Book Review: Teaching Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Learning and Teaching

Reviewed by Lori Upchurch
Summary

In “Teaching Cross-Culturally: An Incarnational Model for Learning and Teaching” Judith and Sherwood Lingenfelter attempt to help people who are teaching in a cross-cultural context to reevaluate their methods and mindset. They describe the goals of their book in the following manner. “The first goal is to help teachers understand their own culture of teaching and learning…The second is to equip teachers to become effective learners in another cultural context, with specific focus on learning for teaching…The third goal is to help teachers reflect on the cultural differences and conflicts they have with others, using the perspectives of Scripture and faith in Jesus Christ…The fourth is simple. We would like teachers working outside their home culture to enjoy their teaching experience and fell as though they are helping to disciple the people to whom God has called them.”
They try to achieve these four goals by encouraging cross-cultural teachers to think through several key issues using Jesus as an example of the ideal cross-cultural teacher. They attempt to help the reader know when it appropriate to give up his own cultural practices and values and adopt those of the students with which he is working. They want to help teachers in a cross-cultural context value the differences between cultures while at the same time being ready for the inevitable conflicts that will arise between these cultures. In the end they hope that cross-cultural teachers can find common ground spiritually with their students and can develop effective strategies for teaching them.

Author’s Right to Discuss Topic

I chose this book because I thought it could be very helpful to me in teaching ESL. I had high hopes that the authors would be able to help me in this, because they themselves have studied the differences in cultures for years and lived and taught in several cross-cultural situations both in the USA and in other countries.

Application and Reflection

When I first started reading this book, I had hopes that it would help me to understand how to communicate the Gospel more clearly to my ESL students. I was looking for practical suggestions not theories about teaching cross-culturally. However, the authors seemed more intent on discussing theoretical concepts. Nevertheless, some of these were somewhat helpful to me.
The concept of “hidden curriculum”, describes the cultural assumptions and practices that students and teachers bring with them into the classroom and which affect the learning and teaching process. This reminded me that I need to take into account the personal and cultural background of those I am teaching. I need to try to understand how their culture and past impact them as people and as learner.
When talking about the concept of “the cultural understanding of the role of teacher” the authors reminded me that not all cultures look at a teacher in the same way. In American culture today, teachers are not overall highly respected. They are seen often as babysitters or helpers for the parents. In Belarusian culture, teachers are still highly respected because they possess a knowledge that the student does not have but wants to attain.
I appreciated the authors’ attempt to discuss the concept of Jesus as the ideal cross-cultural teacher. It was good to be reminded of the great lengths that Jesus went to meet people where they were and to take them to where they needed to go. I want to do the same in my ministry with my ESL students. However, I was disappointed with the fact that the authors did not discuss this concept in length. They simply mentioned it in passing a few times.
This book would be more advantageous for a teacher who was coming to teach in school setting in a foreign country. It is not designed for missionaries or for teaching ESL. Therefore, it was not very helpful for me.