Introducing some activities for teaching cultural knowledge to motivate students’ interest in speaking class in high school

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HA TRUNG HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

INTRODUCING SOME ACTIVITES FOR TEACHING
CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS’
INTEREST IN SPEAKING CLASS IN HIGH SCHOOL

The author: NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN
Job position: Teacher
Experience initiative about: English


THANH HOA 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC
1.2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
1.3. OBJECTS OF THE STUDY
1.4. METHOD OF THE STUDY
2. PROCEDURE
2.1. THEORITICAL BASIC OF THE STUDY
2.2. REALITY BEFORE APPLYING THE STUDY
2.3. SOME ACTIVITES FOR TEACHING CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
2.3.1.ACTIVITY 1
2.3.2. ACTIVITY 2
2.3.3. ACTIVITY 3

2.3.4. ACTIVITY 4
2.3.5. ACTIVITY 5
2.3.6. ACTIVITY 6
2.3.7. ACTIVITY 7
2.3.8. ACTIVITY 8
2.3.9. ACTIVITY 9
2.3.10. ACTIVITY 10
2.4. APPLYING ACTIVITES FOR TEACHING CULTURAL
KNOWLEDGE IN TEACHING UNIT 3, SPEAKING SKILL, OLD
ENGLISH TEXTBOOK 11 AND UNIT 2 READING SKILL ENGLISH
TEXTBOOK 12.
2.4.1 Applying activities for teaching cultural knowledge in unit 3, speaking
skill (Page 35), English 11
2.4.2 Applying activities for teaching cultural knowledge in unit 2-ways of
socializing, reading skill (Page 31), English 12
2.5. EDUCATIONAL EFFECT OF THE STUDY
3. CONCLUSION AND SUGESTION
3.1. CONCLUSION
3.2. SUGGESTION

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REFERENCES BOOKS

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1. INTRODUCTION
English, the most popular foreign language in Vietnam, has been taught
from the early age (at the age of six or even younger) in most of schools
throughout the country as a compulsory subject. Nowadays, in teaching and
learning English as a foreign language in Vietnam, speaking has received a great

deal of attention. Nonetheless, English is learnt and taught in a non-native
environment, students usually do not have close contact with native speakers of
English and have little opportunity to discover how these speakers think, feel,
and interact with others. Moreover, not many of them have intelligible cultural
knowledge. That is the reason why they do not feel confident enough to
converse with English teachers or native speakers. It proves everything clear
that culture and language can not be separated and the teaching and learning of a
foreign language should always be a culture- based course.
Personally, I think that cultural gaps are one of the most important keys
lead us to success in communicating genuinely and understanding the real world
outside the classroom. In order to use the language effectively, language learners
should realize that knowledge of the world's language and culture is increasingly
important. They need to have mastery of not only the language itself but also the
culture in which the language is used. Therefore, So as to improve student's
communicative competence, teacher should teach cultural knowledge into the
learning of speaking skills. From my teaching experience, cultural challenges in
speaking-class have become a great source of inspiration for my study, which
deals with the problem:
“Introducing some activities for teaching cultural knowledge to
motivate students’ interest in speaking class in high school”
1.1. REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC
If language is a social practice of meaning-making and interpretation,
then it is not enough for language learners just to know grammar and
vocabulary. They also need to know how that language is used to create and
represent meanings and how to communicate with others and to engage with the
communication of others. This requires the development of awareness of the
nature of language and its impact on the world.
Students are taught the culture in foreign language, which means that they
begin to understand the relationship between their own languages and the
languages of their learning. If the teacher can get the students interested in the

culture of the Language, then they will hopefully end up with more successful
students. Thus, Teachers must find out the effective ways of teaching crosscultural characteristics, which certainly develop students ‘speaking skills.
1.2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
- Contributing in renovation of teaching methods, improving the effectiveness
of teaching and learning, adding knowledge and skills for teachers.

