I am a tutor at an educational institute in Guangzhou which helps high school students improve their English through training courses.

I learned that cultural background is essential to both teaching and learning English.

During my first lesson I talked to one of my students Xiao Xie about the importance of cultural background in excelling in English. I said, “You will not fully understand a Hollywood crime thriller if you don’t know what the CIA and FBI are.” As an enthusiastic fan of Hollywood movies, Xiao Xie agreed wholeheartedly.

At the end of the lesson, I gave Xiao Xie some homework: Search the Internet for information about the CIA and FBI, and then find out: 1) the difference between them; 2) the difference between the FBI in the United States and the Chinese Ministry of State Security; 3) which is more important, the CIA in the United States or the Chinese Ministry of State Security? I thought finding out the answers to these questions would help him a lot.

Currently, English examinations primarily stress reading comprehension, so cultural background is almost as important as a good grasp of grammar and vocabulary.

When students heard the story of “Air Force One” — the plane used by the U.S. president, some could easily associate it with the Hollywood movie of the same name.

And in reading another passage about Freud, a famous Austrian psychologist, a student could easily answer the questions if he or she had knowledge of psychology.

Since cultural background is very important for language learning, both students and teachers should make an effort to improve their own.