Cross-Cultural Confusions

Deplit argues that good teaching requires understanding the cultures that exists within the classroom. She uses the metaphor of relating preaching to teaching, as a preacher has his or her own background and agenda and is preaching to a specific audience, where all of the preacher’s work is intended. She also gives examples of how different cultural communication styles are used and it is necessary to understand the cultural context in order to find meaning and to assess accurately.

“Being able to make accurate interpretations requires either sharing communicative or ethnic background, or having enough communicative experience with the other group to make sense of the alternative styles” (p.144)

Though I agree that it necessary to understand different communication styles between cultures and how that difference will influence how something is understood in the classroom, I would also argue that within a classroom, where cultural context is understood, and students feel secure, a new culture is built, specific in which students and the teacher exist. My teaching experience in Korea mirrors this thought. Korean children are expected to respect their elders through actions and ways of speech, this did not occur in my classroom the conventional way expressed throughout Korean society. Hangul, or the Korean language offers a form to speak to someone who is older than you. While this exists in English in slight forms (polite vs. command), there is not an overall rule that exists in other languages, such as the Usted vs the Tu form in Spanish. The fact that English lacks this tool, or affluent speakers can only use the tool, a quality my students did not, communication in the classroom between students and myself was very different from the communication they shared with their Korean teachers. Furthermore, observing my students’ actions inside and outside the classroom, I felt the students felt more at ease to express themselves within my classroom because they didn’t see me existing within the Confucius society that governs them to be more obedient. While I think Deplit’s argument of understanding the culture that exists within each member of the classroom is true, I would further her argument in that children are more adaptable than we think. While they may act or speak in certain ways, they have the ability to adapt to a new culturally inclusive culture that the teacher builds space for within a classroom.

“We all interpret behaviors, information, and situations through our own cultural lenses; these lenses operate involuntarily, below the level of conscious awareness, making it seem that our own view is simply “the way it is.”

I think that Deplit has accurately expressed the recipe of what makes an effective constructivist teacher. By not only expanding what we know, but also understanding the “whats” and “whys” of our knowledge, we can create a platform for all children, no matter what background they may have to be successful. While we read about how a certain race or gender act in the classroom, and how to cater to these groupings of students, it is best to consider the child as a whole, not just by their race or gender.

Both of these quotes make me SO excited to get back into the classroom! I am so anxious to learn about my students, think of creative ways to create an inclusive classroom, and if all goes well, see each of them develop in their own way.