Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Department of English Foreign Languages and Linguistics

College of Arts and Letters

Language Education in Multicultural Setting

Written Report

Educating Teachers for Diversity:

Element 5

Group 4

Ayao, Melissa

Garcia, John Lanz T.

Velasquez, Rosevil

ABE 4-3

Submitted to:

Prof. Grace Ferrer

Submitted: October 10, 2016

DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW:

A plethora of protests has been raised against the revision of curriculum to include the voices of
women and people of color.

What protest has been raised against the revision of curriculum including the voices of women and
people of color?

English Defence League – Against the spread of Islamism and Sharia in the UK. EDL has been described
as Islamophobic.

Critics argue that such revision minimizes the importance of contributions of white males and,
furthermore, waters down the curriculum.

Proponents of multicultural education counter that inclusive approaches provide balance to

curricula long skewed toward the contributions of European and European American males. With
balance, comes a fuller, more accurate picture.

Although the inclusion of ethnic and female contributions and perspectives is relatively
straightforward in the humanities, it seems less obvious in math and science. These subjects, argue many
math and science teachers, are objective and therefore are "culture neutral." Multicultural educators
reply that objectivity is itself a culture-specific value. In addition, traditional curricula have long
neglected female and ethnic contributions to math and science.

ILLUSTRATIVE CASE

Marlys Henke's Cultural Relevance Model

Background:

Marlys Henke, an award-winning math teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota, has developed a lesson-
plan format in which she incorporates the contributions of a vast diversity of cultures and people into
her regular mathematics instruction.

She uses the following steps:

• Relate information about a significant contribution to mathematics made by a person (or a historical
culture) or the use of mathematics in the person's work or life.

Example: The underrated Mathematician, Amalie “Emmy” Noether

A German mathematician known for Abstract Algebra and Theoretical Physics.

• Provide an explicit link between the math used by this person (or culture) and the math skills that
students are about to learn.

Example: Japanese Multiplication Method

• Teach math skills using appropriate methods.

• Hold students accountable for the cultural information by testing them on it.