Week 5, Cultural Practices--Allison Miller

Me and Lizbeth's sister, Susannah

According to Vaughn, “School reflects what the culture believes is important to learn” (p. 166).  Education at a multicultural school like Amis, which is made up primarily of immigrant children and children of immigrants, I feel like it would be very difficult to be an effective educator for all of the different types of children you are teaching; just spending a few days a week after school at Amis, I’ve met children from all over the world—Mexico, Africa, Asia, etc.  So many features must be considered:  how the student body is organized, the culture’s sociolinguistic practices, cognitive/learning styles of students, motivation, teaching style (Vaughn, p. 168). While there are three types of multicultural learning which McLeod identifies, I believe that Amis utilizes (or, since I have not had the opportunity to sit in a classroom and witness, should utilize) intercultural schooling.  This would prevent the children from being “encapsulated in their own culture or forced into assimilation” (p. 172).  I’ve really enjoyed reading Igoa’s personal accounts of how she managed The Center, teaching students who came from all over the world.  She uses her personal experience as an immigrant child in order to relate to her students and to understand their experiences.

Since I wasn’t sure exactly how Easter is celebrated in the majority of Mexico, I googled it and found that they do not tend to celebrate with chocolate eggs and jelly beans like Americans.  Interestingly, this is not the case for Lizbeth’s family.  When I asked her about her Easter, she claimed she found ten chocolate eggs and saves the chocolate so she can enjoy it long after Easter is over.  In terms of the strategies of acculturation (Vaughn, p. 98) this particular instance seems to fall under integration.  While maintaining their original culture, Lizbeth’s family is also interacting with the dominant culture and interweaving it into their own.

Since Lizbeth’s family does not speak English at home, I can only assume that many of their cultural traditions still revolve around their own Mexican culture.  Lizbeth’s family travels back to Mexico over the summer (when she and her siblings are not in school), where I’m sure they have different cultural practices and traditions than most Americans.  I’m sure it has to be difficult for Lizbeth who lives, in a sense, two different lives.  At school, where she is around many different children of all races and ethnicities, she speaks English and acts a certain way; at home, she is around her unilingual, Spanish-speaking family who hardly (if at all) understands English, and may have to act entirely differently to conform to this culture.

A few of the girls in my sorority

On the first day I met Lizbeth, we were talking about our favorite foods, and she told me that in Mexico she really likes celery, but American celery is not as sweet, and therefore it is not her favorite food now that she lives in America. I thought that this was really interesting, and depicts the difference in cultural foods of the two countries.  While Mexico may focus more on fruits and vegetables (I’m only assuming this as Lizbeth said that she and her family’s diet is mostly comprised of them), in America processed and fast foods are the main focus (in order to keep up with the fast, hectic lifestyles that many American families lead), so fruits and veggies may seem to be left in the dust, maybe being less well-cared for in stores. 

It also must be difficult for children to understand the importance and meaning of body language at Amis, since it varies from culture to culture.  Again, at home, the students may have specific body language that they are expected to use, but when they come to school the rules probably change, just as with Lizbeth’s language.  Simple gestures such as smiling, eye contact, and spatial distance vary from culture to culture (Vaughn, p. 164-5), therefore misinterpretations are bound to occur.

           Personally, my own culture consists of many things.  I am a female, a college student, and a member of Kappa Delta Sorority.  I attend school Monday through Friday, take off in the summer, and have a winter break and a spring break during the year.  I relate to the 107 other women in my sorority in a variety of ways, and maintain in close contact with them (I even live in the house this year!).  I am Lutheran, and go to Church as often as I can,  never missing a holiday service.  I celebrate holidays such as Easter and Christmas.  I am a daughter and a sister, going home to visit my family every couple of weeks.  I want to be a nurse, and my education is very important to me.  I also feel it is vital to make connections with people that are different from me in order to better understand humankind and why we act the way we do.