How can a classroom teacher create a comfortable environment for students from diverse cultures?

Question

How can a classroom teacher create a comfortable environment for students from diverse cultures?

Answer 1

Learn about the different cultures in your classroom. Have a classroom library that is multi-cultural. Have students study their own culture and report about it, and then learn about another culture of their choice.

Answer 2

i often times talk about my culture and that of my fiance's. I'm Black, Irish and Iranian (say that three times fast!) and my fiance is Ghanian (West African). When the kids see that I am comfortable discussing my heritage, they will start to raise their hand and talk about theirs as well. I don't force anyone to talk who doesn't want to. I have one Chinese kid in my class and he feels self conscious sometimes to talk about being Asian or make connections to the discussion, so I let him sit quietly.

Answer 3

I went to such a school. Just do not let them feel one race is superior or culture is better than an other.

Singling out a culture has bad implications. Try asking the school to have  a multicutlure day. My hs school did. We still get along very well as adults.

Answer 4

an icebreaker to get everyone to get familiar with one another and not leaving anyone out.

Answer 5

put different flags or pictures of kids around the world up.

also make a point to tell them everyone is welcome.

Answer 6

If the question is practical, the first thing you need to do is learn what cultures your students are from.

What kind of cultures are you working with?  I teach a population with a large number of Navajo students, pueblo Indian students, Mexican background, and other backgrounds.  

If the question is theoretical, then one way is to find out what countries your students/students' families are from and hang small flags of those countries around the room.  You could take a big world map and put thumbtacks or pushpins in the countries where students are from.

It depends a little bit on what your age group is and what subject you teach.  You could have the kids research their family backgrounds and have them make a family tree presentation that they can share with the class.  Let them be creative in how they show their family.  If they have strong ties to their cultural backgrounds, they could share family stories about their backgrounds and families.  

Have students pair up.  Try to have students who don't know each other very well.  They need a piece of paper.  Have them tell their partners about where their name comes from.  Tell them that they can talk about their first names, but they HAVE to talk about their last names.  They use the paper to take notes about what their partner tells them.  Give them 15-20 minutes to interview each other.  At the halfway point, tell them that they need to switch talking if they haven't already.  Then, they have to have to introduce the person they interviewed.  You could take it a step further if you want them to write about the person they interviewed.