U.S. State Department English Language Programs

 

 

 

 



Background | Classroom applications | Internet resources | Bibliography | Appendix

 

Chapter 7

Cornerstones of Peace: Valuing Diversity and Practicing Tolerance

 

Appendices



Appendix A

Terminology: Cornerstones of Peace

Diversity and Tolerance


Diversity is a state of being different or of unlikeness according to a dictionary definition.

In a society, diversity means differences in various factors that interact to define the society of a particular culture. For example, religions, music, art, dance, foods, educational levels, and economic wealth may be similar for the majority of the people in a homogeneous culture. In a heterogeneous culture, compiled of many ethnic groups, there will be a diversity of these and other cultural features.    back

Cultural diversity refers to the differences in cultural features (e.g., dress, food, and art forms; religious beliefs; and attitudes towards work, leisure time, marriage, birth, and death) between cultural groups.    back

Multicultural societies are those in which many cultural groups live together within the same nation.    back

Tolerance is the acceptance of differences in others, shown by attitudes and behaviors toward the person or group who is different.    back

Intolerance is the lack of tolerance, or acceptance, of differences in others. Intolerance to differences can lead to disagreements and conflicts between people, groups, and nations.    back

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Appendix B

Cultural Situation 1

The School Community


The setting is an elementary school in a city in the country Z. Recently, several families from a foreign country, X, have moved into the community. The children are ages six to eleven and speak some English. They are placed in the classrooms of a primary school that has students from a predominantly Z background.

The X children study English in a special class one hour each day. They are quiet, well disciplined, and they do their work, but they do not volunteer answers in the classroom situation where their Anglo classmates are very active and verbal. They act more like observers than participants in the classroom lessons.

Rather than eat in the school cafeteria, the X children bring their lunches and eat together in the classroom. The food is quite different from the usual sandwiches and fruit that the Z children bring in their lunches from home, and it has a very different aroma that pervades the classroom. The Z children do not like the smell of this food and sometimes make insulting comments about it.

The X children stay together on the playground at recess and have not made many other friends. They prefer to play their own games and do not play football, tag, or other competitive games. As a result, the Z children either just ignore them or sometimes make fun of their games.

The teachers notice that the X students are not being accepted into the school community. The teachers want to improve the situation for everyone.

Discussion Questions: Work with your group to discuss answers to the following questions about the situation you have read. Use the chart to keep track of the differences that you found between the two groups of children.

  1. Identify three elements of difference between the X children and the Z children in their school behaviors.
  2. What are possible negative outcomes if there is intolerance to the differences?
  3. What needs to happen if positive outcomes are to occur? What gestures of tolerance could be shown in this situation?

A. Differences between the two groups of children

Z children

X children

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B. Negative outcomes of intolerance

 

 

 

 

C. Gestures of tolerance

 

 

 

 

 

  (back to Preliminary Lesson Planning)

(back to Activity #1)

 



Appendix C

Cultural Situation 2

The workplace


The setting is a large medical center in a city in country Y. A large group of workers who are immigrants from a foreign country, Q, have been hired as custodians at the medical center. They have taken basic English classes sponsored by the medical center, and they have adequate oral skills but cannot read or write in English. The Q employees come from different backgrounds in their home country. Some have a high school education while others have only a few years of schooling. They are happy to be working at the medical center because they need to have jobs to support themselves and their families.

Since the Q workers have been at the medical center, their work performance has been questioned because often they are late for work. In addition, they leave during the day if they are needed at home. They do not expect to be paid for the time that they are not at work, and if someone needs to leave early, a co-worker will often stay longer to complete the friend’s shift. However, their Y supervisor is frustrated at their apparent lack of commitment to the job and the complication with the work schedules. On the other hand, the Y supervisor is very happy with their work in general, which he says is well done and often goes beyond the specified job requirements.

Some of the staff on the floor has noticed that the Q workers talk to the patients as they do their work and establish friendly relationships with them. Sometimes the Q workers bring something from their homes, like a handcraft or family photo that they think a patient will like. This is not against the rules, but it is not the case for the other custodial Y workers at the center, who rarely say anything to either the staff or the patients. The other custodial Y workers have commented that the Q workers must be wasting time socializing instead of working or that they are expecting tips from the patients. However, according to the Y supervisors, all work is completed before the Q workers leave, even if they have to stay late to complete it, and no compensation from the patients for the time spent with them seems to be expected.

At the beginning of each day, notices are put up on the bulletin boards for the custodial Y workers, giving them special assignments for the day, including equipment and cleaning materials to be used. The Q workers seem to disregard these notices. In addition, they often complete a task even if they do not know exactly what they should be doing or how to use the equipment. For example, a team of Q workers washed the carpeting by hand, using brushes and brooms, with buckets of water instead of the carpet-cleaning equipment. They are extremely polite to the Y supervisor, and address him as Mr. James, but they do not ask questions or seek instruction for their assigned jobs. When they are questioned about their misunderstanding, they are very apologetic and embarrassed, and try not to make the mistake again. Mr. James is hesitant to discipline any of them, but the Y workers are complaining about what seems to be the Q workers’ disregard for working procedures.

The Y supervisors agree that the Q workers are polite, respectful, and hardworking. They want to resolve the problems that have come up and to keep the Q workers in their custodial jobs.

Discussion Questions: Work with your group to discuss answers to the following questions about the situation you have read about. Use the chart to keep track of the differences that you found between the Q workers’ behavior and the Y supervisors’ expectations for the regular Y workers.

