Chapter 2

Importance and ways of teaching culture

Culture is basically the way someone is raised, beliefs, religion, and family traditions. Culture could be considered beliefs or values that are really important in an individual’s life. Teaching to a culturally diverse classroom could be difficult if not well prepared. In fact, most teachers avoid teaching cultural classes because there are so many different opinions that scare them away. Teachers that avoid teaching cultural classrooms avoid teaching them because they feel it will take more time, or more materials that they do not have. Also some teachers feel that they are not capable of teaching to a culturally diverse group. And in some situations, teachers just don’t feel it’s worth teaching. You need to be aware that everyone has different beliefs, so if you are not careful you could go into certain areas that might offend and individual or group. Be careful when referring to certain groups such as African Americans, or Hispanics. Try to be politically correct, try not to refer to anyone as Blacks or Mexicans, not everyone is in the same group. Some cultures believe that their ways of doing things are better than other cultures. Some of the individuals in the class may think that because they do something a different way makes them inferior to others. Show that it is interesting how they do things, let them do it the way the individual wants to avoid making them feel like they were doing it wrong. Teaching a cultural classroom could be an exciting experience to learn new things about different groups and cultures. Cultural classrooms can show you different ways of doing something that might be easier and more effective than how you usually did things.

http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/culture/cuindex.htm

http://www.heartwoodethics.org/2-teaching/teach-culture.asp

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kodotchigova-RolePlay.html