INTERCULTURAL1

An Intercultural Classroom

David C. Heffner

September 15, 2013

INTERCULTURAL2

An Intercultural Classroom

Introduction

The demographics of society have changed. The social

context has diversified to meet globalization demands. This

brings immigration and new forms of citizens. Cultures,

religions, sexual orientation, and races are so diverse in the

U.S.A. that schools need to be reformed. The value of

intercultural communication for a multicultural school is

important. Even though there are mono-cultural geographical

schools, the schools need to be ready to diversify. This paper

will discuss multicultural schools and how they work for

different backgrounds of students. This paper will also discuss

opportunities gained and opportunities missed by these schools,

along with some ideas and implementations that are viable to

address the success of such diverse communities and classrooms.

Community Demographics

A community supports many individuals. These individuals

can be diverse or single group inhabitance. Today, a mono-

cultural, ethnic, racial, religion, or sexual orientation is hard

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to find. This is making school reform an important priority

within communities. This is because, “Local control has meant

that curriculum decisions and school improvement efforts

(1) have been made at the local community level and (2) attempts

have been made to match improvement efforts with local priorities

and interests” (Armstrong, Henson, & Savage, 2009, pp. 19-20).

This can be understood that, as a community changes, so do the

efforts to change the schools within the community, in order to

include the academic needs of the community. So, in order for a

community to be able to survive, it must be able to change. This

is not an easy task for the community.

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A community has many segregated parts. It seems that there

is always a hierarchy that controls segregation. The term

“across the tracks” has been around for years. This is a

representation of segregation.

In looking at three different groups: religion, ethnicity,

and economy, there are signs of segregation in both the schools

and in the community. It seems that when one group overlaps,

another segregates it. For example, many Hispanics are Catholic,

which creates a common bond, but say hypothetically that most

Catholics are mid- to high income, and most Hispanics are low

income. This pushes a wedge between the common bonds, allowing a

segregation to occur. This is a common occurrence in most

communities. There are sections of a community that are high

income, low income, Catholic, Protestant, Hispanic, African

American, etc. This segregation bleeds in to the schools of the

community.

Three students from different aspects can have difficult

times learning in a classroom. Focusing on a Catholic student,

there is a background that has an opinion that creates a conflict

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from normal teaching. Catholicism is deeply rooted in to the

beliefs of creationism and pro-life, among other things. These

beliefs are so ingrained that teaching a high school girl about

abortion or evolution, or even placing her in a group that

denounces GOD can be disastrous.

A fifteen year old student named Mary has a Catholic

religion. There is no Catholic school to attend, so she goes to

a public school. There is only one Catholic Church. Mary has

moved from an area where she attended a Catholic school and this

is her second year in a public school. Mary received her name

from the mother of Jesus, so she is pressured to follow strict

religious rules to keep her pure.

Mary lives in a home that practices the Roman Catholic

faith. Her family practices Lent an event of giving up a

precious desire, like certain foods or drink for a period of time

leading up

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to the Easter celebration. They attend mass every Sunday, as and

partake in the ritual of confession. Mary’s family believes

strongly in pro-life, no homosexuality, and a relationship only

with GOD until married. Having these beliefs in an area that has

an open mind about personal values is very scary for Mary. The

communication barrier is installed through a belief system

ingrained in all but two years of her life.

The Hispanic culture varies in many ways. There is

language, values, beliefs, and culture that produce the Hispanic.

Hispanics are family-oriented with a Roman Catholic religion.

These are proud people and speak their native tongue at home. As

a result of using their native tongue at home or with family,

they carry a heavy accent. This can create a problem with

speaking to others. “Hispanics tend to be reserved about public

speaking because of their heavy foreign accent” (Clutter & Nieto,

n.d., para. 6). Male high school Hispanics can cause

frustration, due

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to other students not being able to understand him. This, in

turn, can produce hatred toward a student, because what is not

understood is hated by many people.

Juan is a fifteen year old student who has a hard tie

speaking, reading and understanding the English language. He

lives in a small Hispanic community, and the culture is rich

within the community. In this cultural setting, hierarchy is

prominent through age; the older the person is, the higher they

rank. The Hispanics are proud people; therefore, their native

language is used. This does not help Juan in learning a new

language. It is a custom for families to come home from school

or work to have a meal together, usually for lunch. This type of

activity deprives Juan of socialization with other students.

