QUESTION:
Dear Sir,
I am a professor from Montevideo, Uruguay. I receive your newsletter and consider it a highly valuable resource. Please accept my sincere congratulations.
Is it possible to have some hints on how to deal with groups (school or high-school) with multi-cultural members? I mean children or teenagers coming from oriental, Arabic or Latin homes do not have the same social attitudes toward studying, classroom behavior, bullying, teasing, etc. How can a teacher speak in general terms about specific topics that he/she knows will be understood differently by his/her students?
Thanks a lot and, again, CONGRATULATIONS!
RESPONSE:
My message to students is:
(1) No one can force you to learn, and I won’t even try. I will make the lessons and activities as interesting as I can for you. If you want to learn, wonderful—but do not think you are doing it for MY sake. Your learning is for your own best interests—not mine.
(2) You make choices every day—consciously or nonconsciously. Regardless of the situation, stimulation or urge, you choose your responses. You can choose to learn or not, but you will not be allowed to disrupt other people’s learning.
Hope this helps.
More on this is covered in chapters 1,2, and 3 in my book..
