Learners who are new to the country have special needs. Their cultural backgrounds may be completely different than the domestic students and often are major barriers to learning. Accommodating these learners is important and understanding them is crucial.
I have a couple examples to share. The first is one that happened this past year in a course I was learning in. The prof used an example of Jack and Jill in an analogy. He said "everyone knows Jack and Jill" and quickly continued with his lesson. The fact was that everyone did not know Jack and Jill. There was one student that was new to our country and had no clue. Jack and |Jill made absolutely no sense to him. He identified himself, which has actually helped me to always remember to use examples that will be relevant to my learners. I felt poorly for him as he was blown off by the prof and left no better off at the end of it.
The second example is that of the Chinese student and cultural differences that can be of great importance. One of my colleagues teaches in a program that attracts many foreign student and her class is filled with many Chinese students. She found out that these students prefer to have their information shared with them before class so that they can figure it out beforehand and not be caught losing face if they are called upon to answer a question that they might not know the answer to. They will not raise their hand unless they are sure of the answer. Once she started to load the info into the learning management system for them to preview the participation in class was increased dramatically. Losing face is a major avoidance for the Chinese. This would be something that we would not think of in our culture. We encourage learning from our mistakes.
It is really important to design our courses for the learners who will take them. making the effort to design well means making the effort of knowing our audience. The general characteristics of domestic learners may not hold for international students.
C.
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