Strategies To Develop Intercultural Understanding (Social Development) in The Classroom

 

Strategies To Develop Intercultural Understanding (Social Development) in The Classroom

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Culture impacts how people communicate and creates a positive cycle of mutual understanding that eventually unites different cultures (StudyCorgi.com, 2020). Learning a new language enhances cross-cultural understanding and communication because intercultural interaction has become essential as a result of globalization and every career field recognizes the value of intercultural communication (Gitimu, n.d.). We encounter growing cultural diversity in our professional and personal lives as we live in a more globally connected society. Because of this, the importance of intercultural awareness, adaptation, and respect for cultural differences should be emphasized more and more. We cannot underestimate the emergent power of language in upholding effective cross-cultural interactions. Language should help students understand their own culture as well as the cultures of others in their school because language opens our minds to a wide range of cultures and ideas, making it an excellent tool for fostering understanding and relationships. In doing so, intercultural competence should be built into every student in the school to equip them with the ability to interact and communicate with people from different cultures respectfully and effectively (Page, 2020). Some of the strategies that I will use in my classroom to help my students develop intercultural understanding are as follows:

Firstly, I will teach diversity in my classroom, which I think is the most essential aspect of developing intercultural understanding because, by teaching diversity, my students will be able to enhance their acceptance, tolerance, decision-making skills, and problem-solving skills. Moreover, diversity in the classroom will lead students towards innovation due to the fact that students will be encouraged to move forward to find new knowledge and perspectives (Page, 2020). On the other hand, I will dedicate a part of my teaching to intercultural awareness. I will lead my students to explore and learn practical terms and expressions based on cross-cultural communication in both verbal and non-verbal manners. By doing so, I will be helping them to develop their metacognitive skills through the process, like brainstorming, analyzing problems, and solving them. This will also enable them to improve their communication skills.

Secondly, I will let my students reflect on their personal identities and culture because developing one’s own cultural identity is integral. For this, I will let them explore through project-based learning to learn about their personal history. It will enable them to have access to extensive historical evidence. Later, they will be asked to reflect on and accept what they have learned about their peers.

On the other hand, by rearranging the classroom seating arrangement and layout frequently every month for an inclusive learning environment By doing so, they get a chance to interact with multiple peers over a while. It will help them prevent cliques from forming based on similar backgrounds. Basically, students form groups with their friends who are from their own village or those whom they know well. By frequently changing the classroom layout, they enable them to make friends with different backgrounds.

Moreover, I will infuse team-building activities throughout the lesson to promote a sense of community within the classroom. Students who learn to trust others and discover new ways to interact and collaborate with a diverse range of people. This will enable them to become aware of the processes underlying thinking, knowing, and learning through conscious awareness and self-reflection.

In addition, I will try to eradicate any cultural stereotypes in my classroom that hinder intercultural communication by leading my students through the discussion of various situations based on the experiences that other cultures have in order to develop a personal, multi-perspective intercultural space. Following that, the students engage in quick brainstorming and discussion on effective intercultural communication techniques; comparing languages and cultures and drawing connections; and building relevant bridges between home and the target language and culture.

Finally, learning depends on how learners show their attitudes and dispositions. I will train them to accept their responsibility to contribute to successful communication across languages and cultures and develop an intercultural perspective.

It is realized that developing intercultural understanding is essential. By placing a strong emphasis on intercultural communication skills, teachers and students should derive certain expectations concerning appropriate language learning processes in the classroom so that they are able to prevent failure due to a disparity in expectations. As a teacher, I understood that I had a greater role to play in the classroom than simply teaching the content. Now I realize that my role in the classroom should be more than a teacher in making my students understand the influence of their cultural values, attitudes, and beliefs and how they should show interest in others' cultures. Finally, I also learned that we should be interacting with other people from diverse backgrounds positively.

 

References

Gitimu, P. N. (n.d.). Intercultural Communication: Its Importance to Various Career Fields and Perspective by Various Authors. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=ojwed

Page, H. (2020). Five Ways to Build Intercultural Competence and Confidence in Your Classroom. https://www.participatelearning.com/blog/five-ways-to-build-intercultural-competence-and-confidence-in-your-classroom/

StudyCorgi.com. (2020). Language’s Role in Cross-Cultural Communication. https://studycorgi.com/languages-role-in-cross-cultural-communication/