Diversity

I wish I could say that I have a rich history of dealing with diversity in my life. That I was open to a wide range of cultures, backgrounds, and ideas that helped enrich me and provided a wider image of the world. But, that's simply not true. I grew up in a small town. The majority of the population was white, and the majority of them were dutch. I can probably count the number of people who stood out on one hand. They stood out, and whenever I could, I tried to make myself get as close to them as possible, simply interested in to what they knew.

The best example of this would have been my friend Tal. She was from Thailand, and was doing an exchange program in our school for the year. She was incredibly bright, and so much fun. Surprisingly, we both liked the same Japanese band. But I also got to see her in class, and how difficult it could be for her. Because English was not her first language, there were times when she was unable to understand the material in class, simply because she didn't know the translations of words. She had to carry around a pocket translator, and it often led her to be a step behind because she had twice the mental work to do. It was particularily difficult because she was unable to use her translator on the diploma exams, leaving her at a serious dissadvantage to everyone else.

I remember writing a test with her, a final for a health class, and we got to work in pairs. There is no doubt that she didn't understand, but before she could even fully comprehend what was going on, I had all ready answered the questions. Thinking back on it, I feel bad for not giving her the chance to answer as well, or not taking in to consideration the language barrier that she was overcoming. Will teaching kids that have a different first language be as difficult? How can I make sure that I'm creating a fair pace between those that are working to understand the double language of the words and the context they are in, with those who are anxious to move forward? Perhaps the best bet would be to make sure that I'm not assuming kids know things, and explaining words in easy ways to make sure that everyone knows the correct meaning. If there was a serious problem with that, I could also consider making changes to tests for those kids, giving them the word in their language, or more time to read through the questions carefully.

While I don't remember seeing her have any problems adapting to Canadian culture, seeming to suffer little culture shock that was major enough for me to notice, she actually inspired us to learn more. She introduced some of my friends to sushi for the first time, and tried to share with us some of the things that she likes. Being quite the Asian culture buff myself, we actually got to bond a lot on the things that we shared, and the fact that she could relate to some of the things I liked.  Will the classes that I'm going to teach be more diverse? And will the transitions be easier as more culture is being shared as media and the Internet becomes available to more and more people? What kinds of things am I going to see, especially living in Alberta? I'm interested to see what the range of students I'll be getting, and if I'll be able to relate to them as easily.

Thankfully, even though Tal was the person I got closest too that introduced me to diversity, I got to see a much broader scope of things when I went to the University of Alberta. On my floor alone of the residence, there were girls from Australia, Mexico, and even my roommate was from Indonesia. All three of those girls were dealing with issues along side of their education; home sickness, language barriers, and a bit of culture shock. My roommate had a hard time with English, and I would often see her playing online children's games to help her learn English. Fun things like that seemed to work very well to get her into it. Maybe making sure that keeping the adjustments fun is a good thing? Helping to make kids miss home less could maybe be accomplished by having them talk about their culture, bringing it out and using it as a way to teach.

The thing that I really learned the more that I got a chance to meet people from different background when I grew up was that there is always a way to relate to someone. I completely understand, and put my faith in a system that tries to remove all barriers, prejudices, and create a truly safe environment for children to learn and grow up.

I cannot predict what the cultural map will look like as I grow up, or even what part of the province (or world), I'll be teaching in. The best way that I can think of to prepare myself for those challenges, is to always be open, to accepting others, and to looking for new ways that I may need to approach things to encompass the needs of everyone that I will be teaching. Whether it be special learning software, special games, or simply creating high levels of motivation, I think I can find, or come up with ways to help kids.