Views From Inside

Languages, Cultures, and Schooling
for K–12 Educators

Edited by

Joy Egbert and Gisela Ernst-Slavit
Washington State University

Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Charlotte, North Carolina

www.infoagepub.com

A Volume in Literacy, Language, and Learning

Wen Ma, Series Editor

Listening to the Voices of Boys: Exploring the Motivation
of Primary Boys to Engage in Reading (2016)

By Krista Griffin

Reconceptualizing Literacy in the New Age of Multiculturalism and Pluralism, 2nd Ed. (2015)

Edited by Patricia Ruggiano Schmidt and Althier Lazar

Chinese Education From the Perspectives of American Educators (2015)

Edited by Chuang Wang, Wen Ma, and Christie L. Martin

Getting to the Common Core: Using Research-Based Strategies That Empower Students to Own Their Own Achievement (2015)

Edited by Sharon L. Spencer and Sandra Vavra

Getting to Know Ourselves and Others Through the ABCs: A Journey Toward Intercultural Understanding (2014)

Edited by Claudia Finkbeiner and Althier Lazar

Learner’s Privilege and Responsibility: A Critical Examination of the Experiences and Perspectives of Learners From Chinese Backgrounds in the United States (2014)

Edited by Wen Ma and Chuang Wang

International Collaborations in Literacy Research and Practice (2014)

Edited by Cynthia B. Leung, Janet C. Richards, and Cynthia A. Lassonde

Struggling Readers Can Succeed: Teaching Solutions Based on Real Kids in Classrooms and Communities (2013)

Edited by Nina L. Nilsson and Sandra E. Gandy

Learning From the Boys: Looking Inside the Reading Lives of Three Adolescent Boys (2013)

By Valarie G. Lee

Inspiring Student Writers: Strategies and Examples for Teachers (2009)

Edited by Tom Scheft

Multicultural Families, Home Literacies, and Mainstream Schooling (2009)

Edited by Guofang Li

The Perfect Norm: How to Teach Differentially, Assess Effectively, and Manage a Classroom Ethically in Ways That Are “Brain-Friendly” and Culturally Responsive (2009)

By Sharon L. Spencer and Sandra Vavra

African-American Middle-Income Parents: How Are They Involved in Their Children’s Literacy Development? (2007)

By Ethel Swindell Robinson

Closing the Gap: English Educators Address the Tensions Between Teacher Preparation and Teaching Writing in Secondary Schools (2007)

Edited by Karen Keaton Jackson and Sandra Vavra

Research and Reflection: Teachers Take Action for Literacy Development (2006)

Edited by Andrea Izzo

ABC’s of Cultural Understanding and Communication National and International Adaptations (2006)

Edited by Patricia Ruggiano Schmidt and Claudia Finkbeiner

Preparing Educators to Communicate and Connect With Families and Communities (2006)

Edited by Patricia Ruggiano Schmidt

Reading and Writing Ourselves Into Being: The Literacy of Certain 19th Century Young Women (2004)

Edited by Claire White Putala, SUNY Oswego

Reconceptualizing Literacy in the New Age of Multiculturalism and Pluralism (2001)

Patricia Ruggiano Schmidt and Peter B. Mosenthal

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

CIP data for this book can be found on the Library of Congress website:
http://www.loc.gov/index.html

Paperback: 978-1-64113-019-6

Hardcover: 978-1-64113-020-2

E-Book: 978-1-64113-021-9

Copyright © 2018 IAP–Information Age Publishing, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, or by photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise without written permission from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America.

