Transcending Cultural Differences: Working with Students from Diverse Backgrounds

We are excited to announce a new opportunity for all school volunteers to deepen their skills.Jessica Blundell, a Literacy Specialist for SFUSD, will facilitate a presentation and discussion about connecting with students from diverse backgrounds on Tuesday, February 17, 2015.This workshop is designed for tutors or mentors that work with PK-12 students. Some of the sample scenarios will focus on literacy tutoring but will be applicable to a variety of situations our volunteers encounter in the classroom.Take code switching as an example. It’s when a student alternates between two or more language varieties in a single conversation. It’s likely something you’ve encountered in the classroom, but perhaps just a term you didn’t know. Understanding this behavior can help you understand cultural differences and help students differentiate between context and language selection.Literacy Volunteer Linda Fawkes encountered it while working with a second-grade student at Charles Drew Elementary.“I was in Mr. Bender’s classroom during writer’s workshop and we were reviewing, editing and revising the students’ narrative stories,” Linda recalled. “A little girl had written a story, neatly crossed-out the word ‘woke-up’ and replaced it with the word ‘waked-up.’ When I read her sentence both ways aloud and asked her which sounded correct, she was insistent that ‘waked-up’ was correct; she stuck to her opinion even when I told her that ‘woke-up’ was the correct usage in this sentence. The confidence she had in her own choice, told me to leave it alone — that I was into something that I didn’t know how best to handle.”Linda sought advice from Jessica Blundell, who introduced Linda to the term — code-switching — and offered some resources to address the situation with her student.“She said this is called code-switching and sent me to the NPR website where I found, among other things, this link which has some humorous and some practical examples of code-switching. Ms. Blundell talked about the fact that we need to be very aware and careful to acknowledge that what is right at home is okay at home (and perhaps other places as well), but that the way we need to write or talk at school may be different. So it seems the ideal is to respect cultural norms/traditions, yet at the same time, teach students that standard English is necessary and expected in other settings. A delicate balance indeed.”The workshop will be held at the San Francisco Education Fund Offices (2730 Bryant Street, Second Floor) from 6:30 to 8 p.m. A light meal will be provided.Please RSVP here.