TEFL Dycusburg Kentucky

As a teacher in a foreign country being culturally sensitive will be very important to teaching effectively. Understanding the culture of the country that the teacher is in will be tantamount to the success of that teacher as Rob Merlino points out, "Cultural sensitivity requires that teachers interpret their students' behaviors within the cultural context of the student." This means that the teacher will need to understand how the culture may influence the behavior of the student in the classroom. For instance, in collectivist cultures students may be less apt to participate or may not wish to perform activities alone as they would not want to detract from the rest of the collective. Understanding the culture will help that teacher to understand whether or not a student is not participating out of a lack of care, shyness, or cultural conditioning. The culture of the class may also impact lesson planning and will help the teacher understand the obstacles that she or he may face when trying to use the ESA methodology. The collectivistic culture may pose a barrier to ESA methodology in certain countries as the students may expect that the teacher is to act as a leading patriarch figure and do most of the talking. In this situation the teacher may need to explain his or her methodology to the students and show them that student participation is acceptable and necessary for their learning. Also in a collectivistic culture pair work may be preferable to calling on individual students so as to not single them out in a culture wherein that is not common. The content may also need to be curtailed to the culture of the class. It is advisable in any culture that a teacher should not use religious texts as it is likely to offend someone in the class. The teacher will need to try to find materials that are culturally relevant and appropriate for the students. For example, in more traditional cultures it may not be advisable for a teacher to present any materials over pop culture or Hollywood as the material or photos may be inappropriate to the sensitivities of the class. Also teachers may need to be sensitive to cultural diversity in the classroom as they may be teaching a multilingual class made up of students from many different cultures. The methodology recommended for use in a culturally diverse classroom according to Rob Merlino, is cooperative learning, “Cooperative learning is ‘a teaching strategy that consists of students working together in small groups so that everyone can participate in a clearly assigned task.' Hence the ESA methodology will work well in a culturally diverse class as the many activities and recommended group work parallel the recommended cooperative learning technique. Also Rob Merlino points out that a culturally diverse classroom can be used to the benefit of the entire class regarding content. “Teaching content about the cultures and contributions of many ethnic groups and by using a variety of teaching techniques that are culturally responsive to different ethnic learning styles (will help) to equalize learning advantages and disadvantages among the different ethnic groups in the classroom." It is apparent that culture may be a barrier between the teacher and his/her students, however, through proper application of the ESA methodology, proper respect, and sensitivity to cultural differences the teacher can overcome these difficulties and use diversity to create a more comfortable classroom for everyone. Works Cited Merlino, Rob. Addressing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom. Helium Website. 18 Feb. 2007. Web. 24 Apr. 2012