week 2 assignment #3

CRT is an interdisciplinary approach, this field requires educators learning while teaching. People get used to staying in their comfort zone and expanding the view of the world somehow is complicated feeling and need to put more effort. For instance, when you teach math, you can apply equation in real world scenario using foreign capitals to calculate the distance, but in the meantime, you have to do some research about foreign capitals.  As long the more I acquire the knowledge of CRT, the wider range teachers can apply it. Namely, not only ESL teachers but also other subjects instructors can tape onto this idea, because the definition of " Culture" is a wild spectrum that can incorporate every disciplinary.

I hope one day I will...

1. Try to have students discuss in the small group, i.g. apply jigsaw approach or investigation model, guide them have more aspect of discussion and appreciate the effort from every individual.

2. Combine entertainment/news and education, i.g. sharing a variety of ethnic issues movies or news clipping to stimulate deep discussion. If it's available, invite the author, screenwriter, columnist to share their ideas like the video provided this week by the professor.   (for young students, "Postcard from Buster" is a good series.)

3. Hold some activities to help students know their position in the world. In the beginning, middle, and final of a semester or other comparatively relaxing days teacher can encourage students to share their culture through potluck, book-reading, folk song singing or just picture-sharing, language-teaching. It's fun and could empower students to gain confidence and understanding.

feedback from classmate:
Yiyi, I would like to add games to that list. Teachers should use games when teaching academic content. It appeals to all students of diverse backgrounds. Gaining the students' attention is the first step to learning. Also, using games to learn skills and content is very effective because it provides lots of repetition and requires students to make connections and use active processing.