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Communicating Cross-Culturally: What Teachers Should Know 

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Communicating Cross-Culturally: What Teachers Should Know 

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The article "Cross-Cultural Awareness: A Practical Approach" by Diane Pratt and Aileen Johnson discusses methods for improving cross-cultural understanding in schools. It highlights the need to include cultural awareness in teaching to better support students from diverse backgrounds. The authors offer practical strategies and activities for teachers to create a more inclusive and respectful classroom environment.

A idea is to start a "Global Perspectives Journal" in your classroom. Students can regularly write entries about cultural differences and similarities they notice in their studies or everyday life. Provide prompts related to cross-cultural situations or global events to guide their writing. Then, have students share and discuss their reflections in small groups. This activity helps students understand and appreciate different cultures, supports diverse learning experiences, and encourages thoughtful engagement with global issues.

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The Internet TESLJournal Yvonne Pratt-Johnson
prattjoy [at] stjohns.edu
St. John's University (Queens, New York, USA)

This article looks at the need for teachers to be culturally responsive and competent as schools and classrooms become increasingly linguistically and culturally diverse. It highlights five points of cultural difference with which all teachers should be aware when teaching students of diverse backgrounds.

Introduction

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing group of students in the United States today (Spellings, 2005). Today, one out of every nine students is learning English as a second language. That's about 5.4 million children-almost the population of Arizona, or Maryland, or Tennessee (Spellings, 2005). If this trend continues, current projections indicate that by the year 2030, 40% of all school-aged children in the United States will be speakers of a first language other than English (Duffey, 2004). Teacher demands and expectations today are far greater than they have ever been. But are classroom teachers adequately prepared to teach and interact with this culturally and linguistically diverse population? In classrooms where what is communicated, practiced, and perceived greatly affect and impact students, it is imperative that teachers learn how to effectively communicate cross-culturally in such diverse contexts.

If teachers are to become effective cross-cultural communicators, it is essential to understand the role that culture plays within the multi-cultural school setting. Lustig and Koester (2003) define culture as "a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, and norms, which affect the behaviors of a relatively large group of people." Similarly, Samovar and Porter (1991) explain culture as a medium that touches and alters all aspects of human life, including personality, how people express themselves (which includes displays of emotion), the way they think, how they move, and how problems are solved. Indeed, culture goes far beyond the climate, food, and clothing of a student's native country.

Culture, undoubtedly, is complex. It is multi-layered and multifaceted. Indeed, some have likened it to an iceberg of which only the top is visible while a massive part remains unobservable below the surface of the water. Others have compared culture to an onion with its many layers (Hofstede, 1991). As one layer is peeled, another layer lies beneath, waiting to be discovered. Both metaphors powerfully address the complexity of culture. In these complexities lies the challenge that teachers of ELLs face.

Cultural Competence in the Classroom

Competence in cross-cultural communication requires diving below the surface to see the rest of the iceberg, and it involves onion peeling, too: acquiring a corpus of deeper cultural information that might affect how a teacher instructs and how a student learns. While the iceberg and onion metaphors speak to the complex nature of culture, they also evoke an array of feelings. Running into an iceberg can cause an unexpected jolt, and an onion, as it is peeled, can cause the eyes to tear; likewise--to go from metaphor to analogy--the process of becoming culturally competent also comes with new challenges and experiences that might, initially at least, surprise, shock, or even offend. In the classroom, being culturally competent also involves an understanding of how cultures differ under the surface and how cultures respond differently to similar situations.

Acquiring cultural competence is a gradual process. It is achieved only after many observations, experiences, and interactions in the classroom and playground, with parents and with peers. However, the process can begin with the knowledge and understanding of six basic cultural differences that teachers are likely to encounter in the culturally diverse classroom. Familiarity with these differences will begin to aid teachers in understanding the complexity of teaching diverse groups of students.

1. Ways of Knowing

How do cultures come to acquire information? In some cultures, information is gathered through intensive research in libraries and on the Internet--for example, in the United States. These cultures appreciate evidence that can be measured and documented through such media.

On the other hand, other cultures acquire information through "non-academic" sources--for example, through elders, nature, spirits, or symbols. Some cultures do not have the same quantity and quality of experience with books or similar forms of research. These cultures may place greater value on information and knowledge acquired through oral tradition.

