MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE

LVIV NATIONAL IVAN FRANKO UNIVERSITY

Department of English Philology

INTERCULTURAL ASPECT IN EFL TEACHING

Diploma-paper presented by:

N.M.Khanenko
a 5-th year student of English
Philology

Supervised by:
L.G. Sanotska
Associate professor of English Philology
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Lviv - 2010

Contents Page
Introduction……………………………………………………………………... 3
CHAPTER I. INTERCULTURAL LANGUAGE EDUCATION
1.1 Culture: A multidimensional concept..……………………………………… 7
1.2. Culture in Foreign Language Teaching …………………….….................... 10
1.3 Approaches to English language teaching …….…………………………… 12
1.4 The intercultural approach …………………………………………………. 16

CHAPTER II. INCORPORATING INTERCULTURAL ASPECT INTO THE

FOREIN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

2.1. Intercultural communicative competence ………………………………….. 19

2.2. Lesson plan: Wedding across cultures ………….………………………….. 23
Conclusions……………………………………………………………………... 48
Summary………………………………………………………………………… 50
References …………………………………………………………………........ 51
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INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, it is a widely known fact that teaching and learning a foreign

language cannot be reduced to the direct teaching of linguistic skills like phonology,
morphology, vocabulary, and syntax. The contemporary models of communicative
competence show that there is much more to learning a language, and they include
the vital component of cultural knowledge and awareness. [7] In other words, to
learn a language well usually requires knowing something about the culture of that
language. Communication that lacks appropriate cultural content often results in
humorous incidents, or worse, is the source of serious miscommunication and
misunderstanding. According to Kramsch, culture “is always in the background,
right from day one, ready to unsettle the good language learners when they expect it
least, making evident the limitations of their hard won communicative competence,
challenging their ability to make sense of the world around them.”[14, 1]
However, when writing or talking about “teaching culture,” theoreticians
and practitioners often restrict themselves to the specific culture of the target
language. In English as a Second Language (ESL) contexts, where students live and
are immersed in the culture of the English speakers, this may be a satisfactory
approach. But in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) settings, this is a very narrow
view.
In an EFL class, students are usually monolingual and they learn English
while living in their own country [16]. They have little access to the target culture
and therefore a limited ability to become culturally competent. Importantly, their
aim for learning English is not only to communicate with native speakers of English
but also with non-native speakers of English, which is why EFL learners are
typically learners of English as an International Language (EIL). By learning
English, EFL students are enabling themselves to become users of international, or
rather intercultural, communication— thus, the target language becomes a tool to be
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used in interaction with people from all over the world, where communication in
English takes place in fields such as science, technology, business, art,
entertainment, and tourism. It is obvious then, that in order to successfully function
in a culturally diverse environment, our learners need to develop intercultural
communicative competence (Alptekin 2002)[1].
This paper illustrates the preliminary implications regarding the inclusion of
culture in EFL teaching and learning. It explores such issues as: which culture to
teach, how to teach culture, and the interconnection between languages and culture.
Emphasis is given to intercultural communicative competence and its development
in the language classroom.

Main objectives:

- To settle the theoretical bases for the introduction of intercultural issues into
the EFL classroom;
- To determine the ways of incorporating interculture communicative
competence into teaching and learning practice;

The tasks of my research are:

- To demonstrate that intercultural education is of paramount importance for

EFL teacher training;
- To develope practical activities for a particular group of learners as a valuable
resource to train EFL learners in order to achieve intercultural competence;

The methods of research include overview of methodological and pedagogical

literature on the given subject as well as analysis of the above-mentioned issue such
as “interculture communicative competence”.
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The object of investigation – the process of teaching English as a foreign language

at the intermediate level of English proficiency;

The subject of investigation - the ways of incorporating culture elements into the
classroom curriculum;

The theoretical value of the research lies in the fact that the intercultural approach
and present ideas how to broaden students’ multicultural awareness were
investigated.

The practical value of the research is in the opportunity to apply the data to the
process of teaching English at university

Language material - for this purpose material from authentic language sources has
been used (Hymes, Dell H. “On communicative competence”; Alptekin, C.
“Towards intercultural communicative competence in ELT”; Kramsch, C. “Context
and culture in language teaching”; Hall, E. T. “Beyond culture” ; Brown, H. D.
“Principles of language learning and teaching”; Stern, H.H. “Issues and Options
in Language Teaching”)

The structure of research: the diploma paper consists of an introduction, two

chapters, conclusions, summary and a list of references.
Chapter I contains theoretical information devoted to defining the notion of
‘culture’ and its role in the English language education. It overviews the main
approaches used for teaching English as a foreign language.
Chapter II is the practical part of my diploma paper. It provides the sample
lesson plan on particular topic, which includes some reading, listening, writing and
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speaking activities that are most suitable for improving the learners’ command of
the foreign language and building learners’ communicative competence in the target
language.
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CHAPTER I. INTERCULTURAL LANGUAGE EDUCATION

1.2 Culture: A multidimensional concept

It is extremely difficult to define what culture is. ‘Culture’ is believed to be

one of the most complicated words in the English language. A lot of time can be
spent on trying to give a precise definition of the word. Byram refers to culture as:
‘the whole way of life of the foreign country, including but not limited to its
production in the arts, philosophy and “high culture” in general’. [5,15].
Culture is so broad in its scope that “there is not one aspect of human life
that is not touched and altered by culture.”[10,14] Till now linguists have had many
kinds of definitions about culture; each has its own focus in one particular aspect,
ranging from all-encompassing concepts like “it is everything” to some narrowly-
viewed concepts like“it is opera or ballet”.
It is believed that Sir Edward B. Tylor gave the first definition of culture. He
defines culture as “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society.” This concept of culture is all-embracing, and includes the
behavioural (“custom”), the creative-material (“art”), the institutional (“moral” and
“law”), and the cognitive (“knowledge” and «belief”). Robertson says that “culture
consists of all the shared products of human society.” Samovar et al define culture as
“the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, actions, attitudes, meanings,
hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the
universe, and artefacts acquired by a group of people in the course of generations
through individual and group striving”[22,36]. This is a descriptive definition that
tries to cover everything about culture.
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Most recent writing on ‘culture’ has assumed a more-or less

anthropological view of culture as an entire way of life. The concept was in fact
clearly defined in one of the early discussions of the communicative approach:

[Culture] involves the implicit norms and conventions of a society, its

methods of ‘going about doing things’, it’s historically transmitted but
also adaptive and creative ethos, its symbols and its organisation of
experience. [18,34]

