I would like to share with you my final assignment in the “Transition to Classroom” course in the TESL program. I reached out to a group of ESL teachers from the Unites States, to see if they could share their experience about cultural differences and how they handled tricky situations in the classroom.
I heard from several teachers but one of their stories really resonated with me.
Context
This story comes from an ESL teacher Anna who was at the time teaching an oral communication skills class at an intensive language school in Arkansas. The students were attending high beginner classes. Anna was a young teacher with some experience teaching multicultural groups of students.
One day she was assigned to teach a class where there quite a few students from KSA - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Anna did some research into the Saudi Arabia culture - food, religion, history and geography. She thought she was well equipped to share her knowledge with a new class.
Challenge
The challenge that Anna had faced was that there were Shia and Sunni students in the same group and Sunnis were refusing to speak to Shia. Anna was noticing one thing - one of her Shia students was always silent during group work. Anna was trying to figure out if it was a lack of motivation or if she was just a shy person by nature. It was neither. The real reason why Anna’s student was not participating in group discussions because she was ignored by the Sunnis. Cause - Sunni and Shia are two groups which have been divided over their religious beliefs and issues.
Solution
One of Anna’s first steps to deal with this situation was to talk with the student who was avoiding participation in the discussions. They talked privately after the class and that’s how Anna found out about the conflict. In Brown and Lee it falls under one of the guidelines for maintaining classroom discipline - ‘“try, initially, to resolve disciplinary matters outside of class time” and “In resolving disciplinary problems, try to find the source of the problem rather than treating symptoms.”( Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 302)
Anna’s approach to resolving this issue included two steps - she decided to avoid doing group work as much as possible, but rather split students in pairs or work as a whole class. When she had to have students in small groups, she would never put the Shia student with the meanest students from Sunnis group.
Also, Anna had to put a lot of effort to really get to know her students to be more mindful when grouping them. She added more in-class activities which helped her to learn more about her students’ personalities.
I completely agree with Anna’s strategy and steps to resolve this conflict. It took extra effort on the part of Anna but it was definitely worth the outcome and benefits that followed. On one hand - building positive relationships with her students and, on the other side, establishing and keeping those boundaries for peaceful atmosphere in her classroom.
Is there anything else a teacher could do in such situation?
1.The teacher can establish ( or refresh students on) the classroom etiquette. It is also referred to as Codes of Conduct among the Guidelines for Maintaining Classroom Discipline. “Establish clearly and explicitly certain expectations regarding students’ behaviour in class..” ( Brown and Lee, 2015, p. 302). Establishing clear rules will help students to hold themselves accountable for their words or actions and to make the classroom a safe place for everyone.
2. The teacher can become a role model for his students. Be respectful, open and fair to your students. That is part of human nature - we start mimicking the behaviour of people who surround us. “Create an atmosphere of respect for each other’s opinions, beliefs, and ethic or cultural diversity. The classroom becomes the model of the world as a context for tolerance and for the appreciation of diversity.” ( Brown & Lee, 2015, p. 579)
3. The teacher should be cautious when choosing topics for discussions. I would try to avoid talking about human rights, religion or ethnic discrimination and chose more neutral topics such as weather, hobbies or food. Simply throwing sensitive topics into classroom routine can cause anger and resentment on the part of students.
References
Brown, H.D., Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy.
Comments