expectations, or communication styles will clash. Address it directly but with sensitivity. Set clear classroom expectations while acknowledging that these expectations might differ from what students are used to.
The Bottom Line
Exploring cultural differences in adult ESL classrooms isn’t just a nice add-on activity when you have extra time. It’s essential for creating a respectful learning environment.
Use discussion questions. Create opportunities for cultural exchange. Build cultural themes into your lessons. Use role-plays to let students safely explore differences.
And when things go sideways (because they will), handle it with as much grace as possible and use it as a learning opportunity.
Your students bring rich cultural backgrounds into your classroom. Don’t ignore or erase them. Use them to create better learning experiences for everyone.
That’s it from me. See you in the next post!
Want something about cultural differences that is ready-made so you can use with your students today?
These are available in my TpT store:
role plays . . . | | | . . . discussion topic cards
