“Language and culture are the frameworks through which humans experience, communicate, and understand reality” (Vygotsky, 1968)” --World Languages Framework Chapter 7: Teaching the Culture Standards

Cultures are complex and widely varied both within and throughout small and large groups of people. As students work to understand their target language, inextricably they will have to navigate the culture of the language that they are learning. Language learners will investigate the products that that cultures produce such as clothing and art as well as music and dance. Language learners will navigate the practices of a culture such as formality, beliefs around personal space and what constitutes family. These examinations will help students understand the varying perspectives that show through these “products and practices" (like collaboration and collectivism, or competition and individualism).

As language learners interact with culture bearers (or simply put a person who carries and shares culture), they will begin to understand how varied and complex both the culture and language of they study is rarely if ever static and can exhibit wide variation and not just with the language and culture of the region they’re learning about but their own as well. A great example is the of the word the when discussing freeways in Southern California versus literally anywhere else in the United States. Riverside County residents, like most Southern Californians, will refer to the 10, the 60 and the 91 freeway. Whereas the rest of the country would simply refer to them as I10, CA 60 and CA 91. 

Sites of encounter (places where different cultures come together) will see evolutions develop within and around the cultures that are interacting. This interaction can affect art, music, trade, cultural values, norms and belief structures. Utilizing inquiry and exploration 

“learners discover and often value the multiple ways that cultures interpret the world, offer ways of being and doing, and provide solutions to challenges. Students see that differences in products, practices, and perspectives derive from the unique history of a community of culture bearers and that different cultural approaches enrich the human experience. Furthermore, learners develop new ways to understand academic content and new reasons to prize their own languages and cultures.” --CA World Language Standards (page 17)

Framework and Standards Directly related to the Cultures Standards:

• Framework Chapter 7
• The Cultures Standards

Additional related materials for the Cultures standards:

• Standards Appendix 2
• Framework Chapter 4