2. Ways of Solving Problems

Cultures have different ways of solving problems. It is surprising that given the same set of problems and circumstances, cultures can arrive at very different solutions. Cultures reason differently and arrive at solutions based on their distinctive values, philosophy and beliefs. One example is the variety of responses that members of different cultures provide to the following question:

Suppose you are on a boat with your mother, your spouse and your child. Suddenly, the boat begins to sink. You determine that you can only save one of the other passengers. Whom do you save?

According to survey results, 60% of Americans save their spouse, 40% save their children. The reasons typically offered run along these lines:

Save Spouse: "My spouse is my partner for life and I can have more children.";

Save Child: "Children represent the future, so it is vital to protect them first. Probably, my spouse would support this decision."

However, among Asian cultures, or Americans of recent Asian descent, nearly 100% of respondents state that they would save the mother. The rationale I have heard offered is this:

Save Mother: "My mother gave me life; I owe her my life. I can marry again; I can have more children, but I cannot replace my mother or otherwise repay the debt I owe her." (Texin, 2002).

3. Ways of Communicating Non-verbally

Cultures have different ways of communicating non-verbally, and it is crucial for teachers to be aware of these differences. In a class that is culturally diverse, any or all of the following might be observed in the classroom: children who will not make direct eye contact when talking to a teacher, because to do so would show lack of respect in their culture; children who smile not because they are happy but because they are embarrassed or do not understand and are afraid to ask questions; others who rarely smile, such as students from Korea: "In Korean culture, smiling signals shallowness and thoughtlessness. The Korean attitude toward smiling is expressed in the proverb, 'the man who smiles a lot is not a real man'" (Dresser, 1996).

When teachers begin to recognize that cultures have different ways of communicating non-verbally, they will understand their ELL students better and be less likely to be offended or to misinterpret non-verbal clues to emotional, cognitive, or attitudinal states.

4. Ways of Learning

Generally speaking, different cultures also learn in different ways. In the United States students often work in groups and do collaborative activities in which they learn from one another. Classrooms in such cases can be student-centered, with the teacher as facilitator. In some cultures, however, the teacher is always the center of class activities, the sole authority figure. Sometimes, students do not even dare to ask questions, as to do so would challenge the teacher's authority. There are no collaborative activities in such classrooms, and students are required to memorize pages and pages of information that they subsequently restate on written tests.

5. Ways of Dealing with Conflict

Conflict is a fact of life. It is in observing how people deal with and react to conflicts that we see clear differences between cultures. Some cultures view conflict as a positive thing, while others view it as something to be avoided. In the United States, conflict is not usually desirable; nonetheless, conventional wisdom in this country encourages individuals to deal directly with conflicts when they do arise. In fact, face-to-face encounters are usually suggested as the way to work through whatever problems exist.

By contrast, in many Asian countries, open conflict is experienced as embarrassing or demeaning. As a rule, these cultures hold that differences are best worked out quietly. Thus, written exchanges might be preferred over face-to-face encounters as a means of conflict resolution (Dupraw and Axner, 1997).

6. Ways of Using Symbols

In the multicultural school setting, symbols that are unique to various cultures should be correctly understood and interpreted. Otherwise, problems can arise. One case in point occurred in an elementary school in New York City. A math teacher asked her students to embellish their math portfolios by drawing pictures to accompany them. She was incensed when she saw her young student from India drawing what she thought was a swastika. Furious, she took the student's "artwork" and ripped it in half in front of the whole class! Subsequently, she learned from another teacher at the school, a Hindu, that what had looked to her like a swastika was actually a sacred symbol of wisdom that Hindus throughout the world have used for thousands of years!

Discussion

The changing demographics of classrooms in the United States make it incumbent upon us as teachers to know our students' cultures. In order to improve our cross-cultural interactions, teachers must learn not just the basic facts but even important nuances of their students' cultures (Hodgkinson, 1991). There are many challenges in achieving cross-cultural communication. However, the more teachers learn about their students of diverse backgrounds, the better they become as cross-cultural communicators and the more likely they will be to contribute to optimal student learning outcomes. Banks concurs: "If teachers are to increase learning opportunities for all students, they must be knowledgeable about the social and cultural contexts of teaching and learning" (Banks et al., 2001).

