{"id":47514,"date":"2018-05-16T19:37:44","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T23:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/?p=47514"},"modified":"2025-02-23T05:41:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T10:41:53","slug":"esl-culture-shock-activities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/educator-english\/esl-culture-shock-activities\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Culture Shock Activities for the ESL Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Before I moved to Argentina, I learned a little about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.internations.org\/guide\/global\/what-is-culture-shock-15332\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">culture shock<\/a> in my language classes. However, no one taught me about the most important differences, such as body language (greeting with a kiss) and time differences (an afternoon snack and dinner at nine in the evening).<\/p>\n<p>Your ESL students can learn about cultural differences <em>before<\/em> they show up in an English-speaking country. Here are a few ideas for introducing pupils to a new culture without taking them out of the classroom.<\/p>\n<p>[fluentu-toc]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<h2>1. Greetings<\/h2>\n<p>The most important part of communication is the first impression.\u00a0Usually, that starts with a &#8220;Hello!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But greetings aren&#8217;t just about words\u2014they&#8217;re also about <strong>body language and tone.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In some cultures, a kiss is best. In others, a hug or handshake is preferred. In others, just verbally saying &#8220;Hi&#8221; without any physical contact is safest.<\/p>\n<p>Remember that <strong>how to greet depends not only on culture but also on context.<\/strong> Are you friends with the person? Did you just meet? Are they a coworker? A manager? These are all important social cues, too.<\/p>\n<p>Start your students out with another theoretical whiteboard write-up:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teach:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Phrases people typically use to verbally greet one another.<\/strong> This can include: &#8220;Hello,&#8221; &#8220;Hi,&#8221; &#8220;Hey, how&#8217;s it going?&#8221; and &#8220;How are you?&#8221; among others. This is also an opportunity to introduce formal vs. casual ways of saying hello. Go over which verbal greetings are best for a friend, an acquaintance, a boss, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>How English speakers physically greet each other.<\/strong> This is dependent on the culture, but in general, we can say that a handshake or wave is for people we&#8217;ve just met and a hug is for a friend.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some of your students may find that their customs are pretty similar to the English-speaking country, while others may find they have a lot in common with another student&#8217;s culture. All of this just adds to the richness of the conversation and the cultural exchange.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pair work: <\/strong>Have pupils practice the different greetings with each other in pairs both verbally and through body language.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/educator-english\/esl-role-play\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Role-playing:<\/a><\/strong> Break students into groups and give them a setting. It can be a formal gathering, business, party, on the street, etc. Students will practice greeting one another in context.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>2. Routines<\/h2>\n<p>One thing you may notice when becoming immersed in another culture is timing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A very common issue of Argentine expats, for example, is: &#8220;I have to wait until 9 p.m. or later for dinner!?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This doesn&#8217;t seem civilized until you realize there&#8217;s an afternoon snack around 6 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>These types of things are <strong>nice to bring up to ESL learners who aren&#8217;t on the same timetable as the English-speaking culture<\/strong> you&#8217;re introducing. For some students, dinner starting between five and seven is surely too early!<\/p>\n<p>Eating isn&#8217;t the only difference in timing among cultures, of course. Remember that for your first whiteboard step.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teach:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Timing of common activities. When are meals, when does school\/work start and end, how late do parties go, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Contrast with a list of bullet points for their culture(s).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Write a quiz-like practice to test the students&#8217; memory of the information.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They&#8217;ll answer questions such as: <em>It&#8217;s 6 p.m. in the U.S. What might a North American person be doing?<\/em><\/li>\n<li>And multiple choice: <em>At 11 am, a North American is probably A. B. C., etc<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>3. Food<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We typically enjoy the food we&#8217;re most used to. Sometimes, foreign cuisine can seem &#8220;weird&#8221; or &#8220;gross.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, there are <strong>some great new surprises<\/strong> waiting in almost every non-native environment.