Cultural
competence is the ability of a person to effectively interact, work, and
develop meaningful relationships with people of various cultural backgrounds. Cultural background can include the beliefs, customs, and behaviors of people from various groups.
Someone's cultural awareness
is their understanding of the differences between themselves and people
from other countries or other backgrounds, especially differences in
attitudes and values.A fundamental part of learning a language is acquiring familiarity
with the culture associated with it.
A multicultural society is best served by a culturally responsive
curriculum. Schools that acknowledge the diversity of their student
population understand the importance of promoting cultural awareness.
Teachers who are interested in fostering a cultural awareness in their
classroom should actively demonstrate to their students that they
genuinely care about their cultural, emotional, and intellectual needs.
To this end, there are several strategies that you can use to build
trusting relationships with diverse students.
To incorporate cultural awareness into your
classroom curriculum,you should:
1. Express interest in the ethnic background of your students.
Encourage your students to research and share information about their
ethnic background as a means of fostering a trusting relationship with
fellow classmates.
Analyze and celebrate differences in traditions,
beliefs, and social behaviors. It is of note that this task helps
European-American students realize that their beliefs and traditions
constitute a culture as well, which is a necessary breakthrough in the
development of a truly culturally responsive classroom.
Also, take the
time to learn the proper pronunciation of student names and express
interest in the etymology of interesting and diverse names.
2. Redirect your role in the classroom from instructor to facilitator.
Another important requirement for creating a nurturing environment for
students is reducing the power differential between the instructor and
students. Students in an authoritarian classroom may sometimes display
negative behaviors as a result of a perceived sense of social injustice;
in the culturally diverse classroom, the teacher thus acts more like a
facilitator than an instructor.
Providing students with questionnaires
about what they find to be interesting or important provides them with a
measure of power over what they get to learn and provides them with
greater intrinsic motivation and connectedness to the material.
Allowing
students to bring in their own reading material and present it to the
class provides them with an opportunity to both interact with and share
stories, thoughts, and ideas that are important to their cultural and
social perspective.
3. Maintain a strict level of sensitivity to language concerns.
In traditional classrooms, students who are not native English speakers
often feel marginalized, lost, and pressured into discarding their
original language in favor of English.
In a culturally responsive
classroom, diversity of language is celebrated and the level of
instructional materials provided to non-native speakers are tailored to
their level of English fluency. Accompanying materials should be
provided in the student’s primary language and the student should be
encouraged to master English.
4. Maintain high expectations for student performance.
Given that culturally responsive instruction is a student-centered
philosophy, it should come as no surprise that expectations for
achievement are determined and assigned individually for each student.
Students don’t receive lavish praise for simple tasks but do receive
praise in proportion to their accomplishments. If a student is not
completing her work, then one should engage the student positively and
help guide the student toward explaining how to complete the initial
steps that need to be done to complete a given assignment or task.
5. Incorporate methods for self-testing.
Another potent method for helping students become active participants
in learning is to reframe the concept of testing. While testing is
usually associated with grades (and therefore stress) in traditional
classrooms, in a culturally responsive classroom frequent non-graded
tests can be used to provide progress checks and ensure that students
don’t fall behind on required material.
Teaching students to self-test
while learning new information will help them better remember and use
what they’ve learned in class and will help them realize on their own
when they need to study a topic in greater depth.
6. Maintain an “inclusive” curriculum that remains respectful of differences.
A culturally responsive curriculum is both inclusive in that it ensures
that all students are included within all aspects of the school and it
acknowledges the unique differences students may possess.
A culturally
responsive curriculum also encourages teachers’ understanding and
recognition of each student’s non-school cultural life and background,
and provides a means for them to incorporate this information into the
curriculum, thus promoting inclusion.
Schools have the
responsibility to teach all students how to synthesize cultural
differences into their knowledge base, in order to facilitate students’
personal and professional success in a diverse world.
A culturally
responsive curriculum helps students from a minority ethnic/racial
background develop a sense of identity as individuals, as well as
proudly identify with their particular culture group.
Teachers can play a
big role in helping these students succeed through the establishment of
culturally responsive classrooms.
Elements of cultural awareness:
The five building blocks of cultural competence:
1-Open attitude,
2-Self-awareness,
3-Awareness of others,
4-Cultural knowledge,
5-Cultural skills.
Cultural Awareness sub-skills
Facing the Third Millennium, any countries should prepare young
generation with cultural awareness and critical thinking skills so
as to
survive in the global era.
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively
and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing,
and/or evaluating information generated by, observation,
experience,
reflection, reasoning, or communication,
as a guide to belief and
action.
Cultural Awareness Activities
In order for your students to adapt to their new
environment and feel safe and comfortable, you need to create an
atmosphere of inclusivity.
Include allowances for cultural necessities
in classroom rules, choose texts that are relevant to and explore
cultural differences, and communicate with students and parents about
needs and
expectations.
That last one is particularly important. Students and
families from
different backgrounds may be just as unaware of certain
differences
as you were before you did your research. Get on the same
page
with them and discuss what you are doing to be sensitive to them
and how they can communicate with you further.
This can be a major
challenge on its own, especially if there
is a language barrier, but do
not be discouraged!
The extra effort needed to connect to families pays
dividends
in how much you learn about them, how much the home-school
connection grows, and how supported your students feel.
On that note, make sure to dialogue with your students as
well.
After making allowances for cultural differences, you may find
yourself fielding questions from them, such as “Why is he/she
doing
that?” or “How come he/she gets to do ‘X’?”
Practicing cultural awareness and sensitivity as a teacher
requires a little more consideration, but we owe it to our profession,
our
students, and the surrounding community to put in the work.
And by doing
so, you will allow all of your students to have an
equitable experience
in your class. Moreover, you will add to
your school’s culture in a
positive way and act as an example