As can be seen, culture is a very broad concept, so to get to know a given

culture means to gain extensive knowledge.
It seems useful to make a distinction between the so-called big-C culture and
small-c culture. The big-C part of a given culture is usually easy to study, as it
constitutes factual knowledge about the fine arts such as literature, music, dance,
painting, sculpture, theatre, and film. Small-c culture, on the other hand, comprises a
wide variety of aspects, many of which are inter-connected, including attitudes,
assumptions, beliefs, perceptions, norms and values, social relationships, customs,
celebrations, rituals, politeness conventions, patterns of interaction and discourse
organization, the use of time in communication, and the use of physical space and
body language. Needless to say, language is also part of what we call culture, and it
also reflects and interprets culture. Some of the small-c cultural aspects are directly
observable and hence easy to grasp and learn (e.g., celebrations and rituals).
However, many dimensions of a given culture are hidden from the eye. The small-c
cultural aspects that, being imparted to us from birth, are deeply internalized and
subconscious and are often noticed only in contrast with another culture belong here.
It is mainly these non-tangible cultural aspects that have an enormous influence on
people’s way of thinking and their linguistic/non-linguistic behaviour and that,
importantly, determine the expectations and interpretations of other people’s
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linguistic/non-linguistic behaviour. A person who encounters an unfamiliar culture
will lack knowledge of such behaviours, which may lead to amusing situations, and
even conflict, caused by miscommunication. This happens because these aspects of
culture are unspoken rules created by a community. Because these cultural rules are
full of meaning and “allow people to anticipate events, they often acquire a moral
rigidity and righteousness that engender stereotypes and even prejudices”. [15, 2]
Let us consider a few examples of unsuccessful crosscultural encounters. Such
misunderstanding of verbal or non-verbal messages often leads to the formation of a
distorted picture of another society and its culture.
• A Polish person in the United States, after being offered a meal and
refusing politely, could be unpleasantly surprised to be given nothing to eat, and
might even think that Americans are stingy with food. The American host would not
realize that refusing food is a sign of modesty and the person offering the meal
should insist.
• A German person having a meal with a Taiwanese family might feel highly
disgusted if everybody at the table started belching, not realizing that this is a form
of complimenting the cook. On the other hand, the Taiwanese family would
probably perceive the German’s behaviour (lack of belching) as impolite.
• A Briton might be amused if a Polish person, on hearing the conventional
greeting “How are you?” started complaining about her health; the Pole, on the
other hand, would wonder why her interlocutor was amused.
There are innumerable examples of similar cross-cultural encounters, and
what they clearly illustrate is that the knowledge of the small-c culture of a given
community is of great importance for successful cross-cultural communication. Even
if the participants in the above-described situations spoke English fluently and were
well informed about cultural facts such as famous works of art and religious
celebrations, this knowledge would be of little help to avoid the misunderstanding.
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1.2 Culture in Foreign Language Teaching

Some people say that language is the mirror of culture, in the sense that
people can see a culture through its language. Others compare language and culture
to an iceberg: the visible part is language, with a small part of culture; the greater
part, lying hidden beneath the surface, is the invisible aspect of culture. Brown
describes the relation of the two as follows: “A language is a part of a culture and a
culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot
separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture.” .
[2,165] In one word, culture and language are inseparable.
Through the following three metaphors, a new understanding of language
and culture can be conveyed [17, 54]

From a philosophical point of view: Language and culture makes a living

organism; language is fresh, and culture is blood. Without culture, language would
be dead; without language, culture would have no shape.

From a communicative point of view: If communication is considered as

swimming, language is the swimming skill, and culture is water. Without language,
communication would remain to a very limited degree (in very shallow water);
without culture, there would be no communication at all.

From a pragmatic point of view: Communication is the transportation,

language is the vehicle and culture is traffic light. Language makes communication
easier and faster; culture regulates, sometimes promotes and sometimes hinders
communication.
Due to the inseparability of language and culture, it is necessary to
incorporate culture into the language teaching process. In the book Context and
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Culture in language Teaching, Kramsch (1993) states that cultural awareness and
the learning of a second culture can only aid the attaining of second language
proficiency. She also indicates that the teaching of culture implicitly or explicitly
permeates the teaching of social interaction, and the spoken and the written
language. In her view, second and foreign language learners necessarily become
learners of the second culture because a language cannot be learned without an
understanding of the cultural context in which it is used since “culture is not an
independent aspect of language learning or teaching, it is a feature of language, it is
always in the background, right from day one, ready to unsettle the good language
learners’ proficiency when they expect it least, making evident the limitations of
their hard-won communicative competence, challenging their ability to make sense
of the world around them.” [14,1]
For Kramsch there are four main premises of culture which are to be
considered in education [14,205-206]:

1. Establishing an sphere of interculturality: to relate first culture to foreign culture

and to reflect on conceptions of first culture and foreign culture.

2. Teaching culture as an interpersonal process: to present not only cultural facts in

a structural way, but to present understanding processes, values, beliefs, or
attitudes.

3. Teaching culture as difference: culture is not only national traits, but race,
gender, social class, etc.

4. Crossing disciplinary boundaries: in order to carry out this approach, teachers

need to have wider knowledge on subjects related to culture such as ethnography,
psychology, sociology, or sociolinguistics.
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1.3 Approaches to English language teaching

There are many methods and approaches that can be used in the EFL
classroom. In order to teach English effectively, an EFL teacher must subscribe to
one (or more) of the current approaches to teaching English as a foreign language
and incorporate its language learning strategies and techniques into each of his or
her lessons. These include: Grammar Translation Method, Direct Method, The
Reading Approach, Audio-lingual Method, Silent Way, Total Physical Response
(TPR), Community Language Learning (CLL), Suggestopedia (Suggestology),
Functional-notional Approach, Communicative Approach, Natural Approach. [26]

The grammar translation method

The grammar translation method instructs students in grammar, and
provides vocabulary with direct translations to memorize. It was the predominant
method in Europe in the 19th century. Most instructors now acknowledge that this
method is ineffective by itself. It is now most commonly used in the traditional
instruction of the classical languages.
At school, the teaching of grammar consists of a process of training in the
rules of a language which must make it possible to all the students to correctly
express their opinion, to understand the remarks which are addressed to them and to
analyze the texts which they read. The objective is that by the time they leave
college, the pupil controls the tools of the language which are the vocabulary,
grammar and the orthography, to be able to read, understand and write texts in
various contexts. The teaching of grammar examines the texts, and develops
awareness that language constitutes a system which can be analyzed. This
knowledge is acquired gradually, by traversing the facts of language and the
syntactic mechanisms, going from simplest to the most complex. The exercises
according to the program of the course must untiringly be practised to allow the
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assimilation of the rules stated in the course. That supposes that the teacher
corrects the exercises. The pupil can follow his progress in practicing the language
by comparing his results. Thus can he adapt the grammatical rules and control little
by little the internal logic of the syntactic system. The grammatical analysis of
sentences constitutes the objective of the teaching of grammar at the school. Its
practice makes it possible to recognize a text as a coherent whole and conditions the
training of a foreign language. Grammatical terminology serves this objective.
Grammar makes it possible for each one to understand how the mother tongue
functions, in order to give him the capacity to communicate its thought.

