Cultural Awareness

A good way to promote cultural awareness is to make your students aware of common words in the English language that come from other languages. Here are some examples:

  • African: cola, safari
  • Arabic: algebra, coffee
  • Dutch: cookie, stove
  • Chinese: silk, tea
  • French: judge, liberty
  • German: ecology, hamburger
  • Greek: gymnasium, machine
  • Italian: carnival, piano (and pizza of course)
  • Native American: chipmunk, moose
  • Norwegian: ombudsman
  • Japanese: judo, sushi
  • Spanish: cafeteria, ranch

You can find many other examples. By having your students learn about words in English that come from other languages, your students will learn about other cultures, and appreciate the diversity and richness of the English language.