View Content #868
| Contentid | 868 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | Bridging Cultures in Our Schools: New Approaches That Work |
| Body | From: "Anselmo Villanueva" More information can be obtained by visiting this site: http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/bridging/welcome.shtml Bridging Cultures in Our Schools: New Approaches That Work As a female European American teacher reports to an immigrant Latino father that his daughter is doing well in class - speaking out, expressing herself, taking an active role - he looks down at his lap and does not respond. Thinking that perhaps he has not understood, the teacher again praises his daughter's ability to speak out in class and explains that it is very important for children to participate orally. Looking even more uncomfortable, the father changes the subject. The teacher gets the impression that this parent is not interested in his daughter's school success, and she feels frustrated and a bit resentful. Toward the end of the conference, the father asks, with evident concern, "How is she doing? She talking too much?" The teacher is confused. This parent does care whether his daughter is doing well, but why doesn't he understand what she has been telling him? What's blocking communication here are differences in culture - tacit yet deep-seated beliefs about what matters in life and how people should behave. The teacher is reporting behavior she assumes any parent would be glad to hear about. But it may be behavior the father doesn't condone: he's taught his daughter not to "show off" or stand out from the group. Exchanges like this, not just between adults but also between teachers and students, occur in classrooms every day, as teachers face greater cultural diversity than at any time since the turn of the century. In the past two decades, U.S. schools have absorbed waves of students from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines. A continuous stream of families from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, along with immigrants from China and Korea, have come to the United States, all seeking better education and economic opportunities, more politically stable lives. Southern California, for example, where children in the huge Los Angeles Unified School District speak some 80 different languages, has been called the most diverse place on the planet. Teachers who serve each day as cultural mediators know the challenge goes beyond language. Even as they try to help immigrant students navigate a new system of education, their own teaching methods and most routine classroom expectations can come into perplexing conflict with children's cultural ways of knowing and behaving. For example, a student may resist offering the right answer after another student has answered incorrectly, in order not to embarrass that person in front of the group. A student raised to value consensus may find decisions made by majority rule inconsiderate or even unfair, instead of simply democratic. It's not only immigrant students whose cultural values may differ from those underlying most classroom practice. U.S.-born students from a variety of backgrounds - American Indian, African American students, Latino students whose families have lived here for generations - may also feel alienated by common classroom practices. For more information go to the website at: http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/bridging/welcome.shtml |
| Source | Wested |
| Inputdate | 2003-11-24 12:01:00 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2003-11-24 12:01:00 |
| Expdate | Not set |
| Publishdate | Not set |
| Displaydate | Not set |
| Active | 1 |
| Emailed | 1 |
| Isarchived | 1 |
