Cultural Comparison Mosaic

By: Tiffany Ollis

Heather Bursell
Jordan Krueger
Andrea Brunenkant
Gabriella Nunezortiz
Jocelyn Dominguez Bocardo
Mariela Lopez
Grand Canyon University: EED-465
October 15, 2015

Values

Apache Native American

Tiffany
Mariella
Some tribal members are
The Apache believe that their
given healing powers
ancestors are guiding
and are considered
forces and are living
medicine men or shamamong them as part of
ans.
nature, such as rocks,
trees, wind or mountains.

Dances are used to communicate with the spirits.

Traditions

Purposes of the dances

include healing, requesting rain and celebrating the puberty of
young girls. Water is a
powerful force in traditional Apache beliefs.
English is spoken by nearly
all Apache Indians today, but many still
speak their native language.

Language

Social
Norms

There are Easter and Western dialects each of

which have several
dialects (Apache Indian
Tribe Facts, n.d.).
Most people from the
Apache culture tend to
think and not be impulsive with their actions.
They look down on
unacceptable social
behaviors.

The Apache believe supernatural powers can be used

to provide aid and comfort to others or to do
something positive for
the community.
Traditional teachings indicate
frequent bathing was
used to wash away evil
spirits.
A special ceremony called the
sunrise dance is used to
celebrate puberty and
get a girl ready for motherhood and adult life.

Jocelyn
Apaches lives are rooted in deep
spiritual practice and they use
song and dance to communicate with the creator.
The Apache believe their god created them and all parts of the
natural environment.

The Cradle Ceremony, intended to

ward off evil influences, is
conducted four days after
birth. The ceremony involves
marking the child with pollen,
presenting the cradleboard to
the four directions, and then
placing the child in the cradleboard.
Mountain Apache healing ceremony.

Not all Apaches (even those

from the same speech
communities) agree on
how to say something for
there are individual
differences between
them, but these are stylistic and dialectical variations ( AdleySantaMaria, 1997, pg.
138).
The bond with the land
establishes meaningful relationships between individuals.
Part of their social behavior involves bonding
with other people
because they connect to one another
through the land.

Some learning experiences

might be considered inappropriate in the Apache
culture if students have to
have physical contact
(Adley-SantaMaria, 1997).

Students from the Apache

culture are generally well
behaved and respectful in
social situations (ex.
school).
Storytelling and the land has
an influence on their social behavior. It teaches
them how to live right
and be strong.

Setting the ideal classroom

community is essential to students learning. The classroom

community can benefit greatly from the individuality of
the Apache culture. The inclusion of other cultures such as
Apache helps with embracing
differences among the students and change in the classroom. Also it helps set more
opportunities for cooperative
learning.
There are academic gains

from cooperative learning

among minority students and
white students in building
relationships with classmates
from different backgrounds (Billings, S., 2015).

For example, the uniqueness

of the Apache brings another
perspective and background
of their culture so their peers
are learning from them by
discussions, presentations, or
essays.
The teacher could have the
students from the Apache
culture do a presentation
about their culture or a family
tree. Overall, the classroom
community would benefit
greatly from the uniqueness
that is the Apache culture

This culture has a need to

preserve their heritage and
culture. One important
thing for this culture is holding onto their history and
their native language.
Apache children are more
likely to engage in silent observations as they visually
process information rather
than verbalize knowledge as
they process the information

By utilizing materials that

cover Apache culture or
have the native Apache
language present could
help students.

Allowing students to quietly observe to get the

visually processing they
need can help these students.

Being understanding of
this tardiness or absentness is important, but it
could be more helpful to
have some of the materials and information available for students to get
before they are gone.
Having time set aside if
students need extra help
could help, too.

Role playing could be a

good strategy for Apache
students and students of
other cultures to gain an
understanding of other
cultures and gain a more
complete understanding
of both sides of historical
events.

Due to the many important

cultural ceremonies, attendance or tardiness could be
an issue for Apache students at times.
Ensuring Apache students
see appropriate representation of Apache and other
Native American cultures in
the classroom is important
to this culture. For example,
learning about Native American tribes and their differences at times besides
Thanksgiving.

South Indian
Heather

Family is highly valued.

Education is also valued.

Adult children often continue living in the

family home until they are married.

