Before we start

Pretend you have met an alien and he needs to survive in the USA.
What would he need to learn about life in the United States? What would you teach the aliens?

American Culture and Language Learning

Paper or plastic? the cashier asks. The question baffled the alien. What did she mean? The cashier saw the puzzled look written on the aliens face and repeated her question, only this time louder and a bit slower. Paper or plastic? Still not having the slightest idea of what he had to say in return, he could only stare at her in utter confusion. Fortunately, he noticed the 18yearold boy who was standing on the other end of the counter. He was impatiently carrying two BAGS, a paper one AND a plastic one. The cashier had asked him a simple question that she automatically repeated hundreds times a day. In response to her question, the customer only had to say what kind of bag she/he preferred to have the groceries put by the bag boy. Why did this question, tremendously simple in the structure and vocabulary, baffled him? Taken for granted by any American, this elliptical sentence presented him with his first cultural puzzle that he had to decode. In Jupiter, the majority of supermarkets do not provide their customers the services of shop clerks and the customer has to pack his/her own purchases.

Why Teaching American Culture in the Language learning Classroom?

The previous example gives us a clear idea on why we need to teach culture when teaching a language. Therefore, since culture is related to the everyday patterns of life and informal pattern of human interaction it was vividly manifested in this situation.

What is culture then?

Culture is defined as the attitudes, beliefs, behaviors of a group of people. Including: Music, race, geography architecture, customs, beliefs, arts and crafts, clothing, physical features, holidays and food

What are the main characteristics of American culture?

After many years of changes, the main characteristics of Americans remain: women are supposed to be supporting and not too loud; males are supposed to be independent and exhibit strong identification with their masculinity. They have a lot of confusion about what families are supposed to be like especially because they have a lot of extended families due to divorce and remarriage. All Americans are to be able communicators and not too affectionate. They have a need for personal physical space; they are taught not to be too close to one another

American Culture: Attitude towards formality and degree of realism

Americans tend to be casual and informal in social and professional interactions. Informality is also more necessary in a mobile society where people are always meeting new people. Americans are generally optimistic. They do not see things the way they are, but as better than they are, particularly if theyre not so good. It is important to be positive.

How does language affect relationships?

Different people and different cultures use different words. Men and women also use words differently; even when trying to say similar things. Jay Leno on the Tonight Show recently joked that a study showed men and women interrupt conversations about the same amount, except women do so to add support and understanding while men do so to add their own story. How much of that statement is true? Language differences exist within each culture as well as across cultural boundaries. There is a real problem in how we communicate. Its important to always keep a mental note of that, and to make an effort to help others understand us better, and to ask others for clarification when were listening and understanding their language.

The music of the United States

 Reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. Among the country's most internationallyrenowned genres are hip hop, blues,country, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop, techno, and rock and roll. The United States has the world's largest music industry and its music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some forms of American popular music have gained a near global audience.

American Customs & Culture

Names In many countries, when people give their name, they refer to themselves using their last name or family name. In the United States, however, people generally refer to themselves using their first name; some people even take on "nicknames," which can be related to their first name or some event in their life. On the first day of class, professors will introduce themselves and will tell you how they'd like to be addressed

 Greetings People may ask "how are you doing?" or "how are you?" as a greeting. If someone you are not well acquainted with asks you one of these questions, they are probably not expecting an in-depth or personal response. Most people will respond to these questions with "Fine, thanks. How are you?" or a similar statement

 Relationships Men and women in the United States often form friendships that have no romantic involvement. These friends will spend time together, go to the movies, and go out to dinner alone or in groups. If an American of the opposite sex invites you to a party or to dinner, it does not necessarily indicate romantic interest.

Federal Holidays

New Year's Day Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr Washington's Birthday Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Day Christmas Day

(link provided at the end)

Representative American Foods

Traditional Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

A cream-based New England chowder, traditionally made with potatoes and clams.
A Caesar salad containing croutons, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire, and pepper. A Hamburger, fries, and a coke from a fast-food restaurant.

Creole Jambalaya with shrimp, ham, tomato, and Andouille sausage.

Chicken Fried Steak(alternatively known as Country Fried Steak.) California club pizza with avocados and tomatoes.

A Chicago-style deep-dish pizza.

A submarine sandwichwhich includes a variety of Italian luncheon meats. American style breakfast with pancakes, maple syrup, sausage links, bacon strips, and fried eggs.

A hot dog sausage topped with beef chili, white onions and mustard.
A Barbecue pulled pork sandwich with coleslawside dish. A meatloaf with a tomato sauce topping.

An apple cobbler dessert.

Where do we find American Culture Information?

Technology has given ESL teachers a great advantage and has simplified in a way, teaching a secong Language.

With a Projector, Internet Connection and a lot of Creativity, an ESL teacher can connect the learner with the target culture.

How do we teach all these?

By exposing our students to different situations they might experience whenever they get themselves in touch with the new culture.

Using Roleplays, Dialogs-Conversations, Group Work Assignments, Watching movies, Analyzing songs, Doing research on the web, pretending, etc.
All of them should be focused on real life situations, with meaningful content.

Some of the most useful sites are:

Free Powerpoints about, Holidays, Geography, History, multicultural diversity in the United States. http://countries.pppst.com/unitedstates.html http://holidays.pppst.com/federalholidays.html

What is American Culture? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg87sSaTZSc

Intercultural Communication Web sites and Activities http://www.eslflow.com/interculturalcommunica tion.html

Final Note: Culture takes a lot of different aspects, we have defined some of them, but we can think of a number of new considerations when speaking about teaching american culture, for example: Sports, Humor, Proverbs, Slang, Idioms, Superstitions, Religion and beliefs, etc.