In terms of the World Englishes taxonomy, Germany falls within the scope of the Expanding Circle, where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL). Traditionally, English language teaching (ELT) in these countries hinges on Inner Circle varieties and the native speaker model as a cultural and structural frame of reference, which in Germany is the British English native speaker. The problem of this approach, as identified here, arises in the lack of students’ awareness of and preparation for their future sociolinguistic realities, which by and large foresee communication with other Expanding Circle speakers. To address this, it is laid out how cultural-linguistic (CL) insights into language reception and production can benefit curriculum and teaching material design. A QC analysis of 16 textbooks as used in Germany confirms that the missing incorporation of a cultural perspective and world Englishes creates not only problematic generalizations about the English language but also fails to provide learners with sustainable skills and knowledge. The exemplificatory cultural-linguistic breakdown of specific tasks further illustrates how cultural conceptualizations can help the learning process by providing easy-to-grasp cultural knowledge in a condensed form because they foster meta-cultural awareness, which is key in communication, mutual intelligibility, and variety awareness. This approach has the potential to take away the burden of the native speaker model for a more beneficial learner experience. It is suggested that the findings of this and already existing studies inform pedagogical decisions in future textbook designs, as they are proven to mitigate learning problems encountered in the ELT classroom.