Building Bridges in the Classroom: Fostering Multicultural Connections and Academic Partnerships

Girija Nagaswami

English

Nicole Vadino

Social Science

Diverse groups of students enter our college bringing with them their individual learning abilities. Based on their performance in placement tests, some students are placed in special programs such as CAP and ESL to enable them to cope with the challenges and rigors of college studies. Although the benefits of special programs are many, there is one negative outcome: academic isolation. The paths of ESL and CAP students rarely cross even after entering main-stream classes since they prefer to work with their own groups. Having taught both groups of students, and being familiar with their strengths and weaknesses, we felt that both groups had much to offer one another. So we decided to offer a Sociology-English link course to facilitate a sustained, semester long interaction between both groups. Our rationale in designing such a link course is supported by research, particularly contact theory, which stresses the benefits gained by diverse groups of students working together.

Classroom activities were divided into two categories: inter-cultural exchanges, and formal assignments related to both courses. Our main objective was to foster both formal and informal partnership between both groups of students. Since both groups felt that they had little in common when the semester began, we began with many short assignments to have them compare and contrast each other’s cultures. This paved the way for informal friendship networks and students bonded with each other as they shared each other’s cultures. Once this was done, we moved onto more formal academic assignments which included peer review, writing reports, working on survey projects, and discussions on a novel.

Instead of merely reading in textbooks and articles about each other’s cultures, our ESL and CAP students learned it first hand from one another. Most importantly, rather than seeing themselves as belonging to a different culture, color, or race, they began to see themselves as peers with a common academic goal. Both groups began to realize that they were more similar than different. By being able to gain a different perspective, both groups were able to appreciate their strengths and not be discouraged by their weaknesses. To say that our endeavor was all ‘success’ would be inaccurate. There were challenges and hurdles. Some set cultural norms were difficult to change, and sometimes students were reluctant to get away from their comfort zone. Also, time management for both classes was a huge hurdle. All in all, however, the benefits far outweighed the problems. Our presentation will demonstrate how the two groups of students learned and benefited by working with each other. To assess the tangible success of such partnerships in one semester is difficult; however, the self-confidence that we witnessed in CAP and ESL students at the end of the semester, was adequate testimony that our Sociology-English link course had been a worthwhile venture.

For a longer version of this article, visit our sister e-journal, Viewpoints.

To view the power point presentation, click here.

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