Education
and Intercultural Communication
Megan
Smith
“I
do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed.
I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as
possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.” – Mahatma Gandhi
For a town like Iowa City, Iowa, which
has a major University and lots of diversity, it was surprising to find the
statistics of culture differences throughout the city. On the Iowa Cities Demographics Data and
Community Statistics, on Areavibe website, they shows a break down of the
population by race:
Caucasian 85.20%
African American 3.66%
Asian 5.60%
American Indian 0.20%
Native Hawaiian 0.08%
Hispanic 2.9%
Mixed Race 2.02%
Other Races 1.23%
As
an alumni of the University of Iowa, and as a current member of the community,
I was surprised because of all the people of different races that I run into on
a regular basis. When I had lived in Des
Moines, Iowa, it seemed more accurate statistically with the experiences that I
have had. In Iowa City, I have had the
opportunity to become friends with many different types of people with amazing
varieties of different backgrounds. As an aspiring teacher with future hopes to
teach high school classrooms, and later college classrooms, preferable within
the liberal arts subjects, I have to consider culture difference of
adolescences that are soon to enter adulthood
The first
person in my community with a diverse background and original story is Amara
Darboh, and he is in his junior year of high school. He is currently playing football, and is
quite the star for his school, and he is already preparing considerations of
different college pathways, particularly to play college football as the future
become nearer. If fact, there are
already several colleges considering recruiting him because of his athletic
skills on the football fields and in the basketball courts Amara Darboh was
raised in Sierra Leone by his biological mother with his brothers and sisters.
During the Civil War, his village and tribe where raided when he was 9 years
old, and the rebels slaughtered his mother and father wright in front of
him. In addition to this horrific scene,
he has also told me of different murders he witnessed, including babies and
local animals. There homes were raided
and they were left there, him and one of his brothers and his aunt, (that was
quite a bit younger), with nothing else left of their family and belongings; no
hope, no food, no parents, no shelter.
While no help was around, his aunt took care of him and his little
brother, and managed time find just enough food for them to survive. Luckily, within a few days a rescue crew came
in, it was the United States Catholic Relief Services, and they took them and
care for them, and within a few days they where in a plane to Iowa. He was joined of course with his brother and
young aunt, and where supplied with food and shelter. They were given a home at the Catholic Relief
Housing, and assigned schools to attend.
Within about one year, my cousin had become best friend with Amara, and
they would hang out and play ball together.
My aunt and uncle took a liking to him and after a while he was sleeping
at their house regularly, while his brother was making different friends of his
own. When Amara turned 14 years old, he
was still sleeping over with my uncle and aunt quite a bit; in the meanwhile
his brother had become a gang member and had begun to get into a lot of
different trouble. My aunt and uncle had
tried hard to have a second child, with no success, and they offered Amara the
option to live with them permanently with them on the account that he stay out
of trouble and stay away from the gangs, still allowing him to be with him
brother though. By the time Amara turned
15, they had legally adopted him, and he was doing great in both sports and
school. Long story, but as an educator
when teaching a student like him, it is important to be aware of his
sensitivities and to consider what he observed in childhood and the severe
separations that came to him as he became a refugee. There are many students that may be refugees
from different countries with different stories, and instead of assuming
things, as an educator I strive to get to know my students through different
activities and discussions. Each and
every student should not be judged, and this blank slate conception helps to
open individuals up to expressing their story and themselves. Also, as a high school teacher it will be
vital to give support for college ambitions and prepare them for realities that
come during college years and later in adulthood.
Another
culturally diverse girl with an interesting story that in my community is named
Poula Lopez, and she is 16 years old, and a junior in high school. Poula was raised in poverty in Mexico City,
Mexico. Her parents had divorced very
earlier, and her father left to come to America. She stayed with her mother until she was 10,
when her mother entered a cycle of drug addiction, which caused them to lose
everything. Her father insisted that her
brother and her come to America and live with him and attend school there, and
although they knew no English, their father took measures to assure they
would. Their father had married a woman
from Persia and they lived in a nice town with a great school system near their
home. Their new stepmother spoke
primarily Farsi, and new very little Spanish.
Poula took several English Language course and her father helped her a
ton, but by the time school started she still new very little English and had a
hard time following sentences and understanding speaking and
conversations. She struggled with
school, but after years has learned enough English to prosper in school,
besides the fact that Spanish is still her first language, and how she spoke
with her brother and father. In cases
like this educators have to really learn to understand background for language
purposes and social purposes. Again,
like Amara, she was separated from her native country and her mother and her
native language. As a teacher I would
try to simplify the words used in lectures or assignment, avoid getting two
fancy and avoid huge words that not necessary for the material. Also when considering classroom materials,
this would also need to be simplified. I
could also work with Poula privately before or after school to help her with
lessons and to guide her on her English language transition. I would discuss with her how she feels about
our language and her language and engage her challenge along side her with
support and guidance. In the textbook it
states, “Learning to affirm the culture of students in their education can make
the difference between failure or academic achievement in many schools,
especially where parents are expected to provide help in ways they may be
unable to do. Some parents are unaware of how to give their children concrete
support in areas such as homework, but this lack of support, in itself, does
not necessarily produce school failure,” (Bode 259). Teachers need to give heart and care and
support, in which nourish relationships and encourage growth and a successful
education journey. If we also students
to feel themselves, we can gain their trust, and liberate them from blockages
or differences in language and culture.
