Week 5 - Cultural Practices - Sarah Arriola

 "Intercultural schools emphasize intercultural knowledge and competence in tandem with the social and emotional aspects of interacting with culturally different people. Intercultural schooling is the closest to the ideal of multicultural education because it contains both cultural maintenance and participation" (Vaughn 172). From what I've seen the last few weeks at AMIS, this seems to describe the school pretty well. There are children from several different cultural backgrounds at AMIS, and they are all learning to interact with one another. Hawa, my mentee, and her twin brother, although being born in the U.S., have spent much of their lives living in Africa. At AMIS, they interact with other students from Africa, as well as students from places such as Mexico and Asia. Had the students at AMIS gone to different schools, they may not have had an opportunity to interact with students from their own cultures, or students from so many other cultures different from their own. Schools like AMIS are important for that reason -- because it's important for all people to interact with and learn about people from other cultures, and the younger that happens, the better.

Some of the AMIS kids at the Flying Piglet this weekend!

At AMIS, the children speak many different languages. They are taught English, but children that speak other languages often talk to other children in their home language. In Vaughn's book, it says that "Culture and language are inseparable since both have a reciprocal relationship with each other. Many believe that a culture cannot be understood without understanding its language and vice versa" (162). This is interesting to me because I know my that my mentee currently speaks both French and English, and on top of that, desires to learn Spanish. This means that not only is she able to understand her own African culture, but she can understand American culture as well, and someday, will probably understand things about Spanish culture too. 

This week, Hawa and I talked about several things. One of the things we talked about was Easter. I asked her whether or not her family celebrated Easter, and she said yes they did, and that they had a nice dinner of ham and mashed potatoes and green beans. She also said she got to play with her friends. She didn't mention finding eggs, so I'm not sure if she just forgot or if that isn't something that her family does, but regardless, they did celebrate Easter in a fairly American way.

I also asked Hawa if there were any traditions or holidays that she celebrates in America that she also used to celebrate in Africa. She mentioned one thing, which she called Tebuski. I couldn't find anything about it online, but that's probably because I'm butchering the spelling. She told me that to celebrate this, her family and friends cook a goat and they dress up in African clothing. When I asked her how she likes the African clothes, she said that she likes most of them, but sometimes the ones her dad picks out aren't very pretty.

One thing that I found that was interesting in Vaughn's book was that "Culture strongly affects the acceptance of conflict. Some cultures tolerate and expect conflict in everyday interactions with arguments, insults, and negavitve feelings all viewed as acceptable...whereas others try to avoid conflict" (163). I thought this was interesting because Hawa often talks about how much she and her twin brother argue and fight. I don't know if culturally this kind of thing is acceptable in Africa where she grew up, but I know in America, it is pretty common to hear about siblings arguing with one another. I didn't realize that different cultures looked at conflict in different ways, so it was cool for me to learn that through the reading.

Members of my family at Thanksgiving.

Sometimes I struggle to explain exactly what my cultural practices are. Because I grew up in a predominantly white area with people that had similar cultural practices as I did, I don't always think of the things that I do as a part of my culture. However, I suppose they are. Part of my cultural practices include celebrating Christmas and Thanksgiving with my family. My mom cooks an elaborate feast and several of my family members come to the house and we sit around and catch up and just generally enjoy each others company. I really look forward to the holidays because I don't sit down and talk with some of those family members very often throughout the rest of the year. It is always just really nice to find out how everyone is doing. I can't imagine not celebrating these holidays with my family.