1


- Making and using various and flexible teaching methods to help students
learn and exploit knowledge actively.
- Creating excitement for students, and deepening knowledge, promoting selfdiscipline, independence and creativity of students.
- Equipping students the knowledge, values, attitudes, behavior and healthy
habits, eliminating negative habits, to solve the social issues that are of
concern.
1.3. OBJECT OF THE STUDY
To develop speaking skill and the communicative competence for students
at HA TRUNG high school, I have made a lot of efforts to motivate the students
to participate in speaking class effectively
The objects of the study are grade11, 12 students of English at HA
TRUNG high school in THANH HOA province.
1.4. METHOD OF THE STUDY
Three main methods have been applied:
- Reference document Method.
- Observation Method.
- Experimental Methods
2. PROCEDURE
2.1. THEORITICAL BASIC OF THE STUDY
Understanding the nature of the relationship between language and culture is
central to the process of learning another language. In actual language use, it is

not the case that it is only the forms of language that convey meaning. It is
language in its cultural context that creates meaning: creating and interpreting
meaning is done within a cultural framework. In language learning classrooms,
learners need to engage with the ways in which context affects what is
communicated and how. Both the learner’s culture and the culture in which
meaning is created or communicated have an influence on the ways in which
possible meanings are understood. This context is not a single culture as both
the target language and culture and the learner’s own language and culture are
simultaneously present and can be simultaneously engaged. Learning to
communicate in an additional language involves developing an awareness of the
ways in which culture interrelates with language whenever it is used. (Liddicoat,
Papademetre, Scarino, & Kohler, 2003).
When students learn a foreign language, their ultimate aim should be directed
towards the understanding of the ways people do things and why they do them.

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At the same time language teachers also feel that while this goal is the most
ideal, it is not very easy to handle, due partly to our imbalanced knowledge of
more than one discipline, partly also to time limitation in the classrooms.
Students also have to face a unique problem of not being able to get themselves
exposed to the natural environment while pursuing their language study.
Therefore, they have to be equipped with cultural knowledge to learn foreign
language more effectively.
2.2. REALITY BEFORE APPLYING THE STUDY
The study is carried out with the participation of grade 12A, 12B, 11E, 11G
students at HA TRUNG high school, most of whom are 17-18 years of age. I
designed a survey questionnaire as main tool to collect necessary data for study.
There are 10 questions and all the questions and tests are clear and short to make

sure students fully understand them before answering. The students were asked
to answer the questionnaires in fifteen minutes. The questionnaire concentrates
on students’ understanding about difference some cultural characteristics
between American and Vietnamese:
Questions

American

Vietnamese

1. How many generations live in
home?
2. Where do old-aged parents often
live?
3. Is it polite or impolite to ask
questions about age, marriage and
income?
4. Who do you greet in the family
first?
5. How often are groceries bought?
6. How is preparation for meals?
7. Where is wedding ceremony held?
8. Which holidays are the most
important?
9. How about kissing each other in
public?

3

10.Where do children sleep?
This survey was aimed to clarify some information gained from the
questionnaire responses. We can see the result in the table below.( indentified
point depended on the number of questions students answered: 9-10 questions:
Good; 6-8 questions: Quite good ; 4-5 questions: normal ; 0-4 questions: weak)
NUMBER

CLASS

QUANTITY

GOOD

QUITE GOOD

NORMAL

WEAK

SL

%

SL

%

SL %

SL %

1

12A

36

3

8.4

8

22.2

18

50

7

19.4

2

12B

31

2

6.5

7

22.5

15

48.5 7

22.5

3

11E

29

4

13.8 8

27.6

12

42.4 5

16.2

4

11G

30

5

16.7 10

33.3

10

33.3 5

16.7

126

14

11.1 33

26.2

55

43.7 24

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SUM

From the table, we can see that most of the students have no cultural
knowledge of a language in learning that language, even their own language’s
culture. It is easily understandable that in English learning process in secondary
school, communication and language usage are being ignored and when students
do not care the relationships between culture and communication, they are
almost beginners in English speaking because they were only exposed to the
language in classroom before. They had no chances to learn listening and
speaking skills and the only knowledge they have is structures and theories of
grammar. Therefore, along with their difficulties in acquiring any effective
language skills, a majority of the students did not have chances to know about
what we call "culture" and how to use culture knowledge into speaking skill.
The English teachers need to stimulate their curiosity about English -speaking
cultures.
2.3. SOME ACTIVITES FOR TEACHING CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
In the speaking skill, encouraging all the students in class to speak
English and create a competitive atmosphere are very important. The teachers
should insert interesting cultural activities into lessons to attract students to take