The direct method

The direct method, sometimes also called natural method, is a method that
refrains from using the learners' native language and just uses the target language. It
was established in Germany and France around 1900. The direct method operates
on the idea that second language learning must be an imitation of first language
learning, as this is the natural way humans learn any language - a child never relies
on another language to learn its first language, and thus the mother tongue is not
necessary to learn a foreign language. This method places great stress on correct
pronunciation and the target language from outset. It advocates teaching of oral
skills at the expense of every traditional aim of language teaching.
According to this method, printed language and text must be kept away
from second language learner for as long as possible, just as a first language learner
does not use printed word until he has good grasp of speech.
Learning of writing and spelling should be delayed until after the printed
word has been introduced, and grammar and translation should also be avoided
because this would involve the application of the learner's first language. All above
items must be avoided because they hinder the acquisition of a good oral
proficiency.
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The Reading Approach

This approach is selected for practical and academic reasons. For specific
uses of the language in graduate or scientific studies. The approach is for people
who do not travel abroad for whom reading is the one usable skill in a foreign
language.
The priority in studying the target language is first, reading ability and
second, current and/or historical knowledge of the country where the target
language is spoken. Only the grammar necessary for reading comprehension and
fluency is taught. Minimal attention is paid to pronunciation or gaining
conversational skills in the target language. From the beginning, a great amount of
reading is done in L2, both in and out of class. The vocabulary of the early reading
passages and texts is strictly controlled for difficulty. Vocabulary is expanded as
quickly as possible, since the acquisition of vocabulary is considered more
important that grammatical skill. Translation reappears in this approach as a
respectable classroom procedure related to comprehension of the written text.

The audio-lingual method

The audio-lingual method has students listen to or view recordings of
language models acting in situations. Students practice with a variety of drills, and
the instructor emphasizes the use of the target language at all times. The audio-
lingual method was used by the United States Army for "crash" instruction in
foreign languages during World War II. Due to weaknesses in performance, audio-
lingual methods are rarely the primary method of instruction today.

Silent way
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Silent way is a discovery learning approach. It is often considered to be
one of the humanistic approaches. It is called the Silent Way because the teacher is
usually silent, leaving room for the students to talk and explore the language. The
students are responsible for their own learning and are encouraged to interact with
one another. The role of the teacher is to give clues to the students, not to model the
language. The silent way makes it easy for students of foreign to master grammar at
a very early stage in their study.

All approaches to language education imply different ways of thinking about

what language is for, and how we learn new languages. For example, the audio-
lingual method of language education assumed that a language is primarily a set of
complex grammatical and phonological structures, and that we learn language by
repeating drills. That view of language was largely displaced by the communicative
approach. Communicative language teaching is more flexible and varied, but
underlying most communicative teaching is the assumption that language is
primarily a means of exchanging information – thus the ‘information gap’ is the
focus of classroom activity. Communicative teaching assumes that by performing
classroom tasks in which information is really exchanged, learners will activate
various instinctive strategies that will help them to acquire a foreign language. The
classroom focus has therefore shifted from the manipulation of language structures,
to the design of communicative activities that demand the ‘authentic’ transfer of
information.
Intercultural language education accepts some aspects of communicative
language teaching but questions others. Importantly, intercultural language
education accepts that learners acquire language by accomplishing tasks. However,
intercultural language education questions why we use and learn languages. In
particular, intercultural teachers see language use as involving much more than
information exchange. Language is also seen as the main instrument by which we
construct and maintain our sense of personal and social identity; it is the means by
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which we make and break friendships, and other relationships; in short, it is the
tool with which we assert our place in the world. This change in our understanding
of what language does leads intercultural teachers to re-think what language courses
should set out to achieve – that is, it leads to a change in our curriculum aims. The
intercultural curriculum focuses less on tasks that exchange information and more on
tasks that explore how we construct a sense of cultural identity – whether that
construction takes place in small conversational groups, in larger professional
bodies, or in broad national communities.
Where audio-lingual and communicative language education both draw upon
the linguistic and psychological theories of their time – theories like structuralism
and generative linguistics, and behaviourist and cognitive psychology – intercultural
language education draws upon the discipline of anthropology, particularly
ethnography, that is, the practice of observing and describing social and cultural
groups. Ethnography views everyday language behaviour as one of the primary ways
in which the individual manages his or her relationships with others. By observing
and reflecting on the way that other cultures manage their social relationships
through language, and comparing the practices of others with our own, we become
intercultural language learners.

1.4. The intercultural approach

If EFL learners are to become successful intercultural communicators, it is
essential to provide them with a thorough and systematic intercultural training, and
not only of the culture of the main English-speaking countries. EFL students will
benefit by gaining solid knowledge of the different world cultures, and they must
also develop the ability to compare their native culture to other cultures, to evaluate
critically and interpret the results of such comparisons, and to apply this knowledge
successfully in both verbal and non-verbal communication, for both transactional
and interactional purposes. Since “culture in language learning is not an expendable
fifth skill, tacked on, so to speak, to the teaching of speaking, listening, reading, and
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writing”[14,1], it is of paramount importance that the cultures, not simply chosen
cultural aspects, are dealt with during EFL lessons.
Successful international communication is reason enough to introduce the
intercultural approach into EFL classrooms. However, there is another good reason.
In many countries, there is still much intolerance towards and prejudice against other
nations and cultures. Intensive intercultural education seems to be a good way to
sow the seeds of tolerance, acceptance, understanding, and respect.
Since the mid to late 1980s, a number of teachers and educationalists have
been arguing that an ‘intercultural approach’ to second language teaching prompts
us to re-examine the most basic assumptions about what language does, and what a
language course should seek to achieve. Current ‘communicative’ methods of
second language teaching generally view language as a means of bridging an
‘information gap’. Communicative language learning also assumes that by bridging
a series of information gaps, learners will ‘naturally’ develop their linguistic
knowledge and skills, ultimately to the point where they will acquire native-speaker
competence.
This view of language and linguistic development has tended to underrate
culture. Stern notes that, despite a sustained and consistent body of work,
particularly in America, drawing attention to the importance of culture in language
teaching, ‘the cultural component has remained difficult to accommodate in
practice’ [24,206]. In fact, cultural content was often stripped from learning
materials. Pulverness says of English language teaching (ELT) in the 1970s:
“English was seen as a means of communication which should not be bound
to culturally-specific conditions of use, but should be easily transferable to any
cultural setting. Authenticity was a key quality, but only insofar as it provided
reliable models of language in use. Content was important as a source of motivation,
but it was seen as equally important to avoid material which might be regarded as
‘culture bound’. Throughout the 1970s and much of the 1980s, syllabus design and
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materials writing were driven by needs analysis, and culture was subordinated to
performance objectives.”[25, 7]
However, more recently, there have been fresh attempts to integrate ‘culture’
into the communicative curriculum. While acknowledging the obvious importance
of language as a means of communicating information, advocates of an intercultural
approach also emphasise its social functions; for example, the ways in which
language is used by speakers and writers to negotiate their place in social groups and
hierarchies. It has long been evident that the ways in which these negotiations take
place vary from community to community. A language course concerned with
‘culture’, then, broadens its scope from a focus on improving the ‘four skills’ of
reading, writing, listening and speaking, in order to help learners acquire cultural
skills, such as strategies for the systematic observation of behavioural patterns.
Moreover, as learners come to a deeper understanding of how the target language is
used to achieve the explicit and implicit cultural goals of the foreign language
community, they should be prompted to reflect on the ways in which their own
language and community functions. The intercultural learner ultimately serves as a
mediator between different social groups that use different languages and language
varieties.
Foreign language learners are in the position of someone who is outside
the target language group, looking in. Learners may not wish to adopt the practices
or beliefs of the target culture, but they should be in a position to understand these
practices and beliefs if they wish fully to comprehend the language that members
of the target culture produce. It is this recognition that language is more than the
transfer of information – it is the assertion, negotiation, construction and
maintenance of individual and group identities that has led to the development of
an intercultural approach to language education.
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CHAPTER II. INCORPORATING INTERCULTURAL ASPECT INTO THE

