Cutural background

Teaching English is not the same as teaching any other school subject since it is a second language. Thus, apart from teaching grammar, vocabulary, listening, reading, writing, speaking and pronunciation, we should also bear in mind the cultural aspect.

Different cultures have different manners and if we want to make a request in England we have to take into account than the British are much more polite than Latin American people.

The postcard on the top shows this in a very funny way. The man is about to drown but the gentleman only throws him the life belt when he asks for it in a polite way. In this website: /www.lgpcards.com/ you can find more postcards about how to be British.
Here are some useful tips that you could teach to your students about English customs:


* Visiting people in their houses:
When you are invited at someone's home it is nice to take a gift for the host and hostess. A bottle of wine, bunch of flowers or chocolates are all acceptable. Sending a thank you note is also considered appropriate.

* Say "Please" and "Thank you":
It is very good manners to say "please" and "thank you". It is considered rude if you don't.

* Say "Sorry":
If you accidentally bump into someone, say 'sorry'. They probably will too, even if it was your fault!

* Smile:
A smiling face is a welcoming face.

* Do not greet people with a kiss:
They only kiss people who are close friends and relatives. A handshake is the most common form of greeting among the English and British people and it is customary when you are introduced to somebody new.

* Avoid doing gestures such as backslapping and hugging:
This is only done among close friends.

Teaching ICT

Nowadays, it is quite clear that technology is everywhere. It influences the way we perform daily tasks such as banking, shopping, selling, communicating, among others. Therefore, we cannot avoid the fact that teaching and learning are also affected by technology. We must bear in mind that students are in permanent contact with technology at home. However, some teachers seem to disregard the significance of ICT.

As a teaching tool, the Internet has much to offer to both teachers and students. It can allow students to practise productive as well as receptive skills. They can practise English inside and outside the classroom. Students have also the chance to interact with real material such as videos, TV programmes, and on-line newspapers and magazines. These realia engage students in the learning process and contributes to the achievement of teaching goals.

Thanks to ICT, we can provide students with the necessary skills to explore new ways of working. This method could also be used in order to integrate English with other school subjects. For example, a project with a geography teacher could be carried out in which students have to find out about the UK. If you visit this website: www.nationalgeographic.com you can find very useful information about countries, animals and the environment.

But are we prepared to face this challenge? For those of us who lack experience with technology, this approach presents some difficulties as we may feel intimidated by thousands of sites, links and new terminology. Nevertheless, it is important to point out that it is not necessary for us to be experts in order to introduce ICT in the classroom. We just need to be competent users of the tools we are trying to apply in the classroom.

ICT has expanded the options for teaching English as a foreign language and it is makes learning easier and funnier. Now, it is our task to acknowledge this increasing influence of technologies in every day life, and therefore, their necessary implementation in the classroom.

In this site: http://http//www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/course/ there are guides that help you to share information online and there is also a useful dictionary to get acquainted with the Internet jargon (jargon buster).