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part in. Gradually, students will overcome their shyness when speaking English
and feel more confident to give their own opinions on any issues.
Although nowadays, students play the centered role and the learner have a
great role in the management of their learning, it does not mean that the students

can decide everything, the teachers have to be good leaders to find out the
suitable teaching methods and combine different approaches in a context.
Furthermore, a teacher who teaches a foreign language well should not only
have good knowledge but also the ability to master the teaching method.
Teaching the foreign language is very difficult, but inserting culture into
language to motivate student' interest in learning this language is more difficult.
Therefore, in order to help teacher to orient the culture teaching, I would like to
suggest activities to improve our teaching method.
2.3.1. ACTIVITY 1
Name of activity: GREETING
Type of activity: warming up, greeting
Topic: Hi …
Goal: - Getting used to greeting habits - getting to know the fellow students
Possible challenges: In the beginning shy students may need help and speak at a
very low voice. It may be difficult for them to understand the question – they
need a minute or two to collect an answer.
Preparation: Think about the question that follows the introduction Procedure:
Note at the blackboard: + Hi … (e.g. Anna). How are you? * Hi… (E.g. Roman)
Fine, thanks. And how are you? + Fine, thanks. Then throw the ball to a student
and start the dialogue. He or she will answer, and then ask the follow-up
question. After the answer the student throws the ball towards another student
and the dialogue starts again.
Follow up: Ask a question that leads into your item today:
e.g. + “When do you go to bed normally?” * “I go to bed at 11 o’clock.”
2.3.2. ACTIVITY 2
Name of activity: LET’S CELEBRATE … (my birthday, a wedding, New
Year…)
Type of activity: presentation
Topic: How I celebrate in my country
Goal:

- At the end of the activity, the learners will be able to talk about the
organization and aim of the various festivities,
- Know the necessary vocabulary,
- Train talking in front of groups

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- Show appreciated parts of their own culture and increase knowledge and
understanding of the other cultures
- The group will draw profit from this exercise
Possible challenges: In case the occasion talked about is celebrated rather
differently in various cultures (like weddings) there might arouse fierce
discussions that confront the students with stereotypes and prejudices
concerning the own culture.
Preparation: Worksheet for each student with the exact task. I prefer a mindmap, asking:
- ‘Who is invited?’
- ‘Who talks to whom?’
- ‘Where will the party take place?’
- ‘When and how long?’
- ‘Food’, ‘Drinks’, ‘Preparations’
- ‘What to wear’?
Procedure: As a starter we talk about the students’ favorite dishes and note them
on the blackboard. This way we gather the vocabulary. Then I give out the
worksheet that serves as an example – students can copy it and get their work
done that way. Then each student presents her/his flipchart-paper, fastens it on
the wall and explains. There may be questions / short discussions.
Follow up: Role play:
- Invitation to a festivity in another culture
- Using role cards: you are invited and turn up dramatically underdressed.

2.3.3. ACTIVITY 3
Name of activity: HOW DO YOU SAY....?
Type of activity: role playing
Topic: intercultural communication
Goal: At the end of the activity, the students will be able to know the typical
coffee, slice of fried dough “tapa”, etc.
Possible challenges: The students don’t know how to ask what they want to
have.
Preparation: Cards with sentences where it is written several situations such as
“waiter, please”, “thank you, very much”…
Procedure: The students represent a scene in a bar, restaurant…in groups of two
or three persons. The other students have to look for a card with a sentence that
actors had to say or write themselves a sentence.