  1. Identify three elements of difference between the Q workers’ behavior and the Y supervisors’ expectations for the regular Y workers.
  2. What are possible negative outcomes if there is intolerance to the differences?
  3. What needs to happen if positive outcomes are to occur? What gestures of tolerance could be shown in this situation?

A. Differences between the workers and the supervisor’s expectations

Q workers

Y supervisor’s expectations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B. Negative outcomes of intolerance

 

 

 

 

C. Gestures of tolerance

 

 

 

 

  (back to Preliminary Lesson Planning)

(back to Activity 1)

 



Appendix D

Situations of Cultural Diversity

Notes to Teachers

Situation 1: The school community

The point of this activity is for students to learn more about the cultural differences that are identified by discussing them with students from that cultural group. If you have students from only one cultural group, you might consider inviting a "cultural guest" from the cultural group you choose to represent in the situation to the class to share cultural information.

Possible responses to the discussion questions for Situation 1

  1. Identify three elements of difference between the X children and the Z children in their school behaviors. What cultural patterns may be influencing the behavior of the X and the Z children?
    1. Food; volunteering answers to questions in class; games to play at recess.
    2. Cultural preferences for one’s native food are strong/lack of tolerance to difference in such a basic element of daily life. Values of assertiveness and activity orientation are demonstrated by X children being more reserved and quiet and by Z children answering questions and actively participating in class. Unfamiliarity with new games means the X children may not perform well, so they do not take risks/competitive versus cooperative orientation of Z children.
  2. What are possible negative outcomes if there is intolerance to the differences
    1. The X children may
      1. feel isolated and left out of the school activities;
      2. feel stupid and dumb for not answering questions;
      3. begin to feel that their culture is inferior (e.g., the food is different, their games are different);
      4. begin to resent the other children, the school, their new home.
    2. The Z children may
      1. begin to physically or verbally abuse the X children;
      2. judge the X children to be dumb and inferior;
      3. choose to ignore or shun the X children.
    3. The teachers may
      1. perceive the X children as unable to learn and socially unable to adjust
      2. choose to ignore the needs of the X children.
  3. What needs to happen if positive outcomes are to occur? What gestures of tolerance could be shown in this situation?
    1. The teacher could/should
      1. develop social studies units about other cultures, and introduce different foods, views and behaviors about education, new and different games, etc., as part of the class content;
      2. encourage the X students to share their cultural traditions;
      3. be more directive on the playground by teaching cooperative games to all of the students, and eventually inviting the X students share their favorite game;
      4. introduce more group work in class so that the X children are included in learning tasks and activities;
      5. take time to ask the X students to answer questions about the lesson privately.
    2. The Z children should/could:
      1. offer to share part of their lunch with an X classmate, and vice-versa;
      2. volunteer to work together with a new classmate on class assignments and activities;
      3. volunteer to teach the X classmates the favorite recess games, and ask to learn the games that the X children play.

         

Situation 2: The workplace

As in Situation 1, the point of this activity is for students to learn more about the cultural differences that are identified by discussing them with students from that cultural group. If you have students from one cultural group, you might invite a "cultural guest" from the cultural group you choose to represent in the situation to the class to share cultural information.

Possible responses to the discussion questions for Situation 2:

  1. Identify three elements of difference between the Q workers and the supervisor and regular workers. What cultural patterns may be influencing the behavior of the Q workers and that of the Y supervisor and regular Y workers
    1. Work schedules: arriving on time and not leaving early; friendliness to the patients; following the prescribed work procedures
    2. Time orientation; personal interaction patterns; power distance
  2. What are possible negative outcomes if there is intolerance to the differences?
    1. The Q workers may
      1. be fired from their jobs for not meeting the expectations;
      2. feel unappreciated and confused because they are doing their best;
      3. have conflicts with the other Y workers because they are not doing their jobs as the regular Y workers do theirs.
    2. The regular Y workers may
      1. begin to physically or verbally abuse the Q workers;
      2. judge the Q workers to be dumb and inferior;
      3. choose to ignore Q workers.
    3. The Y supervisor may
      1. fire the Q workers;
      2. perceive the Q workers to be unable to learn and socially unable to adjust;
      3. choose to ignore the needs of the Q workers for training and cultural orientation.
  3. What needs to happen if positive outcomes are to occur? What gestures of tolerance could be shown in this situation?
    1. The Y supervisor could/should
      1. develop an orientation program for the Q workers in which the social and work procedures are explained;
      2. be as flexible as possible with work schedules;
      3. begin a literacy program for the Q workers;
      4. form work teams in which the regular Y workers are teamed with the Q workers;
      5. organize some social activities for all the workers;
      6. take the time to meet with the Q workers and to ask about their jobs and their personal lives;
      7. be more directive in supervising their work, especially when there is a new assignment.
    2. The regular Y workers should/could
      1. offer to work with the Q workers to show them how to do a job;
      2. eat lunch or take breaks with the Q workers to learn more about them.
    3. The CA workers should/could
      1. be sensitive to how the regular Y workers do their jobs and interact with the patients and staff, and try to imitate this behavior to some degree;
      2. try to notify the Y supervisor in advance if there is a reason to leave work early;
      3. be on time for work on a daily basis;
      4. be sure that they understand how to do their jobs, use the equipment, etc.;
      5. ask questions when there is uncertainty.


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