Being that Juan and his family are immigrants also creates a

prejudice. Juan has a stigma consciousness. “Stigma

consciousness is the extent to which people are self-conscious

about being a member of a stereotyped group and expect to be

stereotyped by others” (Guyll, Madon,

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Prieto, & Scherr, 2010, p. 118). Because of this, Juan is a

perfect target for prejudice. Juan is also discriminated against

at school, because of his problem with English.

Socioeconomic stratification plays a major role in the home,

community, and school.

It is stated that, “About 53% of the high income students

expected to attend graduate school, while 22% of the low-income

students expected to do so” (Armstrong, Henson, & Savage, 2009,

p. 87). This is due to dropout rates in high school, which is in

relation to helping economically with the household. While a lot

of low SES (socioeconomic status) students work hard to achieve

academic success, in order for a better achieve status, many

students can be difficult to teach due to the mental – and

emotional – feeling of never being able to increase their status.

They also may try get-rich-quick techniques like joining gangs or

selling drugs. These types of high school students are hard to

communicate with.

Tommy, a fourteen year old boy who is an example of low SES,

can be a problem with academic achievement and communication.

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Tommy lives with his mother and one older brother and one younger

brother. He comes from a broken home where the parents are

divorced, due to domestic violence. Tommy watches his younger

brother after school, because his mother works two jobs in order

to make ends meet. Tommy’s older brother is living at home and

has a drug problem and is in and out of jail.

Tommy’s life is not as different as other low SES students.

The Urban Institute fact

sheet states:

The vast majority of low-income parents today are

working but still struggling to make ends meet:

struggling to find and keep a toehold in a changing

labor market, to keep up with their bills, to pay the

spiraling costs of essentials like healthcare and

housing, and to raise children with a chance of future

success. (2013)

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Although there are many likenesses, there are differences, like

Tommy’s brother who has a drug problem. This problem takes money

out of the household, due to bonds for jail for which Tommy’s

mother pays. Another difference is that Tommy has little time

for study, because he watches his younger brother. This weighs

heavy on Tommy and distances him from the classroom. It is hard

to communicate with a fourteen year old boy who has much on his

mind.

Community Resources and Social Services with Potential Barriers

There are many resources and social services that can be

found within a community. Outreach programs, food banks, police,

community centers, and libraries are just a few examples of

resources and services that can be found in almost every

community. The question is: are there barriers keeping these

services and resources from being effective in a multicultural

community? There are barriers that can be found if someone looks

hard enough.

When looking at the local library, there are many barriers.

“In many minority languages, the scarcity of published resources

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may make it impossible to provide library materials to the same

standards as for the majority languages” (Pestell, 2009, p. 4).

This makes it difficult for a multicultural community to

establish a communication network. A good communication network

for a community is a library, and if there is little diversity,

the network is of little use.

There is also the librarian and staff that should be

bilingual, but rarely are. These are important people, because

they can order proper material for the community. It would be

hard to order a book for someone if the librarian does not

understand the language. This problem also occurs for indexing.

If Juan wanted a book in Spanish, and no library staff or index

card was in Spanish, Juan would have a difficult time finding

what he needed.

Social services can also have barriers in a community that

impedes an understanding of multicultural areas. Many social

services have a bilingual service to help immigrant families.

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Bridging Refugee Youth & Children’s Services (BRYCS) has a

refined definition of cultural competence which states:

The ability of individuals and systems to respond

respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures,

classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, sexual

orientations, and faiths or religions in a manner that

recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of

individuals, families tribes, and communities, and

protects and preserves the dignity of each (2007).

This is a good idea if workers carried no biases.

When social services carry a biased attitude due to the

community, barriers are set in place. “It is far easier to

pigeonhole people according to our preconceptions and biases, but

the deeper struggle is to try to understand people on their own

terms” (Bode & Nieto, 2012, p. 38). This would be a simpler

world if people did not carry a bias or preconception of others.

The problem is that the community controls the offices, both

school and city. This leaves the minority or low SES families

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and students in an area that forces their own ideology and

culture on to those minority and low SES families.

