Teach English in TiAnxingshAn Linchang - Zhangjiajie Shi

Applying cultural sensitivity in the classroom hinges on various of the fundamental qualities that make up a good teacher: “ A good teacher should be kind and patient […]  A good teacher should have a good rapport and interaction with the class […]  A good teacher should be able to involve all students equally throughout the lesson  A good teacher should be able to correct students without offending them or affecting their motivation” (ITTT Course, Unit 1, page 1) As an English teacher in a foreign place, to handle cultural sensitivity well, you also need to have some knowledge of local culture. Most obviously, you need to be aware of learners’ sensitivities. Regarding learners’ nervousness, it was mentioned in the course that “loss of face and anxiety about success are major factors here” (ITTT Course, Unit 1, page 6). These factors are particularly important in Asian cultures. Even if done in a well-meaning way, singling students out in class and overly correcting them can have the knock-on effect of making other students reluctant to speak for fear of being made to look foolish or ignorant. This sort of classroom atmosphere is antithetical to language learning, for which learners need to be brought out of their shells so they can interact in a relaxed way with the teacher and their classmates. Handling cultural sensitivities starts with the teacher. He or she must dress appropriately for the place they are working in, and this plays an important role in setting the learners at ease. We now live in an internationalised world, yet local dress codes can still be tricky to get a handle on, and a teacher’s clothing can vary greatly even within regions. A good example of this was provided in the Unit 10 videos, showing a class in Thailand. The teacher in the video was barefoot: although this is doubtless perfectly acceptable there, this is not the case elsewhere in South-East Asia. For example, in Vietnam, staff and students would take a dim view of a teacher not wearing closed shoes. It would also be a faux pas for a male teacher to turn up wearing shorts, and long-sleeved shirts are preferred. In other regions, dress codes are far less strict: in the South Pacific, teachers can wear sandals and shorts to class and even bright Pasifika-style shirts. Wearing the sort of clothing considered normal in Vietnam for a foreign teacher (closed shoes, black trousers, long-sleeved shirt) could even mark you out as an oddball or a missionary. Starting off on the wrong foot due to a lack of cultural awareness makes it harder for a teacher to establish a good rapport with the class, and this can come down to something as simple as wearing appropriate clothing. Cultural awareness must also be shown in the course of a teacher’s everyday interactions with students. Eye contact, voice and gesture were referred to in Unit 5 (pages 2-3) as important factors in classroom management, and these should be done in a way that is culturally appropriate. Whilst eye contact is mentioned in the course as being essential, it is a sensitive matter in some cultures: In Chinese culture, holding it too long can be viewed as a challenging gesture from the teacher, which could cause Chinese students to avert their gaze and make them reticent, rather than getting their attention and engaging them. Depending on their culture, looking away may also be the default setting for students when interacting with an authority figure: in Pacific Island cultures, young people tend to look away from their elders even when speaking to them, and they speak in a low voice to show their respect. Whilst respectful, such quiet voices make it much harder for teachers to understand their students, and asking them to project and speak clearly for comprehension purposes has to be done tactfully to avoid making them speak even quieter. Such timid student behaviour can be unnerving for teachers used to the more open body language and boisterousness of North American students. Basic gestures also need to be handled carefully by teachers in a foreign environment. Gesturing to a student in class to ask them to do something needs to be done in a way that does not cause offence. For example, in Vietnam, pointing a finger directly at a person is considered very rude; in Malaysia, pointing at someone using your left hand is considered doubly rude. These are not insurmountable barriers; for example, an open palm, pointed respectfully downwards or away from the student, can be used instead of pointing. Nonetheless, a newly-arrived teacher may take a while to get used to these cultural differences, and needs to be aware of them in order to achieve good interaction with classes. Nor are such cultural differences particular to the Asia/Pacific region. In Southern Europe, English teachers may have to beef up their body language in order to adapt to cultures that are typically more boisterous, and they may get confused by body language there too, the classic case being Bulgaria, where a nod means “no”, and you shake your head from side to side to indicate “yes”. Although such cultural differences do exist, and they vary from region to region, and even within regions and countries, they can be bridged through tactful behaviour, along with an acceptance by the teacher that he or she is on a learning curve too. None of these cultural differences are necessarily of a show-stopping nature; while learning about them the hard way is not conducive to smooth short-term class management, they can generally be surmounted in the long term. Exercising cultural sensitivity in interactions with learners is a sign that the teacher is respectful, in addition to having the awareness for achieving a good rapport and interaction with the class. Implementing such cultural awareness in the classroom facilitates greater student involvement and allows the teacher to correct students without causing them offence or demotivating them.