What are Culture Days?
Culture Days are special events at primary and secondary schools that celebrate and showcase the diversity of languages and cultures. They include a wide range of activities that highlight the traditions, arts, heritage, and customs of different cultures.
Throughout a day, students engage in a variety of activities and work on different topics, including the preparation of presentations, performances, and creative projects. These outcomes are subsequently presented to the wider community during open days or school festivals.
Who is it for?
The Culture Day Package’s target groups are teachers or club leaders and their primary and secondary students and focus on KS 2 to 5:
- Primary KS2 (7-11)
- KS3 (12-14) + KS4 (15-16)
Each resource is accompanied by a detailed teacher guide and further ideas and tips on creating a memorable, fun and creative language & culture celebration for the entire school community. You do not need to be a specialist language teacher to run the sessions, and the material (unless specifically stated otherwise) aims at A1 beginner level of each language. You can also encourage KS5 pupils to lead Culture Day sessions.
What are the objectives and benefits of hosting a Culture Day?
- create a rich and immersive experience to explore and appreciate the diversity of languages and cultures
- promote cultural and language awareness, language learning, and cross-cultural understanding in an engaging manner
- provide opportunities for schools to connect with the wider community
- empower KS5 students to help develop Culture Days.
Culture Day Resources
The Cultural Day package is divided into three activities:
- Language Taster Sessions
- Cultural Exploration & Performance Sessions
- Language Quiz & Language Exchange
Each activity has been produced for Primary as well as Secondary school learners.
1.Language Taster Sessions
Our French, Spanish and German taster sessions offer a first glimpse of each language and can be run by language teachers or teachers/students with intermediate/advanced knowledge of the language. Each taster session contains a Powerpoint presentation, Teacher’s Lesson plan and worksheets.
2.Cultural Exploration/Performance Sessions
Our French, Spanish and German cultural exploration/performance sessions offer a varied insight into each country’s culture and offer prompts for a final student performance (e.g. a song or poem in a foreign language) or presentation (e.g. artwork, history). Our sessions cover topics such as sports, arts, music, history, food and many more… Each cultural exploration/performance session contains a Powerpoint presentation, Teacher’s Lesson plan and worksheets.
3.Language and Culture Quiz & Ideas and tips for a Language Exchange
Our language and culture quiz takes students through French, Spanish and German speaking regions and cultures and offers a fun and engaging opportunity to compete against peers, learn about other cultures and win some prizes… Additionally, our ideas for a language exchange go beyond French, Spanish and German and encourage students to engage with the diverse range of languages they are surrounded by.
Regarding the resources: Your team can find and download all resources divided into categories, primary/secondary level and organised by language on this website:
- Language Taster Sessions – Culture Days – Goethe-Institut United Kingdom
- Cultural Exploration / Performance Sessions – Culture Days – Goethe-Institut United Kingdom
- Language and Culture Quiz & Ideas and tips for a Language Exchange – Goethe-Institut United Kingdom
Hosting a Culture Day at your school?
Tell us about it!
If you are using our resources and ideas to host a Culture Day at your school, we would love to hear about it!
Feel free to share your celebrations on social media and tag us:
Institut Français :
X and Instagram: @ifru_london
Consejería de Educación en el Reino Unido :
X and Instagram: @consejeriauk
Goethe-Institut UK:
Instagram: @goetheinstitut_london
X: @GI_London1
National Centre for Language Education:
X: @ncle_ioe
