I have decided to reflect on one of the activities that were listed in the outline for unit one of this course and I will not be reflecting on a particular reading. I am choosing to reflect on concepts from this activity because I think it was a helpful exercise for identifying personal biases and assumptions, how they are reinforced by different aspects of our cultural identities, and how they affect our teaching. We were directed to think about the relationships between our personal identities, workplace culture, local culture, and the mainstream culture of our country in how they shape the ways that we relate to other people and cultures. This activity preludes one of the discussion board activities but I think it deserves its own post.

Considering cultural relationships and teaching

I think that my identity and cultural background will influence the way that I teach and view my students. I will expect my students to view me as a professional and listen to me even though I am female and that I might be younger than they are. I will also expect that my students will treat each other with respect despite differences in gender, ethnicity, culture, and religion. Based on my own educational experience, I may expect that students will know how to act in the classroom. However, they will likely have had less schooling or have not received schooling for several years. As such, they might need help building learning strategies or understanding the rules of the classroom. I may expect them to complete work even if they don’t feel like participating much. I think that these differences could be a problem if I forget that my students bring their own experience and knowledge to the classroom and that it will likely be different than my own.

I think that the differences between my identity and cultural background and those of my students will influence the way that they see me as a teacher. Some cultures view teachers with high respect as educators while others don’t. Likewise, some people from some cultures are used to teacher-focused teaching and are not familiar with student-focused learning. As such, they might expect different things from me as their teacher than other students and they may have preconceived ideas about what to expect in the classroom. Students may also expect teachers to know all the answers and that most of their learning will occur in class. As a result, some students may lack self-agency and not see their own role in their education, particularly outside of class.

My identity and my cultural background will also influence the expectations that I have of my workplace. I will expect that my workplace will be an encouraging environment where I can develop friendships with my coworkers and other staff. I will expect them to provide teaching supports for me in the classroom and that there will be equality for all workers, despite differences in gender, ethnicity, culture, and religion. I don’t think that this will be a problem since I share the same cultural views as my workplace. Should I work abroad, I will have to consider how the organization that I work for tolerates different cultures and worldviews because I can’t expect that they will share my personal beliefs and views on education.

I think that the culture of my workplace will influence the expectations that the organization will have of me and my students. In my particular case, the organization that I volunteer at will expect that I share their compassion towards newcomers and their perspective on the benefits of diversity in Canadian society. Their expectations will also encourage me to build professional relationships with the students, their families, and other important people in the community.

I think that I might expect that the local culture will share the value that I see in teaching English to newcomers. However, I know from my own encounters with people outside of the organization that there are a lot of misunderstandings about the experiences that newcomers have when they settle in the city. I also think that the local culture will expect that the focus of my teaching will reflect what they see as important. I think that there is a misunderstanding amongst the wider population about how language teaching works and the relationship that multiculturalism and diversity have with integration and social inclusion. They may expect me to teach in such a way that my students will pick up the language very quickly and be able to integrate into the wider society and obtain employment. I think that some people will expect me to “educate” my students about local culture so that they can share the same values and beliefs.

I think that Canadian culture is accepting of newcomers, whether they are immigrants or refugees, as long as they accept and adopt mainstream Canadian values. I think that these expectations establish English language teachers as people whose role is to teach these values and to help integrate newcomers into Canadian society. As I wrote above regarding local culture, I think that there is a misunderstanding about the purpose of language teaching programs and about how students who are newcomers will adjust to living in a new country with a different culture than they grew up in. I also realize that Canadian culture impacts my teaching and relationships with my students. I have expectations that students will connect with the lessons that I teach about subjects related to local and Canadian culture and will find them as meaningful as someone raised in Canada. However, just because we think that certain subjects and their related values are important doesn’t mean that newcomers will feel the same about them or that they reflect their needs as they settle in a new country.