Yet cultural contexts are not easy to understand. In fact, such an understanding can often be reached only if teachers begin by practicing cross-cultural communication. The following are suggestions that teachers might find useful in increasing their competence in cross-cultural communication, thus allowing them to learn from culturally diverse members of the school community:

Build relationships with students and their parents -- Relationships built on trust go a long way. Students must feel that they belong and are accepted. Politeness, friendliness, kindness, fairness, respect and empathy are important factors in establishing a sound teacher-student relationship.

Listen empathetically -- Teachers must listen actively and carefully to their students, putting themselves in their students' places and learning to read between cultural lines. Teachers might also listen to their students' conversations with their classmates. The things they talk about and ask teachers to discuss and explain are the areas that concern them the most.

Look for cultural interpreters in school or in the community who can serve as resources in assisting teachers to add to their cultural funds of knowledge. Teachers can ask such interpreters cultural questions and share with them their cultural concerns.

Take advantage of available resources: books, articles, films, music, audio recordings, and a variety of material from the Internet that might aid teachers in learning more about their students' cultures.

Conclusion

In the United States, with so much cultural mixing, teachers no longer have a choice as to whether they want to interact with diversity or not. They must become cross-culturally competent. To become cross-culturally competent in the classroom teachers must understand important ways in which cultures differ and how this affects the ways in which their students behave. Through studying the cultural backgrounds of their students, teachers can learn to avoid some of the problems that surface each day.

Living in a global society, teachers are called upon to instruct and work with students with very different ethnicities and beliefs from those to which they have been accustomed. Therefore, it is vital that teachers continuously educate themselves, discovering all that they can about their students and their backgrounds. In the process of developing their cultural knowledge and cross-cultural communication skills, the five cross-cultural points of comparison and the techniques for expanding cultural knowledge discussed above can provide important guidelines for teachers. Ultimately, such an approach should help teachers to understand and respect diverse students and to guide these students more effectively toward academic and personal success and fulfillment.

References

Banks, J. A., Cookson, P., Gay, G., Hawley, W. D., Irvine, J. J., Nieto, S., et al. (2001). Diversity within unity: Essential principles for teaching and learning in a multicultural society. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(3), 196-202.

Dreser, Norine (1996). Multicultural matters. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Duffey, A. (2004). The bilingual classroom. Retrieved September 15, 2005, from http://www.64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:ePOSInl4cncJ:www.ecbea.org/publications/bilingual

Dupraw, M. and Axner, M. (1997)
http://www.wwcd.org/action/ampu/crosscult.html

Hofstede, G. (1991). Culture and organizations. Software of the mind. London, UK: McGraw Hill.

Lustig, M. W., and Koester, J. (2003). Intercultural competence: Interpersonal communication across cultures. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Samovar, L.A., and Porter, R. E. (1991). Communication between cultures. California: Wadsworth.

Spellings, Margaret. "From Essential Elements to Effective Practice." Address at the fourth annual "Celebrate Our Rising Stars Summit" sponsored by the Department's Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). Washington, D.C. 1 Dec. 2005. http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2005/12/12012005.html

Texin, T. (2002). Survey: Who Do You Save? Retrieved: November 9, 2005. http://www.i18nguy.com/adventures/whotosave.html

The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. XII, No. 2, February 2006
http://iteslj.org/ http://iteslj.org/Articles/Pratt-Johnson-CrossCultural.html

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Communicating Cross-Culturally: What Teachers Should Know

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How teachers can be more culturally responsive and competent in the classroom. Not only ESL teachers, but all teachers can benefit from reading this article.

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Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse Students 

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Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse Students 

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The resource "Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse Students" offers practical advice for teachers to better support students from different cultural backgrounds. It outlines methods for recognizing cultural differences, using varied teaching techniques, and fostering strong connections with students to create a more inclusive and effective learning environment.

A great lesson idea from the article is to have students work on a "Cultural Inquiry Project," where they research and share information about different cultures found in their classroom. Each student or group would investigate a specific culture, looking at its traditions, languages, and social practices. This project helps students learn about and appreciate cultural diversity, promoting global awareness. As students present their findings, they engage in discussions that deepen their understanding and respect for different cultures. This activity supports a diverse learning environment and encourages positive civic engagement by fostering empathy and collaborative skills, preparing students to interact respectfully and effectively in a diverse world.

