projectGENIUS

One valuable thing about learning a language is that it lets students encounter people, places, and ideas that may differ from what they already know. I try to use these differences in my classes whenever I can to build familiarity, or sometimes I plan specific classes around certain events/ times of the year.

For elementary students, unfamiliar things can sometimes feel strange or even a little intimidating. A place they have never visited, food they have never eaten, a language they have never heard, or a person whose life looks different from their own can initially lead to reactions such as:

“That’s weird!”
“I don’t like it!”
“That looks scary!”

An English lesson can provide a simple opportunity to shift that reaction from “That’s scary” to “That’s interesting.”

The aim isn’t to tell students they must like everything they encounter. Instead, we can encourage them to become curious before judging.

Start with something unfamiliar

Begin by showing students several pictures of unfamiliar but child-friendly things from around the world.

These might include:

• an unusual-looking animal

• a traditional building

• a colourful festival

• unfamiliar food

• a different type of school

• an interesting landscape

• traditional clothing

• a busy market

• a unique form of transport

Choose images students are unlikely to recognise immediately.

Before explaining anything, ask:

“What do you see?”

Students can use simple English:

“I see a big building.”
“I see many colours.”
“I see strange food.”

At this stage, try to keep the focus on observation rather than judgement.

A useful distinction to introduce is:

“It’s strange.” versus “It’s new to me.”

Something may feel unusual simply because we have never seen it before.

Introduce a simple class message

Write two sentences on the board:

“I don’t know it. It’s scary.”

and

“I don’t know it. It’s interesting!”

Ask students which reaction can help us learn more.

You can introduce a simple classroom phrase:

“Different can be interesting.”

For younger learners, students could repeat it together with a gesture such as pointing to their eyes or making a “thinking” pose.

The idea is easy for students to understand: when we see something unfamiliar, instead of immediately saying “No!” or “That’s weird!”, we can ask a question.

Turn reactions into questions

Show another unfamiliar picture.

This time, give students three useful English questions:

“What is it?”
“Where is it from?”
“Why do people do that?”

Students work with a partner and choose one question to ask.

For example, if students see a photograph of an unfamiliar festival, they might ask:

“Where is it?”
“What are they wearing?”
“Why are there so many colours?”

The teacher can then reveal a little information about the picture.

This creates a simple routine:

See – Wonder – Ask – Learn

It also gives students a genuine reason to use English.

From Judgement to Description

Another simple activity is to show a series of pictures and ask students for their first reaction.

Students could choose:

Familiar
New
Interesting

Rather than asking students to label something as “good” or “bad”, these options encourage them to consider whether they already know about it.

After choosing, students can explain:

“It is new to me.”
“I think it is interesting because…”
“I want to know about…”

For lower-level learners, sentence starters on the board can provide enough support.

Include people carefully

This idea can also extend to people and communities, but people should not be presented as strange or unusual.

Instead, focus on the many different ways people live.

Students might see photographs of children:

• travelling to school in different ways

• eating different lunches

• playing different games

• wearing different school uniforms

• living in different environments

• celebrating different events

Ask:

“What is the same?”

“What is different?”

Students may quickly notice that, despite visible differences, children around the world often do very similar things: go to school, play with friends, spend time with family, eat lunch and enjoy hobbies.

This can lead to a simple message:

“People can be different and similar at the same time.”

Finish with “I want to know…”

For an exit activity, ask each student to complete:

“I want to know more about __________.”

They could write about a country, food, animal, place, festival or activity they saw during the lesson.

Younger students could simply draw the thing they found most interesting and write:

“It is interesting!”

The goal is to finish the lesson with curiosity rather than certainty.

Final Points

English classes naturally introduce students to things beyond their immediate environment. This means we are not only teaching vocabulary and grammar; we are also helping students develop the confidence to communicate with people and engage with unfamiliar ideas.

For young learners especially, one useful habit we can encourage is to replace an immediate negative reaction with a question.

Instead of:

“That’s weird.”

we can encourage:

“What is that?”

Instead of:

“I don’t like it.”

we can try:

“I want to know more.”

And instead of:

“That looks scary.”

perhaps:

“I’ve never seen that before. That’s interesting.”