How Schools Back Home Differ from CSU

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How Schools Back Home Differ from CSU
Jeffra Flaitz, Ph.D. Pasco
County (FL) Public Schools Second Annual
Cultural Diversity Conference April 3, 2009
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Ice-breaker Your Native American Name

• Using one of the following combinations, choose a
  suitable Native American name for yourself.
• 3rd person singular preposition noun
  Dances With Wolves
• gerund noun adjective(s) noun Sitting
  Bull Big Bird
• Share your Native American name with your
  tablemates, and explain why it reflects your
  character.

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60 Countries Represented by CSUs International
Students
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CSU International Students by World Region
Asia /
Middle East
Pacific Islands
Sub-Saharan
3
India / Pakistan
18
Africa
3
24
North America
(excluding U.S.)
Eastern
Latin
2
Europe
America
13
15
West.
Carib-
Europe
bean
12
10
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Understand the Students Challenge

• Development of language skills is but one of the
  many steps in the transition process
• Schooling practices and learning concepts differ
  from country to country
• Students need to adjust to the education system
  as well as to the social environment
• They need a safe atmosphere
  that fosters
• Rapid language learning
• Acculturation
• Enhancement of self-esteem

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Note the Success of Orientation Programs
Student assessment data demonstrate that students
in newcomer programs reach higher levels of
achievement both academically and
linguistically in English and native
language proficiency. Final
Project Report First National Conference for
Educators of Newcomer Students
and Pilot Study on Newcomer Program
Literacy and Assessment
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Recognize the Benefits of Knowing Students
Educational Background

• Helping students reach their academic goals
• Demystifying behavior
• seeing the student within the context of his/her
  own culture
• Validating students experience
• increasing their sense of belonging
• recognizing that school performance may be
  tied to social economic conditions at
  home
• Improving interaction between
  dominant and minority students
• preventing ridicule and prejudice
• avoiding isolation of newcomers

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• Building trust and confidence in the teacher /
  school by showing appreciation of students and
  their cultures
• Boosting attendance and efficiency of learning
• Planning lessons that better meet students needs
  by using culturally familiar examples and topics
• Devising better assessment intervention
  procedures
• Tapping students strengths
• Building on students prior knowledge
  and experience
• Making better decisions regarding content
  and activities
• Establishing more effective
  communication with students

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UNDERSTANDING YOUR REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT STUDENTS

• An Educational, Cultural, and Linguistic Guide

University of Michigan Press (2006)
UNDERSTANDING YOURINTERNATIONALSTUDENTS
An Educational, Cultural, and Linguistic
Guide
University of Michigan Press (2003)
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School-based Issues
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Resources and Facilities
HERE Im so embarrassed. I made an off-hand
comment to Jemi, my student from Sierra Leone,
about the assumed poor physical condition of her
school back home. She seemed really offended!
Should I not mention such things?
BACK HOME Jemi may have attended a private school
in the city. Private schools are better equipped
and staffed, and urban schools are in better
physical condition as well.
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Role of Parents
HERE Rainas, a student from Kenya, is the best
student in my class, but he seems tormented by
the prospect of an exam of any kind. Whats
going on?

• BACK HOME
• The majority of exams in Kenyan schools are high
  stakes exams. They are make or break.
• Class rank is determined by these exams, and may
  be published.
• There may be considerable parental pressure to
  score at the top of the class on tests.

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Grading
HERE Quy, my Vietnamese student, failed his first
test in my class, receiving a disappointing 10.
At first he was elated, but then stared at his
paper with a look of confusion on his face. Is
the scoring system different in his country?
BACK HOME Yes! A 9 or 10 on a test is the
highest grade possible. It is considered
excellent 7-8 is rather good 5-6 is a passing
score.
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Political Correctness

• HERE
• I really appreciate the perspective of my
  international students. Many times in class I
  will ask them to tell the rest of the group about
  the current political conflicts in their
  countries. Farudja, from Morocco, refused! Why?

• BACK HOME
• Moroccans tend to avoid making critical comments
  about their country in public. In some cases,
  open discussion of a sensitive topic could invite
  retribution.
• Discussion of religious differences and sexuality
  are usually taboo for Muslim students.

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Classroom Etiquette
HERE Roya, from Iran, besieges me with questions
after class, but never raises her hand to ask for
clarification during the class
session. Is she shy or embarrassed about her
English?

• BACK HOME
• In Iran classes last for 80 to 90 minutes. Only
  the teacher speaks during this period. Between
  classes students ask the teacher many questions.
  
• The teacher may get annoyed if the students DONT
  ask questions during the break!

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Friendship
HERE My Malaysian students all seem to hang
together outside of class, which I think hinders
their learning of English, brings their cultural
adjustment to a halt, and ultimately affects
their grades. They need American friends!

