Untitled

saxelmwifo enis swavlebis sakiTxebi:
problemebi da gamowvevebi
Issues of State Language Teaching;
Problems and Challenges
tions” (Elizabeth Peterson, 2000). This means that language is not only part of how we define culture,
it also reflects culture. Thus, the culture associated with a language cannot be learned in a few
lessons about celebrations, folk songs, or costumes of the area in which the language is spoken. Culture
is a much broader concept that is inherently tied to many of the linguistic concepts taught in second
language classes. We should make it a priority to incorporate the study of culture into their classroom
curricula. Cultural knowledge is one of the basic goals of language learners. Through the study
of other languages, students gain a knowledge and understanding of the cultures that use that language;
in fact, students cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural
contexts in which the language occurs (National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project,
1996). Language is too much loaded with cultural background. The clear example is “Boarding
school” and “школа-интернат” in English and Russian languages (also, in the languages of postsoviet
countries). These lexical units have the equal meanings, but compare them we’ll find that there
is a significant difference between them. Both of them express the meaning “School, where students
live and study”. In the post-soviet space the students of школа-интернат are the children from the
families with low leaving conditions who need financial support . Their expenses are paid by government
(in last decades by charity as well). On the other hand, in British (western) countries tuition fee
is very high. Attending this kind of schools (Westminster public school, Manchester grammar school,
Winchester school) is a privilege for the students from the wealthy families. In UK people with low
English language skills got confused with the advertisement “For Rent. 30 Pounds”. For non-native
culture representatives it was the monthly fee. Actually, there was written weekly fee. The tradition
goes back to the English sociocultural future _ Workers and all people from low social classes in UK
for long while were paid once in the week. So, they paid their landlords once in a week too. Figures
of speech, metaphors are rich and colorful, but they are loaded with different meanings for people
with different culture. For example, “cow” when used metaphorically in most cultures has negative
connotation, while for Indian culture it “cow” is considered as a holly being. We have really very interesting
case in Georgia that clearly demonstrates how tough is connection between culture and language.
The word “French” in Georgian means ethnical Georgians whose confession is Roman Catholicism.
There is the clear connection to the fact, that French missioners converted the ancestors of
the “French’s’ ” to the Catholicism.
After general overview we will discusses how incorporate culture into second language teaching and
recommend strategies for infusing cultural issues in classroom instruction. Cultural activities and objectives
should be carefully organized and incorporated into lesson plans to enrich and inform the teaching content.
Some useful ideas for presenting culture in the classroom are described in this section. Some of ideas are taken
from the Elisabeth Peterson’s recommendation (Elizabeth Peterson, 2000) and have filled with our original
ones. Linguists and anthropologists have long recognized that the forms and uses of a given language reflect
the cultural values of the society in which the language is spoken. Linguistic competence alone is not enough
for learners of a language to be competent in that language (Krasner, 1999).
Authentic Materials
To supply students with authentic materials allows them to get familiar with new culture. Movies, TV
programs, TV shows, websites, pictures, magazines and newspapers, restaurants menus, touristic brochures
and other printed materials are considered to be good sources for language learners. The task of educator/teacher
is to choose accurately learning materials. She/he have to take into consideration learner’s language
knowledge level, age, goal and so on. For example, for the beginners it is highly important to underline
such important cultural action, as greeting. Even on the very beginning level we can offer audio or audiovisual
materials. We can put them in the different segments of the elearning course. One should not only compare,
but contrast the cultural differences in language usage. Visualizing and understanding the differences
between the two will enable the student to correctly judge the appropriate uses and causation of language idiosyncrasies.
For Georgian students it is not familiar to ask strangers “how are you doing?” or say
“hello” every time you meet you colleagues or classmates during a day. It is difficult for them to realize that
expression actually is meaningless and serves as a cultural norm. But integrated materials from advertisings,
movies, cartoons make them clear how common it is for Americans.
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