edited by
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ELLENand JAY BARDOLE
Vincennes University Vincennes. IN 47519
Teaching Students from Other Cultures Mary Adams Valencia College, Orlando, FL 32802
Years aeo while I was still in undereraduate school. mvfather and i s a t on the front porch andbiscussed how would he when I was a teacher. Though I remember little of the discussion I will never forget that my father sat back in his rockine chair, put his hands on his stomach, smiled and said, " ~ e m e k b e rdear, students will always teach you more than you will teach them." When I first entered my classrooms I didn't think that was true. Several years ago, I was appalled when I learned that the rest of this world knows a great deal about North America, and the United States of America, while we know very little, next to nothing to be exact, about the rest of the world. At community colleges, like mine, we are finding a wide variety of international students. Five vears aeo when I went in to teach my voice and diction class, speech 1651,I discovered I couldn't pronounce the name of most of the students on the roll. The reason-about 95% of the students were Vietnamese. For the ~ a s5tvears when I receive mv roll sheets, I have not only ViEtnnmise, hut also Arab, oriental, and South ~ m e r i c a ~ s t u denu. I soon realized that they had learned a great deal about North America, while I wasiuckly to he able to find their countries on the map. My perception of those countries has changed radically. My knowledge of where a country is located, how large a land area it covers, its natural resources, and culture all have altered as a result of mv students. its -~~hasic -~~~~~ What can we do to help international studentslearn in our classrooms? Most of the students who come to us as international students have had intensive language training. However. studv in an intensive lanmaee - ~. r o.. m a mor a certain score on asmnjardieed test dops not mean a student is prepared for the lnneuaee thev will hear within the Nonh American college. Two orm;studknts came into my office very upset wanting t o know whv thev had to take their makeup off if they were going to sit in a math class. After I visited with them little hit, I said, "I'm quite sure your teacher didn't say you had to wash your makeup off; what did you teacher say?" My teacher said "no makeup." "What was your teacher talking about?" "My teacher was talking about tests." I clarified that the teacher meant no makeup test, not that they had to wwh their faces. Laura and Christv were most relieved. A similar situation occurred with some other young ladies who were terrified that their teacher was eoine them a "DOD kiss" when" " to eive " ever they walked into the room. A "pop cis> was a pop quiz. Three cultures that we need to deal with are the South American, Arab, and Oriental. The South American culture is very different from the North American culture. The two things that affect us most in the classroom are the Latin's perceptions of time and education. The South American is ~
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Presented at the Fifty-Fourth Two-Year College Chemistry Conference, Atlanta Junior College, Atlanta, GA, March 28,1981. 1010
Journal of Chemical Education
not as time-oriented as the North American. He feels the task will get done eventually and who cares ifit is done right now. This often causes South American students to come to class late, to he late with assignments, and see no harm in their behavior. The North American professor usually will disagree. The South American educational system requires one major test and as that test grows closer students begin to study. Deoendine uDon what countrv thev come from, attendance ma; not berequired in the coll&e ciassruom.'l'he student has onlv to studv the hook and pas3 the test. The student cumes to our colleges with the same attitude. The Arab students, in general, come with a great deal of respect for their teachers. They expect teachers to be very well-prepared; however, they are prepared to take only one test which comes a t the end of the term. Above all else they value their friends; therefore, if a friend asks for help, they are willing to help him. Oriental students who come to North America for their college education have ereat resnect for their nrofessors and are among the upper 1%of their country's high school graduates. Most of them have heendenied admission to their own universities and come here to gain more education. They are very bright and they work exceptionally hard. They will do whatever the teacher asks, even if it means washing off their makeup! In terms of classroom behavior, none of these three cultures produces students whom we can expect to ask questions or make comments in class. They expect us to give out information and never he questioned. Therefore, when you and I enter our classrooms and ask if there are any questions, there will be none. How do we overcome this? I find it is very successful to tell them that I am aware of their habits and their native educational system and to offer support. Do it quietly and do it orivatelv. I usuallv beein with a note on a naner or seeing th; student immediAely-hefore or immediately after class. At this time I indicate what 1feel I can doand what I feel they need todo. This isa much more successfulway to handle this situation than to sit in your coffee lounge, department meeting, or staff meeting and complain that international students never ask questions and you never know what they understand. I suggest that you privately offer the support; actually it's imperative that you offer it privately. If offered at large, they may not be sure exactly what you want and they are certainly not going to lose their own self-respect by admitting that they do not understand. The grade must be private between you and the student and they do not want to admit to other students that they are having difficulty. Work for clarification at the very beginning of your course. Define what your office hours are; if possible have them written. Define your grading scale. Show them how it works. During class I show students how they can figure their own grades. Define what you consider to he cheating. Many students feel that if you help them they are cheating; therefore, there is no problem with their friend asking them for the answer to a test question. They do not feel they are cheating anymore than when you help them. The international students that I have dealt with have a great respect for justice. I have long been in the habit of providing for my students my grading scale and my formula for grading. When they feel that I am being just and fair then they have a better idea where they stand.
