Diversity And Cultural Issues Of Tesol Education - 1793 Words

Final Reflection Journal: Diversity and Cultural Issues in TESOL Education During the course entitled Diversity and Cultural Issues in TESOL Education, issues of diversity and culture, as well as methods, strategies, and approaches for engaging English language learners were examined. Students all over the world learn English for a variety of reasons. Some students must study English as a requirement. Other students wish to travel, study abroad, or work in the global marketplace where knowledge of the English language is seen as a prerequisite for success. Still other students have migrated to communities where English is spoken as the primary language. A school’s curriculum may be taught exclusively in English. Whatever the reasons for†¦show more content†¦Week 1: Introduction to Cultural Diversity I recognized that the other students in the course are teachers themselves employed overseas or in the United States. TESOL teachers are a diverse group of people working under varied circumstances and settings. While this revelation did not surprise me in the least, I felt it connected my own experience of having had taught ESL with colleagues from the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand. English itself is a diverse language with many regional varieties and dialects. As we debated the impact of cultural diversity in education, the question arose of whether or not English Teachers are truly prepared to effectively teach culturally diverse students. As I examined my own classroom interactions with culturally different students over the years, I realized that I had started out teaching almost completely unprepared. While I had a reasonable grasp of English grammar and vocabulary, as a recent college graduate my primary concern was simply to find viable employment. I had deliberately sought to live a life of adventure by working overseas. Aside from an attempt to remain open minded, I had inadequately prepared myself to engage culturally different students. I learned through immersion in a foreign culture, which included many unnecessary