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Instructional Strategies

Use a variety of instructional strategies and learning activities. Offering variety provides the students with opportunities to learn in ways that are responsive to their own communication styles, cognitive styles, and aptitudes. In addition, the variety helps them develop and strengthen other approaches to learning.

Consider students' cultures and language skills when developing learning objectives and instructional activities. Facilitate comparable learning opportunities for students with differing characteristics. For example, consider opportunities for students who differ in appearance, race, sex, disability, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, or ability.

Incorporate objectives for affective and personal development. Provide increased opportunities for high and low achievers to boost their self-esteem, develop positive self-attributes, and enhance their strengths and talents. Such opportunities can enhance students' motivation to learn and achieve.

Communicate expectations. Let the students know the "classroom rules" about talking, verbal participation in lessons, and moving about the room. Tell them how long a task will take to complete or how long it will take to learn a skill or strategy, and when appropriate, give them information on their ability to master a certain skill or complete a task. For example, it may be necessary to encourage students who expect to achieve mastery but are struggling to do so. They may need to know that they have the ability to achieve mastery, but must work through the difficulty.

Provide rationales. Explain the benefits of learning a concept, skill, or task. Ask students to tell you the rationale for learning and explain how the concept or skill applies to their lives at school, home, and work.

Use advance and post organizers. At the beginning of lessons, give the students an overview and tell them the purpose or goal of the activity. If applicable, tell them the order that the lesson will follow and relate it to previous lessons. At the end of the lesson, summarize its main points.

Provide frequent reviews of the content learned. For example, check with the students to see if they remember the difference between simple and compound sentences. Provide a brief review of the previous lesson before continuing on to a new and related lesson.

Facilitate independence in thinking and action. There are many ways to facilitate students' independence. For example, when students begin their work without specific instruction from the teacher, they are displaying independence. When students ask questions, the teacher can encourage independence by responding in a way that lets the student know how to find the answer for him- or herself. When teachers ask students to evaluate their own work or progress, they are facilitating independence, and asking students to perform for the class (e.g., by reciting or role-playing) also promotes independence.

Promote student on-task behavior. Keeping students on task maintains a high level of intensity of instruction. By starting lessons promptly and minimizing transition time between lessons, teachers can help students stay on task. Shifting smoothly (no halts) and efficiently (no wasted effort) from one lesson to another and being business-like about housekeeping tasks such as handing out papers and setting up audiovisual equipment helps to maintain their attention. Keeping students actively involved in the lessons – for example, by asking questions that require students to recall information – also helps them to stay focused and increases the intensity of instruction.

Monitor students' academic progress during lessons and independent work. Check with students during seatwork to see if they need assistance before they have to ask for help. Ask if they have any questions about what they are doing and if they understand what they are doing. Also make the students aware of the various situations in which a skill or strategy can be used as well as adaptations that will broaden its applicability to additional situations.

Provide frequent feedback. Feedback at multiple levels is preferred. For example, acknowledging a correct response is a form of brief feedback, while prompting a student who has given an incorrect answer by providing clues or repeating or rephrasing the question is another level. The teacher may also give positive feedback by stating the appropriate aspects of a student's performance. Finally, the teacher may give positive corrective feedback by making students aware of specific aspects of their performance that need work, reviewing concepts and asking questions, making suggestions for improvement, and having the students correct their work.

Require mastery. Require students to master one task before going on to the next. When tasks are assigned, tell the students the criteria that define mastery and the different ways mastery can be obtained. When mastery is achieved on one aspect or portion of the task, give students corrective feedback to let them know what aspects they have mastered and what aspects still need more work. When the task is complete, let the students know that mastery was reached.

ERIC EC Digest #E584, Author: Jane Burnette

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Strategies for Teaching Culturally Diverse Students

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Use a variety of instructional strategies and learning activities. Offering variety provides the students with opportunities to learn in ways that are responsive to their own communication styles, cognitive styles, and aptitudes. In addition, the variety helps them develop and strengthen other approaches to learning.

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How to Teach Children About Cultural Awareness and Diversity

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How to Teach Children About Cultural Awareness and Diversity

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The PBS article "How to Teach Children About Cultural Awareness and Diversity" offers useful advice for helping kids learn about and value different cultures. It includes methods for introducing diverse viewpoints, having inclusive discussions, and using daily experiences to build respect and understanding for various cultural backgrounds.