<\/p>\n<p>For example, while at first I was resentful of the lack of spice in Argentine food, I now actively crave Buenos Aires pizza.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teach:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Typical breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner foods (and what time they&#8217;re eaten, if you didn&#8217;t already cover that).<\/li>\n<li>Contrast with the students&#8217; native culture(s) using a bullet point list.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 12px\"><strong>Worksheet:<\/strong> Hand out a menu with common foods from the English culture you&#8217;re exploring. Students practice by ordering food off the menu.<\/li>\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 12px\"><strong>Role play:<\/strong> Choose a common cultural food to make, and get students to narrate a step-by-step recipe. The cooking activity will also help students review or incorporate simple commands. For example: &#8220;Mix salt and sugar into the dough,&#8221; &#8220;Add chocolate chips.&#8221; (A shout-out to one of my favorite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allrecipes.com\/recipe\/10813\/best-chocolate-chip-cookies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">North American desserts<\/a>!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>4. Socializing<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s not just greetings or timing that can cause a bit of disorientation for language learners.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Parties, social gatherings, chatting with neighbors and hanging out with coworkers<\/strong> are situations that often bring up a whole new set of questions:\u00a0&#8220;I just met them. Do I shake hands? Do I ask them what their job is? Do I wait for them to talk to me?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Humans tend to have a Venn diagram of talking and eating or drinking when socializing, but even these situations can have many subtle differences.<\/p>\n<p>Start students out by talking about their experiences with get-togethers, work dynamics, parties and various other social contexts they have been in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teach:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Share a couple of points about customs and typical kinds of interactions. You can reinforce points made about time differences and greetings in this section.<\/li>\n<li>With student input, you can again make a list of differences\/similarities between cultures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is a perfect opportunity to <strong>get theatrical and bring out your learners&#8217; inner writer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To review cultural differences, <strong>have students write a dialogue<\/strong> between a person from the English-speaking culture and a person from their own culture. It should be about differences in social situations.<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>North American:<\/em> Wow, I went out clubbing last night and stayed up so late.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>Argentine:<\/em> Yeah, me too. I love weekends. How late did you stay out?<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>North American:<\/em> Like three in the morning. The clubs close here at 2 a.m., though.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><em>Argentine:<\/em> That&#8217;s not late! I was out \u2018til 5. And then we were going to go to an after-party with Fer, but we decided we wanted to have breakfast at McDonald&#8217;s instead.<\/p>\n<p>This, of course, is just an example. Students can write about whichever social activity they like. They might discover that they have more shared experiences than differences across cultures, too!<\/p>\n<p>If they&#8217;re comfortable performing the dialogues, encourage them to do so. If not, no pressure. It can be a homework assignment.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally or alternatively, you can <strong>construct a typical social environment in the classroom.<\/strong> This could be a relaxed get-together, a house party with music or whatever your ESL learners like best.<\/p>\n<p>This social situation immersion can even be paired with the food cooking activity if you want to bring in real elements of an experience (the cooking\/baking itself, of course, would have to be done elsewhere).<\/p>\n<p>Whatever you choose, the idea is to get students to enjoy the social scene and customs of a new culture. That will help to encourage their curiosity, and consequently, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com\/blog\/emotions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their vocabulary expansion and language production<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>5. Transportation<\/h2>\n<p>Every city has its way of getting from point A to point B, and this can vary wildly from place to place.<\/p>\n<p>In some cities, there&#8217;s a subway transportation system and many buses (Buenos Aires). In others, there are buses and a light rail (Seattle).<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, <strong>each public transportation system has its own procedures and etiquette.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s likely that whatever English-speaking city your students are studying will have <strong>different methods of transportation and procedures<\/strong> than they&#8217;re used to.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teach:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Talk about prices and the procedure of taking a bus or subway around a specific English-speaking city (since the protocol varies from city to city, not country to country).