Chapter 7

Chapter 7  Culture and Language

It is amazing to think of how many ways we communicate that is not verbal.  One think we have to keep in mind when working with our ELL population is that there are gestures in America that we consider positive that are considered totally disrespectful in other cultures.  It is very important for us to find out more about a students culture and things like this so that we make sure we treat them and their family in a deferential way.  I do not think that we always take into consideration how much language is influenced by culture and vice versa. 

We really need to get to know the families of all our students but particularly ones who come here from a different culture whether it is from another country or another culture within our culture.  Family views and ideas differ greatly from what we consider the norm and we need to adjust our teaching to honor this. 

We have a lot of Asian students in my school, predominately from India.  I have really enjoyed getting to know their families and some of their culture.  We actually end our school year with a “world culture tour” where each grade level takes on a continent and then all the students dig into books and other cultural elements from that area.  At the end of the year we take the classes around to see what students have created from other cultures.  All the students get really excited to see all of the different items.  They learn so much and with that comes understanding and tolerance.

Question:  Do you know of anything is that we consider and okay in American Culture but not in another culture?  Please share so I can be aware.