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As a TEFL teacher it is common that you will find yourself teaching in a foreign country which has a different culture from yours. Teaching in a different country is beneficial but its also quite challenging. Therefore as a teacher its important to adaptable to different cultural setting and be culturally sensitive to the cultural demands of the country where you are teaching. In a classroom it is important to make students feel comfortable and also to create rapport between the students and between the students and the teacher. To do this the teacher must use various ice breakers, be in a good mood, be interested in the students lives and be punctual in class. However whatever methods the teacher uses to create rapport with students the teacher must make sure that these activities are culturally sensitive and will not cause offense to the students. Some activities and ice breakers, though being acceptable in the teacher's own culture, maybe unacceptable to the students's culture therefore caution in important in such situations. To avoid being culturally insensitive in the classroom the teacher must make sure that when commencing a teaching job in a new country with a new group of students he/she is professional in his conduct and in his attitude towards his/her students. Jokes, informal language and sarcasm should be avoided especially at the beginning of the course until the teacher is comfortable enough with the students. As a rule of thumb any conversations concerning politics and religion should largely be avoided until the teacher knows better. In the classroom the teacher must not seek to impose his own culture or change the culture of the students but a respectful approach should be adopted towards the culture. The teacher should also know how to work with students of different sexes in his classes. In some cultures any contact with female students is unacceptable there if a teacher gets a mixed class he/she should know how to relate to students, how to organise them in groups and if it permitted to group male and female students together. Cultural sensitivity in the classroom also means the that the teacher should be aware of the students's age and topics such age groups should or shouldn't discuss in the given culture. Caution should be taken especially if the teacher is teaching teenagers and young learners as some cultures are conservative and do not permit the discussion of controversial topics such as same sex marriages and women's rights. Adapting to cultural sensitivity is important not to create tension or awkwardness between the teacher and his/her students. To be able to be culturally sensitive a teacher has to research on the culture of the country where he/she will be teaching. Talk to locals and get to know more about how the local people think. In some cultures such as Asian cultures individualistic exercises maybe problematic as students are used to group work as their cultures are community based and do not focus on the individual. Familiarizing oneself with the customs, cultures and traditions of the country helps in making the teacher culturally aware of the does and donts when he is teaching in the classroom. Talking to other English teachers who have been working in that country will also be useful as it will give insight on how to conduct yourself in the classroom with students.