CONTENTS

Dedications and Acknowledgments

Preface

Joy Egbert

SECTION 1:      INTRODUCTION TO CULTURE AND LANGUAGE

1              Understanding Culture and Language in Education

Gisela Ernst-Slavit

SECTION 2:      ARAB AND PERSIAN REGION

2              The Gulf Region

Abir El Shaban, Rana Raddawi, and Jacqueline Tanner

3              Middle East

Raed Alsawaier

4              Islamic Republic of Iran/Persia

Seyed Abdollah Shahrokni

SECTION 3:      NORTH/CENTRAL AMERICAN REGION

5              Mexico

Maria Isabel Morales and Brenda Barrio

6              Puerto Rico

Gladys R. Capella Noya and Elsie Candelaria Sosa

7              Nicaragua

Desirée Palais and Ilana Umansky

SECTION 4:      SOUTH AMERICAN REGION

8              Argentina

Sandra Mercuri and Sandra Musanti

9              Brazil

Eliane Rubinstein-Avila and Adriana Picoral

10           Peru: A Nation of Contrasts, Diversity, and Complexity

Gisela Ernst-Slavit

SECTION 5:      SOUTHEAST ASIAN REGION

11           Vietnam

Eric Ambroso and Nguyễn Thị Thu Điệp

12           India

Rani Muthakrishnan and Sreejith Thankappan

13           Bangladesh

Shampa Biswas, Sayeeda Rahman, and Raihan Sharif

14           Pakistan

Tariq Akmal and Romella Husain

15           Philippines: Being Filipino

Jeom Ja Yeo

SECTION 6:      ASIAN REGION

16           China

Penny Wang and TingTing Wang

17           Taiwan for Teachers

David Herman and Aichia Chang

18           Japan

Saeun Lee and Leslie Huff

19           Korea

Hyun-Gyung Lee and Saeun Lee

SECTION 7:      AFRICAN REGION

20           North Africa

Omran Akasha and Mohamed ElHess

21           Nigeria

Nathaniel J. Hunsu and Alusola Adesope

22           The Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Case for Hope

Kristen Pratt and Rose Lusangi Phambu

23           English Language, Literacy, and Culture: The Case of Angola

Nicolau N. Manuel and Pamela J. Bettis

SECTION 8:      EUROPEAN REGION

24           A Glimpse Into Russia History, Culture, and Language

Yuliya Ardasheva and Alexei Kochetov

25           Ukraine

Nataliia Borysenko and Petro Borysenko 5

26           Poland

Justyna Hjeltness

SECTION 9:      UNITED STATES

27           Culture, Language, and Schooling in the United States

Joy Egbert

About the Contributors

Dedications

As always, for Princess J and DavetotheMax—thanks for your patience and hugs; George M. Egbert, Jr. (aka Poppy), for his bravery and support (you go, Dad!); Dr. Gisela Ernst-Slavit, whose voice in my head makes me think harder and better; and Mom, whom I miss every day but who I know would be proud.

For Hubert and Luchita, whose goal was to raise worldly trilingual children. For Dave, Max, and Arthur, whose multiplex and multicultural lives sustain me every day in every way. And for Marina Astorga Retamozo, Guillermina Rosales de Morales, Elsa Leon Iglesias, and Dr. Cecilia Thorne de Trelles, outstanding Peruvian educators who inspired me to learn and teach about our world.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to graduate student Steve Morrison for his thorough and timely assistance in the final editing stages. Also thanks to the amazing graduate students in the College of Education at WSU, who are ever willing to question, learn, and create, and, in doing so, teach us to understand the world.

Preface

Joy Egbert

Washington State University

The goal of this text is to help readers understand the importance of students’ cultures, languages, and previous schooling to curriculum development, assessment, and student achievement. Readers will learn about aspects of specific cultures and language that are important to their understanding of diverse students, and they will discover that cultures that are often considered similar (or different) may not be so (and why). Overall, the text focuses on how educators can address languages and cultures in classrooms and schools and how they might account for students’ backgrounds and funds of knowledge.

We developed this book because we saw a need for our pre- and inservice teachers, administrators, and faculty in higher education (particularly those in teacher education programs) across the United States to have a resource that provided information about cultures and languages from those who have lived within them. There is a lack of texts for educators in this area that present the information in ways that are accessible, useful, and engaging. We believe that this text fills this need. This book can also be used for teacher development programs, teacher education classes, book groups, and other communities of practice. Because the text is not discipline-specific, it can be tapped across content areas. Educators may also be interested in sharing this book with parents as a resource text.

The text starts with an introduction chapter that presents definitions, describes contexts, and explains why learning about cultures, languages, and schooling matters. The main body of the book comprises 25 chapters written by natives from the languages and cultures under discussion who also have experience in U.S. schools and with U.S. culture. All of the authors are in some way experts in education, whether through advanced study or extensive experience, and the information they include in each section was chosen by them. As we edited this book, we tried to honor both the language and the style of the authors, revising only for clarity; any atypical word uses or grammatical constructions are those of the authors and help to share their insider status. We also worked as a group to try to avoid paternalism/prescription (i.e., saying what teachers should or must do), but all of the authors in this book are passionate about meeting the needs of diverse children, so sometimes this tone comes through.

Each chapter starts with a school scenario that actually occurred in a U.S. school. The purpose of this scenario is to help readers understand the contexts and challenges that students from the title culture may experience as they participate in education in the United States. The chapter then presents information that can help educators address these challenges. To do so, the second part of each chapter includes background data on the country, which, according to the authors’ perceptions of what U.S. educators should know, may include demographics, geography, and historical events and other foundational aspects that may have an impact on immigrant students and their families. Each chapter also includes a section on the culture(s) of the nation(s), which may include famous people, contributions to the world, personal characteristics, important religious information, focal customs, family relations, and other aspects that are important to the cultural insiders who wrote the chapter. The language and literacy section in each chapter may address how the language relates to the culture, a number of words that teachers can learn, how it is different from and similar to English, and what those differences and similarities might mean for English language learners from that culture. In this section, words foreign to U.S. English are italicized (e.g., maestro [“teacher” in Spanish]), and capital letters are used to show word stress in transliterations (e.g., ma-EH-stro). Some of the authors have used symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to help readers understand exact pronunciations of unfamiliar words; Table P.1 shows some of the IPA symbols and related sounds for reference. The final part of each chapter comprises advice, resources, and ideas for educators (for example, if it is an oral culture, the teacher might consider working with students on oral storytelling before transitioning to written stories, or incorporate both using technology). Each chapter also contains additional recommended resources and short tasks for teachers that extend the chapter information. We hope that readers will carefully explore each chapter not only for what is included, but for what the authors have left out, as this omission may also provide a glimpse into the culture(s) being addressed.

Readers of this text should understand that each chapter provides the perceptions and ideas of its authors, and that other members of the culture might choose to provide different information; the authors might also disagree with information written in other chapters. Therefore, the chapter information can be considered a starting point for cultural and linguistic understandings, and educators are encouraged to make their own decisions about what to do with this information and how to extend their own and their students’ knowledge.