【正文】Introduction
　　Intercultural awareness has important significance for the all-round development of students. Cultivation of intercultural awareness is beneficial to eliminate cultural differences in language， it can help to improve students’ interest in learning English and make students carry on the successful intercultural communication. At the same time， it is helpful to understand the world culture， cultivate students’ consciousness of the world， and also can enhance the identity of different culture. It’ s better to promote the development of language and culture. So the social development will make human communication across different cultures are increasingly frequent. It’ s very important to cultivate intercultural awareness of secondary school students.
　　1 Literature Review 
　　1.1The Culture Teaching Abroad
　　Foreign language teaching has changed from only concerning knowledge-based teaching of language forms to comprehensive teaching of language forms. It is obvious that the role of cultural learning in the foreign language classroom has arisen the attention of many experts and teachers. In 1880， in his paper Language Teaching and the Teaching of Art Works， F. Gouin points out that cultural teaching is an indispensable part in language teaching， he also stresses the importance of culture in language teaching. For instance， At same time， he put forward a pattern by which we could make the contrastive analysis of different cultures from three levels： form， meaning， distribution（Lado， 1957）. Culture and language are inseparable constitute “ a single universe or domain of experience” （Kramsch， 1991： 217）. In her book， Context and Culture in Language Teaching， she indicates that foreign language learners need to learn second culture because a language cannot be learned without an understanding of the culture. She also believes that culture should be taught as an interpersonal process and rather than presenting cultural fact. Teachers should ask students contact with other culture.
　　1.2 The Culture Teaching in China
　　Compared with the western countries， it’s clear that China has fallen behind in the culture teaching of foreign language. Mr Xu Guozhang is the first person who indicates the relationship between culturally loaded words and English language teaching. In Caowen’s paper Two Levels in English Culture Teaching（1998）， he puts forward culture knowledge level and culture understanding level. There are also many articles published in this field. In his article Cultural Knowledge is Needed Second（Foreign） Language Teaching and Learning in China， Yan Guoquan（1999） points out the limitation of traditional culture teaching in the classrooms， teachers always regard knowledge as the key factor instead of communicative competence and just teaching cultural knowledge in English classrooms. 
　　2 Theoretical Bases 
　　2.1 Language and Culture
　　“Language is a part of culture， and it plays an important role in culture” （Brown， 2002）.  Language is an basic and significant part of a given culture. It is the primary vehicle by which a culture transfers its beliefs， values， and customs. “Language is a guide to social reality” （Kramsch， 2000： 85）； it is evaluated in language. Culture generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give activities（Gu， 2002： 12）. Language varies from one system to another because different language systems are shaped in different cultures， customs， thoughts and so on. The relation of language and culture has been given many definitions by linguists. For instance， language refers to “ the systemized set of vocal habits by means of which the member of a human society interact in terms of their culture.
　　2.2 Culture and Foreign Language Teaching
　　The place of culture in language teaching was theoretically discussed when the notion of communicative competence was put forward. Culture is not added but integrated with content of teaching language. To learn a foreign language and its relative culture will help us know the world and ourselves from different points of view. A foreign language learning is a spirit adventure， a development of patterns of thought， a reorganization of values and a remold of personality structure. In the process of introducing foreign cultures and reorganizing our own culture， culture plays a special important role （Hu Wenzhong and Gao Yihong， 1997）.
　　In fact， language is a tool in people’s life， but it is not only a tool. If we aim at mastering just the “kills” in learning and teaching English， just as what Hu （1988： 23） has said， we can only train “tools”， never “full-developed humans”. That will deviate from the original intention and goals of education.In order to make English language teaching a ground for cultivating well-educated people in both Chinese and the western cultures， we should put cultures， both the native and the foreign into our consideration in English teaching. In this way， we will bring up the real language users， not language tools.
　　3 The Necessity of Cultivating Intercultural Awareness in Secondary School
　　Language is the carrier of culture， and is a part of culture. Different cultures cultivate different people who think and behave differently. （Li Zuowei & Deng Chaohong， 2004） If we don’t master the cultural background， we won’t understand the cultural pattern and standards， it is hard to learn the language well. 
　　3.1 Features of Secondary School Students 
　　The secondary school learning is an important course in life. The secondary school is the transitional period from secondary school to high school. The secondary school period is not only master the basic knowledge and skills of the best time， it is an important period of development to create conditions for the future. And at this period， secondary school students have basic English skills， they also have the strong thirst for learning knowledge and exploring spirit. Their interests are widespread and thoughts are active. They have unique opinions in many aspects. So secondary school period is basing on forming students’ interest in English learning and arousing students’ enthusiasm for English learning. 
