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There are numerous countries in the world in which many of the citizens have different cultural backgrounds and origins. I am a proud born and raised Texas girl, which makes me an American. Having lived in the United States, you will see different ethnicities, you will see different skin tones and you will definitely hear a foreign language. During my teen years, I attended a public high school full of diverse people and to my understanding it was shocking to see almost everyone respect one another with their backgrounds. Because everyone was “American”. Americans don’t have a certain skin tone, Americans don’t have a certain religious background. Americans are people who are open minded, people who know that they don’t need to have a certain look etc. But I do have to add, we all do have a certain way of saying and using words, for example: “Let’s grab a coffee” rather than the Italian “Let’s take a coffee”. Another fact about myself, I am an Asian American, meaning my parents immigrated here from Asia. Although I am aware of my heritage and my parents' upbringing, I still feel very American. So with this, you can imagine foreigners indicating what an “American” looks like. Perhaps, white, rich and only knowing one language. This can be correct in some cases but the overall view, Americans don’t have a look! Foreigners believe in the “American Dream”, you know, to work hard and have loads of money. Which is a great conception of our culture. Now let's pretend to be a “non white American” teaching an English class in Italy. Classroom, full of people who “look” italian. Better yet, everyone looks the same. At first, no one will ask any questions, as they are trying to figure out where you “come from”. You introduce yourself and where you come from. Then there you have it, the questions start flowing. Someone will ask “where are you from?” again making you think they did not understand the question. You say “Texas”. “No, where are you really from?” Of course, you will repeat the answer you had said several times. Finally the question “Where is your origin from?” Bingo. From personal experience, this has happened more often than it should be. Luckily, I had found a way that helped during these moments. With this, what is the right way to talk about culture differences and not to be sensitive towards it? By educating the students. By teaching them empathy and to be open. The world is forever evolving! Being a teacher in Milan, I can say that it is forever evolving. Having lots of immigrants coming to the country for opportunity, learning the language and becoming Italian. Yet, people still don’t find them italian because of the way they look. During the Engage stage, try to expose articles from TOP diverse companies, like NPR or Vice. If that is not enough, try to have a light discussion of how their country has evolved, people wise. After in the Study stage, go over some vocabulary and phrases in which they can use to express their opinion. Lastly, have them role play, maybe posing as someone of the opposite race. To finish this off, in my opinion, should be something that people can talk about and not be hush hush about. Culture is a subject that can be harmful to talk about unless you approach it in the correct manner.
