Texas Teachers: Are Hispanic elementary students better behaved/respectful than students of other races?

Question

I'm not trying to be racist, so please, don't get offended. I'm asking because I am moving from the East Coast to Texas next month. I plan to teach second grade. I was telling my co-workers that I'm nervous to work in a predominately Hispanic community because I speak NO spanish.

Several of my coworkers have said, "Oh, well the kids won't cause you much trouble. It's like a cultural thing. They're very respectful of their teachers and their parents are so supportive and nice.

I currently have five Hispanic kids in my East Coast classroom and yeah, they don't cause much trouble, but I assume I just happened to get well behaved ones, not that ALL hispanic kids are like that.

Answer 1

It will be different for sure. My suggestion would be read the handbooks of the school you will be teaching at.

I worked at a charter school and the kids were not suppose to speak their "native tongue" in school. Mostly because the kids really were ESL kids.

they'll be good as any kids are. What you will want to noticed is how they come dressed to school. If they come, for lack of better words, Rag tag, you need to step up and handle it.

I have 2 kids that did and I went out and got them some clothes. Kids need to have pride in themselves.

Answer 2

No, I would not say they are better behaved. Some of them are some of the worst kids at school, while others are very nice and cooperative. It completely depends.

Occasionally, if the kids know you don't speak Spanish, they'll say inappropriate things in Spanish in class.

If the parents don't speak English, they'll often stay away from the school since they aren't sure about how to communicate or what school culture is like. Even if they do speak English, they often aren't as involved as other parents. Many school systems have translators available for parent conferences, etc. It helps a lot. Also, I've sometimes sent home school newsletters in Spanish. We've also had a cultural day when parents and kids gave presentations about their home countries... it was a great way to get them involved.

Learn as much as you can about their culture, holidays, customs, etc. If you find out which country most of them are from, you can focus your research a little more.