A country's cultural and natural environment are an integral part of its identity and form the natural basis of foreign language teaching. In this paper, the author discusses the importance of culture and nature as supporting elements in the teaching of Slovak as a foreign language. It is argued that these aspects provide an authentic framework for the development of linguistic competence, broaden cultural awareness and improve cross-cultural understanding. The research focuses on the views and practices of Slovak language teachers working abroad at different levels and types of educational institutions. The aim was to find out to what extent teachers consider the cultural and natural environment as the basis for teaching, and what methods and approaches they use to integrate them into their teaching. The results show that the majority of respondents perceive the cultural and natural context as a key factor in motivating students, building their language competence and deepening intercultural understanding. At the same time, however, they point to challenges such as the lack of appropriate didactic materials or the time-consuming nature of preparation. The author also concludes by discussing the need to develop the integration of cultural and environmental content, which could further support language learning through authentic content.

Keywords: Foreign language teaching, cultural and natural environment, substantive content, teachers' experiences, integration of content.