Teaching immigrant students and cross？鄄cultural communication

Muyun Ma

【Abstract】When immigrant students first come to a new class in a new country， they will certainly feel nervous. A major concern of ESL teachers is the social and cultural adjustment of their students life in the new country. Clarke （1976） suggests that students who act withdraw; anxious， confused， or angry have problems related to culture shock. Teachers who see students struggling with those problems often ask “what can we do to help them？” This essay is about how we can solve these problems and to take advantage of cross-cultural communication to develop students critical thinking.

【Key words】Cross？鄄cultural communication; cultural shock; critical thinking and cultural fatigue.

【中图分类号】G64 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2014）07-0037-02

1.Introduction

English language learners are the fastest growing segment of the United States population. In fact， all the developed countries have many immigrant students. For example， more than half of the students under age 12 in the Amsterdam schools are from immigrant families （Crul & Holdaway， 2009）. So， immigrant students are becoming more and more important part in todays class. As teachers we should pay more attention to those students and help them quickly adapt to the new environment. Actually almost all the immigrant students will not fell easy adjusting to the new environment at the beginning; they encounter all kinds of problems maybe they can not handle them by themselves or even with the help of their parents. They feel isolated and may not likely to focus on learning. So its time for teachers to stand on their feet and help them go through all the difficulties. The aim of this paper is to tell teachers how to get to know the immigrant students in the class， help them solve the problems and establish good relations with other students especially with American students. Besides， teachers should learn to take the advantage of the different cultures to develop the critical thinking of the students.

2.cultural fatigue

Cultural fatigue is “the physical and emotional exhaustion that almost invariably results from the infinite series of minute adjustments” that people living in a new country make in order to cope with their new environment. The time and energy it takes for adjusting make people fatigued. Students suffer from cultural fatigue may not do well on their studies.  As teachers， we must first notice this problem when students are irritable or moody， or seek to be with members of their own cultural group. Source of cultural fatigue can be found in the sociolinguistic context of the classroom and the culture. Students feel frustrated not only from the process of personal psychological adjustment but also from misinterpretation of the rules of sociolinguistic behavior. They often know English grammar， phonology and the rudiments of conservation but they lack “explicit instructions in what Hymes（1972） has called the rules of speaking. ” cultural fatigue can be dealt within the classroom by the establishment of an empathic atmosphere conductive to learning and through the teaching of conservation rules which are appropriate to particular social settings. The purpose of trans？鄄cultural dialogue （Szanston 1966：54） is to lead students with fatigue to a point where they can look at themselves and others objectively in order to evaluate how they interact with members of the new culture and to consider how they can change their patterns of interaction. The process of trans？鄄cultural dialogue includes several stages. First， the teacher recognizes and accepts the students expressions of negativity as statements of their confused feelings towards the new environment. The first step is very important because this acceptance permits the students to feel understood on their own terms. Second， the teacher provides a setting in which the students and teacher exchange information about their cultures. During this stage， students come to understand that they are not being asked to change their identity but are being asked to change from through which they express that identity. Third， explanations of U.S. culture are given. The focus initially is on those settings with which students have had difficulty， for example， relations with American roommates. A gradual shift toward situations which students will eventually be expected to handle provides them with the confidence to handle such situations when they occur. Fourth， students recognize differences in the two cultures and accept their need to use the forms appropriate to the U.S. culture. Fifth， opportunities to enact a variety of situations are provided.

Essential to the development of a successful trans？鄄cultural dialogue is the simultaneous acceptance of the responsibility for personal growth and expansion of world views by both the teacher and students. Role playing has several advantages in this kind of situation. First， it provides a setting for teaching both the technical rules of the language and the appropriate rules of conversation. Second， role play provides a sensitizing situation in which the students work as a group to develop awareness and understanding of other cultures. Students have an opportunity to view the comments of others in a situation objectively. They learn to listen and watch another person before responding. Third students may evaluate the similarities and differences between their reactions and those of their classmates. Forth， “role play also can provide the means of attacking new problems with new methods.”（Shaftel and shaftel 1967：65）. Finally， the problem –solving nature of role play reassures students that they are not alone in their cultural fatigue.

3.The use of cross cultural communication to develop critical thinking

Hisako Kakai， the professor of Aoyama Gakuin University， believes that cross？鄄cultural experiences outside the classroom can supplement students learning in the classroom and maximize its effect. Through the engagement in extensive cross？鄄cultural comparative analyses in the classroom， students critical thinking dispositions may already be nurtured. However， learning through such classroom activities tends to remain within the cognitive domain of students development， since students are dealing with problems only in a scholastic manner. Participation in programs such as the Study Abroad program and intercultural training programs involves learning not only at a cognitive level， but also at affective and behavioral levels. Through actual interactions with people from culturally different backgrounds， students may deepen their understanding of the necessity to engage in critical thinking. They can no longer afford to be careless about being open？鄄minded， for example， if they actually have to deal with people whose behaviors are unusual to them. Students will learn the importance of broadening their perspectives through cross？鄄cultural experiences when they go through ups and downs in dealing with uncertainty. Once students are instilled with uncertainty enhance their skills in intercultural interactions.

Consequently， I believe that a combination of classroom activities and extracurricular activities most benefits students. If an institution is truly committed to a mission of developing students critical thinking， getting on well with the immigrant students will benefits all the students.

And role？鄄playing I mentioned above also helps to developing critical thinking. It permits members of a group to work together criticizing， commenting upon， and explaining themselves to each other in such a manner that they learn from one another， without the teachers help， how to recognize and accept differences in people from other cultures， as well as how to adapt a new culture without losing their own identity， as well as how to articulate the appropriate questions and statements in a given situation.

Reference：

[1]Hymes， Dell. 1972. Models of the interaction of language and social life. In J. J. Gumperz and Dell Hymes （Eds.）， Directions in sociolinguistics： 35-71. New York： Holt， Rinehart and Winston， Inc.

[2]Rivers， Wilga. 1972. Speaking in many tongues： Essays in foreign language teaching. Rowley， MA： Newbury House Publishers， Inc.

[3]Salah， Fayeb. 1969. Seasons of migration to the north. London： Heinemann Educational Books.

[4]Shaftel， F. R. and G. Shaftel. 1967. Role playing for social values： Decision making in the social studies. Englewood Cliffs， NJ： Prentice-Hall， Inc.

[5]Szanston， David. 1966. Cultural confrontation in the Philippines. In Robert Textor （Ed.）， Cultural Frontiers of the Peace Corps： 35-61. Boston： The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.

[6]Taylor， Barry P. and Nessa Wolfson. 1978. Breaking down the free conversation myth. TESOL Quarterly 12， 1：31-39.

[7]Meghan Donahue and Adelaide Heyde Parsons. 1982. TESOL Quarterly.

[8]Paul， R. W. （1984）. Critical thinking： Fundamental to education for a free society. Educational Leadership， 42，4–14.