Abstract: One important aspect of creating a quality learning environment is the explicit discussion of inter-cultural communication. In this paper I describe how to ensure and assess the quality of positive multicultural interactions in the classroom in three steps. At the beginning of the semester, cultural understanding should be added as a component of new teacher and new student orientations programs. As the semester progresses, experienced teachers could check in on the new teachers about issues that have come up; these points can then be explicitly integrated into the next round of orientations. At the end of the semester, teachers could be asked to reflect on what they have learned. Implementing this system would not involve hiring new staff or even changing the existing infrastructure but would result in more cross-cultural understanding and hence enhanced teaching and learning.

Abstract: One important aspect of creating a quality learning environment is the explicit discussion of inter-cultural communication. In this paper I describe how to ensure and assess the quality of positive multicultural interactions in the classroom in three steps. At the beginning of the seme...