In celebration of International Literacy Day, we are looking at literature to help students understand and respect other cultures. Kaitlin E. Thomas, a Lecturer of Spanish at Norwich University and Instructor of Spanish for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, shares how e-books can be utilizied for teaching culture in foreign language classes.

Tackling culture in an adequate and meaningful way is perhaps the most difficult domain to fulfill in a foreign language classroom, particularly for those who are far removed from locales that could provide an immersive outlet. Having long taught in precisely these types of settings, it has been a personal challenge at the start of each new semester to up the ante on how much relevant and worthwhile culture I am able to include for my students, and how I go about doing so.

As a self-admitted hoarder of any and all cultural materials that cross my path, I constantly collect snippets in anticipation of incorporating them as part of some lesson plan. A frequent obstacle has been the process of weaving each tidbit into cohesive activities. It often diverges into building a barrage of standalone cultural morsels accessible through a collection of websites, discussion board postings, or emails shared with students. While cultural materials would be studied and discussed, an ability to do all of this in a unified, collaborative, and portable fashion was lacking.

This became an impediment to achieving the level of cultural depth that I aspired to in my classes. I refused to accept that this was the only viable avenue for students to interact with contemporary cultural content. I have discovered that today educators of foreign languages do indeed have access to a truly exhaustive set of options for tools that simulate cultural and linguistic authenticity in remarkably cohesive and accessible capacities.

Read more: Education Week