Managing Cultural Differences to Teach ESL/International Students

Brush Creek Room, 12:30pm

Presenter(s):

Stephen Holland-Wempe, Language and Intercultural Specialist, Applied Language Institute

Description:

Managing visible and invisible cultural differences is essential in assisting ESL/ESOL/ELL/international students in Discourse/Anchor courses, and applicable to other courses as well. In this workshop, we will explore explaining the cultural expectations we have of our students. We, as instructors, may not be aware of some or many of our culturally based expectations and how they differ with what students have learned in their original culture and first language, e.g. organization in presentations and essays, which, in another language, are many times new and abstract for ESL/ESOL/ELL/international students. These differences, for example, are embedded within a culture and for native speakers of a language frequently much easier to learn. Often international students need further and more in-depth learning in this regard. What are some opportunities to help fulfill this need? Thus, this workshop focuses on exploring the management of cultural differences for teaching ESL/ESOL/ELL/international students.