The goal of this text is to help teachers in diverse classrooms
understand the importance of students' culture, languages, and schooling
experiences to curriculum, assessment, and student achievement. Readers
will learn about aspects of specific cultures and languages that are
important to their understanding of their students, and they will
discover that cultures that are often considered similar may not be so
(and why they aren't). Finally, the text focuses on how teachers can
integrate languages and cultures into classrooms and how to account for
students' backgrounds and funds of knowledge when devising tasks.
The text starts with an introduction to language and culture that
presents a research-based explanation of why these concepts are
important for teachers to understand (Chapter 1). Then, the middle 28
chapters each address one country/culture. Each chapter starts with a
school scenario in the US. Part 2 of each chapter includes
evidence-based demographic and background data on the country, including
historical events that may have an impact on our students and their
families. Part 3 includes a look at education, schooling, and culture,
including famous people, contributions to the world, personal
characteristics, important religious information, focal customs, and
other aspects that are important to cultural insiders. Part 4 is about
language and literacy traditions and how they relate to the culture, a
number of words that teachers can learn (e.g., yes, no, thank you,
please, hello), how the language is different from and similar to
English, and what those differences and similarities might mean for
English language learners from that culture. Part 5 comprises advice,
resources, and ideas for teachers (for example, if it is an oral
culture, the teacher might consider working with students on oral
storytelling before transitioning to written stories, or incorporate
both using technology). Each chapter also contains recommended readings
and resources and short exercises that extend the chapter information.
The final chapter presents parting notes for teachers and additional
suggestions for addressing diversity.
