Cultures and Languages in Education ELL 5-Step Action Plan

How?
1. If possible, teachers should research the background of their ELL students before classes start. After classes begin, teachers should do their best to learn about their students' backgrounds through the lens of their students. With direct feedback from students, teachers can them modify their classroom environment to cater to the affectations of their particular students.
  1. If possible, teachers should research the background of their ELL students before classes start. After classes begin, teachers should do their best to learn about their students' backgrounds through the lens of their students. With direct feedback from students, teachers can them modify their classroom environment to cater to the affectations of their particular students.
    1. Korean and Chinese students begin drawing pretty sophisticated artwork at a fairly young age. Posting personal drawings and other artwork they produce would help to create a more inclusive environment.
How?
1. Create lesson plans that take into consideration the diverse backgrounds of each cultural group.
  1. Incorporate realia, imagery, music, and stories from students' cultures into lesson plans
    1. Korean and Chinese youth are very much into their boy bands and girls groups. Occasionally allow students to choose songs from their respective cultures that they can share with the class.
With thousands of years of continuous history behind them, the Chinese student comes from an incredibly rich cultural background. Currently, China has a population of about 1.3 billion people represented by over 56 ethnic groups. Mandarin is the official language of China but each ethnic group has its own dialect and these dialects can be as different as English and Japanese. By the time most Chinese students begin their mandatory English instruction they are already coming to the classroom with at least two well-established tonal language systems: Mandarin and their provincial Chinese dialect. I imagine that this will have a significant impact on how Chinese students learn as ELL students. Written Chinese is based on two systems, Chinese characters and pinyin. Pinyin is a system of Romanizing Chinese characters with their respective tone marks that effectively creates better access to reading. Parents of Chinese students have garnered quite the reputation for the emphasis they place on education. Parents demand the best from their children academically and often send their children to private learning institutions. This applies to every age and level of student. Individualism in the classroom and in society on the whole isn’t highly prioritized and this is reflected in the expectations parents have of their children. During school, teachers and parents generally expect students to sit in their seats and to passively absorb whatever material is being represented. Students aren’t really expected to do much more.
Korea is a much smaller country with a much smaller population. Still, it is just as rich in culture. Historically, South Korea and China are inextricably linked. Before the invention of Hangul (Korea’s writing system) by King Sejong’s royally decreed scientific academy in 1496, Korean scholars and government officials wrote using Chinese characters. As a result, the foundation and meaning of most Korean words today are based in Chinese. A former employer of mine at an English hagwon in Korea once told me, “If you really want understand Korean (language) and Korea, you must go to China!” Even though South Korea is more closely related to China than to any native-English speaking country, it of course has its own distinct culture. Most Korean words do have a foundation in Chinese but the expression of Korean language via written and spoken language is completely different. Chinese and all of its dialects utilize a system of tones to help differentiate between words and meanings and of a systemized alphabet system Chinese using characters that are comprised of strokes. Korean on the other hand is not a tonal language system and has a codified alphabet system that is divided into consonants and vowels. Korean alphabet symbols are grouped in blocks to form syllables these blocks are grouped together to form words. Each syllabic block contains at least two Korean characters. Parental expectations of students are largely similar to those of Chinese parents. Respect for the teacher and for school culture is highly prioritized what while individualism is not. In my experience, as long as Korean students are achieving academically and respectful of their teachers and their peers then Korean parents are quite content. Compared to their English speaking peers in the United States, Chinese and Korean student experiences in education are very different. That’s not at all surprising once you consider the Hofstede Center’s ratings for power distance, indulgence, and individualism for each of the three aforementioned countries. Three of these primary differences are in learning styles, focus patterns, and in explicit/implicit learning. Classroom instruction in China and Korea is typically teacher-centered and students are expected to learn primarily by memorizing large quantities of information. Also, students generally learn through implicit means. These differences undoubtedly cause challenges for both Chinese and Korean students in the ELL classroom.
How?
1. Teachers can provides students with written and/or oral assessments. Assessments can be formal or informal.
  1. Korean and Chinese students are often shy when entering new social environments. Teachers can use this time to introduce themselves to the student, to try to build a rapport with the student, and to find out at least one or two personal details that the teacher can recall later to help strengthen the student teacher-bond and help the student feel at ease in their new environment.
How?
1. Korean and Chinese students both love sharing their culture with others. Assign tasks the requires students to elaborate on and share some specific aspect of their culture. Both groups of students cultures wtih extensive histories that many outside of their homelands are unfamiliar with.
  1. Some topics might include traditional/ceremonial dress, Thanksgiving customs, traditional instruments and dance, etc.
    1. Korean and Chinese students may struggle with creative expression since this generally isn't an expectation in their native classrooms. Giving students the opportunity to lead the class and express their thoughts on topics they're already culturally familiar with could be a good way to promote development in this area.
