Comparing East & West

Start with the lead-in on slide two. Students look at twelve culture words like food, religion, and family, then pick two or three that feel most important to their own culture. Give them a minute to think before they explain their choices out loud. This gets everyone talking before the vocabulary even starts.

Move into the eight vocabulary words next: generation, beauty standard, attractive, weird, slippers, brag, opposite, and catchphrase. The matching exercise on slide four works well in pairs. Follow it with the sentence completion practice on slide five so students see the words used in context right away.

The heart of this B1 lesson is the three video clips. Each one is under a minute, so play them twice if needed. After Jimmy’s bit on beauty standards, ask if students think older and younger generations judge attractiveness differently. The shoe etiquette clip usually gets strong reactions, especially from students whose families also have strict rules about shoes indoors. Run the true or false activity on slide nine right after the videos to check comprehension while the clips are still fresh.

For the second half, the Yang Liu pictograms are the real payoff. Each blue and red image compares a habit between Western and Eastern culture, from queueing to expressing an opinion. Give students time in pairs to guess what each picture means before you reveal it, then move to the four discussion questions on slide twenty-one. Wrap up with the five-minute writing task, letting students pick whichever topic feels most personal, like wedding customs or how people express emotions. If time allows, the extra role-play with Jimmy and his mom is a fun way to end the class on a lighter note.