ican education enterprise. According to Mitchell (1996) “Typically, such programs attempt to provide instruction in the child’s native language when needed. At the same time, the student receives instruction in English (ESL Programs) in order to hasten the day when the person is truly bilingual, and the need for special bilingual programs disappears (p.341). The rationale is that if children are able to work in their native language first, they have a greater likelihood of achieving success. To be compatible with and able to teach students who come from backgrounds different from your own, you need to believe that all students can learn – regardless of gender, social class, and ethnic or cultural characteristics. A list of guidelines have been established by Kellough & Roberts (1998:27-28) for teaching students of diverse backgrounds:1.Build the learning around the students’ individual learning styles.2.Communicate positively with every student and with the student’s parent/guardians, learning as much as you can about the student and the student’s culture, and encouraging family members to participate in the student’s learning.3.Establish a classroom climate in which each student feels he or she can learn and wants to learn.4.Hold and maintain high expectations for each student5.Personalize learning for each student; much like is done in the use of the IEP with special needs learners.6.Plan for and use all learning modalities (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic).7.Use cooperative learning. In summary, multicultural education strives for equity regardless of race, gender, culture, or national origin. Both school and society shape students’ lives. So, in order to be successful, multicultural education encompasses both the effort to create more equitable schools and the involvement of teachers and students in the creation of a more equitable society. ...