An engaging lesson idea from the PBS article is to host a "Cultural Celebration Day" in your classroom. Students would choose and research a different culture, then create presentations or displays that highlight elements like traditional foods, clothing, festivals, and customs. This project helps students explore and share diverse cultural perspectives, promoting a greater understanding and appreciation of global diversity. Through presenting and discussing their findings, students develop respect for different cultures and learn to value diversity. This activity supports an inclusive classroom environment and encourages positive civic engagement by teaching students to recognize and celebrate the richness of various cultural backgrounds.

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Cultural Awareness for Kids | Parenting Tips & Advice

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Help your child understand and respect differences among those in your community. Foster cultural awareness for kids with resources from PBS KIDS for Parents.

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10 classroom activities to promote cultural awareness

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10 classroom activities to promote cultural awareness

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The ScreenPal blog article on "Cultural Awareness" explains how digital tools can be used to improve cultural understanding. It gives practical advice on using videos and multimedia resources to teach students about various cultures, helping to promote empathy and inclusivity in the classroom.

A great lesson idea from the ScreenPal blog is to have students create a "Cultural Storytelling Video Project." Students would research a different culture and produce short videos that showcase its traditions, languages, and daily life. This project helps students learn about and share diverse cultures, increasing their global and cultural awareness. By working on these videos, students not only gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of different cultures but also develop skills in digital storytelling. This activity supports an inclusive classroom and encourages positive civic engagement by promoting respect and understanding among students from various backgrounds.

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Guest Post: Classrooms around the country are generally becoming more diverse. From kindergarten through college, the percentage of diversity has grown considerably over the past 10+ years.

While we'd like to think that classroom diversity will naturally translate into culturally aware students, the truth is that students often need learning opportunities designed to develop these traits. Not only will this help them in the classroom, but it will also guide them to develop skills and a worldview in the adult world.

Cultural awareness in the classroom also translates to greater civic participation and creativity later in life.

No matter what you teach, it's important to incorporate activities that promote cultural awareness into your classroom. Here are 10 ideas for things you can do with your students to help make them more culturally aware.

1. Language Learning

Incorporate languages in your class. Even if you're not a language teacher, you can add language lessons into your classroom relevant to the subject you teach-even math!

For example, you could teach students how to count in different languages. Or you can just teach different subject-related vocabulary in different languages. Both of these are great activities for younger children, though teens may also enjoy them.

Create a slide presentation highlighting vocabulary in different languages. Import this presentation into ScreenPal's Story feature. Each slide will become a section of your Story and you can add webcam recordings, narration, and music to engage your class.

2. Potluck

Food has always been a great way to introduce people to new cultures, so why not bring it into the classroom?

Have students bring in a food dish from their culture to share. They can say a few words about the dish they bring in. They could discuss the dish's cultural relevance, but they could also talk about its relevance in their family. For example, maybe a recipe was passed down from a family elder, who brought it with them when they immigrated.

Ultimately, sharing cultural foods can help bring students together and foster a greater understanding of and connection to other people's cultures.

If you are teaching remotely, but still want to use a potluck to introduce students to other cultures, ask students to record them cooking their favorite dish and describe the significance of this cultural tradition. Compile these recordings into a Channel using your ScreenPal hosting account. This Channel can be password protected or unlisted to protect students' privacy. Share the link with your class so they can enjoy a potluck from afar!

3. Multicultural Media

Today's students are largely multimedia learners, and media content related to diversity and culture are always good learning tools. Not only is it important to incorporate videos that talk about diversity, but also videos with culturally diverse people showcasing people of different backgrounds doing everyday activities helps to normalize diversity.

Instructional videos are a good place to start. These might cover topics, such as how to make something from a culture (how to draw Japanese calligraphy, for example). Videos created by members of different communities can also be helpful to highlight differences and similarities between cultures.

But multimedia doesn't have to be just video. It can incorporate music or books from different cultures as well. For example, younger children might enjoy learning traditional children's songs or possibly traditional dances from other cultures. Or if you do story time in your classroom, read books by authors from a wide range of cultures.

4. Presentations

Student-led learning is an excellent way to ignite passion and excitement around a topic, and learning about culture is no exception. Letting students explore a particular topic of interest and presenting their topic to the class can help them become more knowledgeable while inspiring a love for learning.

There are a number of routes you can take when it comes to student-led diversity and cultural awareness lessons. One idea is to have students who are multilingual prepare a brief presentation or lesson on their language and culture to share with their classmates.

