10/24/2017; Lesson 07: Response to "Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom".

CROSS-CULTURAL STUDENTS

IN THE CLASSROOM

I have been a teacher since 2010, and this is the first time I am being instigated to think about cross-cultural students in my classroom. During all these years, I believed the important was to have knowledge of what I was teaching, and how to teach it and how to control my students. I did not worry about the cultural characteristics of my students. Now I know it was a huge mistake. Here in Brazil, there are not many foreign students in our classrooms, but as a big country, we have a great cultural diversity. Our States were colonized by many different countries. Therefore, I think it is really important to know these particular characteristics to avoid misunderstandings in my classrooms.

Knowing that my Asian students do not look at my eyes when I am talking to them because in their culture it will be rude, or that African students talk louder than I am accustomed because it is their cultural heritage and not because they are angry is much better than I think they are disrespecting me.

A good environment in my classroom will depend on what I am doing to know my students better. It is not enough to know what to teach, but I must know who I am teaching.