On Interethnic/Interracial Relations in the Multilingual Classroom

Mrs. Lo's support of languages other than English in her classroom was tied to her vision of what it meant to work as a teacher in a multilingual community. In a presentation Mrs. Lo, Veronica Hsueh, and I gave at the 1995 Ontario TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) Conference, Mrs. Lo told our audience that she saw the acceptance of student multilingualism in group work as a way to foster positive contributions from English as a second or other language (ESOL) students. It was also a way to enhance their social skills and promote mutual respect and self-worth, which in turn could encourage "responsible participation" and "racial harmony" in the classroom.

Mrs. Lo's association of racially and culturally mixed cooperative learning groups with the promotion of racial harmony is one that is frequently made in North American multicultural education texts.¹ The thinking behind this association goes something like this: Tensions that arise among different racial and cultural groups are based on people's stereotyped perceptions of others and a lack of rapport. Involving students in mixed cooperative learning groups is a way of providing students with an opportunity to develop shared goals. Working together toward these goals can promote positive interpersonal interaction. Frequent, meaningful and mutually supportive contact that characterize cooperative learning activities help students to view each other in non-stereotypical ways.

At Northside, experiments with racially, culturally, and linguistically mixed cooperative learning groups led to both positive and negative interpersonal and intergroup interactions. Sometimes, multilingual practices during small group work did not contribute to racial harmony, but worked against it. Although none of the students in Mrs. Lo's classes talked to us about linguistic tensions in their own small groups, students from other classes at Northside did. Here is an example of what they said. Miriam is a White Anglo-Canadian who was enrolled in a French immersion primary school and often spoke French to Lianne, who is a White Franco-Ontarian.

Tara: In your art class, when the [Cantonese-speaking] students sat with each other, they would speak in Cantonese. They would speak Cantonese quite quietly so they wouldn't "disturb" anybody, but they were speaking in Cantonese. How do you feel about that? Is that a problem for you, is that an issue for you in that class?

Miriam: No, not at all. I don't find anything wrong with that. Like, I know a lot of people who do, like, think it's rude and stuff. But I don't see that, you know. I mean if that's what they feel comfortable with, then that's fine. But if you're in a situation where you're, like, in a group or something and you're working on a project and they start talking [in Cantonese], well, then we don't understand. That's weird.

Lianne: I remember in math class in Grade 10, [there was] one girl who didn't speak English.. .and she was sitting in my math class with a little translator. That bothered me because she had three friends and that's all they spoke. They only spoke, I think it was Cantonese. I'm not sure. But you know, that's all they spoke the whole entire class and that was really annoying 'cause I was stuck in their group and I was, like, the only person that spoke English there...We had to do our work for two classes and I was, I was put with them.

Tara: So, it was very hard to enter the conversation. Did you try anything as direct as "I'm sorry, I don't understand, could you speak English?"

Lianne: Yes. I'm, like, "Can we, can we do our work?" And they're, like, "Oh, okay, wait, wait." Okay, so I'm waiting. Ten, 15, 20 minutes. I'm like, "Okay, yeah, that's great." They start doing their work and I start doing my work. I should have stayed with them. They did better than I did. But, you know.

Tara: Had you stayed and been successful, perhaps you would have benefited. But it was just very, very hard to break in.

Lianne: Yeah. There were three of them; they were all friends and everything, too. It's kind of hard to try and get into a group, you know, if they are friends. You're there, speaking a different language. It's just hard. Like, it was my first year and I didn't want to like, push anymore, so I sat back and let everything happen. [Exchange, February 26, 1997].

¹ See Coelho (1994, 1998); Kagan (1986); and Slavin (1983, 1990) for further discussion of cooperative learning and the development of positive race relations.

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مواضيع ذات صلة

Parents with Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

PROVISION OF SUPPORT

CARING FOR CHILDREN

EUGENICS AND ETHICAL ISSUES

PARENTING

DISCRIMINATION AND DIVERSITY

THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Parents with Learning Disabilities

Legislation and Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION

LEGAL SAFEGUARDS

MENTAL CAPACITY ACT 2005

THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998