Students can also create presentations and learn about other cultures that are different from their own. You might even encourage them to do an "Around the World in 80 Days" type of assignment, where students use a green screen to talk about the different places they would visit on such a trip. Or maybe they simply incorporate a video of their favorite musical act from other countries.

5. "Who Am I?" Creative Projects

Everyone at some point in their life asks themselves, "Who am I?" It's human nature to question our existence and how we came to be here, and that is often tied directly into our own identities.

"Who Am I?" projects are excellent opportunities for students to probe their own cultural identity and background, while also giving them a platform to share that with their peers. These projects could be genealogical in nature, but they can also be another opportunity for students to research and discuss their own cultural backgrounds. While these topics and exercises are often more suited to teens, younger children may also enjoy sharing and learning about each other's culture.

6. Multicultural Decorations

Art projects are always an excellent way to give students hands-on experience in working with complex subject matters like diversity. The best part is that both young children and teens typically love hands-on art projects. Some ideas include:

7. Small-Group Conversations

We've discussed how to incorporate cultural awareness learning as an entire classroom, but small-group conversations can also be a positive and fruitful learning experience.

Small group discussions tend to be low-stress compared to big presentations, but they're also a great way for students to engage each other in an informal way. Of course, it's a good idea to provide some sort of structure to these discussions in order to keep the students focused. Edutopia has some great discussion strategies to deepen student engagement- many in small-group settings- on this blog post.

8. Sensitivity vs. Awareness

While learning and sharing information about different cultures is important, it's also important for students to learn how to be aware of and sensitive to culture differences. What's more, we often talk about these two concepts interchangeably, even though they are slightly different.

Cultural awareness generally refers to being open to other cultures. Sensitivity is more nuanced, referring to knowledge of a culture's difference but not viewing those differences in terms of their value. They're often viewed on a spectrum (pictured below), where awareness leads to sensitivity, competency, and safety.

In terms of the classroom, it's important for students to understand how to interact with people from other cultures. This can be a formal lesson, such as how different cultures greet each other respectfully. Another good approach is to lay out some ground rules that both you and your students follow, such as listening respectfully, not attacking or insulting anyone's cultural identity, and to prohibit any uses of cultural slurs or other derogatory phrases.Try including these ground rules in your class contract that you create at the beginning of the school year or semester.

9. Volunteer Projects

Volunteer projects are excellent ways to get your students involved in a vibrant civic culture, but they're also great opportunities to learn about people from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Here are a few ideas for volunteer projects that can reinforce cultural lessons from the classroom.

Volunteer at a soup kitchen

Organize a diversity celebration at school

Organize a school-wide poster campaign supporting diversity

Sponsor a classroom located in other cities or countries

Mentor younger students in underprivileged neighborhoods

Organize a diversity parade (at school or elsewhere)

With volunteer opportunities, students will have a chance to give back to the community and feel like they are making a positive impact in the world. ScreenPal is the perfect tool for documenting these volunteer projects. Students can utilize the ScreenPal's Story feature to combine video, image, and sound artifacts into one video project that they can then share with their classmates and their community.

10. Supporting Inclusivity in Your Curriculum

If you want to develop students with good cultural awareness, then it has to start with the teacher and the curriculum. Teachers should lead by example by making their curriculum as inclusive as possible. Take some time to review your all your materials with a critical eye towards ensuring that minorities and different cultures are consistently well-represented in all your videos and visuals. You might also want to incorporate materials from other cultures into lessons that aren't necessarily focused on that culture itself.

It's also essential for teachers to be aware of their own cultural biases and to ensure they don't let those influence how and what students learn. To that end, teachers need to make sure they're cautious about things like body language, touch, and humor.

Want more ideas for incorporating diversity lessons into the classroom? Check out our blog for more resources and approaches!

About our guest writer: Daniel Waldman is a former agency owner turned expat freelance writer and event manager with nearly 20 years of experience working with a wide variety of brands, organizations, and individuals. He got his start as an editor at a vanity press, and later went on to lead marketing and communications at a variety of agencies before starting his own business. He lives in France with his wife, two daughters and four cats.

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10 classroom activities to promote cultural awareness

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Here are 10 ideas for cultural awareness activities you can do with your students in the classroom to help them become more culturally aware.

