Teaching Across Borders

In many classrooms, cultural learning is introduced through posters, flags, food samples, or short presentations. These activities can be enjoyable and meaningful, but they can also remain at the surface level if students only memorize facts about a country without truly understanding the people, traditions, language, and values behind them.

As an international educator with more than 25 years of teaching experience in Canada and the United States, I have learned that students need more than information about culture. They need experiences that allow them to see, hear, taste, question, and connect with culture in authentic ways. When culture becomes something, students can experience, it becomes more memorable, meaningful, and connected to identity.

My teaching journey has shaped the way I see cultural learning. I was born in Venezuela, lived and taught in Canada for many years, and now teach in Texas in a trilingual school environment. My students are exposed to English, Spanish, and Mandarin, and I also bring French-Canadian cultural experiences into my classroom because of my years living in Canada. These languages and cultural experiences are not separate from academic learning. They are powerful tools that help students build vocabulary, deepen comprehension, strengthen writing, and develop respect for others.

From Learning About Culture to Experiencing Culture

One of the most important lessons I have learned as a teacher is that students remember what they experience. A student may forget a worksheet, but they often remember the day they tasted something new, asked a question to someone in another country, heard a new language, or connected a classroom lesson to real life.

This is why I intentionally design cultural learning experiences that go beyond facts. Instead of only telling my students that French is spoken in parts of Canada, I introduce them to French words, music, images, traditions, and real conversations with Canadian educators. Instead of only showing students a map of Canada, I help them understand how geography, weather, language, and community life influence culture.

For many of my students in Texas, Canadian seasonal traditions are new and interesting. Through classroom activities and virtual connections, students were able to explore how the environment shapes daily life. They learned about colder weather, outdoor traditions, food practices, and family activities that are different from what they may experience in Texas.

Students were also briefly introduced to French-Canadian traditions such as the cabane à sucre, which helped them understand how food, climate, geography, and community life can shape cultural identity. Rather than focusing only on one tradition, the goal was to help students see that cultural practices are connected to place, history, family, and community.

Connecting Texas Students with Canadian Classrooms

One of the most meaningful parts of this work has been connecting my students by video with Canadian teachers. These live virtual exchanges allowed my students to see real Canadian cultural experiences, not just read about them.

Through video conferencing, a Canadian teacher showed my students activities connected to apple picking, seasonal traditions, outdoor learning, and community life in Canada. Students were able to see how apple picking is connected to the fall season, family routines, local agriculture, and school experiences. This gave them a real-life picture of Canadian culture.

The video connection made the lesson more personal. Students were not simply looking at pictures from the internet. They were interacting with a real teacher in Canada who could explain the experience, answer questions, and show them what life looks like in another place. This helped students understand that culture is not only found in books. It is lived by real people in real communities.

Before the video exchange, my students prepared questions. They practiced how to ask respectful questions and how to listen carefully. During the exchange, they observed, listened, and compared. Afterward, they wrote reflections about what they learned. This supported reading, writing, speaking, listening, and critical thinking.

Some students compared apple picking in Canada to activities they do with their own families in Texas. Others noticed differences in weather and seasonal traditions. Some students were surprised that students in Canada experience very different climates but still share many similar interests and school routines. These conversations helped them develop empathy and curiosity.

Food as a Pathway to Cultural Understanding

Food can be a powerful teaching tool when it is used with purpose. In my classroom, food is not used only as a celebration. It becomes a way to discuss history, geography, family, language, and identity.

When students learned about French-Canadian culture, preparing and discussing food helped them make deeper connections. They were able to use their senses while learning. They could see, smell, taste, and describe. These sensory experiences helped students develop vocabulary and remember cultural concepts more clearly.

For example, when students explored Canadian food traditions, they were also learning about natural resources, climate, and community. They discussed how local ingredients, weather, and family traditions influence what people prepare and eat. Students began to understand that food is not just something people consume. It can also represent place, history, family memory, and cultural pride.