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Follow up: Go to a bar, restaurant … and observe the behavior of the people in
the local.
2.3.4. ACTIVITY 4
Name of activity: CALL OUT-QUESTION
Type of activity: Warming up, checking knowledge about the topic, (revision of
vocabulary)
Topic: “Daily life”, habitudes, jobs, how often we do things, compared to
English or American habitudes
Goal: At the end of the activity, the students will have a collection of relevant
Vocabularies to talk about daily life and a survey about daily habitudes or
typical daily life
Possible challenges: Students might not have much information about life or
might not be as communicative as they should be (for ensuring that this activity

works well)
Preparation: The call out question, white cards, tape
Procedure:
- Introduce the new topic (Daily life, habitudes, jobs, how often we do
things) by writing the question on the black- or whiteboard: “What do you
know about daily life in England and The USA?”
- Explain the procedure: students should tell their associations, their
experiences, their knowledge, everything this question evokes one after
another and that you’re going to write everything on the cards and that
every answer will be fixed onto the black- or whiteboard.
- Brainstorming, writing down, fixing. Help eventually with some
vocabulary if students sometimes don’t know a word for telling their
associations
- Check all the answers together with the learner-group: Is anything
missing?
- Do a clustering: students tell the headlines and you cluster
- Check headlines and clustering as a whole (together with students): Is
anything missing? Is a re-clustering necessary?
Follow up: As this topic is the one of a whole lesson in our textbook, we are
going to need the vocabulary found for the call out-question throughout this unit
2.3.5. ACTIVITY 5
Name of activity: CAN YOU CALL ANY WORD WHAT I MEAN?
Type of activity: roll play

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Topic: non-verbal communication, cultural awareness
Goal : At the end of the activity, the students will be able to realize how people
from other cultures behave when meeting other people, especially when talking

about things they don’t want to. What topics they talk about in public.
Possible challenges: for the teachers are that all students will go along with this
role play and will play the role they have got according to the plan.
Preparation: cards where the students will find there instructions and blank
cards for the follow up (max 6 per student) enough pens of course, and some
material to fasten the cards on the black board.
Procedure: All students are supposed to be participants in an international
conference and mingle around while waiting for dinner to be served. Every
student gets a card with instructions how to behave (e.g. keep distance to people
or stand close by, look people in the eyes while talking to them or don’t look
into peoples faces) and what topics to talk about (e.g. ask about peoples
families, their salaries, political situation in their countries, the weather, cultural
events and so on) . According to the rules/habits in their own culture the students
will experience situation where they feel comfortable or not.
Follow up: To follow up the role play all students shall write max 3 cards about
positive and max 3 cards about negative experience. Then everyone will put
their cards on the black board. All students will see how the others felt and why
and discuss it. By the end of the discussion the group should have found out that
people behave different in different cultures and you can’t discuss any topic in
any culture openly. Be aware of your own and other cultures.
2.3.6. ACTIVITY 6
Name of activity: WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT X- COUNTRY?
Type of activity: Warming up, mind mapping before starting lectures about a
certain country.
Topic: Facts about culture (history, geography, society)
Goal: At the end of the activity, the students will be able to see what they
already know about a country and what they want to know
Possible challenges: To make students realize that’s not enough to know the
language. It’s also important to know facts about a country and people living
there.

Preparation: whiteboard and pen
Procedure: The teacher writes the name of the country in the middle of the
whiteboard and asks the students to come forward and write what they already
know about this country and its people. This way it is easier for the teacher to
avoid talking about facts the students already.

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Follow up: In a second step you can ask the students what more they want to
know about the country. Focusing on that you will get students who are
interested in your lessons.
2.3.7. ACTIVITY 7
Name of activity: EATING ON THE CHAIR
Type of activity: warming up
Goal: At the end of the activity, the learners will be able to remember the
vocabulary about food
Possible challenges: The teacher has to make sure that only answers in the
foreign language are accepted. If necessary he has to decide who gave the first
two answers.
Preparation: Prepare the chairs: 3 chairs with 3 blue chair cushions.
Procedure:
- The teacher explains the activity in the mother tongue and tells the
students the sentence the person in the middle of the chair has to say in
the foreign language .Then the teacher sits down in the middle of the
“chair” and the students stand in a semicircle around.
- The teacher starts saying e.g. “I am an apple” and waits for the
associations of the students – the first two persons who give an answer sit
down beside the teacher and the teacher choose one of them to return to
the circle and leaves the other on the “chair” saying: “I take the … and

leave the .”. The person who is left on the chair takes place in the middle
and starts the game again repeating the name of the food he associated
with the “apple”.
Follow up: After this warming up the students should write a shopping list and
then work in pairs for a play role in a shop.
2.3.8. ACTIVITY 8
Name of activity: I SEE WHAT YOU ARE SPEAKING
Type of activity: Field work documenting
Topic: non-verbal communication
Goal: At the end of the activity, the students will be able to inform about nonverbal communication after they have carried out observation exercises in a
foreign culture.
Possible challenges: It might be difficult for the students to find or interpret
more than one or two gestures.
Preparation: The teacher will explain the activity involving fieldwork to the
students in class. Together all brainstorm the plan of action for the fieldwork, the
documentation and the reporting back. (Each group will show the documents

