Cultural Differences – An Introduction for ESL Students

hey james
great lesson, it was very funny and educative, specially asian”s hugs.

Dear Valen,

Let me wish you a flowerish future in the teaching field.

Yours

Y.K.Al Rifai
UAE

Yeah in Brazil is commom and nice and you meet someone, you give hugs and somentimes 2 or 3 kisses on the cheek.

Hi, I’m new to this site. (And I love it!) I’m from Hong Kong.
I think more and more Asian people are beginning to adopt the Western way of greeting. They hug too, but as for kisses, they are still rather conservative. (At least I myself seldom do it.)
The Chinese shake hands when they meet. And how long they hold each other’s hand depends on how much they like each other or how well they know each other. This is true for the Westerners too, right?
Sometimes instead of a handshake, what they give each other is a pat (lightly) on the shoulder; they may give a firm grip on both shoulders if they are really passionate or emotional.
But I think we are really passive in showing our emotions. Even for family who have not met for a long time, they don’t usually show much excitement or give big hugs to each other when they meet. They just hold hands or, like I said, pat on the shoulder(s). But they tend to look at each other with big smiles for a long time, to take a better look at the changes on the face perhaps.
Well, that’s what I know about (Chinese) people in Hong Kong.
Finally, I agree that we need to know about different cultures if we want to make friends from foreign places.

Respected sir,
I am taking up TOEFL exam next week. I would like to know where can I find the recent TOEFL questions online so that i can practice more on it. I would like to know, in general, the topics that will be chosen as questions in the writing part.

Hello Mister:)
thank you very much your videos are helpful
but i want to ask about the Gerands & infiniteves could you pleas give us some information about it like for example
How can we memorize the verbs because they are more and its realy hard to me to memorize them!!!

Can you tell me different cases to use between “each” and “every”!!!

Sorry, and all cases we use “the”

Thank you very much!!!

thanks so much, this better way to learn free english as second language, I’d love to.

HI JAMES THANKS FOR THE LESSON, SO USEFUL BUT THE LAST TIME THAT I SAY HI LIKE INCLINING MY SELF I ENDS IN A HEADACHE U KNOW WHAT I MEAN, WELL ITS WONDERFULL LEARN MORE ABOUT OTHERS AND I THINK THAT HUGS ITS LIKE TRYING TO MAKE A PERSON LIKE PART OF FAMILY

You’re so funny, teacher James! Keep it up!

very useful lesson

Great lesson! Here in brazil we are very close to each other. When we greet we shake hands, hug or kiss in the cheek.

actually it is not a comment but rather a request , I am an Algerian student and I am undertaking a project about cultural differences in an EFL / ESL chassroom , so would you e mail me articles and bboks that demonstrate this differences in terms of an intercultural approach

u r great!!!!

In the mall they say. How are you doing ,guys? You should
Bring your I d card . May I help you?she said .

I think this is a good general overview, but even in Asian contexts there are a lot of differences. Like the “Wai” in Thailand or parts of India And differences between Japanese and Koreans in how they greet each other. The bow has different uses depending on where you are. It’s always good to let students know that while these are general concepts, reality is always more complicated.