This type of sensory learning is especially helpful for multilingual learners. Some students may struggle to understand abstract cultural concepts if they are only explained through text. However, when they can see an object, taste a food, hear music, or watch a real-life demonstration, they have more ways to access meaning. These experiences give students language support while also increasing engagement.

Connecting Culture to Academic Skills

Cultural learning should not be separate from academic learning. In my classroom, these experiences are connected to reading, writing, speaking, listening, vocabulary, and comprehension.

After learning about French-Canadian traditions, students complete writing activities. They may write about what they learned, compare Canadian traditions with their own family traditions, or explain how geography and climate influence culture. These writing tasks allow students to practice organization, details, and reflection.

Students also use speaking and listening skills during discussions and video exchanges. They learn how to ask questions, listen to another person’s perspective, and respond respectfully. They build vocabulary connected to culture, weather, geography, traditions, food, and identity.

For reading instruction, cultural learning helps students make connections to texts. When students read about communities, traditions, or different places, they are better able to understand because they have already experienced cultural comparison. They can identify central ideas, make inferences, and explain how details support meaning.

For example, after learning about Canadian seasonal traditions, students can better understand a text about how communities preserve customs over time. After seeing a video about apple picking in Canada, they can compare rural, seasonal, or agricultural experiences in a reading passage. The cultural experience becomes background knowledge that supports comprehension.

Why Research Supports This Work

Although my article is based on classroom experience, this approach is also supported by educational research.

Culturally responsive teaching emphasizes the importance of connecting instruction to students’ cultural backgrounds, prior knowledge, and lived experiences. Geneva Gay explains that students learn more effectively when their culture and experiences are meaningfully connected to academic content. In practice, this means that culture should not be treated as an extra activity, but as a foundation for engagement and learning.

Gloria Ladson-Billings’ work on culturally relevant pedagogy also supports this approach. Her research emphasizes that students should experience academic success while also developing cultural competence and the ability to think critically about the world. In my classroom, cultural learning helps students develop pride in their own identity while also respecting the identity and experiences of others.

Research on multilingual education and translanguaging also connects to this work. Scholars such as Ofelia García have explained that students’ full language resources should be viewed as strengths. When students compare words, discuss ideas across languages, or connect English learning with Spanish, French, Mandarin, or another home language, they are using their linguistic knowledge to build deeper understanding.

Experiential learning theory is also important. David Kolb’s work suggests that students learn deeply when they experience something, reflect on it, connect it to concepts, and apply it. This is exactly what happens when students participate in cultural activities, reflect through discussion, connect to academic content, and then write or present what they learned.

These research connections confirm what I have seen in my classroom: students learn more deeply when instruction is meaningful, active, and connected to real life.

Building Identity, Empathy, and Global Awareness

Cultural learning is not only about learning facts about another country. It is also about helping students understand themselves and others.

When students learn about French-Canadian traditions, they also begin to think about their own family traditions. They ask questions such as:

• What traditions does my family have?
• How does food connect to my culture?
• What language or expressions are important in my home?
• How does where we live influence what we celebrate?
• What can I learn from another culture?

These questions help students see that every family and every community have a story. Some students begin to feel proud of traditions they had not previously shared. Others become more curious about classmates’ backgrounds. The classroom becomes a place where diversity is not just accepted but valued.

This work is especially important in today’s classrooms, where students come from many different cultural, linguistic, and family backgrounds. Students need opportunities to see their own identities reflected in school. They also need opportunities to learn respectfully about people who may live, speak, or celebrate differently from them.

Through cultural learning, students develop empathy. They begin to understand that people around the world may have different customs, climates, languages, and histories, but they also share common human experiences: family, school, food, music, celebration, and belonging.

Practical Strategies for Teachers

Teachers do not need a large budget or a special program to bring culture into the classroom in meaningful ways. What matters most is intentional planning.