FOREIN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

2.1. Intercultural communicative competence

The ultimate goal of an intercultural approach to language education is not

so much ‘native speaker competence’ but rather an ‘intercultural communicative
competence’. Intercultural communicative competence includes the ability to
understand the language and behaviour of the target community, and explain it to
members of the ‘home’ community – and vice versa. In other words, an intercultural
approach trains learners to be ‘diplomats’, able to view different cultures from a
perspective of informed understanding. This aim effectively displaces the long-
standing, if seldom achieved, objective of teaching learners to attain ‘native speaker
proficiency’. Obviously, one key goal of an intercultural approach remains language
development and improvement; however, this goal is wedded to the equally
important aim of intercultural understanding and mediation.[6]
The term communicative competence was coined by Hymes (1972), who
defined it as the knowledge of both rules of grammar and rules of language use
appropriate to given context. His work clearly demonstrated a shift of emphasis
among linguists, away from the study of language as a system in isolation, a focus
seen in the work of Chomsky (1965), towards the study of language as
communication. Hymes’s (1972) conceptualisation of communicative competence
has been further developed by researchers such as Canale and Swain (1980) and
Canale (1983), Bachman (1990) and Celce-Murcia et al. (1995), who attempted to
define the specific components of the construct of communicative competence.
Hymes’ notion of communicative competence has been expanded in the recent years
by Byram’s and Kramsch’s conception of intercultural communicative competence.
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Intercultural communicative competence entails an understanding of the
differences in interactional norms between different speech communities and an
ability to “reconcile or mediate between different modes present” [3, 12]. Cultural
awareness is of paramount importance for the notion of intercultural communicative
competence. This new concept implies understanding of both L2 and L1 cultural
systems. In order to be successful in communication, foreign and own cultures are to
be considered as an intrinsic part of language learning (and literature). In FL
education, we can affirm that there are likely few language teachers who have not
adopted his or her own approach to classroom development. When it comes to
intercultural issues, there is not a unique model to be reproduced in the everyday
praxis.
More important is to foster the role of the teacher as an attitude mediator
which certainly implies the power to influence students. The teacher can thus be
seen as one of the most important figures for pre-adult newcomers to a new society.
Teacher’s aim is to create a classroom atmosphere that is conducive to
opening minds to other cultures. With this aim in mind, teachers could apply
personalizing activities in order to invoke identification with the students’ own
realities. The activity could be started by mentioning a remote country. In case
students start stereotyping about the country, teachers could simulate the students to
talk about their own lives as most students love talking about themselves.
This way, they would be able to draw the differences between the distant
country and their own. In addition to personalization activities, discussion activities
organized around the elements of the target culture are preferred by most teachers.
Consequently, when asked about possible ways of integrating culture into a language
class, most teachers may agree on planning ‘discussion’ activities. However, not
every element of the target culture is particularly helpful with lower level learners,
and activities such as simple surveys, and question and answer tasks may prove to be
more beneficial. If discussion activities are designed, teachers should remind
themselves that language learners in EFL contexts, might not comprehend all that is
 21
being explained to them. Thus, if lack of comprehension plays a part, students
might lose interest in the target culture.

The issue of making the topics about the target culture as interesting as
possible is imperative. The first strategy to engage students’ interest is selecting
appealing aspects of the target culture to talk about.

Some topics that can be presented within the course syllabus are suggested below:

- Climate
- Clothing
- Crime
- Eating
- Education
- Family life
- Geography
- History
- Holidays
- Humour
- Language
- Leisure activities
- Meeting people
- Money
- Pets
- Population
- Religion
- Social occasions
- Sports
- Transportation
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- Vacation
- Nonverbal Communication

One interesting facet of culture that attracts the attention and interest of
every human being is food and eating behaviours. Teachers could designate one of
the class periods as the international food or cuisine day and could bring in
ingredients and recipes. Students will basically listen to the simple recipe directions
from the teacher and try to prepare simple dishes from the United States, England or
another English speaking country. In doing so, students could be put into groups
which would allow for exchange of whatever aspect of the target culture each peer
might have picked up by that point in time. Lastly, in engaging in all of the
culturally integrated activities elaborated on above, teachers should never assume or
expect to cover every single aspect within the target culture, and as previously
mentioned, should carefully select only the areas that the students are interested in.
Finally, the teachers themselves should advance their knowledge of both the
students’ culture and the target language culture, and should ensure that their
materials and lessons feature their familiarity and understanding of both of these
cultures to create opportunities for their students to develop their socio-cultural
skills. Needless to say, the teaching of intercultural competence should be an area in
the curriculum of undergraduate language education.
So, with an appropriate cultural orientation, most learning activities can take
on intercultural aspects, offer obvious opportunities for developing cultural and
interactional competence in addition to communicative competence (Krasnick,
1984). For that purpose, the following activities are suggested.
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2.2. Lesson Plan

Language: Words and phrases connected with wedding

Culture focus: WEDDING ACROSS CULTURES

LEVEL: Young adults at Pre-Intermediate or Intermediate level of English

proficiency.

TIME: 2-3 classes

Weddings are a good example of traditions and rituals that

are unique to various parts of the world. In their original countries
weddings have changed over time. In Ukraine, intercultural
interactions have influenced wedding practices. White wedding
gowns, multitier wedding cakes, garters and bouquets,
honeymoons, bride’s rule to have “something old, something new,
something borrowed, something blue" along with many other
western traditions have become integrated elements of many
families' Ukrainian wedding traditions.
This topic should be of interest to young EFL learners who
are eager to know about the origin of popular wedding traditions.
This sample lesson demonstrates one of the creative ways for teachers to
incorporate culture into their classrooms. The following activities are aimed to serve
as templates for practitioners to either directly apply in their classrooms or adapt to
the appropriate needs and proficiency levels of their students.
.
OBJECTIVES:

- To promote cross-cultural awareness and understanding in the context of cultural

differences;
- To investigate how cultural identity is influenced by inter-cultural interactions;
 24
- To investigate and compare various wedding scenarios differing through time
and culture;
- To initiate the students in information searching techniques (Internet, interviews,
etc.);
- To encourage the learners to express ideas through writing, discussions, and
presentations;

PROCEDURE:

Pre-reading discussion:

The purpose of this discussion is to lead the students to the idea that
investigating foreign weddings traditions is a good way to see how interactions
between cultures can result in the loss of some aspects of traditions and rituals
over time.

1. What is culture? [Students’ ideas. Culture is the customary beliefs, social forms
and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.]
2. How is culture expressed? [Students’ ideas. Culture is expressed in many ways.
Clothing, language, traditions, rituals, etc.]
3. What are some examples of traditions and rituals? [Students’ ideas. Some
traditions and rituals are holidays such as Christmas, and religious ceremonies
such as baptisms and weddings, body appearance such as longer hair for
females...]
5. People from different cultures interact. What can happen to a person’s original
cultural practices once he/she has been living in a foreign country for awhile? What
about a few generations later? [Aspects of the culture can be lost or altered
significantly.]
7. Have you ever been to a non-Ukrainian wedding? If so, what was it like? What
happened? [Students’ ideas.]
 25
8. How similar do you think a present day Ukrainian wedding is to a wedding that
took place in the Ukraine more than 100 years ago? Why do you think so?
[St’dents' ideas.]

