Teachers, have you ever felt that no one else is facing the same things you are? You are not alone. I have been teaching in this rural one-room classroom for four years, which is not different for many of you, but my students are all refugees. They or their parents are either first generation U.S. citizens or working to become such. How does a teacher who can trace her citizenship back to the Mayflower and the second ship into Jamestown relate to a whole classroom or parents who are “just off the boat”? Please understand that these four years have been some of my favorite years of teaching. When I was asked to teach here, I knew that I needed to approach teaching and communication in a very different way.
· First, I knew that I had to find someone or multiple people that could speak English and their native language.
· Second, I needed to learn their culture and ways of doing things.
· Third, I needed to find a middle ground between both their culture and American culture.
Thankfully, God had worked out the first step. Before I arrived, the Lord had used three families in a way that allowed culture learning to happen. The two new citizen families had learned enough English to help with the translations and explanation about their culture. One English couple had become the surrogate grandparents to the whole group of newcomers.
During the first year I was here, I spent my time asking, “How do you do this in your culture?” and then telling them how I or my culture did that same thing. When topics like discipline, how to study, and communication would come up, we would figure out how to find the middle ground on them. Some of those discussions were of favorite cultural foods and holiday traditions. (I hate hot food and my students/parents love to trick me into eating their hot food and listen for me to squeal.) Through the atmosphere of sharing culture, I have been able to create an atmosphere of mutual interest and respect, and these naturally shy parents and students have been more willing to share their culture and ask about mine.
If you have one student or a whole classroom full of students not of your culture or language, don’t be afraid or nervous. Just go in with God and a spirit of curiosity about them. It will go a long way to helping them to tap into their curiosity about you. Show your human side and that we are different, but we are all the children of God. God bless you in your mission or classroom.
By Amy Ward
Amy is the head teacher at Pioneer Adventist
Christian School in Guymon, OK.