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11 Ways to Celebrate Cultural Diversity in the Classroom

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11 Ways to Celebrate Cultural Diversity in the Classroom

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The Continental Press blog on "Cultural Diversity in the Classroom" emphasizes the importance of integrating diverse cultural perspectives into teaching. It offers strategies for creating an inclusive classroom that values students' backgrounds, enhancing engagement and learning outcomes.

A great lesson idea from the Continental Press blog is to hold a "Global Culture Week," where students research and present on various cultures represented in their class. Each student or group would explore a specific culture and share their findings through presentations, displays, or interactive activities. This activity boosts global and cultural awareness by helping students learn about and appreciate different traditions and customs. It creates a more inclusive classroom environment and encourages positive civic engagement by fostering respect and empathy for diverse cultures, while also offering a supportive learning experience through collaborative exploration and presentation.

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It doesn't take an expert to tell you that your students are each different and unique. They come to the classroom with diverse backgrounds, including their cultures, ethnicities, religions, languages, and economic statuses. They have different opinions about politics and pop culture as well as different learning styles and levels of motivation.

As their teacher, you have the opportunity to create a special place where each student feels like he or she belongs. One of the ways you can foster that sense of belonging is by celebrating cultural diversity in the classroom. Whether your students are new to this country or their families have been here for generations, they will enjoy the opportunity to dig into their backgrounds and share information about their cultures.

That said, some students may not recognize their unique cultures. Be sure to point out that every family has things that make it special: traditions, family size or composition, or even activities they enjoy together.

The Benefits of Celebrating Diversity in the Classroom

Implementing diversity activities in the classroom does much more than provide entertainment! The more your students know about other cultures, the better their understanding of the world around them. Let's take a deeper look at the many benefits of celebrating diversity in the classroom.

Academic

A culturally diverse classroom helps students develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Encountering new and different ideas and perspectives makes students evaluate their viewpoints. Through group and partner work, students learn to respect their classmates' differences. Plus, they will likely find things they have in common with each other.

Furthermore, students from diverse classrooms and schools tend to do better academically. Studies show that these students tend to score higher on achievement tests, drop out of school less often, and enroll in college more often.

Social

Students become more empathetic when they encounter other cultures regularly. They're less likely to develop biases and prejudices and more likely to be open to new thoughts, ideas, and opinions as they continue their education.

Planning activities to promote diversity in the classroom helps all students develop their leadership skills and become more self-confident. In addition, your students will have opportunities to develop relationships with people who look, think, act, and speak differently from them.

Future Benefits

All teachers, even in elementary classrooms, are preparing their students to head out into the world. When you prioritize exploring cultural diversity in the classroom, you open them up to a world that's far bigger than their hometown.

Many companies want employees who are comfortable interacting with diverse individuals. When students have the opportunity to encounter other cultures from a young age, they're better prepared to enter the global community as an adult.

Top 11 Ways to Celebrate Cultural Diversity in the Classroom

By celebrating the diversity within your classroom, you can enrich your students' learning experiences and help them expand their social circles. You will probably even benefit yourself in the process! There are many ways to incorporate diversity activities in the classroom. Here are some activities to promote diversity in your classroom.

1. Holiday Celebrations

Create a calendar that highlights celebrations around the world. Choose ones that represent the cultures of the students in your class. When a holiday comes up, take some time to discuss what it's about and find simple ways to celebrate, such as:

Making a relevant craft

Serving a treat from that culture

Reading a book associated with the holiday

Similarly, you can explore how different cultures celebrate the same holiday. For example, Christmas is celebrated in many cultures, but those celebrations can look very different. As major holidays in the U.S. approach, have your students share their favorite family traditions for those holidays.

Thanksgiving is a quintessentially American holiday. Each family represented in your classroom probably celebrates this holiday with its own flair. Invite your students to each share about a Thanksgiving tradition in their family. It may be a special food they eat, a game they play, or a movie they watch. Ask them if they know how this tradition started and what it means to them.

If possible, you could also consider hosting a classroom Thanksgiving meal. Ask students to bring a special dish that their family always eats on Thanksgiving. Have students provide the recipe for their dish, and turn the recipes into a classroom multicultural Thanksgiving cookbook.

2. Music and Art

Another way to promote diversity in the classroom is to partner with the music and art teachers in your school to dive into the music and art of the cultures represented by your students.

