What is culture? In the activity during class I found it quite difficult to define culture. I began to jot down words that helped me describe what culture was. Some words that I included in my notecard were: traditions, food, language, dance, music, media, values, religion, always changing, beliefs, literature, etc. Turns out my definition of culture is widely used by many. As I continued to read the article “Cultural Globalization and Language Education” by Kumaravadivelu I longed to redefine my definition.
I do agree with how the article stated that culture provides individuals with structure that guides them with various aspects of their lives. I have previously read Huntington’s work in previous classes and his work is very controversial. As stated by Huntington, culture is linked to civilization because people can change and redefine their identities as time goes on and as a result that shapes civilizations.
Culture and community almost go hand in hand because they share common characteristics. The characteristics bring together all the members of the group together. Culture and community are both made up of individuals. This takes us to individualism and collectivism. The article stated that collectivism is made up of individuals who see themselves as parts of one or more collectives such as family. On the other hand, individuals view themselves as loosely linked individuals who view themselves independent from the collective. I related this to myself because I do not know what category I fit in. For example, I am very independent but I also see myself as a collective because I love working with other people especially students. I think that it is important to have characteristics of both individualism and collectivism because people belong to both groups. They belong to a family or a nation and yet they are an individual.
The section of culture and language would have to be my favorite because it is something that I am very interested in. I strongly believe that every student regardless of race, background, or economic status deserves a fair opportunity to an education. I want to make this a reality by providing a nurturing environment where youth can learn the importance of culture awareness. I had never heard “Language determines thought” so it definitely made me think about it. I learned to speak Spanish at home first and then English as soon as I stepped foot into a classroom. I now believe that when I think, I think in English. And I do agree with Kumaravadivelu about how the grammatical structure of one’s language determines one’s view of the world.
I trust that language learning cannot be isolated from everything because then real learning does not take place. As a future teacher I need to be aware of the influences that students face when in school that can be due to their specific culture. The reading added to my understanding that I need to be aware of what students are in my classroom in order for them to succeed. For example, I need to learn a about their home life and if they have the support available to them. Students who have support at home are more likely to succeed in school than students with less or no support. In addition, I believe that a student should not let go of their home culture and traditions because then they let go of their identity. A student should never be denied to speak their native language; instead we should encourage them to preserve it because I know many Latino students who do not speak Spanish or the language that was spoken by their ancestors. It has been proven that skills attained in L1 transfer to students L2.
I would like to erase the ideas that the programs like TESOL, ESL, Bilingual education, etc focus on problems and difficulties. Speaking another language should not be looked at as a deficit instead it should be accepted because not everyone is the same.
Culture is hard to define but I look forward to defining it better by the end of the semester as well as learning about language acquisition since I will be a bilingual elementary teacher. I also want to learn to cope with the difficulties or obstacles I may face because of the path I have chosen to take because I know that sometimes bilingual teachers are looked as inferior to regular education teachers.
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