Global Issues: Avoiding Culture Clashes

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

• discuss cross-cultural communication in business and an intercultural communication framework;
• learn collocations related to cross-cultural communication;
• practise listening comprehension with a video on the topic

With this lesson, students discuss cross-cultural communication in business! They think about previous cross-cultural interactions and share opinions on communication and culture. They explore the framework, ‘The Culture Map’, a scale which helps people understand how cultural differences impact international business. They watch a video on the idea, discuss questions, and consider cross-cultural misunderstandings. Students also practise relevant collocations (e.g. subtle tactic, common consensus).

WARM-UP AND ‘THE CULTURE MAP’

Students begin this lesson on cross-cultural communication in business by reflecting on their own experiences in which they’ve noticed cultural differences (e.g. dress code, body language). Then, they read some opinions on communication and culture, and they expand on the one they agree with most. Next, students begin to explore ‘The Culture Map’, a scale which helps people understand how cultural differences impact international business. They look at the names of the scales and match them with what they think they represent. 

VIDEO AND DISCUSSION

Students continue talking about cross-cultural communication in business by looking at some statements. The statements are related to different cultures and where they are placed on ‘The Culture Map’. They must decide if the statements are true or false. hen they watch a video and check if they were right. After that, students discuss aspects of the video. Next, students analyse some situations of cross-cultural misunderstandings using the framework. They must rewrite the situations using some collocations in brackets (e.g. open confrontation, blunt criticism). Finally, students read the situations again and discuss some further points. 

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This lesson plan also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students read some tips about cross-cultural communication in business and complete the gaps with the phrases in the boxes. Then, they read the tips again and write a counterstatement to each of them. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.