Last but no least, the culturally diverse
local that I have met and talked with about his upbringing and transition to
the States, is Chien Pei. Chien had
grown up in China, but because of the repression and communism that had
permeated, his father fled to South Korea when he was three years old. During his ten years in Korea, he became
fluent in Korean, while still maintaining his native Chinese Mandarin
tongue. He had a younger brother and
younger sister, and was always to leader for them and would take care of them
and feed them when his parents were both working long and exhausting hours. His father had worked for the International
Embassy and had made a good reputation for himself and his family’s name. He was given an opportunity to come to the
United States and was giving an opportunity for a position in Iowa City, where
he could relocate the entire family and allow everyone opportunities for better
lives and better education for the children.
When Chien was 13 years old they made the move to America, and while
their father had been studying English for sometime, the mother and all three
of the children knew nothing about the English language, though they were aware
of what lied ahead and had prepared to beginning learning the language and
learning it quickly. Chien began school
in the 8th grade, and had a tough transition both scholastically and
socially. Because he was one of the few Asians
and because of his language barrier, his troubles got overwhelming. As a teacher, with a student whom is fluent
in two entirely different languages, and a student knowing very little English
and having very little social skill, it would be wise to create different sorts
of group activities, both in school and out of the walls of the classroom, such
as field trip or outdoor group activities, where interactions could change
atmospheres and possibly liberate the student from social blockages and clicks
and groups of friends. Also, perhaps,
give assignments where the students can explain the story of their lives and
present it to the classroom, and in this case students could get to know each
other and understand the depths and differences of their stories, and learn to
identify with each other. I could also
show different documentaries and different films from the different cultures
within the classroom and help to educate the students about different countries
and different ways of life, equally showing all types and even additional. For a student that is struggling it also good
to seat them closer to the front, or even change the seating arrangements so
that they can have the most focus and changes to sit by different students. In the textbook it states, “Reorganizing the
social structure of classrooms can facilitate significant improvements in
prosocial development, academic achievement, and interethnic relations. Even
students’ attitudes and behaviors toward one another can be influenced in a
positive way. Providing alternative means for learning is an essentially
equitable endeavor, and it strengthens the democratic purposes of schooling.”(Bode
384). Perhaps,
also, working with a student individually before or after school, where you can
discuss issues with them and find out what they need to feel comfortable and
what they need to help or assist with the learning process. Allow the students to feel comfortable
discussing their feeling and discussing academia, and find ways that students
can engage material and learn how to enjoy the education process.
Teachers
have to facilitate many students and the resources and funding to meet
different needs for different students can be a tough part of the process. Having a multicultural classroom means having
multiple sources of resources available in order to be able to cater to each of
the different situations and different students needs. When researching Iowa’s education resources,
I was pleased to find a couple great different options. The first sources that I found was available
because of Iowa Public Television and is called Iowa Pathways. On the website it states, “Iowa Pathways teacher resources support a wide variety
of educational needs. Printable downloads assist students as they develop
research skills with the Quests. Strategies for reading in the content area,
vocabulary acquisition and content fluency help students learn. Lessons and
activities are classroom ready. Other resources include connections to
standards and curricular areas, online archives, primary sources and local
history links,”(Iowa Pathways Website: Retrieved from:http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/teacherresources/default.cfm). There are a multitude of available resources
and it is up to the teacher to navigate and discover different
possibilities. Teachers can find access to different
workbooks, different testing strategies, and different examples of other
experiences from other educators. The
possibilities are up to what a person puts into the resources and the searching
that they give time towards. This site
also offers different reading and vocabulary options, and for institutional
barriers of language and culture, for instance if a school only offers options
for English documents or resources, this site offers and provides different
assistances in different languages. This
would work for an instance that a student of different language might need a
text translated into their language, or some additional assistance in
interpreting texts or projects they are not explained in their native language. The teacher, or in my case, me, would need to
research all the available sources available that are not available through the
schools, and find the inexpensive opportunities or alternatives for the student
to be able to succeed. For example,
there could be a student that does not respond well to a certain lesson, and it
may be that there is another option for educating them successfully without
becoming frustrated or discouraged by their inability to listen or understand
to some sort of lesson.
