1. German students trying to be cool
2. Japanese students giggling at everything you say, until it just isn’t flattering anymore, however cute they are
3. Chinese students falling asleep, then making you feel guilty when you do the topic of daily routines in the lesson after you told them off about it and you find out how little sleep they get at night
4. Korean students giving you gifts that are nicer than anything your boyfriend or girlfriend has ever given you and so making you feel guilty that you half ignored them because they were neither too loud nor too shy
5. Belgian students being odd in a completely different way to all the other Belgians let alone the other students and throwing you every time
6. Russian students making instant calculations of your financial worth
7. Spanish students complaining about the food (Ha! And a slice of jambon in a dry baguette is a delicacy??)
8. Brazilian students taking the piss out of the one poor Portuguese guy
9. French students just being so damn French
And that’s me out of stereotypes for a bit, and anyway that list of cultural cliches was not at all what I was planning to write when I sat down at this keyboard. So here goes with the first three sensible points on how cultural differences can affect what you do in the classroom :
1. Strictness
People from different cultures might react differently to giving students the answer key to check their own answers, bumping everyone’s score up in a test, being strict about absenses and lateness of the class register, allowing L1, chit chat when groups have finished early etc.
2. Groups and individuality
Students might be embarrassed by it being obvious that they are a higher or lower level than the rest of the class. You might also find that they will prefer to come to a concensus and report back to the class or teacher through a spokesman. This can also affect the use of competitive games and praising people who do well. They also might not want to reveal personal information that makes them stand out from the crowd.
3. Personal hygiene
There might be differences of sensitivity to body odour and the smell of food on the breath, wearing masks when you have a cold, or blowing your nose in public.
And the other 30 points, which are not only serious but also made the cut and made it into the actual articles, can be found in the TEFL.net article pages here:
15 important cultural differences in the EFL classroom
15 more important cultural differences in the EFL classroom
and the same things specific to Japanese students:
15 cultural differences in the Japanese classroom
And while we’re getting a bit of culture:
15 criteria for a good EFL cultural training lesson
15 more criteria for a good EFL cultural training lesson
and last but not least
The 15 most fun cultural training topics
With many of those ideas being available as worksheets on the new TEFLtastic worksheets culture page:
Cultural training worksheets for EFL classes
That enough culture fer yer?