DO YOU KNOW THAT …?

The teacher provides students with historical background of various
wedding ways in different countries. Such information encourages the
learners to relate ideas, compare and contrast facts about wedding
ceremonies in their homeland.

Wedding ways
One of the most important events in the life of a young man and woman is when they
get married. People in different parts of the world have many different ways of getting
married. Some weddings are very simple. Some are very fancy.
When a Dorze man of Ethiopia wants to be married, his friends "kidnap" his girl for
him. She pretends to be afraid. But she really knows when she's going to be kidnapped.
She wants to be married, too.
An Arab bride rides to the wedding tent on a camel. She is hidden under a big cloth.
The camel is led around the tent seven times, then the bride goes in. Meanwhile, the
groom pretends to run away! But his friends catch him and bring him to the tent. .
For a Shinto wedding in Japan, most brides wear beautiful kimonos and cover their
faces with white powder. During the ceremony, the bride and groom must take nine sips
of rice wine together.
Before getting married, the bride at a Hindu wedding ceremony does everything to
make sure her wedding day is a lucky one. A holy man studies the horoscopes of the
bride and groom to choose the right day for the wedding, so that the marriage will be
long and happy. Will the marriage be a happy one if the wedding takes place on
Wednesday, or would it be better to wait until the full moon on Friday? After checking
all the signs very carefully, he chooses the wedding day. There are the weeks of
 26
preparation and excitement that are common to all cultures, then finally, on the
wedding day itself, before helping her dress; the bride's sisters and female friends paint
her hand and feet with henna. When she's ready, she puts on a red sari, the colour
which will bring her good luck, for the marriage. During the ceremony, the groom's
relatives place a small mark of red paste on her forehead to show she is a married
woman. After decorating the bride with jewels, they cover both her face and that of the
groom with a veil. And then she is married. During the reception the guests enjoy a
feast of food and drink, while the bride and groom sit.
In the Arab world, the groom's family visits the bride's family and asks for her hand
in marriage. When the bride's family agrees, they drink coffee and talk about the other
arrangements. There are two ceremonies. Before meeting his bride, the groom attends
the Moslem ceremony. The bride does not attend this ceremony but allows a sister or a
friend to make the marriage promises on her behalf. Then there are two parties, one for
the men and one for the women, which can last for days. After celebrating their
marriage apart for several days, the couple finally get together. After arriving at the
wedding reception, the bride, dressed in white, and the groom sit on a small stage and
enjoy the celebration. During this part of the wedding, they receive and open the
wedding presents. The presents people give are often jewellery and gold. The
celebration lasts for several hours. There is usually a dinner and supper with relatives
and close friends of the couple.
While a' Moslem wedding has at least two ceremonies, the traditional Chinese
Taoist marriage has three. Before the man proposes to the woman, his family asks the
professional matchmaker to send a present from them to the bride's family. Before
agreeing to the marriage, the bride's family must accept the present. Then it is time for
the second stage which, like the Hindu custom, is the checking of the horoscopes. After
the matchmaker has made sure that the signs are good, the two families ask the gods
for their help. Before starting the celebration, the groom's family pays the bride's
family for losing a daughter. Then the wedding party begins. Both the bride and groom
are dressed in silk. The groom gives ceremonial gifts of pork, chickens, candles and
clothing to the bride's family. From the guests at the reception, the couple receive red
 27
packets (hong bao) containing gold, jewellery or money. The reception is often a
lunch or dinner of fifteen courses, with entertainment by a singer and a band.

While-reading activity:

The task is to read the text about traditional British wedding paying attention
to highlighted words and phrases.

WEDDING IN GREAT BRITAIN

GETTING ENGAGED
In Britain the custom of becoming engaged is still generally retained. Rules of
etiquette dictate that the girl's parents should be the first to hear the news. A Man
meets his future
in-law and his parents write them a friendly letter. The girl' mother invites her
daughter's future in- laws to a meal. When a girl accepts a proposal, the man gives
her a ring in token of the betrothal. It is worn on the third finger of the left hand
before marriage and together with the wedding ring after it. Some people arrange
engagement party and put an announcement in the newspaper. As soon as
congratulation are over a man should have a talk with the girl's father about the
date of the wedding and the future plans. The young couple may prefer to live with
the parents. The period of engagement is usually 3 or 4 months.
WEDDING
Most girls still dream of a white wedding, with its solemn ceremony. For this
reason attention will be given to church weddings, with their old rituals, customs
and responsibilities. The Bride's Parents are responsible for the press
announcement, the bride's dress and trousseau, the reception and the cars. The
Bridegroom pays for the ring, the wedding licence and fees. He gives a small
present to each of the bridesmaids, usually relatives or friends of the bride or
sisters of the bridegroom. Their number does not exceed 6. The bride's mother has
to pay for the bridesmaids dresses. There may be 2 small page-boys too. The Best
 28
Man is a brother, relative or close friend of the groom. His duty is to see to the
fees, the tips, and to hand the wedding ring to the groom in the church.
The Ushers are male relatives and friends of both bride and groom. Their
duties are to stand inside the church and ask each guest "Bride or groom?" They
will place friends of the bride on the left and friends of the groom on the right.

The Wedding Ceremony. The bridegroom and his best man should be in their
places 10 minutes before the service starts. The bridesmaids and pages wait in the
church porch. The bride, by tradition, arrives a couple of minutes late. When the
bride is in white the bridegroom wears top hat, a tie, a gray tailcoat, stripped
trousers and black shoes. The organist starts playing. The bride goes in on her
father's right arm, and the bridesmaids follow her. During the ceremony, the chief
bridesmaid stands behind the bride and holds her bouquet.
In a church the bride and the groom take the marriage vow:
"I JAMES TAKE THEE CAROL TO BE MY LAWFUL WEDDED WIFE, TO HAVE AND TO HOLD FROM THIS

DAY FORWARD, FOR BETTER OR WORSE, FOR RICHER OR POORER, IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH, TO

LOVE AND TO CHERISH, TILL DEATH DO US PART, ACCORDING TO GOD'S HOLY ORDINANCE; AND

THERETO I PLIGHT THEE MY TROTH".

The vicar blesses the wedding ring and places it on the third finger of the
bride’s left hand. These days, the groom often wears a ring too.
After the ceremony the couple go into the vestry to sign the register with
their parents, best man and bridesmaids. The bride throws back her veil, the
organist starts playing and the bride and groom walk down followed by the parents
and relatives. As they leave the church together, their friends throw confetti and
rice. Guests wait and then go to the reception. Their presents were sent to the
bride's home after the invitation had been received.
The Wedding Reception. The bride's parents stand first in the receiving line.
Guests line up outside the reception room and give their names to the major-domo
who will announce them. They need only shake hands and say "How do you do?”
to the parents. The bride introduces to her husband her friends and vice versa. The
 29
important parts of the reception are the cutting of the cake and the toast to the
bride and groom. The bride cuts the cake, with her husband's hand upon hers. The
toast to the newly wed is proposed by a relative or friend of the bride. He may say,
" My Lords /if any/, ladies and gentlemen, I have pleasure in proposing the toast to
the bride and bridegroom". The speech must be short and dignified. The
bridegroom replies with a few words of thanks. If a meal is provided, the toast will
come at the end of it. After the toasts the bride and groom may move around the
room talking to their friends until it is time for them to go and change. When they
are ready to leave, guests gather to see them off.

