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If you are in the position of being a teacher, you should be especially considerate towards students of various backgrounds in a classroom setting. The concept of cultural sensitivity arises from the need to make every student feel comfortable in the classroom and have the best possible learning experience. Now, cultural sensitivity comes in different forms. It could be expressed through avoiding sensitive topics. It could be shown through paying respect to the subjects that students value. Finally, it could play a major role in overcoming language barriers. During certain games some students could potentially feel offended if the rules of the game do not appreciate traditions of their own cultures. For example, the game involving imitating accents could offend some students. In fact, most of them might feel offended because accent is something that is hard to get rid off, especially at an older age. Games should be created in a way that they are engaging, fun and beneficial for language learning. Teachers can do a considerable amount of things to connect with their students on a common level. In the video that we have watched in Unit 6, the fact that the teacher is walking barefoot inside the classroom might seem strange at first, but then we might notice that all students in the class do not have their shoes on. We could also observe that students in the classroom were of Asian descent, therefore this manner of not wearing shoes might be a cultural factor. It is important to discuss the initial motivation of students to consider learning English. As we can conclude without much thinking, those people are not native speakers of English. Adults or children sign up for TEFL classes with a mission to improve their knowledge of the language and acquire a set of skills necessary to navigate their communication in the society. Naturally, as those students come to their first classes, they experience a good amount of nervousness or even intimidation. It is teacher’s job to create the kind of environment that welcomes students of any level and assures them that they have made the right decision by choosing the course. During the first class the teacher can evaluate participants of his class and accommodate those who need additional help. The goal is to make sure that no one feels abandoned or extremely uncomfortable. It is expected that students will be of different backgrounds, and it is essential to establish rapport with the entire classroom without exceptions. Cultural sensitivity could be practiced during all three stages of the lesson: engage, study and activate. Students react better if the teacher conducts activities or assigns topics that sound familiar to them. In general, people digest information better if is not completely new. Similarly, worksheets given in the next stage (which is study) should go along with the topics previously discussed and deepen the understanding. Sentences that the teacher creates prior to class can relate to countries where students are from. During the final stage of the lesson, all the newly acquired material should be reviewed through various engaging activities such as role play or debate in order to solidify the knowledge.