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Dictionaries are something that all international students seem to have. In some areas thevare excellent: in other areas they are worse than nothing. 1f;our students'have access to a chemistrv dictionarv it is usuallv avaluable tool. However. most of their dictionaries are not subject dictionaries and are old, and they were not written for nor by~. people using North American ~ n ~ l i sTherefore, h. it isnot uncommon inihe dictionaries it) find outdated detinitirms or to find words that are not used in the United States. Not long agu I read an exam paper where astudent talked ahout hedgr-hugging.I know the student would not have made it un. 1 looked it uu in mv unabridged dictionary and did not fidd i t there. I w h e a note to the student on the naoer and asked him to see me. He showed me in his diction& where hedge- hogging was listed. He read the dictionary to me in Persian and then translated to English. I t means something similar to "beating around the hush." You need to decide whether dictionaries will be allowed in the classroom. If students are not allowed to use them while taking tests, they should know ahead of the test. If they are allowed to use them while taking notes, this needs to be clarified. Each one of these items needs to he written down so the student will know your grading scale, what you consider to be cheating, how you figure grades, and when they can and cannot use their dictionaries. Tests are special problems with international students. They generally would prefer more time to take their test. Each instructor needs to clarfiy his position on this. I d o not find it advantageous to give international students advantages that I do not give American students. On the other hand, I do find i t necessarv to be ahsolutelv clear to mv international students. clar;fy what the test &ll he like. fill it be an essay, will it he short answer, will it be modified true/false, will it be multiple choice, will i t be matching? If possible distribute to the class a copy of an old exam that you no longer use. Let them see the types of items asked. Then make very clear whether students are allowed to ask-you questions during the trst. You nust he clear what you wd~mswerduringa test and arbat yuu will not. You may find that if they are not allowed to use their dictionaries a i d you agree to answer questions, they may ask you for synonyms or definitions of words. How lone atime are students eiven to answer the ouestions? Are the international studenrs allowed nlorr time? If so, how much more'! Iiruu - ei\.e extra time will thev finish in a testine center or do you allow them to stay longer in the c l a s s r o o m ? b o ~ n elish-s~eakinestudents have this same vrivileee or does i t depend on whithcr they hare aclass immidiateb following? ,\I1 of these need to be considered as we think about trstineour international students. Another very important area which needs consideration is the lecture you give to your students. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is your diction. The way you speak determines what your students hear. Make certain that if you do not speak clearly, the student has some method of knowing what the word is-perhaps you need to put notes on the board or on an overhead projector. I recommend that you he sure that vou are soeakinc the words clearlv and that vou are putting all of your e& sounds on wordk otherwisethe international student is likely to lose the tense of the verb and have problems understanding your lecture. Please be cautious of idioms. Idioms cause a great deal of trouble for international students. A political science teacher referred to a particular elected official as "a fish out of water." Several international students came into my office that afternoon and wanted to know why this particular official looked like a fish. They showed his picture and said that they did not think he looked like a fish and besides that if he were not a fish why did he want to he in the water. We enioved our discussion and thev learned a new idiom. I t is not aiGays possible for someone tb exnlain to the international student what the idioms mean. ~ 6 international e student may not be comfortable enough with an instructor to ask the meaning of an idiom. There are ~
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minute differences in two our our idioms, "on time" and "in time." and thev mav cause a ereat deal of trouble. I exnect mv studknts to bejn class "on time," not "in time" for thk end df the class. Be certain that this is clarified for all of your international students. Most instructors need to deal with their own handwriting. It will suffice tosay that Iprint when I use handouts, write on the board, or use overhead projectors. An international student often relies on the handwriting on the board or on the overheads as a reference to go back to the textbook or the dictionary to understand what it said. Should you write unclearly or misspell a word, the students would not know that it is misspelled. They would have no idea that your "y" that looks like a "g" is really a "y." Typed or printed materials prevent vour handwritinr! from creatine an unnecessarv harker for Lternational students. Years m o somebodv said that a picture was worth a thousand word; and in m&y classes diagrams are worth more than hours and hours of lecture material. If a diagram is to be used, it should be clearly drawn and clearly labeled. This is an advantage to all students, not just international students. I often re-draw diagrams out of a textbook in order to clarfiy or expand on material. I have found it very useful in doing this to refer to the page and the diagram number so that an international student or an American student can pick up the textbook and look at the Dace or make note of the naee and the figure number in their notes. If I refer to a variety'oflbooks, I make verv clear the hook to which I am referrine-whether or not I expert them toresearch that material for an upcoming auizor an exam. If it is in the textbook that the students use. simply clarify that this material is also covered in the text: hook. There is one last thing that all of us can do. International students are people, and people have particular social and self-esteem needs. It is a very difficult procedure to sit in a classroom, to understand incompletely and to he afraid everybody will laugh if a question is asked. I t is very difficult to have a holiday when you do not understand the significance and have no olace to eo. Manv of the facultv members at Valencia, myseif included, have-found that we have made very fine friends among international students. Some of us choose to share our holidays with them and many of them are involved in familv celebrations. We cannot revlace their families in their native countries, hut we can show them a side of America that is not available in the classroom or the disco or on television. My Thanksgivings, Easters, and Christmases are no longer the same. My family has grown to include people literally from all over the world. I have learned an appreciation for m a w cultures, as well as the North American ;&we. I have learned an appreciation for the problems of language. My ability to empathize with people has grown immensely. I think anyone who spends time working with the international students is aware of the problems, but believe it or not, I have found they are not all that difficult to overcome. Be absolutely clear with your students, go over things, have things available in handout form. Be aware of the fact that most of them are accustomed to orenarine for onlv one test. not quizzes and several tests. ~ e f i n y& e scale, dkfine vow erading formula. Let the students know whether thev can use a-dictio&ry. Let them know what kind of tests yougive. Be cautious of vour diction and your idioms in vour lectures. Be careful with your handwritidg and diagrams. What it all boils down to is very simple; being clear and definite with an international student will clarify their perceptions of what they need to do. I t also clarifies the perceptions for the North American. One of the more astounding things that I have leamed is the fact that international students are well informed about the world. North Americans are not well informed. The Educational Testing Service (ETS) has used a test to conduct a study Volume 58 Number 12 December 1981
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and has found that most North American high school and college students know next ta nothing about