Post -reading activities:

Vocabulary exercises are designed to help students become more self-reliant by

encouraging them to work out meaning from text. This section can be done during
the reading phase or afterwards or both.

ACTIVITY 1.
What is the meaning of following words?
1. Future-in-laws ______________________________________
2. The Bridegroom ____________________________________
3. Bridesmaids _______________________________________
4. The Best Man ______________________________________
5. The Ushers ________________________________________
6. Page-boys _________________________________________
7. A white wedding____________________________________
 30
ACTIVITY 2.

All these people appear at a traditional British wedding. What does each person
do?

1.The bride a)They help the bride.

2. The bridegroom b) T h e y h e l p the bride.
3. The bridesmaids c)They are invited to the
wedding.
4.The best man d)He helps the bridegroom.
5. Wedding guests e)She marries the bridegroom.

1.-e), 2.- ..., 3.- ..., 4.- ..., 5.- ...

ACTIVITY 3.
Study the following:
To take somebody in marriage - брати когось за дружину (за чоловіка).
То take somebody in second marriage - одружитися з кимсь удруге.
Marriage broker – сват, сваха.
Marriage brokerage -сватання.
Marriage portion - посаг нареченої.
Married name - прізвище по чоловіку.
То marry beneath oneself - вступити в нерівний шлюб,
здійснити мезальянс.

То marry a fortune - вийти заміж за заможного чоловіка, вдало

одружитися.

То rob the cradle - одружитися з молодшим (-ою).

Bride - a woman on her wedding-day and through the honeymoon.

Fiancee - a woman to whom one is engaged.
 31
ACTIVITY 4.
Read the poem by Carl Sandburg and translate it into your language.
Wedding Postponed
The arrangements are changed.
We were going to marry at six o'clock.
Now we shall not marry at all.
The bridegroom was all ready.
And the best man of the bridegroom was ready.
The bride fixed out in orchids and a long veil,
The bride and six bridesmaids were all ready.
Then the arrangements changed.

The date was changed not from six o'clock till later,

The date was changed to no time at all, to never.

Why the arrangements were changed is a long story.

Tell half of it and it is better than nothing at all.

Tell it with a hint and a whisper and it is told wrong.

We know why it was put off,

Why the arrangements shifted,

Why the organist was told to go,

Why the minister ready for the ring ceremony

Was told to drive away and be quick about it, please.

We know this in all its results and circumstances.

The disappointment of the best man,

The sorry look on the faces of the bridesmaids,

We, who chose them out of many, we could understand.

And we told them only what is told here:

The arrangements are changed, there will be no wedding,

We shall not marry at all, not today, not tomorrow, no time.

 32
ACTIVITY 5.

Complete the sentences, using the correct word or phrase from the text
above. To help you, the first letter of each word is given.

Dear Anna,
Thanks ever so much for your letter, which got here yesterday. It was great to
hear your news. My c______ Mary got married last Saturday. It was a traditional
“white w_______'' in church. Her n______s, who were b________s, looked
really sweet. The b____ m___n, , Joan, was very funny.
Harold said “I will” sо loudly and clearly, but I think Mary was nervous
because we didn't hear her. That was the signal for the handkerchiefs to come
out.
After the ceremony, we moved on to a very nice hotel in town for the
r______. The important people sat at the 'top table'.
After an hour the, b_____ and g____ cut the w______ c______.and they went
off to their h________in Ibiza.
I didn't try to catch 'Mary's bouquet because I don't want to get married for
centuries! How about you?
Love,
Cathy

Comprehension exercises are to help students develop their reading skills, and not
as a test of memory. It expands student’s exploration of the text, concentrating on
the skimming and scanning skills necessary to derive maximum value from
reading.

ACTIVITY 6.

These events describe a traditional British wedding. Number them in the

order they happen.
- The bride is taken to the wedding by car. (1)
- Confetti is thrown and photographs are taken.
- Music is played so people can dance.
- Telegrams are read and toasts are made.
 33
- The married couple's car is decorated.
- The wedding cake is cut and eaten.
- The guests are left to enjoy themselves.
- Guests are driven to the retention lor a meal.
- The couple are driven away on honeymoon.
- Wedding rings are exchanged.

ACTIVITY 7.
Matching. Find the best answer to complete the sentence. Circle the
letter.
1. In Britain the custom of becoming engaged is a/ still generally retained, b/
not retained.
2. The girl's mother invites her daughter's future in-laws to a/ a meal, b/ a talk.
3. It is worn on the third finger of the a/ left hand, b/ right hand.
4. The period of engagement is usually a/ 1 or 2 years, b/ 3 or 4 months.

Grammar exercises:

ACTIVITY 8.
Complete the sentences with the correct article. If no article is necessary, write
X.
1. In ___Britain ___custom of becoming engaged is still generally retained.
2. _____ring is worn on _____ third finger of _____left hand.
3. When _______girl accepts a proposal, the man gives her____ ring in token of
______betrothal.
4. ________He gives_____small present to each of _______bridesmaids.
5. _______Best Man is ________brother,_______relative or close friend of the
groom.
 34
ACTIVITY 9.

Complete these questions with HOW MUCH ... O R HOW MANY...?

1.. . couples gel married in Britain every year?

2.. . . prefer church or registry-office weddings?
3. . . children are born illegitimate?
4. . . . marriages end in divorce?
5 . . . . do divorces cost the country a year?
6. . . women depend on their husbands for money?
7. . . divorces each year are asked for by women?

LISTENING ACTIVITIES

By becoming good listeners, people become good communicators.

The task is to listen to the type-recorded dialogue of the native speakers,
who are talking about traditional wedding. It is useful activity type
particularly suitable for practicing the intercultural competence. By listening to
this dialogue the learners have a chance to become aware of pronunciation,
intonation and vocabulary of native speakers.

Dialogue

Rachel:
I had a friend who got married. It was a very large wedding, but it was very
traditional. She had thirteen bridesmaids and thirteen ushers and then a maid of
honor, a best man and a ring bearer and a flower girl. So there were quite a few
of us that had to walk down the aisle.
 35

Wendi:
This is like an absolute, kind of parade procession.

Rachel:
Yeah. It was quite a long playing of "Here comes the bride".

Wendi:
Yeah.

Rachel:
So, but yeah we all had the traditional one dress picked up by the bride and the
ushers all wore the traditional one, well they rented the same suits with the
same tie and vest underneath, and yeah, "Here comes the bride", a little service
about God and then the wedding vows which they decided to speak and make up
their own wedding vows, so it got a little emotional, and yeah, that was pretty
much the wedding. The thing for a traditional wedding in the United States, it
costs a lot of money to be a bridesmaid or an usher and that's something that
maybe in other countries is not the case because the bridesmaid and the ushers
all have to pick out the same outfit and get their hair done and their make-up
and the shoes and their usually in charge of paying for the bridal shower and
the bachelor, the bachelorette party.

Wendi:
Yeah, and then there's like your gift to the bride and stuff like that as well and
yeah, it's a lot of responsibility I'm sure. Have you ever been asked to be a
bridesmaid and turned it down or anything?

