1. I would welcome Ahmad and his family into my classroom by learning more about Ahmad’s family and their culture. I would ask Ahmad’s father what country his family is from in the Middle East. It’s very important to have cultural awareness in terms of dealing with a family from a different culture. Culture is a comprehensive term that includes the various understandings, traditions, and guidance of the groups to which we all belong, (p.12) I would incorporate his culture and family by providing activities related to teaching the other children in the class about Ahmad’s culture. I would have various activities such as listening to music, tasting foods, learning symbols, showing pictures, and providing objects related to that specific country, …show more content…
A cause of tension could be that the mother does not provide eye contact and hurries when she brings Ahmad in the morning. The teacher may not understand that within the mother’s culture maybe the father is the one that speaks for the family. In addition to cultural differences gender roles could cause tension the mother could be uncomfortable with the fact that her son has a female teacher. The language barrier could also cause tension for the family, because it then becomes harder for the teacher and the family to be able to communicate. Families may also experience tension because they may have higher expectations for their child’s learning than what the school offers. Families of another culture may also not be comfortable with providing personal information to their child’s teacher or school. Lastly, the teacher may feel afraid of the father and think he’s stern so she may try to not communicate with him and may not realize that because he speaks little English and is not easily able to communicate that could appear that she’s being judgmental. It could even be the same case with the mother he could not be comfortable with his son having a female teacher. The teacher may want to consider personally her views of the way she believes that families are supposed to look or behave. The teacher may also want to work on having an open perception for families from different cultures. The teacher should also take in to consideration that personally sometimes a person must put their personal feelings to the side. There will be people with different perspectives and as teachers it is their job to acknowledge and accept that. By ignoring the differences in behavior, communication style, and beliefs created by culture, teachers run the risk of creating real conflicts and barriers to effective partnership with families.