<\/li>\n<li>Ask students to contrast this with their own home city (or cities), and write the differences on the whiteboard.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Role-play<\/strong> typical transportation situations.\u00a0For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Not having enough credit on your card<\/li>\n<li>Buying a subway or bus card<\/li>\n<li>Recharging your card<\/li>\n<li>Telling a bus driver where you need to go<\/li>\n<li>Asking a bus driver or other passengers where the bus goes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If your pupils are based in an English-speaking country and actually have their own transportation cards, they can use these for the role play. If not, part of the activity could be <strong>making transportation cards<\/strong> for the bus or subway out of paper or other materials you have on hand.<\/p>\n<h2>6. Shopping<\/h2>\n<p>Going shopping is something I always think of as being pretty similar in all cultures:\u00a0&#8220;How much is it?&#8221; &#8220;Oh, okay. I&#8217;ll buy it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>How my selective memory betrays me sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>For example, I&#8217;m back in the United States after living in Argentina and I constantly forget about <strong>the details:<\/strong> most items include tax, I have to tip more at restaurants, there&#8217;s a totally different system for paying with cards, I can actually get cash back when paying with a card and a host of other similar tiny details.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from technicalities, some cultures have more of a <strong>negotiation policy<\/strong> while others are inflexible about pricing.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S., for instance, is not known to have a strong haggling culture. Unless you&#8217;re at a garage sale (this will be another foreign concept for some learners!), you probably won&#8217;t be negotiating about the price of most items.<\/p>\n<p>In other cultures, however, the game of negotiating price is present almost everywhere.<\/p>\n<p>Contrasts like this, in addition to <strong>if and how much you should tip,<\/strong> are extremely important to teach because they&#8217;ll actively help students avoid conflict. They won&#8217;t feel the resentment of someone thinking they&#8217;re acting inappropriately or paying too much or too little while tipping.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Teach:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Buying is a broad topic. Choose a maximum of <strong>five common vending\/purchasing situations.<\/strong> For example: Buying clothes, going to a restaurant, taking a taxi, going to a garage sale, going grocery shopping. Use the scenarios you think will be most helpful to students.<\/li>\n<li>Ask them about the <strong>common protocol and etiquette in their culture(s)<\/strong> in each situation.<\/li>\n<li>Then, write <strong>the English-speaking buying procedures<\/strong> on the other side of the whiteboard. You can use videos to show this in action, like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HSlbU_ZW6fk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shopping video from ESL Teaching Videos<\/a>, which could help you out if you&#8217;re talking about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/educator-english\/esl-british-culture\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">British culture<\/a>. The language learning program <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/schools\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FluentU<\/a> also has a variety of videos that include the situations above.<p><strong>FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n<p><\/p> \r\n<p>You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/fluentu-learn-language-videos\/id917892175\">the iOS app<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.fluentflix.fluentu&amp;hl=en&amp;gl=US\">Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><i><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\r\n  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/4\/SimpleText.jpg\" alt=\"FluentU Ad\" \/>\r\n  <p style=\"text-align: center\">\r\n    <button class=\"btn-blue\" style=\"border: none;font-size: 18px;text-align: center;padding: 0.75rem 1.5rem;cursor: pointer\">\r\n      Try FluentU for FREE!\r\n    <\/button>\r\n  <\/p>\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Once you&#8217;re confident that your ESL learners have absorbed the information, you could:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Do a worksheet activity<\/strong> checking their comprehension of taxes, tips, average prices and etiquette in the situations you studied.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/educator-english\/esl-shopping-role-play\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shopping role-play<\/a><\/strong> by splitting students into five groups and assigning each group a previously-reviewed buying scenario to act out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Review<\/h2>\n<p>After all that intense immersion, it&#8217;s time for a review.<\/p>\n<p><strong>An end-of-the-quarter (or end-of-the-unit) party<\/strong>\u00a0is always a hit.<\/p>\n<p>Split the classroom into seven groups. Each should have two assignments: make a dish (or bring a drink) and act out one of the seven culture shock activities (greetings, timing, food, social circumstances, transportation, buying).