6/01/21; Week 7: Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom.

Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom... 

Is it a big deal?

How much should a teacher know about other cultures?

Dealing with cross-cultural students in the classroom demands teachers much more than getting to know about different cultures, their worldviews, or how they behave at the table. It includes having an open mind and a never-stop willingness to promote integration and make the classroom a place for learning, sharing, respect, and tolerance.

To be successful in a multicultural classroom, teachers have to be aware of how students express themselves. Their expressivity can be different even they are from the same country.

When the teacher's expressivity is different from the students', there can be significant misunderstandings with disastrous consequences for students and teachers. For example, according to John J. Ivers, Professor of Languages and International Studies at BYU-Idaho (06 Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom, 2015), African Americans have high expressivity tolerance and, they're very expressive, and very often white teachers consider them to be bad, rude or even aggressive students when their African American paradigms are informing them that they're not being any of this. They're just acting by their cultural rules. Therefore, being an open-minded teacher leads us to avoid stereotypes of any kind, labeling students, or student's behavior.

In a TESOL classroom, if a student is acting in a way we at first consider awkward or inappropriate, we should first ask ourselves the reasons for such behavior (maybe it is weird only for us!) and give the students the benefit of the doubt. We have to seek to understand them, instead of jumping to conclusions.

                           "Never assume.

                        Learn about cultures.

                        Ask questions.

                        Educate yourself before making a blunder out of a situation!"

It's also important to point out that all of us should pay attention to the fact that people from different cultures from ours will pay attention to details that we usually don't notice. Professor John J. Ivers reminds us that "outsiders can sometimes see the real culture better than insiders can". It allows us to think about our own culture and values, evaluate them, be proud of the good things we have been doing well and reflect on things we can improve. We have the opportunity to teach and learn from others, and maybe repair some behavior that we have been perpetuating.

Reference

06 Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom. (2015, March 12). BYU-Idaho. https://video.byui.edu/media/06+Cross-Cultural+Students+in+the+Classroom/0_r2lcaswt

Corina Stretch. (2018, September 9). Cultural Misunderstanding. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8VjSVavt4k