Culture Distance and Cultural Dimensions

Dr. Leib's article is applicable not just for NESTs but for any teachers that will have to interact with a number of culturally diverse students. I found her connections between Japanese students and NESTs ideas about how a classroom environment should be run to be the most interesting aspect of her research. The Japanese students that took part in her research wanting a more collectivist environment in their classroom was an intriguing idea to me. I think trying to implement ideas like that into an American classroom would be difficult. Especially since American culture is so individualistic. It made me wonder how I could incorporate more collectivist ideas and cultures into my own classroom. I think trying to connect with our students will have to be done on a more individual basis. I think incorporating different cultures in our classrooms will have to be left up ultimately to our students. Their going to have to be the ones to communicate with us about what aspects of their lives they want to share not just with us but our classroom environment.