The Challenge of Linguistics and Cultural Diversity in Education

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“Schools are changing in ways that, up until a few years ago, we thought unimaginable. Today, schools are more diverse than ever, and those trends will continue into the future. Unfortunately, teachers and schools have not always met the challenge of linguistic and cultural diversity” (Laureate, 2014). We must take the opportunity to get to know our students in order to recognize and value their uniqueness. “Teachers must work to understand the cultures of their students in a meaningful way, which involves recognizing the beliefs, values, and behaviors that characterize the various cultures of their students. Students themselves can be a valuable resource in learning about a culture” (Trail, 2000). Observations are a valuable method of assessment. Through observations, teachers can take note on students’ development, learning styles, students’ needs, and cultural influences. Teachers can use these notes to make better choices that impact student learning. These observations and interactions will also help us learn about other cultures. Having the opportunity to observe and interact with the students will equip you with information that cannot be learned from a book.

“Culture consists of values, traditions, worldview, and social and political relationships created, shared, and transformed by a group of people bound together by a common history, geographic location, language, social class, religion, or other shared identity” (Nieto & Bode, 2008). Now that we have identified the characteristics of culture in the definition provided above, we can discuss the upbringing of the student I chose for my observation. For this observation, I chose a third grade male student named Israel Oketunmbi. I gathered most of the information about...

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Works Cited

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Introduction to multicultural education. [Video file].

Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural

education (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.

Nowlan, A. (2010). Creating a More Globally Conscious Classroom. Language Education in

Asia, 1(1), 147-157.

Trail, K. (2000). A changing nation: The impact of linguistic and cultural diversity on education.

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, 11(2). Retrieved from

http://www.sedl.org/pubs/sedletter/v12n02/2.html

Zins, J. E., Weissburg, R. P., Wang, M. C., & Walberg, H. J. (2004). Building academic success

on social and emotional learning: what does the research say?. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

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