CROSSCULTURAL ASPECTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

Foreign language teaching needs to introduce a more sophisticated approach towards the elements of culture in the educational process. Interculturality is one of the most essential dimensions to be taught in parallel with the language from the very first steps based on the following principles: awareness of one's own culture; study of the foreign language culture; comparison of the cultures under consideration. Two patterns are the subjects of the discussion: Tipperary (from the song “It's a Long Way to Tipperary”, 1912) as a humorous reference to the First World War, and the Mayflower as a hyperconcept of the American culture. Teachers select materials that illustrate the global significance of the selected culture patterns (for example, the cartoon Chip and Dale, in which this song is sung, the Russian film "The Secret Fairway”), they recorded an interview with a Mayflower American representative and Americans of different estates expressing their opinion on this phenomenon. Students sing in chorus, make Power Point presentations, communicate with a linguist from Ireland via Skype, create a connotative field of the lexical unit of Mayflower, revealing three levels of associations. The students of agrarian, medical and ecological specialties make the analysis of the chosen items and compare them to the Russian “Moscow Nights” and “Katyusha”, and coming to cross-cultural conclusions that there is no Russian pattern to play the same role as the Mayflower. The creative activities are multilanguage and multi-faceted uniting students studying English, French, Chinese, German.