Rachel:
 36
I've never turned it down, but the first time I was asked as an adult I didn't
really realize, I was like, "why are you asking me that?" Of course I would be
your bridesmaid. And then as it started getting closer to the wedding, all of the
responsibility started coming out, then I started to understand a little bit.

Wendi:
Right, yeah.

Rachel:
Especially, because the maid of honor was particularly not responsible, so a lot
of the bridesmaids had to organize many of the things the maid of honor would
normally organize.

Wendi: Yeah, that's wild.[30]

ACTIVITY 10.
Listen attentively to the dialogue and answer the following question.
1. What people, who walked down the aisle, does she mention?
a) Bridesmaid
b) Ushers
c) Priest
d) Flowergirl
2. How many bridesmaids did the bride have?
a) 4
b) 10
c) 13
d) 8
3. What does she say about wedding vows?
 37
a) They were traditional
b) They made their own
c) They were emotional
d) They were very long
4. What costs does she mention for the bridesmaids?
a) Travel expenses
b) Her make up
c) Her shoes
d) Her bridal shower
5. What does Rachel says about being bridesmaid?
a) She turned it down once
b) She has done it before
c) It is a lot of fun
d) It requires responsibility

WRITING ACTIVITIES
Activities such as designing stories and compositions may develop writing
skills with a particular emphasis on the intercultural component. They could be used
to promote learners’ cultural imagination through writing.

ACTIVITY 11.
Comparison with one’s own culture and the target culture draws on
learners’ own knowledge, beliefs and values and leads to increased cultural
knowledge, understanding and acceptance, which provides a basis for
successful intercultural communication.
So, the task is to write the composition on the topic “Compare and contrast
wedding customs in Britain and in your place. Describe differences and similarities”.
(use examples from films, documentaries, personal experiences, etc.)
 38
Fill in the table

SIMILARITIES DIFFERENCES

White gown Number of bridesmades

Wedding cake Ring finger

ACTIVITY 12.
Read the marriage announcements and compose a similar one.
Marriage
Smith - Brown. On February 18th at St George's Church London, between
John, eldest son of Mr and Mrs M. Smith of Balaclava Str., London, and
Jane, only daughter of Mr an Mrs Brown of Oxford Ave., London.
Silver Wedding
Smith John and Jane. Married on February 18th - twenty -five years ago
today - in London. Love and congratulations, Gerald, Sandy and the kids.

ACTIVITY 13.
 39
Suggest a suitable gift for each wedding anniversary.
1 PAPER 14 IVORY
2 COTTON 15 GLASS
3 LEATHER 20 CHINA
4 LINEN 25 SILVER
5 WOOD 30 PEARL
6 IRON 35 JADE
7 WOOL 40 RUBY
8 BRONZE 45 SAPPHIRE
9 POTTERY 50 GOLD
10 TIN 55 EMERALD
11 STEEL 60 DIAMOND
12 SILK 70 THANKFUL
13 LACE 75 CROWN

ACTIVITY 14.

Describe one of the wedding parties using the following words.

WEDDING GOWN HEAD PIECE PEOPLE

Ball gown Face veil Wedding consultant
Empire style Blusher Attendants
Tiered skirt Elbow veil Bridesmaids
Balerina skirt Chapel veil Maid of honour
Princess gown Cathedral veil Junior bridesman
Long-sleeved Fingertip veil Flower girl
Short-sleeved Train Best man
Sleeveless Three-tiered veil Usher
Made by seamstress Ringbearer
Silk HAIRSTYLE Groomsmen
Tulle Haircut
Velvet Permanent
 40
Taffeta Ponytail
Linen Curled hair
Satin Plaits

Chiffon Bun

pearls Chingon

SPEAKING ACTIVITIES

DISCUSSION
Discussion activity can provide students with a good learning
atmosphere in which students can cooperate better with one another, learn
from the content of discussion and from one another.

ACTIVITY 15.
Interview your classmate. Ask about his/her own wedding or the last
wedding he/she went to. How was it different from a traditional British wedding?

ACTIVITY 16.

This discussion encourages students to take an evaluative and critical position

in relation to the cross-cultural awareness activities in which they have
participated.

1. Do you feel it is important to retain Ukrainian customs in modern weddings?

Explain why you think this.
2. Would it possible to have a completely authentic traditional Ukrainian wedding
today? Why or why not? Which aspects would be possible? Which might not be
possible?
 41
3. What elements have remained the same as 100 years ago? What elements have

changed? Why have they changed? What elements have disappeared completely?
Why do you think this happened?
4. Why might some people want to retain or not retain Ukrainian customs in their
wedding? Discuss different possible attitudes and choices.

- N.B. To make discussion more productive, some Ukrainian folk traditions may be
mentioned.

Term (Ukrainian) Description

Blahoslovennia- благословення - a blessing

Darovannia- даровання - a presentation of gifts
Derevtse- деревце- a wedding tree
divych vechir дівич вечір a maiden’s evening

dopyty допити a ceremony of inquiries about a

perspective bride or groom
druzhba дружба a groom’s senior bestman
druzhka дружка a bridesmaid, a female member
of the bride’s party
hil’tse гільце a branch used as a wedding tree

korovai коровай a wedding bread

korovainytsia коровайниця a woman who makes the
wedding breads
ohliadyny оглядини an inspection of the groom’s
and his family’s assets
perepii перепій a toast, a ceremony with a toast
and alcoholic drink
pokhid похід a wedding procession
popravyny поправини a celebration which occurs the
day after the wedding
 42
rozhliadyny розглядини an inspection of the groom’s
family’s assets

rozpletyny розплетини a unplaiting of the bride’s hair

starosta староста a matchmaker who conducts
most of the wedding ceremonies
svatannia сватання the matchmaking ceremony
tsyhanshchyna циганьщина "gypsy raids" - a mock wedding that
sometimes takes place near the end of a
wedding celebration
vinchannia вінчання a church wedding ceremony
vyhuliannia вигуляння buying of the bride’s wreath and
bouquets

zaprosyny запросини the invitation of wedding guests

zaruchyny заручини an engagement ceremony
svakha сваха a middle-aged woman who
participates in various wedding
rituals

ACTIVITY 17
There are a number of idioms that are used in English to talk about getting married.

For example:
Tie the knot

Get hitched

Take the plunge

Take their vows

A ’shotgun’ wedding
 43

1. What do you think? Do any of these idioms have a similar meaning in your own
language? [Students’ ideas]
2. How many ways are there to talk about getting married in your own language?
[Students’ ideas: Зав'язати косу (хустку) — а) одружитися, вийти заміж;
піти за когось – вийти заміж, женитись – одружитись].
3. Do you think any of the idioms in your language can be translated into English?

ACTIVITY 18
Agree or disagree with the following statements. Give your reasons.

The husband should be more intelligent than the wife.

 Shared interests are the most important element in a relationship.
 Money often keeps people together.
 Marriage should be compulsory for everybody.
The best wife is a housewife.
 You should wait till you are in your thirties before getting married.
 Marriage was easier in my parents' days.
 True love lasts forever.
 Divorce is better than an unhappy marriage.
 Getting married is better than living together.

