This week, I will visit an ethnic foods store in the West Bloomfield community, about a half mile from Maple Elementary School. I am choosing to go here because the student population at Maple is so diverse! I hope that by visiting this ethnic foods store, I will gain valuable insight into the lives of my students. I also hope to familiarize myself more with their cultures as well.
I am expecting to see aisles of neatly stacked foods, separated into categories like, Japanese, Mexican, Italian, etc. I am anticipating seeing foods with which I am not familiar (unique spices, meats, grains, etc.) and food labels written in a variety of languages. I expect to walk in and hear faint festive music throughout the store. I also expect to hear customers and employees communicating in foreign languages.
Overall, I'm assuming that since most students in my classroom are Chaldean and Japanese, this ethnic foods store will cater mainly to these cultures. As a result, I'm hoping to learn more about these two cultures in particular: how people communicate and interact, how their language is written, and what is important to them. Because I am writing this before my visit, I'm interested to see which of my expectations will be confirmed and which were incorrect!
Having the opportunity to teach in such a diverse school is a great way to broaden one’s horizons. To have an ethnic food store right outside the school community I consider lucky! I feel that you will most definitely gain valuable insight into the lives of your students by visiting this store. I think that you chose a place where you will be able to familiarize yourself with their culture, and by doing this you will bring so much more knowledge into the classroom and can connect with your students in so many more ways. This store is also a great way to incorporate literacy into students’ everyday lives. With all the aisles stacked with foods, labels, different languages, and music, any one person who enters this store I’m sure feels more connected to the cultures and the literacy found throughout the store! After reading about your expectations, I am also eager to learn about your findings and if you learn more about how people communicate, interact, how their language is written, and what is important to them. Good luck and have fun in the process, cannot wait to hear all about your findings!
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