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(photos, paintings, videos …) and comment and compare with the foreign
culture with their own.
Procedure:
- We will brainstorm where they can go to observe the special gestures that
they think are typical from Vietnam culture (visiting bars, shops, parks,
streets…)
- And how they prepare the documentation. (They could use video, photos,
where they act out the gestures or drawings, notes. They should work in
teams of three or four students.
- The reporting, they should represent at least one situation, without words,

only with gestures and mime what they have seen on the in the city (even
on TV, video). The other students who are looking to the representation
must guess the meaning. And all will comment how it is represented in
their own cultures
Follow up: They can see films, TV programmers… where they can see typical
foreign situations and gestures.
2.3.9. ACTIVITY 9
Name of activity: PICTURE THIS!
Type of activity: Discussion and production of pictures
Topic: What pictures say about cultural values?
Goal: At the end of the activity participants should be able to recognise the
multiple interpretations one picture can have depending on one’s cultural
perspective.
Possible challenges: It is difficult for participants to know what is distinctive
about their own culture (apart from stereotypes). Therefore it might be easier for
participants to prepare pictures of other cultures with which they have some
familiarity.
Preparation: A set of 6-10 pictures representing aspects of the trainer’s culture.
These should avoid stereotypes and reflect commonly held values or commonly
observed events. (This might require a computer projector or similar).
Procedure:
- The trainer presents a selection of 4-8 pictures representing their
culture and
- Asks participants to discuss why they think each picture has been
chosen. (Can be done in small groups, pairs or even as a written
exercise).

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- The pairs or groups are then asked to discuss which pictures they would
choose to represent their cultures. This is then presented to the main
group.
- The whole group can then explore the differences in perceptions
revealed by the small group choices.
Follow up: It would no doubt be interesting to the whole group for the
participants to find actual pictures to represent their ideas, most likely from the
internet.
Further discussions could include: How many of the chosen pictures are well
known stereotypes and why?
2.3.10. ACTIVITY 10
Name of activity: LEARN CULTURE THROUGH DANCE
Type of activity: warming up
Topic: Dances and names of movements.
Goal:
- At the end of the activity, the learners will learn new words,
- Know the necessary vocabulary,
- Improve on-line learning possibilities,
- Show appreciated parts of their own culture and increase their
knowledge and understanding of the other cultures
- The group will draw profit from this exercise
Possible challenges: People do not want or can't dance in pairs.
Preparation: Teacher supposes to learn dance steps and to be able to show
them, to explain them.
- At the beginning let's learn some waltz step. Always right leg goes
forward and left backwards. One two three...
- Second part of dancing class: to teach to turn around waltz. When you
want to turn around, you must do a smaller step and turn your left
shoulder to the right. And keep thinking: rights goes forward, left goes
afterwards. One, two, three.

- This is beginning of the dance but you will teach it afterwards students
already tried to dance waltz and already tried to turn around it. I mean
when students already can dance second part of the dance, then you
teach first part of the dance. So, in this clip you can see what man does
in a first part of dance. Woman is standing in front of him.