Another amazing resource I was able to discover was the
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Website. On the Department of
Natural Resources Website, there were several resources available for Teachers
to research and find activities to fit different class activity varieties. This list below is what I found and what
amazed me:
Iowa's Natural Resources -
background information about Iowa's waters, forests and wildlife; this
information comes from the Iowa Supplements to Projects WILD, WILD
Aquatic, and PLT
Classroom Resources -
downloadable activity guides; audiovisual resources; 400 factsheets about
Iowa's aquatic plants & animals; correlations to Iowa and National
standards organized by grade level; sample lesson plans organized by grade
level; conservation education course outlines; activity/coloring
sheets; suggested natural resources children's books
Education Competitions -
skills competitions (casting, archery, clay target shooting); audiovisual
contest; poster contests; environmental high school team competition
Demonstration Models -
kits/models for interactive, hands-on science experiences; available by
loan
Education Training Programs - comprehensive activity guides and additional
resources/support to help you incorporate Iowa's natural resources into your
current curriculum/teaching situation
Educational Grants - funding available to
Iowa schools to support a variety of environmental education opportunities
including fishing field experiences, establishing local angling education
programs, implementing a place-based approach to learn about local aquatic
resources/issues, planting trees on school grounds, and starting a High School
Scholastic Clay Target Program
Citizen Science Programs -
resources that encourage students to investigate natural resource concerns and
learn how to conduct scientific field investigations and analyze the data
collected
Educator Workshops - gain valuable
knowledge about Iowa's natural resources; interact with other educators; learn more about local environmental
education professionals/resources
Field Trip Locations - rich in history and natural resources, Iowa
is abundant with areas you and your students can explore; visit a fish
hatchery, nature center, or State Park close to you
Retrieve:http://www.iowadnr.gov/Education/ForTeachers/FieldTripLocations.asp
The
Department of Natural Resources in Iowa help to overcome many of the
institutional barriers that teacber’s may be up against. One of the biggest barriers in education are
financial, the schools often do not provide enough funding to do what is
necessary to reach all children and give them the fullest potential to learn
and succeed. There is often a limited
amount of textbook and workbook varieties provided by schools and often times
materials can be a big problem. For
instance there may be a certain things in nature that I may want students to
learn about such as types of trees or local plants, and it may not be in the
interest of the school board to provide such documents or field trips. With a resources such and here they offer
different education grants for different group activities, whether it be field
trip or group nature walk daytrip. I
could simply send a request to the DNR, explaining my position and stance of my
education purposes, and apply for grants or other day adventures they have
available, and get my kids outside into the environment where they can learn
about what surrounds them and how it came to be and give them chances to engage
each other with different types of activities.
If the school has in institutional barrier that does not fund nature
conservation lessons, there would be ways to present the situation to the DNR
and to request materials or time slots where kids can learn why it is important
to conserve and how it applies to nature and their futures. This would allow students to become more
involved with the community and with the resources provided by nature and their
surroundings. It would be up to me to
push for the materials or funds or space to excavate different tasks or field
trips, and it would take perseverance.
The school board may not think that it is necessary for learning, and
this would require me to petition and explain why it was vital for students,
and how it could help them succeed. In the textbook it states, “Teachers can do nothing to
change the conditions in which their students may live today, but they can
work to change their own biases and the institutional structures that act as
obstacles to student learning and to the possibilities for their students’ futures.
Although some teachers and other educators might prefer to think that students’
lack of academic achievement is due solely to conditions inside their homes or
inherent in their cultures, racism and other forms of institutional
discrimination clearly play a central role in educational failure, as does the
related phenomenon of low expectations,”(Bode 83-84). I will have to care enough to put the efforts
in to make the chances in my classrooms to bring about the best in my
students. In order to achieve success,
teachers may need to persuade and prove different beliefs, but it is in the
best interest for them kids and it will help them become better students and
learn the love and importance of education.
Intercultural
communication strategies are vital for schools and educators and are becoming
more and more important as schools continue to evolve in diversity and mix with
different cultures. There are current
people researching and developing different methods of intercultural
communication, but it is up to the educator to give the care and energy and
attention, and to learn different approaches and methods on a continual basis
changing them year from year if not even more often. From an article Building Blocks: The First Step of Creating a Multicultural
Classroom, the author states:
“Teachers who own literature by authors form
different backgrounds is great but it is not enough. True multicultural
activities must be ongoing and integrated daily in both informal and formal
activities. Gloria Boutte and Christine McCormick suggest six basic principles
for teachers to use when evaluating their culturally diverse classroom, these
are, "1) building multicultural programs, 2) showing appreciation of
differences, 3) avoiding stereotypes, 4) acknowledging differences in children,
5) discovering the diversity within the classroom, 6) avoiding pseudo
multiculturalism" (140). Showing appreciation of differences is very
important because a teacher who does not show appreciation of all the
differences in their class will not get the chance to attempt any of the other
five principles.”
