Culture in the Classroom

1. Culture in the Classroom Why this module? How is it set up? Love at first sight? Experiencing The Dutch Your cultural / personal identity Studying in this course

2. Story… • There’s this boy Anthony who is 6 years old and starts Primary school. He’s told by both his father and mother to respect the teacher, no matter what. Disobedience or disrespect will be punished. Anthony is a sweet boy and he tries hard to do his best at school. But after three weeks, his teacher asks his parents to come to school. Anthony, she says, keeps being exceptionally rude. Anthony’s parents are very upset, you can imagine. So is Anthony.

3. He doesn’t understand at all what he has done wrong. The teacher explains: Anthony will not accept my authority, he won’t even make eye contact! • Who is to blame here? • Anthony and his parents, because they didn’t realise the value that is placed on eye contact in The Netherlands? • Or the teacher, because she didn’t know that avoiding eye contact is a sign of respect?

4. Here’s another priceless example. Marjolein is an 8 year old Dutch girl, who lives in Morocco with her parents. During one of her holidays, she goes to stay with her aunt and uncle in France. All goes well, they have a lovely time with this well-adapted girl. Then, one night, they take Marjolein to a restaurant. Much to their dismay, Marjolein proceeds to eat her food using her hands! • What is going on here?

5. What is going on here? • Why do we see so few Moroccan, Turkish or even Surinamese pupils in Havo/vwo groups or in Higher Education? • Do differences in intelligence play a role? • What is the role of language? • Culture? • Is there a correlation between this phenomenon and the current imbalance in Islamic crime in The Netherlands?

6. Good education is… • intercultural education, in which pupils are taught: • to know about, understand and to deal fairly with differences and similarities between people, • whether these stem from culturally diverse backgrounds or not.

7. interculturally sound education • If we want to enable all people in society, we need to know how to cater for all people.

8. To come to a practical application of intercultural education requires us to gain insight into … • cognitive (=thinking) processes • ‘the self’ and ‘the group’ affects communication • self- and group identity • influences on our thoughts, emotions and behaviours • What happens (congnitively) when different cultures meet in a single-purpose setting? • Can we make education effective for all parties?

9. How is this module set up? • two periods of ca. 8 weeks • We study general concepts of social psychology and sociologythat becomes part of your general knowledge • In the second part of the module, we apply this knowledge to issues to do with Intercultural education. We will look at policies, materials, exercises, activities

10. Assessment • Exam on the basic concepts of Social Psychology; • ‘Antidote assignment’: prepare and present an activity in class; • Folder with assignments, some of which will be carried out at the placement school.

11. Key Reading • Jewish IdentityThe Molder of Human BehaviorinBreaking the Ice: A Guide to Understanding People from Other Cultures • Getting to Grips with Cultural DiversityinWhen Cultures Collide; • Managing Successfully Across Cultures • Setting the Scene • Perceiving Groups and Social Identity in Social Psychology

12. Useful? Stupid? Boring? Looking forward to it? What do you think so far?

13. Coffee cult Handsigns Greet Speaking to foreigners What is typical Dutch? Publuc transport why don’t we queue? Trays in the toilet? Freedom? Cloggies

14. Your own identity • Make a college on your own identity • Study the article The Jewish Identity by I.B.H. Abram.