Here are some strategies that have worked in my 4th grade classroom:

1. Use real-life connections.
   Whenever possible, connect students with real people. A video call with a teacher, student, family member, or community guest can make cultural learning more authentic.
2. Prepare students before the experience.
   Before a virtual exchange or cultural activity, teach students background vocabulary and help them prepare thoughtful questions.
3. Include sensory learning.
   Use food, music, images, maps, clothing, objects, or movement to help students understand culture through multiple senses.
4. Connect the experience to reading and writing.
   After the activity, ask students to write reflections, compare traditions, summarize what they learned, or explain the central idea of the experience.
5. Encourage comparison without judgment.
   Help students compare cultures respectfully. The goal is not to decide which culture is “better,” but to understand how people live and why traditions matter.
6. Include students’ own cultures.
   Invite students to connect the lesson to their own family traditions, languages, or experiences. This helps them see themselves as part of learning.
7. Avoid stereotypes.
   Culture should not be reduced to costumes, food, or celebrations only. Teachers should help students understand that every culture is complex and includes history, values, language, geography, and individual experiences.

Lessons I Have Learned

Implementing cultural learning has taught me that students are naturally curious about the world. They want to know how children in other places live. They want to ask questions. They want to compare. They want to share their own stories.

I have also learned that cultural experiences must be handled with respect. Not every student feels comfortable sharing personal family traditions, and not every student has the same connection to a culture. Teachers should provide options and never force students to represent an entire group. Students can participate through writing, drawing, research, discussion, or reflection.

Another lesson is that cultural learning does not take away from academic instruction. When planned carefully, it strengthens academic learning. Students read with more interest, write with more detail, speak with more confidence, and listen with more purpose.

In my classroom, French-Canadian cultural learning helped students build background knowledge, expand vocabulary, develop writing ideas, and practice respectful communication. It also helped them understand that the world is larger than their immediate environment, but still deeply connected to their own lives.

Conclusion: A Classroom Without Borders

Teaching across borders means creating learning experiences that help students see beyond the walls of the classroom. It means helping them understand that culture is not only something from a textbook. Culture lives in language, food, music, family, geography, traditions, and everyday life.

By bringing French-Canadian culture into my 4th-grade classroom through food preparation, video connections with Canadian teachers, apple picking experiences, language exposure, and other real-life activities, I have seen students become more engaged, curious, and reflective. They were not only learning about Canada. They were learning how culture shapes identity, community, and belonging.

For me, this work is personal and professional. As a trilingual international educator, I believe students deserve classrooms where languages are valued, cultures are respected, and global connections are part of everyday learning. When students experience culture in meaningful ways, they develop more than knowledge. They develop empathy, confidence, communication skills, and a stronger sense of who they are.

A classroom without borders does not require students to travel far. Sometimes it begins with a video call, a story, a song, a taste of a traditional food, or a thoughtful question. From there, students can begin to see the world differently, and they can begin to see themselves as part of it.

Reflection Questions

1. How can teachers connect cultural learning to academic skills such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening?
2. What is one cultural experience, language, or tradition that students could explore in your classroom in a meaningful way?
3. How can teachers create immersive cultural learning experiences while avoiding stereotypes and respecting student identity?

References

Gay, G. (2010). Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. Teachers College Press.

García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan.

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice Hall.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491.

Meet the Expert(s)

Yoimar Falcon

Teacher, International Leadership of Texas

Yoimar Falcon is a trilingual international educator with more than 25 years of teaching experience in Canada and the United States. She currently teaches 4th Grade Reading, Language Arts, and Gifted & Talented students at International Leadership of Texas in Pearland, Texas, while also serving as an interim Grade Level Administrator. Born in Venezuela and shaped by her years living and teaching in Canada, Falcon brings a global perspective to literacy instruction by integrating cultural connections from English, Spanish, and French into her classroom. Her work focuses on culturally responsive teaching, multilingual learning, student identity, family engagement, and meaningful academic experiences that help students build empathy, confidence, and global awareness.

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