KSWLA/FLAM 2018 Joint Conference

As language teachers, we tend to focus a lot on language. Culture, it can be a forgotten piece of teaching. Culture often ends up being a true/false question on the test, or a poster on the wall that is referred to on occasion and we can become so laser-focused on teaching the foundations of the language that we unintentionally neglect to infuse culturally rich, authentic materials into our lessons. What we don’t realize is that culture-rich authentic images, readings, videos, and infographics can be how we get the students talking in the target language in the first place! This presentation is intended to guide teachers in leading language with culture- the very piece of the puzzle that probably got us excited about learning language in the first place! Examples on how to infuse authentic, comprehensible materials to teach vocabulary, grammar and culture with comprehensible input will be given and how to move from learning cultural facts to obtaining intercultural competencies will be discussed.