Category Archives: Culturally Responsive Teaching

Plan, Prepare, Provide – Equipping Novice Teachers for Teach-Abroad Roles in the Caribbean

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Written by Tassia-Channel Wolf
MLC ’18, ’21, ’24, and is a teacher at Divine Savior Academy-Grenada

For many Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) preservice teachers, many of whom have grown up with cold winters in the United States, the thought of gospel teaching ministry on a Caribbean Island is appealing. After all, who wouldn’t want to live and work in a tropical paradise?

Lutheran island schools welcome well-trained and dedicated teachers to model servant leadership on their campuses and in their classrooms. In the last few years, however, the flow of such teachers has dried up. Lutheran teachers are encouraged to consider this unique service.

Challenges
Be aware that island ministry comes with challenges. Many factors affect teacher success in a teach-abroad setting across professional, personal, and spiritual levels (Bodycott & Walker, 2000; Ospina & Medina, 2020). Let’s face it: Living and teaching on a Caribbean island is very different from life in the American Midwest. Intercultural competence is a major issue.

Addressing the Challenges

For prospective international teachers, well-planned, systematic approaches to intercultural experiences are helpful (Barni, Danioni, & Benevene, 2019; Dwyer, 2004). Bhattacharya et al. (2007) suggested long-term and robust activities with field experiences, data collection, systematic analysis, and inquiry before, during, and after these intercultural experiences.

Martin Luther College has been proactive in addressing these challenges when supplying teach-abroad candidates in the past. For example, new graduates were given the opportunity to receive a one-week orientation to international service. This pre-service orientation was provided by the Friends Network, which has a long history of preparing candidates for Asian service. New graduates also had access to a counselor through Christian Family Solutions.

Additional Suggestions
As a principal of a Caribbean Lutheran school and a Martin Luther College graduate student, this author investigated ways WELS organizations and Caribbean mission schools can work together to encourage and support new teach-abroad candidates. These supports may be helpful for many types of ministry preparation.

Varied Cultural Experiences
A well-prepared Caribbean teacher has had a complete immersion experience to fuel the development of intercultural competencies prior to accepting a teaching position (Byker & Putman, 2019). Undergraduate students begin to develop intercultural competence through required coursework and volunteer ministry experiences. Prospective Caribbean teachers can expand on pre-service training through international and regional travel, visits to museums and cultural centers, textual exploration and analysis of literature, national field trips, long-term study abroad, and culturally immersive student teaching and internships.

School-Specific Orientation
School orientation is important for new teachers. Findings from this study reveal that past Lutheran teach-abroad candidates to the Caribbean received limited pre-service information about the specific school and mission church they were about to serve. When host school officials provide a well-outlined orientation process, it introduces the candidate to the social and professional setting in which they will serve.

Orientation allows the candidate to nurture curiosity about moving to a foreign country before making a life-changing decision (Cushner & Brislin, 1996). School-specific orientation is crucial and cannot be overlooked, as some challenges become apparent to the candidate only after arriving in the host country (Lopes et al., 2013).

Provide Support Systems

New Lutheran teachers in the Caribbean can easily be forgotten. The author’s research affirmed the importance of support systems for new teachers that systematically provide avenues for teachers to speak about their experiences, share concerns and problems, get encouragement through dialogue, and offer the same to others through shared experiences. Martin Luther College’s provision of counseling services through Christian Family Solutions helps fill that need, but teach-abroad candidates from other sources may not have this available to them. Additionally, host schools should offer local support systems for new teachers.

Generating Renewed Interest

Teach-abroad opportunities in the Lutheran Caribbean missions are worth pursuing. One way to rekindle interest among pre-service teachers is to have school and church leaders from island missions in the Caribbean present at Martin Luther College’s Early Field Experience 1 (EFE 1) and Evangelism Day. They might share with future Lutheran teachers about the work and history of these missions.

Summary

Although Lutheran teachers will find teaching abroad appealing, the results of this research highlight some challenges and suggest areas for improvement. An intentional, high-quality support system following a framework for holistic training and development with established support systems can help international teachers reflect on their cultural journey and reduce feelings of isolation. This research suggests that improving the experience of both international teachers and Lutheran Caribbean schools is possible and may lead to a revival of such cooperative ministry.

References

Barni, D., Danioni, F., & Benevene, P. (2019). Teachers’ self-efficacy: The role of
personal values and motivations for teaching. Frontiers in Psychology. 10(1645)., https://doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01645.

Bhattacharya, J., Olsen, L., & Scharf, A. (2007). Cultural competency: What it is and
why it matters. Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. Candid Issue Lab. Retrieved February 2023 from https://search.issuelab.org/resource/cultural-
competency-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters.html

Bodycott, P., & Walker, A. (2000). Teaching abroad: Lessons learned about inter-cultural
understanding for teachers in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education,
5(1), 79–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/135625100114975

Byker, E. J., & Putman, S. M. (2019). Catalyzing cultural and global competencies:
Engaging preservice teachers in study abroad to expand the agency of citizenship. Journal of Studies in International Education, 23(1), 83-105. DOI: 10.1177/1028315318814559.

Cushner, K. & Brislin, R. (1996). Intercultural interactions: a practical guide. 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Dwyer, M. M. (2004). More is better: the impact of study abroad program duration. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10(1), 151-164.

Lopes, B., Almeida, P., Martinho, M., & Capelo, A. (2013). What do we learn when we
teach abroad? Reflections about International Cooperation. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116, 3930-3934.

Ospina, N. S., & Medina, S. L. (2020). Living and teaching internationally: Teachers talk
about personal experiences, benefits, and challenges. Journal of Research in
International Education, 19(1), 38-53.