Action Plan

In order to develop an action plan, one must think of each

student individually, instead of a group. The idea is to take

each student’s barriers and produce a lesson plan that can have

the ability to break down each barrier. This is not an easy task

because of the many barriers found within the community and

school. Once the lesson plan has been originated, though, the

effects of a multicultural classroom, school, and community begin

to appear.

By becoming an active teacher within the community, many

things can appear that can help produce an action plan. Bode &

Nieto (2012) express that if an educator would, “study the

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demographics of your classroom, grade level, team, or school” (p.

377), an educator can have the ability to surround his/her

students with an exotic array of culture, ethnicity, religion,

values, and beliefs that would accompany most groups inside the

classroom and groups the students would meet within the

multicultural community or society as a whole.

What needs to be done is to involve the educator with

multicultural activities. For example, on Cinco de Mayo the

Hispanics celebrate the national holiday. The Hispanic community

has a festival and the streets fill with Hispanic culture. It is

at this time that an educator can immerse him/herself in to the

culture. This can open the door to new ideas in the classroom,

as well as new ideas for the community. Having a celebration at

the city part or the city library, or even the municipal building

lawn – provided a license can be obtained – can bring a community

together, while establishing a multicultural setting.

Looking at Juan and his trouble with linguistics, there is

no better place to finding out what kind of culture and community

that he deals with than a Hispanic celebration. Here, a teacher

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can openly talk to others in his community and get help with

dealing with his problems. Teacher/parent night at the school is

good, but being out in the community gives a sign to the parents

and community that Juan and all students, as well as the

community, are important.

Mary’s religion exposes condemnation, and getting involved

with some of her extracurricular activities could shed some light

on how she partakes within the community. By attending dinners

and garage sales, or even a picnic, a realization of how her

religion interacts with the community and vice-versa can be

achieved. “Teachers should realize that students who are racial

or ethnic minorities see, view, and perceive themselves and

others differently than those who are of the majority group”

(Cooper & Jeffy, 2011, p. 73). When it comes to religion, a

minority is the lesser in the community. By understanding Mary’s

religion and understanding

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how the community sees this religion, an evaluation of her needs

can be identified. By sharing with others in the community the

ideology of cooperation and respect, the teacher makes it known

that they care about their students.

Tommy, with a low SES and a broken family, is stereotyped.

The action plan is to help Tommy show the community that he is an

individual that can be a successful part of the community. It is

important to let an individual define him/herself, because:

If we can not define – and do not give young people

ample opportunities to

define – the skills, values, attitudes, knowledge and

commitments that we want with as much force as we can

define those that we do not want, we will fail (Ferber,

et al., 2003, p. 6).

By creating activities in and out of school, Tommy will be

able to show others that he is willing to work hard and be the

individual that he deserves to be. By asking Tommy to help with

a float during Homecoming, he can show other students his skills.

Tommy can do things at home while watching his little brother,

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like making paper carnations. The teacher can obtain a work

schedule, so that a small school carnival or library reading

circle can be planned when Tommy is free from babysitting. For

academic means, the teacher can build a lesson plan that has

little homework so students like Tommy can indulge in learning

outcomes.

There are many ways to produce breakdowns in barriers

between families and communities. By being a part of the social

structure and finding ways to help students and teachers show

they care, a community can be brought together. Each student is

an individual, and each family is part of a community. All that

is needed is to break down the preconceptions, biases, and

stereotyping, in order to have a multicultural community become a

social network.

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Intercultural Communication Techniques and Strategies in Diverse

Classes

The classroom is where teachers begin multicultural

interactions. “Cultural influences can be found in interactional

or communication styles, that is, the ways individuals interact

with one another and the messages they send, intentionally or

not, in their communication” (Bode & Nieto, 2012, p. 166). The

classroom is the best place to observe this process. In order to

procure relationship skills with these students, first one must

observe the styles the students possess.