      1. Have culture days where families can come and set up a culture booth for people to visit.
      2. Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year for Koreans, is perhaps the biggest holiday in both cultures. Host a New Year's party where Chinese and Korean students can bring samples of traditional New Year's foods or have students make some at school during class!
How?
1. Assign groups and/or partners and establish academic as well as social expectations for each team.
  1. Give assignments that require students to interview one another and then report back to the class about their groupmate(s).
Introduction
1. Compared to their English speaking peers in the United States, Chinese and Korean student experiences in education are very different. That’s not at all surprising once you consider the Hofstede Center’s ratings for power distance, indulgence, and individualism for each of the three aforementioned countries. Three of these primary differences are in learning styles, focus patterns, and in explicit/implicit learning (Derderian-Aghajanian, 2012). Classroom instruction in China and Korea is typically teacher-centered and students are expected to learn primarily by memorizing large quantities of information. Also, students generally learn through implicit means. These differences cause challenges for both Chinese and Korean students in the ELL classroom. Chinese and Korean students face similar difficulties in the ELL classroom. Pronunciation difficulties are often present due to the fact that there are certain sounds produced linguistically in English that aren’t present in students’ L1 and vice-versa. Even similar sounds can prove challenging because students’ mouths have already been trained to form sounds in a certain way; years of speaking in their L1 has essentially helped to shape their mouths in a way that is most conducive to speaking their native tongue. Difficulties also arise from cultural differences. Chinese and Korea students are not only learning new vocabulary and new language structures but they are also learning a new thought process and a new way of interacting with the world around them. These difficulties can manifest in writing assignments where the thoughts formed in a student’s L1 end up getting translated into English. At times these writings might seem incoherent to a native speaker but when read, spoken, or thought in Chinese or Korean, they make perfect sense. Chinese and Korean students who are in ELL classes with native speakers sometimes find themselves intimidated by an unfamiliar or “western” style of instruction. Also, native English-speaking teachers often have different expectations of student. Students who aren’t aware of these different expectations often don’t actively participate in class and perform at sub-standard levels.
Step 1: Initial Assessment
1. Who?
  1. Teachers
2. What?
  1. Formally or informally evaluate students with parents nearby or in the room
3. Why?
  1. This is important for both academic and soci-emotional reasons. The teacher is given a chance to understand the English level of their student as well as make a number of observational notes on things such as behavior, confidence, interests, etc. More importantly, this gives the student a chance to make first contact and form an anchor in the school. Ideally, some level of rapport will have been established with the student making the transition into the school and/or class easier for the student. This also gives the student an opportunity to see their new environment without actually having to engage in it.
4. Where?
  1. Assessments will take place in the school. The ideal location would be in an ELL classroom in order to help familiarize the student with their new environment.
5. When?
  1. Students should at the onset of the enrollment process.
Step 2: Community & the Classroom
1. Who?
  1. The Teacher, Staff, Parents & Other Students
2. What?
  1. Create a warm, welcoming, and safe environment for all learners.
3. Why?
  1. This should be an underlying principle for all teachers in all educational institutions. Placing students into an environment where they don't have access to someone they feel they can communicate or with can prove stressful and ultimately detrimental to a student's educational outcomes.
4. Where?
  1. Classrooms, hallways, and shared community areas. Educational institutions should seek to create environments that are learner safe and learner friendly. Students who feel safe and intellectually stimulated by their surroundings are more likely to engage in the educational process.
5. When?
  1. Optimally, this will be done before students arrive and update periodically.
Step 3: Culturally Relevant Curriculum
1. Who?
  1. The Teacher
2. What?
  1. Create a curriculum that is accessible and engaging to all learners in the classroom
3. Why?
  1. Students learn best when they are engaged and when they can build on schema. Using culturally relevant material both engages students and provides them with a way anchor newly learned material to ideas that they are already familiar with. This exponentially increases retention by promoting the growth of a students neural network.
4. Where?
  1. At home, at school at the cafe!...teachers can and should plan their curriculum and lesson plans wherever they feel they are most creative and most productive.
5. When?
  1. Optimally, this will be completed before the onset of a class and then consistently evaluated to ensure that aims are being met.
Step 4: Peer Support System
1. Who?
  1. Teachers and Students
2. What?
  1. Assign groups or partners to support each other during class and throughout the school day.
3. Why?
  1. To increase cultural understanding and to support students who might feel lost in an ELL environment. Chinese and Korean students come from strongly collectivist societies so creating a peer support team could help to reduce any anxiety they might experience in an ELL environment.
4. Where?
  1. At school and in the classroom
5. When?
  1. Groupings can me made monthly or weekly
Step 5: Celebrate Diversity
1. Who?
  1. Teachers, Students and Parents
2. What?
  1. Holidays, birthdays, Special Occasions, and Culture Days, and Mini-Culture lessons
3. Why?
  1. To promote cultural respect and understanding
4. Where?
  1. Activities can be arranged at school or off-campus
5. When?
  1. At least once a month