Overcoming cultural differences in English teaching

Overcoming cultural differences in English teaching
Shenzhen Daily《深圳日报》
Ren Xianbo 2009.7.1

    Cultural differences could cause some problems for foreigners in China, but it hasn’t prevented Grant Ruroede from enjoying himself while teaching English.

    Ruroede, an American who arrived in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, in February this year to teach English for Gateway Language Village (GLV), an English training school, was impressed by the enthusiasm shown by English learners in China.

    Studying new languages would always be affected by culture. Ruroede said he had difficulty getting his students to understand what he truly wanted to express due to cultural differences.

    “If that happens, I have to make an extra effort to clarify what I say,” he said.

    Because the English language has various cultural backgrounds, Ruroede has had to deal with the problems caused not only by Chinese culture but also by other English-speaking cultures.

    “The way that somebody from Britain or Australia pronounces the words is radically different from me,” Ruroede said. “To some Chinese speakers, they are almost different words. I try again to teach what I know. I really don’t know much about England and the English they use. It comes out in the way I teach, this is American teaching, this is my culture.”

    Ruroede said he was trying to learn Chinese to better understand his Chinese students.

    “I think the most interesting thing about learning a language is learning about culture,” he said. “Now that I am learning Chinese, I can put myself into the students’ shoes. I can understand the difficulties they go through.”