Wolf, T. C. (2024). Examining novice teachers’ attributes and beliefs in engaging in effective classroom instructional practices in a teach abroad setting: a WELS teachers case study of the Caribbean mission. [Master’s Thesis, Martin Luther College, New Ulm, MN]. MLC Library]

 

How to Serve Racially, Ethnically, Culturally Diverse Students-Part 3 Books

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This blog ends a three-article series on the importance of adopting a culturally responsive approach in Lutheran schools. As communities become more diverse, Lutheran schools will want to become more diverse as well. Crossing cultural lines with the gospel can be difficult, as the early church quickly learned (Acts 15). The series is written by Professor Tingting Schwartz, who has personally experienced and intellectually examined these challenges, providing valuable insights to anyone wishing to minister to new people groups.

  1. What’s in Your Student’s Lunch Box? Focusing on intercultural competence for educators.
  2. What Language Do the Parents of Your Student Speak? Discussing anti-bias education for young children.
  3. What Books Are on Your Classroom Bookshelf? Underscoring the importance of the Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model for racially, ethnically, culturally (REC) diverse students.

What Books Are on Your Classroom Bookshelf?

Written by Professor Tingting Schwartz

My previous blogs discussed intercultural competence development for educators and anti-bias education for young children. For the third one, using the Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model proposed by Derald Wing Sue and David Sue, I will shift the perspective to racially, ethnically, and culturally (REC) diverse students and focus on the nurturance of their racial and cultural identity.

What Do We See?
The demographics of the United States are increasingly diversified. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2020), the non-Hispanic white population decreased to 57.8%. The second-largest racial or ethnic group is the Hispanic or Latino population, comprising 18.7%. The third-largest group is the Black or African American population at 12.1%. The percentage of non-Hispanic white children under 18 is 49.8%, less than half of the total children population. About two in three children are projected to be a race other than non-Hispanic White by 2060 (The U.S. Census Bureau, p.8). Continue reading →

How to Serve Racially, Ethnically, Culturally Diverse Students-Part 2 Language

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This blog is the second in a three-article series on the importance of adopting a culturally responsive approach in Lutheran schools. As communities become more diverse, Lutheran schools will want to become more diverse as well. Crossing cultural lines with the gospel can be difficult, as the early church quickly learned (Acts 15). The series is written by Professor Tingting Schwartz, who has personally experienced and intellectually examined these challenges, providing valuable insights to anyone wishing to minister to new people groups.

  1. What’s in Your Student’s Lunch Box? Focusing on intercultural competence for educators.
  2. What Language Do the Parents of Your Student Speak? Discussing anti-bias education for young children.
  3. What Books Are on Your Classroom Bookshelf? Underscoring the importance of the Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model for racially, ethnically, culturally (REC) diverse students.

What Language Do the Parents of Your Student Speak?

Written by Professor Tingting Schwartz

What Do We See?
It was a bright sunny afternoon when I picked up my son Elijah from his preschool room. I first talked with Elijah in Chinese and then a student teacher in English. A young girl from the other preschool room overheard our conversations, so she turned to her teacher and asked: “Why does she [referring to me] talk differently?” That young teacher was not prepared for such a question. She froze, and her face flushed. This curious young girl repeated her question: “Why does she talk differently?” Such a great question, yet the teacher seemed to be embarrassed by this question. What did this young girl mean by saying, “talk differently”? Was she curious what language I was using with Elijah? Did she detect my foreign accent when I spoke to the teacher? Why did the teacher not know how to answer this question? What social meaning did she attach to this word “different” when hearing it?

There was still no response as I was about to leave. I thought this was a great teachable moment, and I should not miss it. Hence, I went back and lowered myself to that young girl’s eye level: “You asked a great question! I bet you heard a difference between my English and yours! I grew up in China, so Chinese is my mother tongue. I learned English, your mother tongue, when I was an adult, so English isn’t my first language. This is why I only speak Chinese with Elijah. This is also why my English sounds a little different from yours.”

Did I know how to respond appropriately to this kind of situation years ago? No. I learned my lesson by encountering similar experiences in my daily life and reflecting on them.

Let me tell you another similar story. Continue reading →

How to Serve Racially, Ethnically, Culturally Diverse Students-Part 1 Lunch Box

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This blog begins a three-article series on the importance of adopting a culturally responsive approach in Lutheran schools. As communities become more diverse, Lutheran schools will want to become more diverse as well. Crossing cultural lines with the gospel can be difficult, as the early church quickly learned (Acts 15). The series is written by Professor Tingting Schwartz, who has personally experienced and intellectually examined these challenges, providing valuable insights to anyone wishing to minister to new people groups.

  1. What’s in Your Student’s Lunch Box? Focusing on intercultural competence for educators.
  2. What Language Do the Parents of Your Student Speak? Discussing anti-bias education for young children.
  3. What Books Are on Your Classroom Bookshelf? Underscoring the importance of the Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model for racially, ethnically, culturally (REC) diverse students.

What’s in Your Student’s Lunch Box?

Written by Professor Tingting Schwartz

What Do We See?
One cold, late night in early January, I led my last online workshop, Raising Bilingual Kids at Home. The topic was Biracial and Bicultural Identity Development for Bilingual Kids. Almost all attendees were first-generation Chinese American immigrants who believe raising Chinese and English bilingual children is their family priority.

During the Q & A session, parents had a heated discussion on what they should pack for their children’s lunch boxes when their children go to school. Some parents argued that it was more important to help their children fit in at school; hence, typical American food such as peanut butter sandwiches, string cheese, and Lunchables should be in their children’s lunch boxes. Another group of parents insisted that rice, stir-fries, and jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) are better choices because, as one mother said, “I want my child to be proud of their Chinese heritage.” Continue reading →