Teach Now (Teacher Certification): Understanding Cultures and Languages

Module 2 Unit 4 Activity 1

In this activity we had to describe two different cultural groups of ELLs that we might possibly encounter and create a 5 step action plan for promoting social inclusion, understanding, and mutual respect: 

Living in Korea it is rare to have students who are from other cultural groups in an educator’s classroom. However, there is a wide range of immigrant groups who do reside in Korea and on occasion teachers do have some diversity in their classroom. These two cultural groups of people are ones that I have noticed in South Korea.

Chinese

They represent the largest immigrant group living in Korea and make up more than half of the 1.1 million immigrants. The majority is referred to as Han Chinese and they come from the Shandong province in eastern China.

Chinese people have been living in Korea for generations but most of the families whom are not fluent in Korean, are usually those who more recently came to Korea for better opportunities.

Teachers whom encounter Chinese children in their class often speak Mandarin. An example of their Chinese written script looks like this:    汉语 [漢語]. This is written in the Han language and it is very similar to Korean Hanja with similar or same meanings of concepts and words. This makes it easier for their parents to read Korean newspaper headlines, or communicate to other Korean’s by writing.

These students’ families are usually here working on a labor program or they may also be undocumented. Usually the parents expect their children to study hard and be respectful in school as they do not want to draw attention to themselves or their family.

Filipino

This group represents a smaller immigrant group, but yet prominent. They speak Tagalog and according to world standards they use Latin script.

Similarly to the Chinese, this group is usually here on labor visas or through marriage visas as some of them are married to Korean citizens. By the beginning of the 1990’s rising economy, this made Korea become an attractive place to immigrate to. Most of them are here for better opportunities. They are fairly newer immigrants living in Korea when compared to the Chinese.

The students’ families are a bit more relaxed with their expectations but expect their children to be respectful.

The difference between these two groups and the Korean students can be difficult to spot at times, especially with the Chinese students. Often times the Chinese students speak fluent Korean and blend in with the rest of the students. However, from my experience they are quieter and tend to be a bit more respectful as they don’t like standing out.

The Filipino students are usually easier to identify physically and are often are more talkative. Their English speaking ability also seems to be better if they just immigrated recently.

There are some potential conflicts between these two groups and the Korean students as immigration is still a relatively new phenomenon here in Korea. Korea is one of the most homogeneous countries in the world, and students can be segregated or bullied by their Korean peers for being different.

References

Jung, S. Y. (n.d.). Chinese Student Migrants in Korea, Their Choice. . Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www.welfareasia.org/5thconference/papers/Song%20Y_chinese%20student%20in%20Korea.pdf

The world's scripts and alphabets - World Standards. (2014, January 15). World Standards. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://www.worldstandards.eu/other/alphabets/

Here is my 5 step action plan:

by analiakim