Cultural Competence Awareness Training

Training Description

This presentation chiefly addresses the need to understand culture and its influence in the learning environment. Individual cultural background, a key component of all interactions, shapes all teaching and learning.

Recent research indicates that teachers believe they have not been adequately prepared to teach children from cultural and linguistic backgrounds different from their own. Teachers say they need to learn more specific skills to do so (Ray & Bowman 2003; Ryan, Ackerman, & Song 2005)

The main goal of this presentation is to address the need to understand culture and its influence in the learning environment. Individual cultural background is part of all interactions and it shapes all teaching and learning.

Through interactive activities, personal reflection and video clips, educators will:

• Develop an understanding of their own cultural lenses and perceptual styles
• Apply an understanding of how different cultural and individual values impact cross-cultural communication
• Practice staff-parent communication skills with an awareness of value differences and non-judgmental listening

Identification of Staff for Training:

Teams from district/school buildings include district ddministrators; school principals; mainstream teachers PreK-12; ESL, ELL,  or bilingual instructors or directors; speech and language pathologists; psychologists; social workers; and school counselors

Format

Length of Time:  Minimum 6 hours
Additional time may be requested to cover specific issues more deeply.