Multicultural Issues?

You will either be relieved or horrified to find out that most of the “multicultural issues” you will face will relate to you, their classroom teacher.  You are the foreigner, you are the stranger, and they will assume many things about you.  Your coworkers will also assume many things about you.

        List of popular assumptions:

1.      Teacher still lives in a foreign country.  (He/she takes the airplane to work).

2.      Teacher cannot speak Chinese.

3.      Teacher cannot understand me if I say things in Chinese about him/her.

4.      Teacher eats McDonald’s all the time.  (Maybe this is true?).

5.      Teacher has no/little knowledge of my culture.

6.      All of the people in teacher’s country are “white” or “black” – there are no Chinese people there.

7.      Teacher, and where he/she is from, are just like the movies we see on TV.

For some of you the above assumptions will be true.  Don’t feel bad about that.  In fact, use it to your advantage.  Let them teach you.  And if they are wrong, you can always “play along,” and follow their assumptions through to any number of absurd conclusions.  “Yes, I fly here every day, and boy are my arms tired!”

        Is it cold in here, or is it just me?