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- This is again first part of the dance. You can see what both partners do
and also hear some music.
- Part one is danced twice. Afterward dancers dance waltz and makes
some turns around. Also this part is repeated twice.
2.4. APPLYING ACTIVITES FOR TEACHING CULTURAL
NOWLEDGE IN TEACHING UNIT 3, SPEAKING SKILL, OLD
ENGLISH TEXTBOOK 11 AND UNIT 2 READING SKILL ENGLISH
TEXTBOOK 12
The kinds of activities for teaching cultural knowledge can be varied,
depending on the real situation in terms of students’ ability and the content of
each unit. By my experience in learning and teaching English, I have
successfully applied some kinds of activities for teaching cultural knowledge in
teaching many units. Below are some cultural knowledge -applied activities
extracted in two units to illustrate the way I experienced in school year 20172018.
2.4.1 Applying activities for teaching cultural knowledge in unit 3, speaking
skill (Page 35) English 11
In Unit 3, English 11, speaking skill (Page 35), activity 2 has been used as
an effective means in the part - before you speak, is designed to help students
have vocabularies, information and organizing way for their talks
To illustrate the way I applied the techniques, I extract activities
implemented in the lesson plan.

TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES

STUDENTS’ ACTIVITIES

UNIT 3: A PARTY
BEFORE YOU SPEAK:
- Prepare a worksheet for each student with

- Work in pairs to think of
the questions.

the exact task asking Ss to make a mindmap:
+ ‘Who is invited?’
+ ‘Who talks to whom?’
+ ‘Where will the party take place?’
+ ‘When and how long?’
+ ‘Food’, ‘Drinks’, ‘Preparations’
+‘What to wear’

12


- Tell Ss to work in class to talk about their
- Do the task in class.
favorite dishes and note them on the blackboard
- Copy it information and
as an example for them.
get the work done that
* What to eat / drink (soft drinks, mineral
way.

water…/ chicken soup, green salad, steak, fired
chicken, fish, beef, hamburger, cake…)
- Each student presents
- Get Ss to do the task individually. T
her/his
flipchart-paper
encourages Ss to take notes while doing
and then fastens it on the
so.
wall and explains.
- Go around the class to check and offer
Example:
help.
* Where (home cozy, not
expensive, not spending a lot of
time to prepare, not have to
clean up…
* What time
* How many guests
* What to wear (dress, jeans,
shirts, T-shirt, pullover, skirt…)
* Which activities (singing,
playing games, taking
photographs, give gifts…
- Work in pairs

- Tell other Ss to walk round and have
questions and short discussions.
- Tell Ss to imagine preparations for a
party

2.4.2 Applying activities for teaching cultural knowledge in unit 2- ways of
socializing, reading skill (Page 31), English 12
In Unit 2, English 12, reading skill (Page 31), activity 5 has been used as
an effective means in the part - before you read, is designed to help students be
able to realize how people from other cultures behave when meeting other

13


people, especially when talking about things they don’t want to do. The students
will be easy to understand the content of text.
To illustrate the way I applied the techniques, I extract activities
implemented in the lesson plan.
TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES
UNIT 3: WAYS OF SOCIALISING

STUDENTS’ ACTIVITIES

BEFORE YOU READ:
- Prepare cards where the students will
find there instructions and blank cards
for the follow up (max 6 per student) and
fasten the cards on the walls or
blackboard.
- Tell Ss to be participants in an
international conference
and mingle
around while waiting for dinner to be
served.
- Hand a card over to each student with

instructions how to behave and what
topics to talk about.

- Tell Ss to work in pairs or groups to
follow up the things in cards.
- Tell Ss to write max3
cards about
positive (they feel comfortable) and max
3 cards about negative experience (they
don’t feel comfortable).
- Tell Ss to see how the others felt and why
and discuss it.

- Listen teacher’s
instruction.
- Get a card for each with
instructions:
+ E.g.
Keep distance to
people or stand close by,
look people in the eyes
while talking to them or
don’t look into peoples
faces.
+ E.g. Ask about people’s
families, their salaries,
political situation in their
countries, the weather,
cultural events and so on.
- Work in pairs or group.

- Write on the cards and put

- Them on the blackboard
- Be aware of their own and
other culture.
14


- Show Ss that people behave different in
different cultures and they can’t discuss
any topic in any culture openly. That is
topic of unit 3: WAYS OF
SOCIALISING
2.5. EDUCATIONAL EFFECT OF THE STUDY
My study was achieved and even went beyond my expectation. These
activities were very motivating to student and they themselves were really
excited about their learning. These ones provided my students with a feeling of
physical and emotional self confidence that enable them to communicate
naturally in English. By introducing to my colleagues and collaborating with
them, we organized successfully speaking English clubs and festivals in which
students took part in very enthusiastically.
As evidence by for the effect of this study, I conducted a survey on the
students. We can see the result in the table below:
Questions
Agree
Disagree
No idea
1. Do you think that Learning a foreign
language cannot be separated from
learning that target culture?

