Kisha Claiborne
American College of Education
Journal Entry One: Cultural and Linguistic Awareness
Communicating across cultures can be a difficult experience. All successful communication results from one person understanding the meaning and intention of what another person has said. The skills associated with effective and rewarding cross-cultural communication can seem elusive to many people who lack experience of this form of interaction. The information contained in this fact sheet is designed to initiate and/or guide your cross-cultural experiences Cultural awareness is a major element of cultural competence as defined by the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC). It is the first and foundational element because without it, it is virtually impossible to acquire the attitudes, skills, and knowledge that are essential to cultural competence. Teaching is a part of your job, and you will be held accountable for how well your students learn—presumably an outcome of how well you teach. But student achievements are only one measure of your instruction and an imperfect one at that. Other measures come from subjective student, peer and administration evaluations (Danielson, 1996). Teachers can implement a curriculum that reflects diverse languages and cultures. They can tap the community's cultural resources for use in the classroom, incorporate out-of-school experiences, be flexible in their teaching styles, involve parents and the community and, above all, remain sensitive to and respectful of cultural and linguistic differences among their students.
Journal Entry Two: Research and Assignments All of the readings in the course were beneficial, they gave a wealth of knowledge that should be continued accessible. The reading suggested to remember that ESL teachers are not just teaching a language, but also a culture, and this includes instructing linguistics appropriate for the native English speaking classroom. More importantly, to think about why the cultures are different, and how to try and bridge that difference. To date, there has been relatively little attention paid to the essential standards, knowledge, and skills that general education teachers should to possess in order to provide effective instruction to ELLs placed in their classroom (Parla, 1994).
Journal Entry Three: Analysis and Application The interdisciplinary unit for ELL Learners was the most helpful assignment. Teachers, need to be aware that from our English-speaking frames of reference, from our cultural stances, we are not