<\/p>\n<p>For their actions, <strong>give ESL learners total creative freedom<\/strong> and see what they come up with. It could be a structured and performed play, there could be audience participation or it could be a modern dance. Trust your pupils to invent something fun and engaging.<\/p>\n<p>The party can start with some light chatting and heavy snacking (all in English, of course).\u00a0After this, students will present their artistic representations of an aspect of the English-speaking culture.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on how much time you have and your students&#8217; personalities, you can add in more activities, like <strong>party games<\/strong> such as charades, or <strong>a dance party<\/strong> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/educator-english\/songs-for-teaching-english\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">typical music<\/a> from the English culture.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<h2>And One More Thing\u2026<\/h2>\r\n<p>\r\nIf you\u2019re like me and prefer learning English on your own time, from the comfort of your smart device, I\u2019ve got something you\u2019ll love.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWith <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FluentU<\/a>\u2019s Chrome Extension, you can turn any YouTube or Netflix video with subtitles into an interactive language lesson. That means you can <strong>learn from real-world content<\/strong>, just as native English speakers actually speak. \r\n<\/p>\r\n<p><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/FluentU-English-music-video-on-youtube-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"learn-English-with-FluentU-on-YouTube\" width=\"600\" height=\"390\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nYou can even import your favorite YouTube videos into your FluentU account. If you\u2019re not sure where to start, check out our <strong>curated library of videos<\/strong> that are handpicked for beginners and intermediate learners, as you can see here:\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n<a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/site\/\/4\/English-5.png\" alt=\"learn-english-with-videos\" width=\"320\" height=\"569\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nFluentU brings native English videos within reach. With <strong>interactive captions<\/strong>, you can hover over any word to see an image, definition, and pronunciation.\r\n<\/p><p><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/FluentU-English-video-on-app.jpg\" alt=\"FluentU-english-video-with-interactive-subtitles\" width=\"320\" height=\"569\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nJust click on the word to see other example sentences and videos where the word is used in different contexts. Plus, you can <strong>add it to your flashcards<\/strong>! For example, if I tap on the word \"viral,\" this is what pops up:\r\n<\/p><p>\r\n<a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/FluentU-English-vocab-viral-on-app.jpg\" alt=\"FluentU-English-vocab\" width=\"320\" height=\"569\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nWant to make sure you really remember what you've learned? We\u2019ve got you covered. <strong>Practice and reinforce the vocab from each video<\/strong> with learn mode. Swipe to see more examples of the word you\u2019re learning, and play mini-games with our dynamic flashcards.\r\n<\/p><p><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/FluentU-English-vocab-quiz-web.jpg\" alt=\"FluentU-English-vocab-quiz\" width=\"600\" height=\"390\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>\r\nThe best part? FluentU tracks everything you\u2019re learning and uses that to create <strong>a personalized experience just for you<\/strong>. You\u2019ll get extra practice with tricky words and even be reminded when it\u2019s time to review\u2014so nothing slips through the cracks.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<p>\r\n\tStart using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download our from the <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/fluentu-learn-language-videos\/id917892175\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">App Store<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.fluentflix.fluentu&amp;hl=en&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a>.<\/p><p><a data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/try\/april-sale-3331\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before I moved to Argentina, I learned a little about culture shock in my language classes. However, no one taught me about the most important differences, such as body language&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":524,"featured_media":251695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"7 Culture Shock Activities for the ESL Classroom - FluentU","description":"Before I moved to Argentina, I learned a little about culture shock in my language classes. However, no one taught me about the most important differences, such"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[246,248],"tags":[],"coauthors":[852],"class_list":["post-47514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educator-english","category-english-teaching-activities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/524"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47514"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238184,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47514\/revisions\/238184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47514"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=47514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}