2. Cannot You use English effectively
unless you have good knowledge of
English-speaking cultures?
3.
Do The differences
between
Vietnamese
and English
culture
influence on your learning spoken
English in class rooms?
4. Do you feel very highly enthusiastic
in these actives?

(%)

(%)

(%)

90%

10%

0

80%

15%

5%

85%

12%

3%

95%

0

5%

Through the assessment in 4 classes with 126 students of my charge, I
achieved the following result:
NUMBER

CLASS

QUANTITY

GOOD

QUITE
GOOD

NORMAL

WEAK

15


SL

%

SL

%

SL

%

SL

%

1

12A

36

8

22.2 15

41.7

10 27.8

3

8.3

2

12B

31

6

19.4 15

48.4

8

25.8

2

6.4

3

11E

29

6

20.7 17

58.7

3

10.3

3

10.3

4

11G

30

8

26.7 15

50

4

13.3

3

10

126

28

22.2 62

49.2

25 19.8

11

8.8

SUM

From the table, we can see that the majority of the students appreciate
highly the importance of cultural knowledge to effective English usage.
Especially, the activities in motivating negative attitudes toward practicing
speaking skill were very effective.
3. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
3.1. CONCLUSION

From the study as above it can be seen that teaching culture is very
important in improving the language. Most of teachers and students believed
that culture plays an important role in teaching and learning speaking skill. The
students understand that culture and language have inseparable relationship and
learning language is learning culture. Therefore, raising cultural knowledge and
awareness has been considered to be great help to the learning of speaking skill.
For the teachers, the attitudes towards cultures in the teaching of speaking skill
are very important. And then, we must upgrade cultural knowledge by ourselves
and try to make a cultural environment in the classroom. In addition, the teacher
always creates a comfortable speaking English environment so that students can
speak out.
3.2. SUGGESTION
In this study, the author finds it interesting and essential to study more
into the issue of teaching culture as an integration of foreign language teaching
and learning. To this study is able to become a feasible scheme, I would like to
give some following suggestions:
Firstly, this study has just focused on inserting cultural knowledge into
speaking skill. We should also teach to raise the students' cross-cultural
awareness and improve communicative competence. It should be done in other
lessons such as: reading, listening, and writing.
Secondly, together with innovating teachers’ and students’ awareness and
habits in teaching and learning of the foreign language. The school board of
directors should concentrate on upgrading the facilities (radio, cassette, CD
record, projector, the Internet....) to meet well for teaching and learning of the
skills.

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Lastly, due to the lesson’s limitation of time, many activities are not

executed. We hope that the teacher can self adjust the lesson plan to be
compatible with the content.
In the process of implementation of the study is certainly not free from
shortcomings and limitations, I hope to receive the contributions from
colleagues and those are interested in this content to complete my subject.
Thanks for your reading!
The confirmation of The
Headmaster

Thanh Hoa, May25th, 2018
I assure this is my idea report, do not
copy other people's content.
(Signature and name)

NGUYEN THI THANH HUYEN

REFERENCES BOOKS
1. Phương pháp dạy tiếng Anh Trung học phổ thông (Nguyễn Hạnh Dung)
2. Sáá́ch giáá́o khoa Tiếá́ng Anh 10, 11, 12.
3. Brooks, Nelson, Teaching Culture in the Foreign Language Classroom,
Foreign Language Annals, Volume 16, NewYork:ACTFL, Inc (1983).
4. Eli Hinkel, Culture in second language teaching and learning, Cambridge
University Press (1999).
5. Nguyen Van Do, Language culture and society, Teacher's Edition (2007).
6. Dobson, M.J, Effective Techniques for English Conversation Groups.
Bureau of Educational and cultural Affair, USIA (1992).
7. Buttjes, Teaching foreign language and culture : social impact and
political significance, Language learning Journal (1990).
8. Barry Tomalin & Susan Stempleski, Cultural Awareness, Oxford
University Press (1993).

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