1. Cross-cultural immersion in China:
Preparing Pre-service elementary teachers
to work with diverse student populations
in the United States
Presenter: Jessica Wu
Advisor: Dr. Chin-Ying Philip Lin
Instructor: Dr. Pi-Ying Teresa Hsu
Date: October 28, 2013

2. Citation
• Zhao, Y., Meyers, L. & Meyers, B. (2009).
Cross-cultural immersion in China: Preparing
pre-service elementary teachers to work with
diverse student populations in the United
States. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher
Education, 37(3), 295-317.
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3. Contents
Introduction
Literature review
Methodology
Result
Conclusion
Future Study
3

4. Introduction
4

5. Introduction
• Background
American schools have become increasingly
diverse in the past decade.
More and more classes with a greater diversity
of cultures and languages have emerged in
many pasts of the country.
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6. Introduction
• Background
• Pre-service teachers are not adequately
prepared to teach these students, especially
when the students’ ethnic and cultural
backgrounds differ from that of the pre-service
teachers’.
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7. The purpose of study
• To investigate pre-service teachers’
perceptions of their overseas student teaching
and how this experience might affect their
future teaching in culturally diverse school
settings in the United States.
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8. Gap
• Although there is an increase in the number of
American students going to Asian countries in
recent years, there is a lack of research
exploring American pre-service student
teachers’ elementary teaching experiences in
Asian Countries.
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9. Literature Review
9

10. Literature Review
• Cross-cultural immersion experiences have
been considered an effective way to help preservice teachers achieve the goal of a broader
and more global perspective.
(Gay, 2000; Nieto, 2006)
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11. Literature Review
• Cross-cultural experiential learning would
assist pre-service teachers to better understand
their students’ cultures and to teach through
their own cultural and experiential filters.
(Gay,2000; Nieto, 2006)
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12. Literature Review
• Many educators believe that, to work more
successfully with culturally diverse students,
teachers need to adopt a culturally responsive
pedagogical stance.
(The Education Alliance, 2006;
National Education Association, 2008)
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13. Research Questions
• Q1: How did pre-service teachers perceive
their cross-cultural student teaching
experience in Chinese schools?
• Q2: How did they perceive their professional
and personal growth as a result of this
cross-cultural teaching experience?
• Q3: How can a culturally responsive
pedagogical stance be developed during a
cross-cultural immersion experience?
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14. Methodology
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15. Methodology
10 undergraduate pre-service
elementary education student
teachers
One male/ nine females
From 21 to 55 years
participants
China
Xingdu
Four-week cultural
immersion experience
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16. Methodology
‘Lab School’ of
the university
large class sizes
‘Charter School’
smaller class
sizes
10 American
student teachers
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17. Interview Protocol
• Questions asked before going to China during student
teaching in United States:
Tell me why you want to participate in this study abroad
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program (in China).
Tell me about your student teaching experiences in your
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school placement in the US.
How do you think your teaching experiences in the US will
3
affect your teaching in China?
What do you expect from this cross-cultural teaching
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experience (in China)?
5 What concerns you most?
6 How are you prepared for teaching in China?
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18. Interview Protocol
• Questions asked upon completion of student teaching
in China:
1 Describe your trip to China. Please be specific.
Tell me about your teaching and learning experiences in
2
China.
How is the US teaching experience different from the
Chinese teaching experience?
What stood out the most for you during this cross-cultural
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student teaching experience?
3
5 Were your expectations realized? Why or Why not?
6
How might this experience affect your teaching in American
schools?
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19. Result
19

20. Result
Q1: How did pre-service teachers perceive
their cross-cultural student teaching
Participants’ dialogue
experience in Chinese schools?
It has been a challenging experience trying to balance
between the American style of teaching and the Chinese
Student teachers perceived this cross-cultural
style. With the lack of resources and having to teach over
immersion it made it in China as extremely
100 students,experience difficult to teach.
beneficial to their future teaching career, nothing
that they gained knowledge, skills and insights as
a result of their participation.
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21. Result
Q2: How did they perceive their professional
and personal growth as a result of this
Participants’ dialogue
cross-cultural teaching experience?
Michelle learned a lot of teaching strategies from her
Chinese mentoring teacher in creating, strategies for
They learned new and effective teachingdesigning and
implementing classroom dialogues Chinese counterparts.
second-language learners from their and improvisational
scenarios that are both amusing and relevant to Chinese
culture and to be more
They learnedstudent life. flexible and collaborative in
teaching in general.
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22. Result
Q3: How can a culturally responsive
pedagogical stance be developed during a
Participants’ dialogue
cross-cultural immersion experience?
Stacy has learned how to teach students who do not speak
the same language as you do. She have learned be to
A culturally responsive pedagogical stance can how
help other professionals and how immersion experience,
nurtured through a cross-cultural to collaborate so that
everyone moves forward.
and opportunities for pre-service teachers to go abroad
have become more feasible in recent years.
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23. Conclusion
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24. Conclusion
• Teacher education programs ought to provide
pre-service teachers with similar opportunities
to help them develop the necessary attitudes,
skills and competencies, they need in order to
work more effectively with culturally diverse
students.
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25. My Future Study
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26. Future Study
Interview
The male senior
high foreign teacher
Open-ended
questions
Time: 1-2 hours
Observation
Visual
Verbal
Tone
Body language
Recording Pen
Contents
Class observation
Teaching situation
Students behavior
Four weeks (March )
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27. Open-ended questions
Part Two: Before coming to Taiwan
Part one: Shortly after coming to Taiwan
Part three: Now in Taiwan
Part Four: Academic culture in distance
Where experience any culture shock when
• Did youare you from? Please share some you
important information about in your daily life or
• first came toany culture shock or any cross-cultural
Is there still Taiwan, includingyourself.
job?
adjustment problems in your daily life? For example,
• What impressed you most when you were FIRST
any living problems, such as food, or the weather?
• teaching Taiwanese students, including positionAsia
What was your impression about Taiwan or or
impression?
• negativecoming here? your problems when the first
Who helped you with Where did you get you
before
• came do Taiwan? Did you have Asia?friends that
How to you deal with those or close
information about Taiwan living problems now?
you could trust and talk to NOW when
• What are still the problems at that time? you’re teach
• Taiwanesehelp you with those living problems
Who can students? languages have you learned?
• How many foreign
• Di d youyou have any Taiwanese friends that you
now?do have any teaching problems when you first
Does Taiwanese your English
taughtit influencestudents here?ofteaching?
can trust, talk to or get help from?
• What are the strength/weakness Taiwanese
students, compared with England students?
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28. Thank you for listening.
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