Bringing Holiday Culture Into the Language Classroom with the IMAGE Model

It's December, your students are restless, and you want to do something festive—but you're committed to staying in the target language. Sound familiar?

Holiday themes are perfect for world language classrooms: they're visual, engaging, and packed with authentic cultural content. But too often, we end up slipping into English to explain traditions, or we stick to surface-level activities (coloring pages or crosswords, anyone?) that don't really build language or cultural understanding.

There's a better way. The IMAGE Model gives you a structured approach to explore holiday traditions—or any cultural topic for that matter—while keeping students immersed in the target language and building real intercultural competence.

Let me show you how it works.

A Sample Lesson: Les Marchés de Noël à Strasbourg

Let's walk through the IMAGE Model with a lesson focusing on Christmas markets in Strasbourg, France. This lesson targets Intermediate Low French learners with the lesson learning outcome: "I can describe the marchés de Noël in Strasbourg."

Here's what it looks like in action:

Phase 1: Images & Making Observations

Students begin by examining carefully selected visuals of the Strasbourg Christmas markets. Their job? Simply observe and describe what they see—the lights, the stalls, the crowds, the food, the architecture. They stay grounded in concrete details without interpreting yet.

This phase builds vocabulary naturally and gets students noticing cultural products and practices. Here are some slides showing what could be shared with students during the lesson, along with sample questions (translations are provided below each slide):

Questions: Where are we? What do you see in the image?

Questions: With a partner, describe this image. What do you see? What is the weather like? What season are we in? What are people doing?

Questions: With another partner, describe this image. What do you see? What are people doing? What are they buying?

Questions: What do you see in this image? What are people doing? What is the man selling?

Phase 2: Analyzing Additional Information

Now you provide additional input—short captions, a brief text about the market's history, audio clips, or more images showing different angles or aspects of the marchés. Students compare this new information with their original observations. Patterns start to emerge. They begin identifying cultural elements more clearly. Here's what that might look like:

Question: How many Christmas markets are there in Strasbourg?

Text: Read the infographic with a partner. Note: Three things that are sold at the Christmas markets. Two activities that you can do at the Christmas markets. One other region of the world where you can find Christmas markets like those in Strasbourg. 

Phase 3: Generating Hypotheses About Cultural Perspectives

Here's where it gets interesting. Students move from what they see to why it matters: Why has this tradition lasted for centuries? What values might it reflect about community, celebration, or the holiday season?

They form tentative hypotheses based on the evidence they've gathered so far. In this example, students may be given different options to help articulate their thoughts, while also being allowed some space to add their own ideas. Students could discuss in partners, then share out and explain their thinking to the whole class.

Question/Text: In your opinion, why are the Christmas markets so popular in Strasbourg? A. I think that the Christmas markets show that community is really important in Strasbourg. The people who live there like to gather to celebrate together. B. It seems like people in Strasbourg really value regional traditions. Decorations, music, and Alsatian specialties show pride for culture. C. Maybe the Christmas markets show the importance of supporting local artisans. People in Strasbourg appreciate buying handmade products and value the work of artisans. D. Another idea? 

Phase 4: Exploring Perspectives & Reflecting Further

Finally, students examine cultural perspectives more explicitly and reflect on connections to their own experiences. What's similar to or different from their own holiday traditions? What does this reveal about how different cultures celebrate?

This is where deeper intercultural understanding happens—and it's all been building naturally from those initial images. In this example, students may work together to design a holiday market for their own community, highlighting local artisans, products, food, and cultural traditions. They may investigate the holiday markets or traditions of another French-speaking city, region, or country. Or they may compare this tradition to ones that they and their family celebrate.

Breaking Down the IMAGE Model

The IMAGE Model provides a structured pathway for learners to explore cultural content through visuals and interpretive tasks. It moves students from what they see to what it means, supporting intercultural communicative competence in a developmentally appropriate way. The model aligns with research showing that images work as meaningful texts—visuals that students can interpret, analyze, and discuss to build both language and cultural awareness.

Each phase has a specific purpose:

Phase 1: Images & Making Observations focuses on building vocabulary and noticing cultural products and practices through direct observation.

Phase 2: Analyzing Additional Information deepens understanding by providing supplemental input that helps students identify patterns and cultural elements.

Phase 3: Generating Hypotheses About Cultural Perspectives encourages students to ask why traditions matter and what values they might reflect.

Phase 4: Exploring Perspectives & Reflecting Further supports explicit examination of cultural perspectives and helps students articulate insights about the meaning behind what they've explored.

From Products & Practices to Perspectives: Why This Model Matters

The IMAGE Model helps students move beyond surface-level cultural knowledge by guiding them through the three Ps of culture: products, practices, and perspectives.

Products are the tangible things—the wooden stalls, the vin chaud, the illuminated decorations at the marchés de Noël. In Phase 1, students start here, simply observing and describing what they can see.

Practices are the behaviors and traditions—gathering at the market with family, buying handmade gifts, sipping hot drinks while browsing. By Phase 2, as students analyze additional information, they begin identifying these patterns of behavior and understanding how people actually engage with the cultural products.

Perspectives are the underlying beliefs and values—the importance of community, the celebration of craftsmanship, the embrace of winter rather than retreating from it. Phases 3 and 4 guide students to ask why these products and practices matter, helping them form hypotheses about cultural values and reflect on deeper meaning.

This progression is what separates meaningful cultural learning from simple exposure. Students don't just learn that Christmas markets exist—they explore why they've endured for centuries and what they reveal about the communities that cherish them. And because the model uses visuals as the primary text, all of this happens in the target language, with images making complex cultural concepts comprehensible even for intermediate learners.

Making It Your Own

The IMAGE Model isn't just for holiday lessons—though the holidays provide especially rich, visually engaging content. You can adapt this approach to explore:

Other holiday traditions: Las Posadas in Mexico, Hanukkah celebrations, Diwali festivals, Lunar New Year traditions, Día de los Muertos altars, or Ramadan practices

Everyday cultural practices: Café culture in France or Spain, Sunday family meals in Italy, public transportation norms in Japan, market shopping in various cultures

Cultural products: Architecture (from Gaudí's buildings to traditional housing styles), art movements, traditional crafts, regional foods and their preparation

Social practices: Greetings and gestures, educational systems, celebration of milestones, sports and recreation

The key is choosing content that's visually rich and culturally meaningful. Whether you're exploring a festive tradition in December or investigating how people shop for groceries in March, the IMAGE Model ensures that students don't just learn about culture—they explore what it means and why it matters.

And the best part? You stay in the target language the entire time, building both linguistic and intercultural competence simultaneously.