Talk about composers, musicians, and singers from each culture. Listen to samples of music, and talk about the similarities and differences your students hear. If there are instruments that are unique to a culture, show pictures of them to your students. Better yet, find the actual instruments for students to see firsthand.

You can also teach students simple folk songs from different cultures. Young students will especially enjoy learning fun songs. Find videos online of other people singing them, but be sure to check that the lyrics are age-appropriate for your students.

Talk about artists and art styles from your students' cultures. Have students make a piece of art in the style of each culture, then display them in your classroom as part of a multicultural bulletin board.

3. Multicultural Library

Another way to promote cultural diversity in the classroom is to build a library that includes books with characters who live in or come from other countries. Include books written by a diverse array of authors as well. Be sure to include age-appropriate biographies of people from a wide variety of cultures.

4. Guest Speakers and Interviews

You can read extensively about another culture, but nothing tops getting information directly from the source. Invite people from different cultures to speak to your class either in person or virtually. By using video conferencing technology, your class can connect with people around your town, state, country, and even across the world!

Have your students prepare questions ahead of time to ask the speaker. Look for people who represent a wide array of life experiences, such as first-generation immigrants, multilingual people, and refugees. An easy place to start is with your students' parents, grandparents, or older siblings.

You can also have your students conduct interviews with someone from a different culture than their own. This could include other students in your class, school staff, neighbors, or friends. Then, allow students to share something they learned from this person with the class.

5. Show and Tell

Ask students to bring in something from home that represents their culture. Then, have them present the item to the class and explain why it's important to them. Have two or three students present each week throughout the school year. Be sure to remind students to ask permission from a parent or guardian before bringing an item to school!

6. Role-Playing

Have students choose an important person from their culture to research. The person can be a current or historical figure. Then, set aside a day for the students to dress like their person and present the information that they found. You could even modify this activity to have students choose a person from outside of their culture.

7. Games From Around the World

Another fun way to celebrate diversity in the classroom is to bring in international games for indoor recess and celebrations. Some easy-to-play games include Mancala, tangrams, and Ludo. Be sure to ask your students what their favorites are and invite them to bring a game from home to play when appropriate.

You can also talk about the sports and games that are popular in the countries your students' families come from. If possible, find opportunities to go outside and play some of the sports and games that are shared.

8. Global Pen Pals

Encourage your students to write to pen pals. If you have students from a wide range of cultures in your class, you can pair students with friends or relatives of other students who live outside of the U.S. If you need ideas to get started, check out this program. It offers project-based opportunities for getting to know other students, schools, countries, and cultures.

9. Cultural Bulletin Board

Dedicate one bulletin board in your classroom to highlighting a different country or region of the world each month. Be sure to include pictures of the country and its location on a map as well as some simple words in the native language. You can even display information about famous people or events related to that country. Get creative!

10. Learn a New Language

Teaching about other languages is a great way to celebrate cultural diversity in the classroom. If you have students who speak languages other than English, allow them to share their languages with the other students. Ask each multilingual student to teach the class a few words in his or her native language. Here are a few simple ideas for words to share:

Greetings and introductions

Numbers from 1 to 20

Months or seasons

Family members

Colors

If a student isn't comfortable in the teacher role, ask him or her to teach you first. Then, you can present the information to the class. Depending on your grade level, you could even have students get into groups to create short skits using the new words they've learned.

11. Multicultural Fair

One of the most popular activities to promote diversity in the classroom is hosting a Multicultural Fair.

Invite students to bring in food, games, crafts, or other items that represent their culture. Extend invitations to family members as well, and invite other classes in your school to attend. You could also partner with other teachers to make a bigger celebration or turn it into a school-wide fair and incorporate the fair into your curriculum.

There are different types of diversity including language, race, ethnicity, religion, family background, and socioeconomic status. Each student in your class, whether they are new to the U.S. or not, has a unique family culture. When you celebrate cultural diversity in your classroom and around the world, your students will become more aware and appreciative of the global community that they're a part of.

Are you looking for expert tips and resources for teaching English Language Learners? Check out our ESL Resource Center.

This blog was originally published on February 9, 2022. It was updated on May 23, 2023.

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11 Ways to Celebrate Cultural Diversity in the Classroom

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Celebrating cultural diversity in the classroom helps students feel confident, accepted, and understanding of the world around them.

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