ACTIVITY 19
Translate the following quotations and comment upon them.

"Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut after."
 44
Benjamin Franklin

"Love ceases to be a pleasure, when it ceases to be a secret."

Aphra Behn

"Marrying a man is like buying something you've been admiring for a long time
in a shop window. You may love it when you get it home, but it does not
always go with everything else in the house."
Jean Kerr

"Marriage is the alliance of two people, one of whom never remembers

birthdays and the other never forgets them."
Ogden Nash
"Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is
the triumph of hope over experience."
Anon
"A woman's mouth is like a rosebud until a man marries her. Then the bud opens..."

“Nothing solves everything forever like a wedding!” Marge, The Simpsons

I love weddings. Such a beautiful celebration of love and hope. Plus there's cake.

Gillian Foster

RESEARCH
 45
This activity continues and expands the theme by giving students an
opportunity to do their own research. Students can work individually, in pairs
or groups.
The task is to find out more facts about origin of some wedding traditions and
customs which were integrated into Ukrainian culture.
For example:
Wedding traditions are respected and followed by many. Others choose to create
their own traditions and allow some of the old ones to fall by the wayside. As you
decide which wedding traditions to follow or ignore, it will help to understand why
they exist. Here are twenty of the most popular wedding tradition and some of them
are widely used in Ukraine.
1. Something old: The bride wears something old that represents the bond she has
to her family.
2. Something new: The bride wears something new to represent the new life with
her husband.
3. Something borrowed: The bride wears something borrowed from a happily
married woman as a promise of a happy marriage.
4. Something blue: The bride wears something blue to represent fidelity.
5. White Gown: Queen Victoria was the bride that began the wedding tradition of
wearing a white dress to symbol purity and virginity. Before that brides wore their
best gowns for the wedding.
6. Engagement ring: The engagement ring represents the marriage purchase
where the groom made a partial payment for the bride and represented his
honorable intention.
7. Diamond: Diamonds are used in engagement rings as Medieval Italians believe
it represented the Flames of Love. The hardness of the stone also stood for
enduring love.
 46
8. Wedding ring: The metal circular ring symbolized unending, undying love and
has been a wedding tradition since the Early Egyptians. Before that a bride work a
ring or hemp or rushes.
9. Ring Finger: Egyptians believed the 'vein of love' ran directly from the heart
third finger of the left hand.
10. Best man: Warriors who stole their wives needed a warrior to help them fight
off the woman's family and prevent them from finding the couple.
11. Bachelor party: Ancient Spartan soldiers held stag parties, which was a feast
with male friends to say goodbye to carefree bachelor days. This wedding tradition
will probably never die.
12. Bride on the left: The bride's family is on the left and the grooms family is on
the right during weddings because in warrior days, the groom held the bride in his
left hand and fought off her family with his right hand as he stole her away.
13. Honeymoon: When warrior grooms abducted their wives they would stay
hidden with them for a month, or through all of the moon's changes so that when
the family found them she would already be pregnant.
14. Giving the bride away: In times more civilized than warriors stealing wives,
the father would literally give the bride away for financial gain.
15. Trousseau or Dowry: 'trousseau' means bundle in French, and literally meant
the brides clothes and belongings would be tied up in a bundle. This wedding
tradition later expanded to include money and gifts from the family. Today it
means new items needed to start a household.
16. First kiss: The kids seals the couple wedding agreement for a life-long
agreement. It is akin to a very personal hand-shake.
17. Bridal Shower: It is believed that the first bridal shower was for a poor couple
who were not given a dowry because the groom was a miller. Instead of getting the
dowry from the father, the miller's friends showered the bride with gifts.
18. Carrying bride: The bride is carried across the threshold originally as she was
captured by the groom and would not willingly into his home.
 47
19. Unity candles: Unity candles is a relatively new wedding tradition from after
the women's lib movement. Women decided to take a more active role in the
wedding of their children and so they began the tradition of lighting a candle for
each household. The couple would then take the candles and light a third candle
signifying the unity of the households.
20. The African American wedding tradition of jumping the broom has roots in
African and symbolizes making a home together. This tradition was popular
during slavery times as weddings were not permitted. The couple would jump over
a broom together to symbolize that they were married.
 48
CONCLUSIONS

The intercultural aspects in EFL classroom represent a special interest for

English language teachers. Being widely investigated by leading methodologists,
still there are many aspects that arise various questions even nowadays.
Nevertheless, those aspects are becoming increasingly more recognised in the
world of today and, subsequently, various new approaches and methods are used in
EFL classrooms.
This diploma paper offers a potential impact on EFL learning and teaching
in the contemporary changing, globalized, and transcended world. It proves that
foreign language should be taught together with culture, because the lack of one of
these factors would compromise the end result.
Throughout the paper, it has been suggested that intercultural competence
should be fostered at every stage of the English language learning experience. While
doing this, English language learners get to assume the role of a comparative
ethnographer and fully understand the role of their own identity while comparing
their own culture with the target culture. This claim is based on the theory that
language awareness is not sufficient all by itself. There is no doubt that cultural
awareness should be integrated while developing language awareness. Attention
was paid to the significant role that EFL teachers play in promoting motivation to
integrate cultural awareness into language learning. Thus, it has been recommended
that EFL teachers should attempt to help the student personalize a particular content
by having them discover the differences between their own culture and the target
culture.
To conclude, language learning should not be conducted without culture
learning. The ideal case for teachers, therefore, would be to create a classroom
atmosphere in which questions and discussions about the target culture, comparisons
between students’ native culture will compliment the students’ language learning,
make the process of learning more enjoyable and cognitive.
 49
In this paper, taking the intercultural competence as the point of departure,
it has been presented a sampling of activities in the four language skills for helping
learners to communicate fluently and appropriately in the target language and
culture. The lesson plan was designed with the aim to develop learners’ intercultural
communicative competence and ability to compare their native culture to other
cultures, to evaluate critically and interpret the results of such comparisons, and to
apply this knowledge successfully in both verbal and non-verbal communication.
It is hoped that the activities proposed in this paper may help learners see
language learning not merely as language practice but as a communicative activity.
 50
SUMMARY

Дипломна робота присвячена дослідженню міжкультурного аспекту у

викладанні англійської мови. У даній роботі теоретично обгруноване поняття
міжкультурного аспекту та розроблено цикл практичних видів роботи, які
мають на меті виробити навички міжкультурної комунікації.
У вступі вказано актуальність теми дослідження, поставлені завдання
та мета дослідження, визначено об’єкт, суб’єкт, теоретичну та практичну
цінність роботи.
У першому розділі дипломної роботи визначено зв'язок мови та
культури та розглянуто різноманітні підходи до викладання англійської мови.
Розкрито теоретичні аспекти та визначено основні цілі міжкультурного
підходу до вивчення англійської мови як іноземної.
У другому розділі дипломної роботи розглянуто поняття
міжкультурної компетенції. Розроблено цикл практичних вправ з культурним
елементом, які розвивають навички читання, аудіювання, письма та розмовної
діяльності.
У висновках підведено підсумки дослідження та подано певні поради
вчителям англійської мови щодо створення сприятливої атмосфери для
впровадження міжкультурного аспекту на практиці.

Ключові слова: культура, мова, міжкультурна комунікація,

міжкультурна компетенція.
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