Getting to know the students is one thing, but the
proficiency of understanding the different students, and what to be sensitive
to, is a process that is continual and never ending. The first technique I would use in my
classroom would be a project where my students would present a presentation of
the story of their background and their life.
Each student would present their story openly to the classroom and the
class would be required to respond to them and ask questions about curiosities
they may have about their cultural differences or different backgrounds. They,
of course, would receive credit for this project but also gain a better
understanding of the classroom by glancing into their individualities. Next
would be different projects regarding different countries of origin within the
class where a text or film would be provided and where the students would be
required to report about something significant and interesting about each
different country or culture. We would have food days where students would
bring cultural food they practiced making at home and they would explain how it
was made and why the food was specific to a region they have chosen to explore.
They would explain the nutritional experience and the cost of the supplies
needed to make the food dish. Here students can engage other students life
styles and learn more about nutrition and diversify what they eat and are aware
of. Another change I would make on a weekly basis would be to re-arrange the
seating charts, giving all students chances to intermingle with each other and
work with each other. This might mean breaking into small groups based on
seating arrangements and working closely with fellow students on assignments
for research projects. In the textbook
it states, “Reorganizing
the social structure of classrooms can facilitate significant improvements in
prosocial development, academic achievement, and interethnic relations. Even
students’ attitudes and behaviors toward one another can be influenced in a
positive way. Providing alternative means for learning is an essentially
equitable endeavor, and it strengthens the democratic purposes of schooling.”
(Bode 384). When students are seated in the same spot for a long period of time
they become stagnant, and this is also true with doing the same lesson
processes or lecturing techniques repetitively. In addition to changing seating
charts I would plan different styles of lecture or different projects to engage
where the teaching strategy can be diversified and each student can have an
opportunity to shine. Some students might do better with group activities while
others may do great with presentations. By changing the dynamic of the lessons
on a continual basis, the different spectrums of the learning mind can be
exercised and explored.
Another plan would be to schedule field trips,
both indoors and outdoors. We could go to a nature reserve or a state park to
explore the wilderness and different museums or archeology buildings where they
can see things instead of just read about them, while also getting out of the
classroom walls and the restrictions that come with being stuck in a building
all day. From an article titled, Teaching Intercultural Communications,
authors state, “Discussion
of basic conceptual frameworks in teaching intercultural communication and examination of lecture modules on selected
intercultural communication topics, consideration
and experience of different instructional modes such as lectures/discussions,
self-assessment tests, critical incident analyses, small group discussions,
video analyses, intercultural simulations, and effective debriefing
Active
dialogue on successful instructional strategies and appropriate communication
skills for managing classroom diversity,”(Leeva Chung and Stella Ting-Toomey). The success of the classroom depends a lot of
the implication of these different process and procedures and requires teachers
to be innovative and creative. One way
that might cause a downfall in the learning would be a teacher losing the
passion or desire to make a difference in their students’ lives and to want to
take the easy road of education that does not require innovation and
compassion. If a school board were to restrict activities this could be an
institutional barrier and downfall to the plans of intercultural
communication.
Most importantly, teachers must engage each group of students each year
with fresh perspectives and see them as new faces, it could be easy to fall
into a repetitive method where it becomes mundane and overdone. Researching new and unfamiliar cultures as
groups of students change will allow the teacher to continue the evolution of
their own mind and also the evolution of new and different students in
education. The teacher must have the
‘will’ to bring the students together and the drive to research methods and
options available. The passion and
compassion for students and the love and fierceness to educate and key
components to continual success, but maintaining the patience and creativity
and innovation that is requires to master is equally vital and detrimental to
the students year after year.
Reference
Iowa Pathways Website
supported by Iowa Public Television: Retrieved from:
http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/teacherresources/default.cfm
DNR
Department of Natural Website: Environmental
Education Resources for Teachers and Youth Leadership; Retrieve From:
http://www.iowadnr.gov/Education/ForTeachers/FieldTripLocations.aspx
Area
Vibes Website: Iowa City, Iowa Demographics: Retrieved from: http://www.areavibes.com/iowa+city-ia/demographics/
Nieto,
S., & Bode, P. (2012). Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context
of Multicultural Education (Sixth Edition). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Fish,
L. (n.d.). Building Blocks: The
First Steps of Creating a Multicultural Classroom. Retrieved January 8, 2007, from EdChange
Multicultural Pavilion, http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/buildingblocks.html
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Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication:
Session III a: July 23-27, 2012:
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28.
Teaching Intercultural Communication Leeva Chung and Stella Ting-Toomey Retrieved
from: http://www.intercultural.org/28.php
EHow.com Website; Institutional Barriers to Learning, article
by Dr. Samuel Hem; Retrieved from:http://www.ehow.com/info_8210062_institutional-barriers-learning.html
