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Badge Module 2

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What will you “take home” from this course?

Point out one thing (an idea, an impression, some important information, a best practice, an experience, a resource, etc) you will not forget from this course, and how do you think you could use this in one of your lessons or in your class.

We (all teachers participants) have made up a multicultural virtual class. All of us have described

a multitude of teaching strategies and experiences in educating diverse student learners. That was the greatest wealth I’ll take home!

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Tell us a joke underlining a stereotype of your own country (or region).

Stereotypes always tend to have some truth mixed in with a few generalizations and a bit of exaggeration.

Italy is made up by many different regions and provinces - each one with its own distinctive dialect, culture and history. In Sicily the way we speak is completely original. The most important element of communication are the gestures: the way we move our hands, hold our heads, move our shoulders, our facial expressions, as well as the way we use our eyes and mouths to make ourselves understood. We simply cannot talk without our hands.

We are a generous, sunny and communicative people. We like to smile; we love to talk - preferably over a one or two hour meal followed by a good cup of coffee.

Italy is a strange and wonderful country that is well worth a visit!

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Module 1 badge

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Find a label for your multicultural class

Not only a multicultural, but also an inclusive class.

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https://v.gd/L4WPJx

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2.6 Developing empathy & open-mindedness

I’ve very often practiced empathy games “If I were you….” or “walk in another’s shoes…” in my classroom or  activities that encourage the students to work together (cooperative learning) with peers supports.  I think these activities are the best solution for social and interpersonal interaction. But  there's a common belief that "you are how you are" interacting with other people, and thus, there's little or nothing you can do about it.

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2.4 Creating a sense of belonging and identity in your class and school

The essential elements for creating a sense of community in our classroom are teachers.  It is our loving, compassionate attitude towards the children in our classroom that creates a joyful community.

It isn’t easy to make. It is a hard challenge!! Children learn best when they feel they are part of a community, where everyone feels accepted and where individuality is encouraged. Foster a sense of belonging where children learn how to participate in class meetings, work collaboratively, and resolve conflicts peacefully.

At the beginning of the school year, in my school we used to organize “the reception day” for creating a sense of community, an environment that says to students, "everybody is welcome here."  This new group of students bring with them divergent interests, abilities, cultures, and families. In our first months we focus on establishing  a nurturing environment. We try to build a community through family involvement, for examples by asking  phone number, email address, or by having a little chat when they drop off and pick up their children. Very often (in theme days), we invite family to visit and share their culture, work, and interests.

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2.2 Supporting students with different first languages
I’m agree with Erika in keeping the native language alive not to compromise foreign student’s cultural identity. I usually help foreign students who don’t speak Italian well, providing them conceptual maps they can easily understand. If they speak English, I help them speaking English too. I’ve never encouraged them to speak their native language at school except when their parents come to have a talk with the teachers’ team.

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The other project was an event realized at the end of the school year by my students of Spanish language lab “the Spanish food day”. They cooked the most popular traditional Spanish dishes, (with the help of their mothers), and invited all the school students to taste the dishes. Of course, behind this event, there was a valuable research work of Spanish traditions.

The last project (but not the least)  was a stage show, “lo Schiaccianoci” (the Nutcracker). The project’s aim was to involve students with  disabilities and not to sing and play together in order to foster  integration and to implement an inclusive teaching methodology.  The stage was a challenging and rewarding setting, an effective means of collaboration and socialization that allowed the respect for others and their identity,  the sharing of  areas and objects. An awesome experience!

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2.1 Example activities to develop students' intercultural competence.

Three projects were realized in my school last year. A video, titled Nur’s story. The video told about a Syrian girl who escapes from her Country because the war.  The students were actively involved, not only for playing the roles but, most of all, for trying to understand the problems of Syria, doing researches on Syrian habits, religion, food and asking the History teacher the causes of the war.

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Starter Activity

I'm a teacher in a first grade secondary school in the province of Catania. I have taught foreign languages (Spanish and English) but actually I deal with students who need special education. In my classroom there are two foreign students: from Poland and from Bulgaria. They speak Italian quite well. All students are diverse for their social background, their way of speaking, their way of thinking, their interests, their experiences, their habits.  I often tell them that I like their diversity very much because they don’t bore me. When I feel that someone doesn’t “belong” in the classroom setting, or I perceive intolerance in the air, I ask them to imagine a bouquet of flowers made of one color, and another one made of different colors of flowers and roses and then, to answer this question: “Which is the nicest?” Their smiles are the input to encourage myself and to let me continue promoting an inclusive classroom.