• BACK HOME
• Malaysian students often study with one stable
  cohort throughout their schooling, so they tend
  to become very close and to rely on one another.
• The comfort of friendship with international
  students from ones own culture can have many
  positive effects

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Testing
HERE Indira comes from Bombay and is one of the
best students Ive had in 25 years of teaching.
She came to my desk after class one day very
upset, begging me to let her re-take a test for
which she had received a 95 two weeks earlier!
Shes a high achiever, but a 95 is an A.

• BACK HOME
• The desire to study in the U.S. for many Indians
  is driven by search for excellence in education
  and lifestyle
• Parents invest many hours helping children with
  studies and accrue large debts to support their
  education
• Children feel an obligation to fulfill parents
  dreams

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Study Skills
HERE My student Angela, from Liberia, interrupts
me every few minutes to ask me to repeat what I
just said. She writes down everything I say
verbatim. Why? A lot of what I include in my
lectures can be found right in the textbook!
BACK HOME Almost all schools were destroyed
during Liberias 15-year civil war, and there is
no money to pay teachers or to buy educational
supplies including textbooks. This makes a
copybook worth its weight in gold!
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Gift Giving

• HERE
• I have a student from Ukraine who works very hard
  but who will not be passing my class this term.
  Today she brought me a beautiful glass pony as a
  gift. Tomorrow is her final exam. Is this a
  bribe?

• BACK HOME
• It is more likely an end-of-school-year
  acknowledgement of your help, support, and
  kindness.
• Flowers are also a common gift from student to
  teacher, and Teachers Day is an important
  occasion.

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Learning Style

• HERE
• My Colombian students seem lost when I ask them
  to move from the abstract to the practical. To
  help, I give an example. However, they will
  often produce something that is almost identical
  to my example.

• BACK HOME
• In some cases, students are expected to reproduce
  what has been presented, resulting in skillful
  memori-zation, but limited understanding of the
  processes involved in critical thinking.
• Many students de-value their original
  contributions or are afraid to make a mistake.

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Teaching Style

• HERE
• Over the last few years, I have
  had several Russian students
  in my
  classes and am forming the opinion that they
  dont respect me. For example, they breathe
  heavy sighs in class and roll their eyes.

• BACK HOME
• Extremely high academic standards back home
• Piles of homework, recitation
• Accommodation, personal attention seen as
  permissive and insulting

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Turn-Taking
HERE I have an outgoing student from Afghanistan
who really enjoys the case studies we analyze in
my class. However, she has a tendency to
interrupt her classmates. I can tell they get
somewhat annoyed (and so do I!).
BACK HOME Some cultures are polychronic,
meaning that its members may be able to process
competing verbal input from quite a number of
simultaneous sources.
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Collectivism vs. Individualism
HERE My Somali students do their homework
together. I dont think this is fair to the
other students nor do I think it enables them to
apply independent critical thinking skills.

• BACK HOME
• Members of collectivistic cultures may see more
  benefit from collaborating than from competing.
  They may even depend on one another for survival!
  
• By studying and completing homework together,
  students often end up modeling critical thinking
  strategies for one another.

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Academic Honesty

• HERE
• I learned recently that the parent of my only
  Ukrainian student was coaching her on how to
  cheat during exams and that this student was
  passing the strategies on to her classmates.

• BACK HOME
• Although cheating is unacceptable in Ukraine, it
  can also be a self-protective mechanism
• Students closely identify with their cohort
• You succeed together, and you fail together

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Non-Verbal Communication
HERE My small class meets in a seminar room.
Today when I slid a graded assignment down the
table to Hector, my student from Honduras, he
frowned and then didnt participate in class. I
have no idea why!

• BACK HOME
• Honduran classrooms and teachers are more formal
  than those in the U.S.
• Students work should be handled with respect

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
HERE The mother of one of my Bosnian students has
been too depressed to get out of bed for the past
two years. This is all I really know. I cant
get my student to talk about it.

• BACK HOME
• The war and ethnic cleansing in this region
  resulted in the displacement of over 2 million
  people and claimed more than 200,000 lives
  50,000 of whom were children. Most people
  suffered severe psychological trauma.
• Refugees often distrust authorities, so dont
  disclose.

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Language
HERE My Guatemalan student Miguel shocked me this
week when I asked him to help me translate a
short message from English into Spanish. He
really struggled! How come?

• BACK HOME
• The majority of Guatemalan immigrants in the U.S.
  today are of Mayan origin and, for many, Spanish
  is a second language
• Guatemalas national illiteracy rate is 52
• Average years of schooling for adults is only 3.5
  years

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Bear in Mind . . .

• These are generalizations all cultures vary
  within
• individual personality
• age group
• ethnic group
• SES
• region (e.g. rural vs. urban)

• It is not necessary, nor is it possible, to know
  the specific cultural background of every
  student.
• look at cultural ambiguities through the lens of
  an amateur cultural anthropologist

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from Edward T. Hall (1959)

• Culture hides much more than it reveals,
• and, strangely enough,
• what it hides, it hides most effectively
  from it own participants.
• Years of study have convinced me
  that the real job
  
  is not to understand foreign culture
• but to understand our own.