The idea of acculturation is one that I have learned a lot about in my ESL cohort and have tried to be aware of and sensitive to in my classroom. Last year I had a student who had been born in the United States and spoke excellent English, but spoke only Spanish at home with her parents. One day a different student said something about her being "Spanish" and she immediately acted insulted and went off on that student about how, 'she's not from Spain and that she's Dominican'. Even though this student was born in the United States, she had such strong ties to her family and community in the DR that she considered herself to be Dominican. This story immediately came back to me as I was reading page 158 where Nakkula stresses that, "it is essential to find out from them what terms they use to describe themselves". She was one student who was not afraid to speak up for herself and I believe at that time, she had achieved ethnic identity (pg. 164).
Currently, I am working with a student during my internship whose name is Antonio, but I have noticed that his classroom teacher calls him "Tony". He responds to either name, but when I asked him about it, he told me that he prefers to be called, "Antonio, because that's what my mom and brothers call me." He's a younger student and not yet an adolescent, but I couldn't help but consider the, "psychological well-being, self-esteem, and self-confidence" that Nakkula discusses on page 153. I wonder if as this student gets older if he will feel more comfortable speaking up, or if he will continue to stay quiet.
I'm not sure if I have shared this website before, but even if I have I believe it's valuable enough to share again. Culture crossing is a website that is designed to act as a guide to build cross cultural etiquette and understanding. On the right side of the page is a drop down menu that allows viewers to select many countries from around the world. Once there, the viewer can learn facts about other countries, basic communication skills, and information about schools (class sizes, socialization styles, and other information) about those countries. I have found that this website helps to promote cultural sensitivity and gain a better understanding of students backgrounds.
Thank you for the link to Culture Crossing. I have started to poke around on it and there is a lot of interesting and seemingly valuable information. I hope that Antonio will speak up for his desires one day but does seem typical of a respectful youngster not to yet, at least the ones I have met.
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ReplyDeleteYour post about the student from the DR reminded me of Junot Díaz’s “Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." The book is about a young man who is a second-generation immigrant from the Dominican Republic living in America. The book discusses his family history and DR's dark past. The country was run by this dictactor, Trujillo, and he was nuts. Kind of an underrated dictator. Pretty good read, mostly for the history lesson. I had no idea how bad it was in the DR! I think it was an important read, especially because us Americans are so ignorant to the rest of the world.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/books/04diaz.html?_r=0