Culture is so important to teach alongside additional-language classes. As a language teacher one of my main goals is to prepare my students to interact effectively with different people, who speak a different language and, typically, come from a different culture. Omitting the 'culture' aspect of language education essentially takes away the relevance of learning an additional language. To be interested in learning language is to be interested in learning culture.
In my French classes I often incorporate cultural references that I hope my students find relevant. For example, I would research the France's 'Top 10' list of current pop songs and we would compare our list in North America to the list in France. We would find France's equivalent to Justin Bieber. This was a very engaging activity for my Grade 9 and 10 FSL students. The fact that they were able to make cultural ties from their culture to the culture of a francophone region enhanced the curriculum.
An interesting aspect of additional-language education and 'culture' education brought up in the article was the paragraph in which the author presents the fact that in ESL classroom we often learn about US and UK culture and ignore others. I too experienced the same conflict in my own practicum classroom. I have spent much more time in a European francophone region (Switzerland) in comparison to the time I have spent in Québec. When trying to tie in francophone culture into the classroom I often find myself making more connections to the Europe as opposed to North America, even though Québec is in our own country! Is this acceptable in a Canadian French classroom?
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