I agree that 'This idiomatic cultural baggage is the lingua franca we must deal with. The mythological and linguistic elements must be taken into account to raise a child with adequate cultural literacy.'

In our school, the children gather in the halls at Christmas to sing carols. It became apparent to me that my ESL students were learning the words but that the songs had no meaning for them. I brought a little wooden nativity scene to school and let them play with it. Soon we had questions that I could answer or that the other children could answer. I gave them the basic story so that they could begin to understand our songs and traditions. I was 'looking over my shoulder' the whole time waiting for someone to call me on the political correctness of this situation but it never happened.

Yes, it is important to have some background when learning a new language.

d