There would be no culture without a language and there would be no language without a culture. This makes us consequently conclude that the two are intertwined. Basically, a culture can extensively be marked by a language. Being in a position to interpret a language can give you a deep understanding of the beliefs, core values and behavioral traits of a certain community−these attributes are the basis of what is generally referred to as culture. Each society has their own identity that makes them unique and different from others majorly consistent of their language which is the building block. For coexistence to succeed there must be cultural inclusivity.
Learning starts right from when one develops the slightest feeling of self-awareness in their early days into this world. Preschool children develop an inherent urge to learn so as to be assimilated in their new environment. Mostly they acquire their initial skills through imitation and observation of the gestures, glances, and voice and a tonal variation used by the people they interact within their immediate surrounding. These nonverbal cues and other communication tools are employed as the earliest form of speech. Initially, the children get the knowledge from their parents, relatives then friend and finally from the people outside the family circle.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
After attaining school-going age, the children join institutions where they meet others from a different cultural background. Often public school’s dependent on their location can have a majority of a certain cultural group that outnumbers the other minority sub-ethnic communities. The teacher has the mandate to introduce them to formal learning which involves alphabets, words, word arrangement and sentence construction. Teaching and learning other peoples’ language is important in communication. It is also of great importance because one cannot understand another person’s culture without interacting directly with their language. Teaching and learning of primary or secondary languages can occur at a classroom level. The profound results on how well the children grow aware of themselves culturally depend on the classroom teacher’s ability to create a culturally inclusive classroom.
With the rapidly growing diverse cultural demographics all over the world, there is a need to study and understand different ethnic groups. It is said that diversity of ethnic communities brings greater cultural awareness. Morally acceptable learning materials should be acquired to aid in the seemingly research-oriented process. The materials should be age and content-conscious. For this to be successful and fruitful a teacher should understand the contributions and characteristics of various groups.
Creating a free and safe environment will create a generation of confident student that are empowered for interactions. This means an environment that lacks unfair treatment, harassment or criticism aimed at making one feel discriminated and insecure. Once the students feel accepted, they believe in their abilities and can learn from each other. Different ethnic groups have different encounters, experiences, the order of events and generally way of life. Being open to different opinions and ideas from various students of variable ethnic backgrounds can give one an opportunity to study their unique way of thinking and their characteristics. This improves the effectiveness of learning and teaching since the experience and information is firsthand. Being able to communicate effectively different language styles is a major milestone in understanding culture. Knowing the competitiveness of a certain style and not being in contempt of it based on its needs and intellectual ability helps to learn a language at a faster rate. Using one language for example English in a culturally and linguistically inclusive class can cause cultural divides and academic misunderstandings.
It’s of great importance to notice that the existence of communities without cultural diversity is next to impossible. People will always move from one place to another in a bid to quench their thirst for good settlement areas, work, knowledge, and exploration. However, this co−habitance cannot be one devoid of setbacks. Knowing how to deal with the problems remains the single most effective way to maintain the much needed ethical balance. Case and scenario; In a highly cultural competitive community, we have the minority and the majority of certain ethnic groups. Often the minority find it hard to maintain their cultural identity amid the influence of a greater group of people bringing great misunderstanding and confusion to them especially children. Having properly stipulated guidelines on how to preserve, respect and uphold all the diverse cultures in a community can solve such complication.
One may also suffer discrimination on basis of their race, language or their beliefs. Learning institutions always accommodates students from different races and ethnic backgrounds in an attempt to enrich their knowledge. However, this may sometimes result in a nightmare when they are faced with judgments based on their language structures and background. Mocking, unfair criticism and bullying mostly surface. One of the major ways to solve this is to learn different languages’ communication style and respecting them.
Successful and positive interactions among students can be initiated and promoted through different channels including designing a cultural friendly curriculum. This would provide a stage for students to share their experiences about their own culture and learn about others from their friends hence creating a culture friendly interactive forum. Participation in culturally active platforms, for example, cultural festivals will undoubtedly promote ethnic awareness. This will not only help and motivate the student to learn the languages but also know their structures, needs, and intellectual abilities.
References
Cartledge, G., Gardner, R., & Ford, D. Y. (2009). Diverse learners with exceptionalities: Culturally responsive teaching in the inclusive classroom. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Montgomery, W. (2001). Creating culturally responsive, inclusive classrooms. Teaching Exceptional Children, 33(4), 4-9.
Weinstein, C., Curran, M., & Tomlinson-Clarke, S. (2003). Culturally responsive classroom management: Awareness into action. Theory into practice, 42(4), 269-276.
