| LESSON OVERVIEW
In this culture lesson students talk about social norms in different parts of the world. They also watch four short videos about polite behaviour in different cultures and write a blog post with advice for foreigners visiting their country. The idea for one of the videos comes from one of our subscribers. Magda, thank you! #yousuggestwecreate
WARM-UP & VIDEOS
In the warm-up activity, students have to finish sentences about different nationalities. They then move on to discuss what people in their country do in the situations presented in photographs (e.g. being at a wedding or on public transport). Next, they watch four short videos about what is considered polite or impolite in different places in the world and decide if the sentences in the task are true or false. After that, they discuss how these behaviours are perceived in their culture and share some other cultural and social rules they find interesting.
GRAMMAR & DISCUSSION
In this part of this culture lesson, students do two exercises in which they decide if certain statements require a bare infinitive or a to-infinitive (e.g. it’s polite to kiss…, you should always take off…, people tend to wait…). They continue with a discussion on the social rules mentioned in the previous exercises (e.g. visiting someone, making direct eye contact, kissing in public). After that, they talk about cultural norms regarding situations presented in photographs (e.g. giving presents, being on time, elderly people). Students are provided with a ‘Useful language’ box, which helps them explain what is considered respectful or polite.
WRITING
In the last part of the worksheet, students look again at the lesson title (When in Rome…) and need to complete it by choosing the correct ending. After that, they briefly discuss the proverb and say whether they agree with it. Finally, they have to write a blog post for visitors in their country following a provided writing plan. In this exercise students use the ideas discussed in the lesson, as well as the useful language practised in previous exercises.
WORKSHEETS
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thank you very much for such an intersting topic and I have been usuing it with all my students 6 times in a row haha! Very helpful and saved my time!! I wish there were more lessonbs of the kind!!! Thank you very much!!!!!!
That’s great! So happy to hear it was so useful for you 🙂
A really cool lesson! I have used it with higher levels too and it generates a really interesting conversation, especially because I am from Malta !!!!!
Oh, great! So glad to hear it’s going down well. Is it true about Maltese weddings then? 🙂
A great lesson but the second video is no longer available. Is it possible to get another link to it, please?
Hi Jimmy! We’ve just checked that and all the links to the videos work fine.
Very good lesson with an interesting topic. Although I think that instead of writing there could have been another speaking exercise instead.
Thanks for the feedback!
Loved your lesson, thank you. Sts enjoyed the discussion part and the writing went well as well. Used it with both online and face-to-face classes. The humor was much appreciated by the sts.
Thanks! We’re really happy the lesson has been successful with different classes 🙂
This is a fantastic lesson!!! Thank you so much!! My student have been enjoying it a lot and it provokes very interesting discussions. Thanks again!!!
That is great to hear! Thank you!
The second video doesn’t work. Can someone please fix that?
It seems to be a regional issue. I used my VPN and connected to a USA network, and the video loads fine.
Hey, it seems a great lesson, but the 1st video is not available anymore. Can you share the link? Thanks!
Hi! Thanks for bringing this to our attention – we’ve updated the video links across the materials here so that they work again. Happy teaching 🙂
the teacher’s version is not available to download 🙁
It’s most likely something you only experience as this file works for us fine. This might be caused by cookies stored in your browser – see if you can access this lesson in Incognito mode -if not contact us via chat/email and we will figure it out together.
Amazing!
I love this topic and lesson, but am I the only one who thinks the videos are a little outdated?
Great class. The video clips of the ads were creative and fun for the students to talk about.
I added a description of what social norms are in the beginning.
We’re happy to hear that and thanks for the idea you used with your students 🙂
The lesson idea and content is great; might be engaging for B1/ B1+ level as well.
The only disappointment was mentioning of russian people (slide 3) …