I have taught in a wide range of different national and international schools. Some schools had a homogenous culture and some were a realistic reflection of a culturally diverse society. I have learned some valuable lessons about students with different cultural backgrounds that I would like to share below. Some values are universal like respecting teachers however the form of some values might look different in other cultures. Keep reading, I will elaborate on how some values or norms could look different depending on each culture. Before I do that I want to share my ‘ALL ARE WELCOME’ bulletin board that has flags and the word WELCOME in different languages. This was my way of acknowledging the different cultures and backgrounds my students had. Students would turn this bulletin board into a game by counting how many flags they could identify and teach each other words in their home language.
I can’t reiterate enough that a positive teacher-student relationship has the most beneficial impact on students’ performance. Students that like their teachers are willing to go an extra mile. An important way to accomplish a positive teacher-student relationship is by building a culturally sensitive classroom.
ELL students respond better to teachers who have put forth the effort to learn about their students’ cultures and are respectful of their diversity in the classroom. Every culture has its own unique set of unvoiced rules and educators need to be aware of these differences in cultural norms.
Here is a list of some common cultural differences you experience with the ELLs in your classroom:
- Punctuality: In many cultures, there is much less importance on arriving at the precise moment specified. There is a common understanding that arrival times are a bit flexible. You may notice that parents and students have flexible interpretations of what “being on time” means.
- Asking Questions: teachers often ask questions and we want our students to ask questions when they don’t understand something or ask questions about the content we are teaching. However, some cultures consider it rude to ask a person authority questions. Therefore some students may not realize that asking questions is encouraged and expected in the classroom.
- Collective Mindset: In many cultures, the needs of the group are valued above the needs of the individual. Some students are familiar with working in groups and may never have been required to complete an assignment individually. Furthermore, you may have students making choices that negatively impact them in order to fit in with the needs of others.
- Directness: Each culture has its own special method of inquiring about something. Some cultures appreciate directness and getting to the point with as few words as possible, while others prefer to use subtle suggestions instead, and may never explicitly say what they’re requesting. In the classroom, you may notice students that are too direct and don’t understand subtle suggestions, as well as students that really go around the bush to communicate their needs.
I hope this information is useful and that it has equipped you with some extra guidance and compassion in teaching English language learners in your classrooms. If you want to read a good book about how cultures build trust, communicate, collaborate, persuade, make decisions, etc. I would like to recommend The Culture Map. This book helped me to communicate better with ELL students and their parents.
Let me know what you experienced with your ELL’s or if you did something else that created a cultural sensitive classroom.
