Coping with Culture Shock

Stress

• Your learners may tired. Coping with a stressful situation such as talking in a new language all day long is exhausting. Build extra breaks into your sessions and don’t take the yawns personally.
• Your learners may be more prone to colds, influenza and intestinal problems. Realize that they may be cancelling sessions due to illness. Prepare them with the telephone language that they will need to tell you that they are ill. Prepare them for trips to the doctor. They will need to be able to describe their problems, understand directions and questions, read instructions and fill out forms.
• Your learners may be depressed. Be, for them, that friendly face in a stressful week. Be encouraging and sympathetic. Tell the learners about support agencies that might help with problems. Make sure that they have the vocabulary to describe their feelings.
• Your learners may come to a point when they are so depressed that they feel they haven’t done very well in learning English. Make sure you have language samples from when they first started. This could include a speech recording or review, a listening comprehension exercise, a piece they could read with comments and a sample of their writing. Compare these samples with what they are currently able to do.

Culture

• Be culturally aware. Talk with your learners, if possible, about cultural differences between their previous culture and the Canadian culture. If they can’t describe the differences, ask other members of that immigrant group or do research in the library or on the Internet. Also talk about cultural similarities.
• Once you know more about the learners’ cultural backgrounds, you will be able to see possible trouble spots that may come up in the tutor/learner relationship, in educational values and in general life. This will help you know what to explain and how to explain the new culture to your learners when they need clarification.
• You may want to modify your behaviour when working with new immigrants to make their transition easier. For example, omit gestures that they would find offensive. Eventually, however, they will have to get accustomed to Canadian norms.
• You may be looked on as a cultural norm for all Canadians. Be sure to explain about variations in customs in Canada.
• Let the learners know you are interested in learning about their culture and that you want to understand what it is like to adjust to the new culture. This is one way of having a Canadian validate their culture and it makes the learning a two-way street. Share your cultures in a variety of ways. For example, look at photo albums, share food dishes, try traditional games, learn children’s rhymes, and so on.
• Our seasons and weather have influenced the Canadian culture. For example, we always talk about the weather. That isn’t a small-talk topic in many countries. If your learners aren’t used to such a variation in seasons or temperature, you can help by including weather-related themes in your lessons. A winter clothing theme could include what clothing to buy for cold weather, what the clothing items are called, a discussion of the merits of down versus synthetic fill and a trip to the clothing store.

Outside of the classroom

• Help your learners become more comfortable in the new community. Take them on field trips and equip them with the language appropriate to the purpose of the trip. For example, if they are interested in swimming, go to the pool but prepare by learning pool terms and questions to ask. Follow up, for example, by reading the pool schedule that the learners picked up during the trip and figure out when the learners could go swimming.
• Encourage them to practise English outside of class so they can be more independent. Make sure your lessons connect to what they could use in daily life.
• Encourage them to make Canadian friends. In your sessions, cover small talk and other conversation topics that can help this happen.

In general

• Be patient.
• Respect the learners and their values and beliefs.

Handout 11.5