Final Personal Cultural Narrative

Stacey Tonette Jennings

December 9, 2013
C&T 823

My experience with diversity has only increased of course

because of the contact I have with students among others from various
cultures in my graduate classes as well as in the city where I currently
live in an extended stay hotel owned, managed, and mostly employs
men from East India. Some of my classmates are from countries such
as China, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Afghanistan. Each
having lived in America for different periods of time and of course have
broad variations on their understanding and use of the English
language and culture. It has been a fascinating endeavor to meet
people from such a wide range of cultural backgrounds. Many times I
have wanted to interact, befriend, and even start some sort of cultural
and language exchange group however the reality, my reality prevents
me most of the time from pursuing these goals which is completely
and utterly disappointing for me. Since my objective is to work, teach,
or supervise (and possibly write books or teach at the college level) in
some sort of English Language Learner situation in the near future, I
would prefer and quite frankly expect to have more requirements
within my graduate coursework which expose me to in person
experiences with those of other cultures. It seems to be we are so
focused on research and book work that we tend to leave out the

human element or make it only a small part of the big picture. I am in

hopes that future courses will provide more of a consistent interaction
within this context throughout the entire semester. In fact, I would
actually like to develop a portfolio of sorts for credit like the ones weve
read about recently. If the majority of researchers and educators agree
that ongoing interviews and the construction of culture projects like
portfolios are so effective then why cant we engage in these activities
at a higher academic level too.
Now that I have learned about a variety of effective instructional
tools and strategies and have become more aware of underlying issues
involved with stereotyping and stigmatization through the course
readings, I believe I will be somewhat better prepared to perform at a
higher level to provide my future students with a quality educational
experience. Im planning on using some of the interview questions to
build upon the knowledge I gained through the interview project in this
course by incorporating these queries into future informal
conversations with students or people from other countries.
Prior to taking this class I did not realize or understand that the
connection with language and culture was so pertinent. Having been
an elementary teacher for over 15 years in Kansas public schools has
also formed some rather unhealthy ideas toward multiculturalism of

which I was unaware until discussions of how this term and the
definition by most in public schools has been interpreted.