Teach English in Yinhua Zhen - Shangluo Shi

Cultural sensitivity can be defined as the awareness that people from different nationalities or different places around the world are bound to have different cultures, ethics and traditions. This awareness then allows people to be conscious of their conduct, which is how they act, what they say in the presence of others who may not share the same culture or nationality. Cultural differences are usually evident in people who are from different countries or nationalities, or people who are from the same country but have different ethnicities. In the classroom context, cultural sensitivity refers to the fact that everyone in the classroom, most especially the teacher, is aware that the class consists of learners who come from different backgrounds, sometimes, different countries and so there are issues that may or may not be appropriate to discuss in the classroom with respect to everyone’s background. There may be gestures that are socially unacceptable too. For instance, my first time teaching English in China, I used the index finger to point out the student whom I wanted to come up front. Immediately, my teaching assistant signaled to me that I had done something wrong and given the student’s impression, I could tell that I had done something wrong. Later on, my co-Teacher told me that in China, it was socially unacceptable for one to use the index finger to point at people. It was against their culture. I had been insensitive to their culture. In order to instill awareness, the teacher ought to emphasize the importance of equality throughout all the ESA stages of learning. For instance, during the Engage phase, the teacher may ask students whether they’ve travelled around the world. The students are always excited to talk about places they’ve travelled. The Stage phase may illicit about the things they saw that are different from their home country, with the teacher writing these on the board. This can be followed by a discussion of how people around the world are different and have different traditions. Learners love to explore and therefore, giving them a chance to role-play different traditions, or dressing from different nationalities around the world, in the activate phase, can help them embrace the differences that are around the world. Younger students may not be as aware of all their culture and ethics and so they may not know some of the things deemed culturally insensitive even though they are natives of that country. It is therefore significant that the teacher be aware of some basic cultural rules of their nation. If not, the teacher can make use of the co-teacher who may be available in most of the classes. When in doubt whether or not a gesture or act is appropriate or not, the teacher should ask his/her assistant teacher before carrying out the activity or making the gesture. When the students are older, they may be able to help the teacher with culturally acceptable behaviour in their nation, better yet the teacher can include the topic in the lesson content, to discuss it and ask students as to what, why or how they have certain cultures and traditions. However, younger students below the ages of 6 and 5 do not have these problems as most of the time they are not aware of any cultural differences be it racial or ethnical , because they are too young to comprehend the essence of ‘differences’. When faced with a multi-cultural class, the teacher should take extra caution with gestures and conduct, as well as topics which can be insensitive to other students’ culture and ethics. In this case, the students, having different nationalities should also be conscious of their conduct towards one another, and it is the teacher’s duty and the student’s too, to protect one another from insensitivity. This means some topics may not be up for discussion in class, so as to avoid making other students feel out of place. The classroom should be a neutral zone, where all students feel safe regardless of their nationality. However, in order to create cultural awareness, it is important that the issue be tackled in the classroom. Perhaps one of the most overlooked duties of the teacher is to make sure that no cultural boundaries are crossed, be it in a multicultural class or homogenous class. Therefore, it is vital that the teacher being the foreigner, in the case of a homogenous classes, should be well aware of most cultural boundaries that are prone to over-stepping in the classroom. In the case of a multicultural class, the teacher must teach students from the get go, to respect one another and consequently respect each other’s cultures. Time and again, the teacher ought to emphasize on the importance of such awareness in order to have successful classes. When it comes to the activate stage, when students have the most of dialogues with their peers, the teacher should always remind the students to be culturally sensitive to each other. When dealing with multicultural classes, the teacher should be the main agent of equality, emphasizing that there is neither a dominant culture, nor a secondary culture in the classroom. All students should feel free and welcome to express themselves without making others feel offended or belittled. When having culturally sensitive debates, with older kids, the teacher ought to be in charge of the debate to avoid insensitivity or better yet avoid such topics in the classroom. The teacher may choose to train the students on cultural issues before tackling culturally sensitive issues in the classroom, with older students who are old enough to understand. Watching movies, reading materials from different cultures or nationalities and having discussions afterwards, can help the learners to become exposed to a host of different cultures. Perhaps of vital importance will be the adoption of a culturally responsive curriculum by the school, one that embraces and celebrates the differences within each of the students, thereby avoiding prejudice.