After spending some time in the Novi community I noticed that overall the area is very nice. It’s clean, modern, developed and unique. The area is unique because it is home to dozens of different multicultural restaurants. Though Novi does have its fair share of chains, there are many privately owned eateries as well. I was surprised by the sheer volume of these restaurants. I was also surprised by some of the types of cuisines that we found, such as Middle Eastern. Judging from the population of students in my classroom, I was not surprised to find as many Asian and Indian restaurants. However, it was interesting (I’m not sure if I would also say surprising) to find that many Asian restaurants have everything written in both Chinese or Japanese and English. I think that this is representative of the Novi population in general; many people visit these restaurants even if they are not totally familiar with the cuisine.
This experience has helped me learn a lot about where my students are coming from. It’s probably safe to say that many of my students may speak a second language. Also, even those students who do not are at least exposed to the idea of it when they go out and about in their community. This experience will help me in my teaching because I will be better able to pick materials that students can relate to. I think I could also use the community surroundings to highlight different cultures and give students ideas of places where they can go to see these things for themselves.
Finally, this experience has gotten me to think of places around the community in terms of literacy. This will help me tremendously when I think about what I want my students to be able to know and do. My students will need to be culturally literate; this could mean focusing on how children behave in other cultures. My students will also need to be able use literacy to make and communicate a choice. For example, if a student was out to eat at a Thai restaurant, they would have to be able to read the menu and descriptions to make a choice, and then communicate that choice to the server in a way that the server can understand. Literacy is everywhere and this experience has helped me to think about how to better prepare my students to learn and use that.
Compton-Lily sums it up nicely when she says that “Teachers can also learn important information by visiting students’ homes to get to know families, become informed about their interests and literacy practices and become familiar with their funds of knowledge that family possesses” (pg. 456). Although I did not visit any homes, I think this quote can also be applied to visiting different places in the community. It is important to note that through experiencing the community where our students come from, we are gaining a better understanding of what funds of knowledge they are already coming to school with. Students learn a lot both in and out of school, and it is essential for teachers to be aware of that.
Hi Amy!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post, I loved how much you were able to grasp about the Novi community just by simply looking at their restaurants. I think it's great that there are so many different ethnicities represented in the restaurants in Novi and that people in that community are open to trying new foods and experiencing a new culture that is outside of their norm. It sounds like these different cultures are really celebrated in Novi and that is crucial in order to make each child feel important in a classroom setting. Incorporating some of the cultural practices and ideas into the classroom environment will not only interest those students with different backgrounds, but will teach the other students what other cultures exist in this world.
By going to these restaurants, the students will receive literacy practice by reading and saying the different kinds of foods listed on the menu and they may also learn new vocabulary in English or another language! I think it was a great idea to explore some of the restaurants in Novi. Good job, Amy! I'll see you tomorrow!
-Emily