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Case: Uneasiness and Fear Mrs. Clare was well prepared for her culturally diverse first grade students this school year. She was looking forward to learning more about the five different countries and cultures represented in her classroom. She had completed all of the required courses to successfully earn her ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching endorsement. She was very aware of how to enrich her lessons to accommodate second language learners. What Mrs. Clare was not prepared for was the uneasiness and fear that overwhelmed the parents of the students who were not ESL pupils. One parent in particular complained to Mrs. Clare that her child was being harassed by another student in the classroom. When Mrs. Clare inquired about the identity of the "bully," the parent did not know the name of the student who was bothering her child. However, the parent mentioned to Mrs. Clare that the student causing trouble was one of the "foreign" boys with the dark hair and real dark skin. Mrs. Clare did not expect adults to react in this manner about a classroom of typical six year old students. Questions: 1. How can Mrs. Clare prepare herself for the challenges involved in teaching culturally diverse students? 2. Is it possible to convey to parents the importance of being open minded in their outlook of the culturally diverse world? 3. How can Mrs. Clare ease the tensions of the concerned parents? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) 1. Mrs. Clare, in my opinion is pretty well prepared to begin with, however there is no limit to how prepared a teacher can be. I think that if Mrs. Clare would have devoted the time that she invested in taking ESL courses to learning how to deal with her students emotions and feelings, she would have been able to handle her class differently. 2. I think that it is very possible to convey the importance of understanding, tolerating and accepting culturally diverse students to parents. Parents need to know that students in their child's classroom may be different which is okay. Each and every student needs to know that they are different in their own ways, but what is the issue is the physical differences. When students come into a classroom knowing no or very little English, its a nerve-wracking experience for those students. Parents need to stress to their children that cultural differences are okay and that they should be accepted. 3. Mrs. Clare could ease the tension of the parents by meeting up with the parents of the ESOL students to individually discuss the issues that their child is facing as they strive to be a member of the classroom community. |
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