What I Know About The World Around Me

well-rounded person (language, sports, activities) is preferred by colleges- thus, most of the immigrants in college have some sort of integrative cultural identity.

My first year of college I was devastated because I didn’t pass my math class due to procrastination. Not because the class

Having the opportunity to have worked with diverse students has opened my eyes to the importance of learning about different cultures, their beliefs and practices. Being aware and learning about the different cultures my students came from helped me from misinterpreting certain behavior displayed by the students. In order to do this the first thing a teacher should learn is that everyone has different ways of culturally adapting to a new country, while some are able to fully assimilate, others undergo the process of selective acculturation or embrace enculturation (Coleman, 2013).

Why does international students tend to group themselves away from American students? What are some possible aspects that cause difficulties for international students to make American friends? In Karin Fischer’s article, she used the online questionnaire that professor Elisabeth Gareis conducted on international students in America to answer those questions proposed above. This survey’s result claims that cultural and regional differences affect international students to have difficulties when trying to make American friends. This research was conducted on various non-American students with different genders, cultural backgrounds and circumstances. Not even half of the participants responded that they have a good friendship with American students. Karin argues that students’ home region, university’s location and language differences took critical roles which made a barrier between international

The main argument here is that the knowledge represents for me the basis of my values, from which I learned most things, which in return guided me to the other good values like the honesty, responsibility and accountability. I highly believe that the knowledge is the major source of all other good

Classrooms are becoming more diverse than they were several decades ago because so many people are migrating from their country of origin to seek for better living opportunities, in search of a safe place and because the United States of America is a super power. Therefore political, economic, and social-cultural reasons are the causes of migration which results in families remaining in the country causing classrooms today to be more diverse than they were decades ago thereby rapidly changing the demography of the United States and its classroom (Vacca et al, 2014, p. 62). To confirm this point for instance, at my school, there are a total of 354 students and the percentage of Hispanics: 41.5%, Blacks: 40.1%, Whites: 13.6%, Multicultural: 3.7%, other: 1.2%, Asians: 0.9%. Students from these different cultural backgrounds have different values, attitudes and experiences.

student body is made up of immigrant children who aid education with their various cultures. Mary Tamer, a Harvard writer for Usable Knowledge, describes how immigrant students better race relationships and bring a diverse cultural background to the classroom. In other words, when immigrant students are in American schools they bring their cultural differences with them and help other students better understand those differences. For example, a cultural class is taught in most schools so that students can learn about various ways

I assume that students come from different backgrounds and countries. Immigrant students including myself come to the United States in search of a better life. We all have the same goal, i.e., aspiring to go to higher education, being successful academically and eventually leading a better life. Being a part of a homogeneous community where you do not belong might be very frustrating, but if people come from diverse backgrounds, there is a greater potential for them to understand each others feelings.

In the text “Exposed Toes” the author, Diane Riva, reflects on her collection of shoes and how each pair has a meaning to her. She describes how each pair of shoe she owns relates to a specific memory or time period in her life. She asserts that shoes can tell stories of our lives and are not just an article of clothing that we wear on our feet. Riva goes through all the shoes she owns and explains their story and how the shoe is a part of her life. For example, she brings up her black sneakers which are worn when we works at a bar. She states, “they are constant recipients of the over-filled glass of alcohol.” From this we learn her profession and get some insight on her memories as a bartender. Riva talks about all of her shoes in this manner

Nautilus elementary, 5th grade. Probably the grade that every kid either had crazy times and bad experiences. At this time, I was not the greatest at reading. Reading was at the bottom of my list because I thought it was pointless. Avoiding all the reading assignments that my crazy teacher gave us to complete. She was ridiculous! Made us read a book a week and then test the book the following week. This test was called an a.r test, this test not only showed that we understood and read the book but it also calculated our reading level. Being at a grade and half lower reading level was not the greatest. Always failing all the test and my grade dropping lower and lower didn’t make my look like a good kid. A couple of months went by and I

Individuals in different cultural groups experience the world in different ways based on various perspectives. Basically, they have diverse worldviews. According to Sue, “Worldview constitutes our psychological orientation in life and can determine how we think, behave, make decisions, and define events” (as cited in Mio et al., 2012, p.7). The multiple concepts of worldview are important to understand; however, it is also crucial to that I am able to establish my own worldview through my past childhood experiences. I will able to construct my own unique worldview through the concept of roles, emotional expressions, interdependence/individuation, power, communication, subsystems, family rules, family myths, and family rituals.

says, “I promised myself, I won’t be what I’m not”(2). Campbell states that the pattern of the

However, the change from home to college can be difficult for international students (Mesidor & Sly, 2016). While some international students find it easy to adjust to the transition, others international students find it challenging to adjust to the transition (Mesidor & Sly, 2016). Studies show that international students experience many challenges as a result of language and cultural barriers, academic difficulties, financial difficulties, medical issues, housing concerns, food differences, alienation, homesickness, lack of social support system, racial discrimination, and cross-cultural loss) (Akanwa, 2015; Guzman et al., 2015; Mesidor & Sly, 2016; Sherry et al., 2010; Smith & Khawaja, 2011; Tung, 2011; Zhang & Goodson, 2010). According to Prieto-Welch (2016), international students as a group are regarded as a main minority population in campuses

So freshman algebra rolled around and I loved it. After two weeks in the class I was three and one half chapters ahead of the teacher. He would only assign the odd problems for homework, but I’d do them all. Geometry was even cooler. But thinking back, not one of the teachers even commended me for doing so well. My father noticed I was good at it, but I thought he had to tell me I was good; he was my father.

In Nathan’s article, she keeps her principal focus on how foreign students interact with American students and the distinctive type of relationships that they build. It is quite strange to some of the foreign student’s that Nathan has interviewed about how non-committed American students are to the foreign students because American 's students do not socialize as much, and tends to spend more time alone. Furthermore, they will make small talk rather than being close friends or let it evolve into more. At that point, Nathan turns her center towards the difference between a relationship and a friendship between American and foreign students. She also discusses with different foreign students with different background and how they interact with their American roommates, and the relationship that they bond. In addition, American student’s family is a distinct subject from school but for international students, it is something naturally integrated into their social lives, which is why they care so much about their parents (Nathan 73). Furthermore, she discusses how many foreign students make comments about how different students look and the lack of attention that they give their professor compared to in their home country. Nevertheless, the social life and making companions in American can be quite troublesome for any foreign students. However, once you become acquainted with American students and get to be