Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom

We live in a society where we come across people from different cultures every day. I think more people move to live in other countries than ever before. 

People moving to different countries means cross-cultural experiences in the classroom for students and teachers. When I was eight my parents moved to the United States. My dad was in the RAF (Royal Air Force) and had been advised to send my older sister and me to boarding school. The thought behind it was that moving to the States and the difference in education would affect our long-term education. My parents didn't agree, they thought that moving to another country as a family and having new experiences together would be better for us. So as a nine-year-old I started school on a military base in the middle of Nebraska. I had a great experience and it was my first experience being in a different culture. Although English and Americans speak the same language (debatable sometimes) I was definitely experiencing a different style of education. My older sister was going through the same thing but I think at a higher scale. Junior High in Nebraska was completely different than what she would have experienced in the UK.

One of the biggest struggles for me was spelling. I had learned to spell quite well by the time I was nine. I mean at least a lot of the basics. Then all of a sudden things were spelled differently, imagine color and colour on a grand scale. I lived in the States for about four years when we returned to the UK as my Dad's posting had finished. Then guess what! I had to learn how to spell all over again. To this day I get confused about which way to write the date...is it month first or day - so I just normally write the month out in full and then I know I'm safe.

When I was thirteen I went to boarding school and spent the rest of my schooling in a cross-cultural classroom with students from all over the world. I had friends from Hong Kong, Zambia, Ethiopia, Africa, and the United Emirates. There were also a lot of military kids like myself who had lived all over the world.

I now teach English to business people from all over the world. One thing that I try to remember is that despite our differences one thing is the same - we all want to be understood and accepted. I always try to think about why someone acts the way they do. In a lot of cultures, different types of behavior are more acceptable. Some cultures are more emotional, some reserved. I loved this video I found on YouTube that talks about cross-cultural communication. It's quite long but definitely worth watching!

It talks about perception and misperception. How it's impossible to learn all the codes about why every culture acts the way they do. However, we can be curious and ask questions. He says we can ask any question as long as we ask with curiosity.

We need to remember not to think the worse of someone without asking the question WHY?

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