Learning a second language is always a bit challenging. Learning English, can be intimidating. Learning English as a second language ALONG with the culture while keeping your own... even more so. This is what this week's readings focused on. We read that language learning comes with social, political, cultural, etc... contexts.
As educators, it is our job to make sure that while our students are learning English and the cultures that come along with the language, that our students continue to learn about their own and keep it. Incorporating the different cultures that will be found in the ESL classroom in the instruction will help raise awareness of the diversity and importance of the students' cultures. It is also important to make students feel welcome to the new culture and praise their first one. Culture is a very important aspect in our lives, and it's important that traditions, values, and ideas are held close to both the hearts of the students and the teachers. Ultimately, how students learn and adapt to the new balance between cultures will effect how they learn the language. This plays a role on their affective factors.
Along with embracing the cultures, it's also important to embrace and welcome all varieties of English. It almost seems as though English as become a political entity. The idea of the standardized Engish being looked at as the "correct" English, when in reality the standard isn't supposed to be superior or inferior to another variety. How do we stray away from the common stereotype of 'standard' English?
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