　　3.2 The Current Situation of Cultivating Intercultural Awareness in Secondary School
　　Teachers always emphasizes vocabulary and grammatical structure. They pay attention to language knowledge and ignoring culture infiltration. The current of secondary school English teaching focuses on the aspects of the English vocabulary， grammar and reading. But the introduction of the national cultural background knowledge of English is rarely involved. Sometimes it is overlooked. In addition， the teaching method is simple， the teachers always teach everything， and the students passively receive information. The cultural scene is short in the class， students lack of training opportunities in language environment after class.
　　Teachers also lack of cultural literacy in English teaching. The majority of English teachers study the English by learning the grammar translation method in China. They are also the product of the exam-oriented education， so they are influenced by the traditional teaching methods， they lack of cultural sensitivity and cultural awareness. 
　　4 The Strategies of Cultivating Intercultural Awareness in Secondary School
　　4.1 Changing Teachers’ Idea and Improving Their Cultural Literacy
　　Teachers play an important role in the intercultural teaching. English teachers should have abundant English culture background knowledge of English speaking countries to strengthen the cultural literacy. They can study and understand the culture of English speaking countries through many ways， then transfer valuable cultural information to the students in order to improve the students’ English cultural awareness and cultural adaptability. Therefore， English teachers must strengthen their own learning to improve their own cultural competence. There are many ways to improve their cultural quality， for instance， English teachers can read foreign literature or magazines， watch foreign movies or TV， learn English songs and so on. Many kinds of the ways to understand the political economy， science， religion and customs， social life， idioms， which can be better to understand and learn the culture.
　　For a long time in China， English teaching was influenced by structuralism， stressed on language knowledge，neglected language performance. The major targets of teaching are stuffing language knowledge， which fosters the misunderstanding of regarding vocabulary and grammar as the only main purpose. Now， English language teachers should know that language teaching and culture teaching are equally important， linguistic competence and cultural competence also are of equal importance. The “fill-in-duck” model should be converted into communicative language teaching model. English culture teaching as a new teaching pattern， also asks teachers to have the new teaching concept. The teachers should not only pay attention to basic knowledge but also focus on cultural knowledge teaching. At the same time， teachers should pay attention to students’ needs and interests of knowledge， and to establish a “student-centered” teaching concept. Teachers should be aware of their students’ thinking and discuss with students to solve problems. In addition， teachers should encourage students to learn English and arouse their interest of learning English.
　　4.2 Teaching Culture-Loaded Words and Phrases
　　Language cannot exist separately from culture. Vocabulary is the basic foundation of language building. It is well-known that Seelye （1984） and Hammerly （1982） and some other educators have pointed out that L2 learners， to reinforce the empathy for a second culture， should pay more attention to the cultural connotations of words and phrases. Xu Guozhang （1980） proposes L2 learners assess culturally-loaded words’ relevance in English language learning.
　　Naturally， it is influenced and conditioned by cultural factors. Like the society， religion beliefs， habits， value systems， literary， etc. And we learn the history of the development， not only to know the external knowledge， but also to explore the cultural connotation. For example， the same color has different meanings in Chinese culture and the western culture. The red color is a typical example. America scholars Asaihaimu in his color theory says： the color can express emotions. In western culture， red is a derogatory word， and the red is associating with fire and blood， it represents the violent and dangerous. There are many phrases can express it. For example， red revenge（血腥复仇）， a red battle（血战）， red alert（空袭报警） and so on. But in China， it has the opposite meaning. Red is the representative color in Chinese culture. It reflects Chinese culture in spiritual and material pursuit and it represents auspicious， happy， luck， prosperity. For example， get success at the very beginning（开门红）， very busy and flourishing（红火，兴旺） and hardboard（红榜）. Therefore， in intercultural communication， the red derived Chinese phrase can’t be directly translated into the red. Another example， in English， the word “dragon” has two explanations： the first is an imaginary animal with wings， it can breathe out fire； the second is a fierce person， especially a woman. However the dragon has different means in China. The dragon is a symbol of imperial power in the feudal society， it represents wealth and a symbol of the power， Chinese people called themselves “descendants of the dragon”. So teachers need to increase the explanation of the connotation of words， and make students understand with the different cultural connotation of different ethnic nations in learning English.
　　Conclusion
　　Language is the signal of culture. Learning a language is learning a culture. At present， with the development of the global economy and technology， culture teaching has become more and more important in English teaching. Language and culture teaching are contacted so closely that it is impossible to separate them. But if a language is learned as a foreign language， it is easily separated from its culture. So the teachers should put culture factor into language in English teaching and strengthen students’ intercultural awareness .
　　Therefore， we should pay more attention to cultivate students’ intercultural awareness， we should follow suitable ways， choose useful contents to arise students’ interests， and we use appropriate teaching methods to make teaching more effective in English teaching.