Culturally Sensitive EIL Pedagogy

Towards a Culturally Sensitive EIL Pedagogy

Throughout this class we have learned so much about our future students in our classrooms and what types of backgrounds they might come from. Learning about different cultures and learning about how to be sensitive towards other cultures and ways of living puts everything into perspective. We are going to come across so many different cultures and Englishes in the classroom and we are going to have to know how to respond to multilingualism and multiculturalism. At the same time we are going to have to recognize that our English speaking students are also going to have very different variations of Englishes and come from homes who have different attitudes and beliefs about language and language learning.

We are also going to come across students who hail from countries who have idealized westernization. They are going to learn about American culture and while doing so they are going to learn stereotypes and things that are just not true. In the classroom we need to be able to be sensitive to that fact while showing them that learning through stereotypes isn’t the best way to learn because most of the time these stereotypes are just not true. Another issue we are going to come across is other students in the class being stereotyped against. Through taking these TESOL classes I have realized that every classroom is going to be different and every student is going to come from a different background and as teachers sensitivity is a big issue that we must learn.