By designing a UDL, the class becomes multicultural. One of

the easiest ways to present and utilize a UDL is through

technology. This is expensive and many school budgets usually

have to abandon new technology. “School leaders have struggled

to maintain existing operations, while also responding to demands

for computer purchases, equipment replacement, new software

purchases and upgrades, internet connections, teacher training,

and maintenance services for computer equipment and networks”

(Armstrong, Henson, & Savage, 2009, p. 298). By trying to push

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for this type of UDL, it shows a lack of seriousness about the

school’s ability for academic and community well-being. It is

best to be able to create without a lot of funds and with heart.

This shows seriousness about the school and community.

By creating a visually diverse classroom, students can feel

at ease. Pictures and decorations tell a story in a classroom.

Maybe, a clock that has the numbers spelled or written in

different languages would gain interest from parents, students,

and faculty. When students actually see their group identities

established in the classroom, they become attentive, and this is

progress toward academic accomplishment.

Another strategy is group work. This allows students to

work with each other and learn from each other. When a student

is at home and discusses what they have learned from other

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students, open-mindedness occurs from other family members. This

reaction carries weight throughout a community in taking away

biases that occur from lack of knowledge.

Communication is also an important part of teaching and

social networking. Communication is as simple as a smile.

Strategies in communication are not to look down on others. In a

classroom, a teacher is part of the resource of the curriculum.

By giving instruction, an educator needs to be like a video book.

By keeping a neutral identity, the students will be more apt to

listen, because they are not looked down upon as a jailor would

look upon criminals.

Going over activities and instruction with other faculty

member’s opinions and strategies can be the key to successful

academic achievement in the classroom. Other teachers can

identify communication flaws that are overlooked. By the way a

teacher’s posture appears could be offensive to other cultures or

could even be frightening. Other faculty members can also help

with linguistic problems. Teachers are always looking for ways

to reach children through linguistics. Maybe, one teacher has a

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connection with a person who has books that can help in Spanish,

Russian, Chinese, etc. It is important to remember that cultures

have different learning styles, and the process of working with

other faculty members helps with understanding how he/she

communicates with others.

Communities and schools miss out on a culturally rich area

when they do not have an open mind to see people as individuals.

Schools process students in a package, not seeing the advantages

of multicultural classrooms. The students are individuals.

Mary, Tommy, and Juan all carry the ability to achieve academic

learning, but are stopped by the community and school. It takes

educators to try to break down these barriers. This is done

through interaction with the community, as well as through school

activities. It seems that the breaking of barriers has to be

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done, in order to see exactly what a true multicultural society

is. Educators are the foundation on which these barriers can be

broken, and communities brought together.

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References

Armstrong, D., Henson, K., & Savage, T. (2009). Teaching today: an

introduction to education

(8th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Bode, P. & Nieto, S. (2012). Affirming diversity: the sociopolitical context of

multicultural

education (6th Ed.). San Francisco: Allyn and Bacon.

BRYCS. (2007). Cultural competency in child welfare practice: a

bridge worth building.

Retrieved from

http://www.brycs.org/documents/upload/brycs_spotwinter2007.pdf

Clutter, A., Nieto, R. (n.d.). Understanding the Hispanic culture.

Retrieved from

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5237.html

Cooper, J., & Jeffy, S. (2011). Toward a conceptual framework of

culturally relevant pedagogy:

an overview of the conceptual and theoretical literature. Retrieved from

http://0-files.eric.ed.gov.opac.acc.msmc.edu/fulltext/EJ9149

24.pdf

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Ferber, T., Irby, M., Pittman, K., Tolman, J. (2003). Preventing

problems, promoting

development, encouraging engagement. Retrieved from

http://dev.forumfyi.org/files/Preventing%20Problems,

%20Promoting%20Development,%20Encouraging%20Engagement.pdf

Guyll, M., Madon, S., Prieto, L., & Scherr, K., (2010). The

potential roles of self-fulfilling

prophecies, stigma consciousness, and stereotype threat in linking Latino/a

ethnicity and

educational outcomes. Retrieved from

http://madon.public.iastate.edu/PAPERS%20ON%20HOMEPAGE/

LatinoFinalVersion.pdf

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Pestell, R. (2009). Multicultural communities: guidelines for library services.

Retrieved from

http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/library-services-to-

multicultural-populations/publications/multicultural-

communities-en.pdf

The Urban Institute. (2013). Low-income working families: facts and figures.

Retrieved from

http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/900832.pdf