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Deadlines and other important dates

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Cultural diversity in your classroom is a blessing or a curse?  Could you explain why?

It is surely a blessing!
I've always given to my student this sample: " Just imagine a bouquet of flowers made of one color, and an other one made of different colors of flowers and roses. Which is the nicest?
Diversity is good if we look at it with love and life, but it is bad if we look at it to serve hate and differences.

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Have you ever felt “racist” tendencies in your class or in your school (with your pupils, among the teachers, etc). If so, how did you react?

I've never felt "racist" tendencies in my classroom. My students are too young (11-13) to have prejudice or make discrimination based upon race. Sometimes, they are intolerant for disliking someone for being different from them.

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Can you describe some cultural surprise you have experienced in your class so far?

I haven’t experienced cultural surprice in my classroom so far, but at home for my elder son. Two years ago, I experienced “People-to-People”, hosting an american student. The mission of this program is to connect student travelers to new cultures and new friendships and to accept and understand each other’s cultural differences. It was an awesome experience!

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Do you think you and people around you in the school (your colleagues, your students, etc) are “culturally competent”? Can you explain (or give some examples) of why, or why not, you think that?
Today’s classrooms require that teachers possess competencies for teaching all students. Being a teacher of foreign languages and working with special needs students, I am open-minded and a welcoming person. So I consider myself a competent instructor because I think to have dispositions such as compassion, fairness, integrity and, most of all, respect for diversity. I can’t say the same about some colleagues inside and outside my school.

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Open and reflective to accommodate and value the diversity

You are a reflective practitioner who is open to trying out new things to ensure the diversity of your students is valued and recognized in your teaching approaches. You make the learning process relevant to your students by adapting resources or providing examples that reflect the student’s experiences. You try to integrate cultural diversity as a topic in your teaching beyond prescribed moments in the curriculum.

Take a look at this table with the different answer options to see other ways how cultural diversity can be addressed in the classroom.

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1.5 Understanding different models of living & working together in culturally diverse communities

Very interesting the three models well explained in the videos.
In Italy, the prevalent model is the first: foreign people coexist with Italian people. At school, the second model is  the practice. The third model is a true utopia, but it can be an inspiration to us teachers!

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1.4 Developing Intercultural competences of your students

I think all the contents mentioned in the videos are important. Communication, Content, Culture and Cognition are fondamental for developing intercultural competences in our students; even the empathy game is important with students: there is nothing like “walking in another’s shoes” to better appreciate the experiences of being an international student. But I also think that the goal to develop this intercultural project is to help students become “global citizens”, that means individuals willing and able to comprehend situations from different points of view, across social boundaries.

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1.3 Your teaching resources

As I'm a special education teacher, my main resource is to establish a positive interaction with all my students, both disabled and not. Very often, I encourage interaction between students, opening up

discussion about diversity.  It is important to celebrate similarities,

as well as discovering differences between

students. Actually in my classroom are two foreign students: I think this is a great resource for the other students!

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1.2  Developing intercultural competences as a teacher.

All the areas outlined by the speakers in the videos are very important. First of all, I think a teacher should emphasize the differences in a positive manner, that is, appreciating and accommodating the similarities and differences among the students' cultures. A second step could be for teachers to build relationship with students and discover what their lives are like outside of school. Developing an understanding of students' lives also enables the teacher to increase the relevance of lessons and make examples more meaningful

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MODULE 1 - Developing intercultural competences

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MODULE 1 - Developing intercultural competences

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1.1 Why address cultural diversity in schools?

Cultural diversity is a form of appreciating the differences in individuals  because of their racial or ethnic backgrounds, language, traditions etc.

As Cultural diversity makes a Country a much more interesting place in which to live, in the same way Cultural diversity makes a classroom a much more interesting place in which to work! If we all thought alike imagine how boring the world would be! Thank God for diversity!

Every student learns in a different way (Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences) and I can experience that every day at school.

Promoting diversity is a goal shared by many teachers, but actually achieving this goal in the day-to-day classroom is often hard to do.

I really hope to learn more about cultural diversity and to improve my methodological approach and strategies.

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Hi everyone!, I'm Rosalinda Di Mauro. I'm a 1st grade Secondary School teacher. I live in Italy, in the province of Catania, (Sicily).
Here I am at school