How To Be A Culturally Responsive Teacher?
Culturally responsive teaching can elevate learning by connecting students on emotional and intellectual levels. In a nutshell, cultural intelligence in teaching helps create an engaging learning environment that is accessible to a broader range of learners coming from different backgrounds.
Today’s classroom is, in fact, a multicultural classroom, especially for TEFL educators with an Online TEFL Course; the demographic makeup is a combination of various races, cultures, and ethnicities. Learners come together for the same educational experience irrespective of the online or traditional classroom. undoubtedly, incorporating culturally responsive teaching practices is becoming more and more essential. Teachers who recognize and celebrate learners' needs are proven to be more effective in their teachings.
To speak generally, we are all influenced by our own culture. When it comes to teaching in a diverse classroom, each individual including the teacher can come with a lot of prejudice and biases. Your role as a teacher is to first allow yourself to open your mind and be willing to challenge personal biases. And when you set a tone based on that creating an inclusive environment becomes a smooth task.
3 Ways You Can Become A Culturally Responsive Teacher –
Make Connections With Learners
Bear in mind your initial days in the classroom are meant for taking time in knowing each student individually. Finding ways to learn about their cultural backgrounds – where they come from, can help you to understand more about their cultural norms and attitudes.
It also provides the student a scope to feel more at ease and willing to participate in the classroom as you get to establish a sense of familiarity. This connection not only allows you to embed learners' traditions and values in the lessons, but it also helps a lot with classroom management as learners become more in sync with you and their peers.
Teach With Multicultural Content
In a diverse classroom, it is a smart idea to create learning materials that reflect the multiple cultures of your ESL students in your lessons. The approaches and topics you teach with will fit better with such ideas whenever possible. By incorporating multicultural perspectives into Lessons, you can create authentic and relatable context, you can allow inclusivity where learners become more interactive and thus creates a positive learning environment for all.
Furthermore, you can also individualize lessons to fit the needs of each of learners to create an inclusive learning environment for all. When the content becomes personal to learners it helps each of them to achieve learning objectives with their views of success in mind.
Conscious Choice Of Culturally Responsive Teaching
Culturally responsive teaching practices donot come without making them intentional. Especially when there are so many discriminations and prevailing judgments about cultural existence and backgrounds, teachers need to make a proactive choice to ensure they are not missing out on cultural intelligence (CQ) while entering the classroom.
This is about what initiatives a teacher takes in making herself/himself aware of the current scenarios and also to make oneself aware of the sociopolitical context. Teachers need to understand the system that they work inand thus make a conscious choice in creating a learning environment that holds each learner and their cultural background equally important. This is a great opportunity to foster curiosity within students and create future global leaders.
Final Thoughts
Remember, culturally responsive teaching is so much more than just simply recognizing the cultural background of your learners. Though this is a first step in integrating culturally responsive, the work of a TEFL teacher in the global platform is to be responsible in doing their part in fostering teaching practices that are accessibleto alllearners.Above all, when teachers work with a willingness to do something different to create better results it can also increase academic achievement.
Now, more than ever, educators need to make their classrooms a space where students of all cultures feel supported and seen. Education is not just about academic learning; it is about making an impact on a global level where today's learners become authentic individuals with a sense of unity. ESL teachers with an Online TEFL Course degree, by embracing culturally responsive teaching effectively, over time, can create such a positive impact in the learning environment.