Cultural Considerations and Concerns Flashcards
Empowerment
Empowering English Language Learners helps them feel in control of their education and futures.
Ways to empower:
-Create a positive learning environment
-Involve the community and families whenever possible.
-Respect the diversity of language and culture in the classroom.
-Track rates of retention and promotion of ELL’s in order to notice trends and proactively offer support to prevent droupout due to lack of grade level promotion.
-Allow/encourage access to AP classes and alternative study tracks, such as dual-language programs and billingual programs.
-Avoid segregation of students.
-offer support for parents/family by using bilingual teachers/aides to make phone calls home, home visits and videos and learning materials in the primary language.
Acculturation
- Honeymoon/Elation Stage: wonder and excitement upon entering a new country.
- Culture Shock: annoyances of the new country in comparison to native country, constantly comparing (unfavorably) the new country with the native country.
- Transformation: newcomer feels enough at home to appreciate and even value the differences in the new area.
- Integration: newcomer feels truely at home in his or her new surroundings, adjustments have been made and the person has a genuine appreciation and understanding of both old and new cultures.
Migration
The movement of a group from one area to another.
Immigration
The movement of a group or person to a new location/country in order to work or take up permanent residence.
Secondary Migration
The movement of people to one area with the intention of staying there but then moving to another location after a short period of time.
Ethnocentrism
The idea that one’s culture, ideas, beliefs are better than any other.
Cultural Relativism
An idea that in order to effectively communicate and interact with an individual, one must enter into that person’s “cultural shoes”.
Multicultural appreciation
English learners who feel valued within their school will have more self-esteem and thus (in theory) more likelihood to learn the language. A person’s culture is undeniably connected to language and the more a culture can be shared and valued, the more the learner is likely to feel a sense of well being. In turn, this increased sense of belonging will facilitate the learner’s acquisition of the secondary language.
Ways to appreciate cultures in the classroom:
- Sponsoring multicultural events
- Sharing holiday traditions
- reading multicultural novels
ELD programs
In ELD (English Language Development) programs, classroom assessment plays a major role. The main goal of assessment is to see what students are learning, what they know and what they still need to know, so the ELD classroom’s assessment should be designed to produce results that measure the progress the students are making. Once the classroom assessment has been performed, the instructor can identify deficiencies and make adjustments to the instructional curriculum to meet the needs of the students. Using “realia” (real-life objects and artifacts) from the home cultures of students in the ELD classroom can benefit students in several ways. First, as the teacher ensures that all students understand the function/use of each piece of realia, the students have an opportunity to engage in discussions about the objects and the students from whose cultures the realia comes feel “ownership” of those objects and can speak about them from a position of authority, making them feel self-esteem and develop their language skills simultaneously.
California English Language Arts
The California English Language Arts standards require that students are able to write a narrative composition. Since ELD students may need help with the writing process, the following lesson plan may be considered helpful. First, read aloud to the students, selecting a book that describes a situation in a family (a picnic, holiday, etc.). Discuss with the class some of the events that are described in the story and ask students to brainstorm/talk about some events that have occurred in their own families. Once they have talked about some of their families’ events, they are ready to begin writing their narratives. In order to help them begin the composition process, the students may benefit greatly from the teacher’s offering guided questioning, writing scaffolds, models and extra support.
California English Language Development
- For students in California who are English learners at ALL LEVELS (K-12), the district must provide access to core curriculum classes and work. By offering the core courses to all students, the ELD students have the opportunity to learn the information they need for each core subject. In the core classes, the students must have access to both English language learning and the core subject’s information.
- Students who are English learners, research shows, do better when the instructor modifies his/her lessons and teaching styles to more closely match those of the student’s home culture. By studying the students’ home culture, the school’s instruction can be tailored to accommodate diverse learning styles influenced by these different cultural backgrounds.
Communication for students
There are many things a school and/or teacher can do to help promote a learning environment that is both sensitive and supportive for all students, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. First, the teacher can observe his/her students and note the way they approach learning (i.e. hands-on, observation, reading about it, etc.) and then incorporate those learning styles into the lessons. In some cultures, for example, it’s customary for the student not to ask questions and in others there are specific rules for discourse between a child and an adult or respected elder. Body language and verbal/nonverbal cues differ from culture to culture as well. Taking these types of differences into account and observing student behavior, the teacher and school can design lessons and a classroom environment that foster learning for students who communicate differently due to their cultural backgrounds and norms.
Transformative approach
The term “transformative” describes a theory that in order to learn, one must be aware of his or her thoughts or feelings regarding the world around us. To be “transformed,” we must consider the reasons we feel the way we do and then shift perspectives in order to gain a larger, fuller understanding of our world. Under this theory, lessons can be designed to allow students to see things from others’ perspectives, thus enhancing the multicultural learning environment. An example of a lesson conducted as such would be one in which the teacher teaches a history lesson—about a war, for example, and then discusses what each side must have felt, their motivations and the outcome and result for both sides. The students then see that stories have different perspectives and begin to think of things in terms of how others’ may view the world. A teacher could use this approach, for example, when teaching a lesson that involves the cultural backgrounds of the students in the classroom and the students can take turns discussing the event from their perspective.
Immigrants
- Immigrants to the United States in the early twentieth century tended to enter the U.S. alone, rather than with their entire families. Since there was a quota system in place, earlier immigrants were restricted more severely; but in 1965 the Immigration Act was passed. This new Act encouraged families to stay together, thus it allowed them to immigrate as a family unit.
- When a teacher knows he/she is going to have a new English learning student, preparation may include familiarization with the culture of the student’s home country. Read books, surf the Internet, etc., to learn about the culture and manners the student will be accustomed to. One word of warning: do not rely solely on information obtained from outside sources; just as citizens of the United States vary greatly in their cultural backgrounds and expectations, so do people from other cultures.
Language Barrier
If a teacher of English Learning students wants to find some ways to involve the students’ parents/guardians in the education process, the teacher must first address the communication needs of all involved. With English Learners, this means that the families at home will speak a variety of languages and may not be comfortable communicating in English. In order to reach out to the parents or guardians of the students and to make them feel involved and important to the students’ educations, the teacher should first determine the primary language spoken at home (or the language in which the family is most comfortable) then use the services of a translator or bilingual interpreter to communicate.
