Current studies show an increase in conflict situations in school systems around the world, caused by the clash of cultural traditions. For effective work, a teacher today needs to have cross-cultural competence, including the ability to take into account the cultural peculiarities of students. The paper examines the trigger warning tool from a pedagogical and cross-cultural point of view, and proves its culturally specific nature. The introduction of trigger warnings proves to be an integral part of the course syllabi, however the content that requires trigger alerts depends on the national culture of the learners. A survey of Russian and Chinese students, future teachers, showed that topics depend on cultural values. Thus, a teacher in a multicultural classroom must be pedagogically flexible in order to adapt to the challenges of the modern world.

Keywords: trigger warning, cross-cultural communication, higher education.