Working hard and being successful

is highly respected and desired.
Cheating is accepted in their culture
because the right answer is
more important than the means
of getting it.

Values

One being the 15th of August, which is

Indias Independence Day.
Traditions

Language

Social Norms

Jordan

Another tradition when celebrating birthdays is eating the cake before the
meal during the celebration.

Also, it is very important that the

birthday person gets to dress
their best for their birthday.

In an Indian school, the average elementary student would be learning three

languages: Hindi (the national language), the state local language
(differs according to each state), and
English (the global language).

South India along is made up of several states each of which speak a

different language.

It is common for most upper class families to hire those of lower classes to
do tasks such as cooking, cleaning,
driving, yard work, and nanny work.

The father is the head of the home.

In Southern India, cutting in line is a

norm, eating with hands is common,
and standing in the presence of authority, especially teachers, are just a
few of the social norms.

Most educated Indian students will

be fluent in at least two to three
languages at their point of high
school graduation.

Male children are more desired than

female children.
Women often have a hard, oppressive life, unless they are in the
upper class of society.

India has a rich heritage and a deep history. The Indian students may have an insight or different
views on historical
events and political
happenings.

An Indian timeline
would stretch back to
the early civilization
period.

Indian families are

generally very close
and would provide
their student with a
feeling of security and
support throughout
their childhood and
education.

Indian students are

often very respectful
to authority and will
take their education
seriously.

South Indian students

will generally work
best in a teacher centered environment

Math and Science are

highly prized content
areas as well as English.

In India, the math

decimal system is
different from the one
used in the US.

Sometimes students
from India will have
learned some England
English as opposed to
American English and
may have slight difference in their vocabulary or the pronunciation of some letters

Southern Indian students can work really

well independently if
guided in the right
way

Being able to identify

which students are
struggling in that area
and proving them a
math buddy or a
comparison chart
would help them
catch up to speed in
that area.

Giving students a safe

space to practice their
English and make adjustments as needed
would benefit these
students.

Mexican-American

Values

Gabriella

Andrea

There is a high value on family, including

extended family. Parents are highly respected.

There is a strong sense of national pride in the

Mexican-American culture.

Piatas

Quinceaera

Day of the Dead celebrations

Independence Day, which celebrates Mexicos

independence from Spain in 1810, is celebrated on Sept. 16 (Zimmerman, 2015).

The language for the Mexican-American

culture is Spanish and English.

It was found that Mexican Americans fluency

decreased 36 percent by the fourth generation, (Telles, E., & Ortiz, V., 2008).

Traditions

Language

Studies have found that the first generation

of Mexican-Americans were fluent in
Spanish, (Telles, E., & Ortiz, V., 2008).
English is the language that the first had
more struggled with.
As generations past in Mexican-American
culture, they become more fluent in
English and less fluent in Spanish.
The male is the dominant role in society and
also in households.

Social Norms

Families usually enjoy eating together.

Positions over money is important.

There are some Mexican-American people that

have strong pride in their heritage and also
their language. This is something that can
affect the Mexican Americans in their language of English because they may only
want to know their native language.

Mexican American are usually late for events

such as parties; which is something normal.

The responsibilities of the male are to provide for the family and the woman is to
care for the household.

For the male it is essential to gain respect from

others, (Nauert, R., 2008).

The children responsibility is to get an education.

Mexican Americans like are vary social are like

to be united.

Relationships over
independence

Caring/friendships

Family importance
can mean more
parent support in
the classroom
sometimes.

Respectful to adults

Believe they must

earn respect

Student pride in their

native language might
lead to them to not
want to learn English
in order to preserve
their native language.

Students might have

trouble with school if
their families come
first because they
might have to work or
have lots of responsibilities that keep
them busy.
Students of this culture might have difficulty with learning
English and might be
self-conscious about
it.
This problem could
lead to these students
being shy and less involved in class discussions.

Small groups for them to become comfortable with people

Keep parents informed/

communication

Know if they have siblings or

cousins in other classes

Be caring/create a relationship with them

Sharing in groups/pairs instead of in front of the class

Motivating student to learn

the language. This can be to
help students that have pride
in their Spanish language and
many not want to learn English. Something that can be
done is telling them that if
they are bilingual it can help
them in their future.

What can be used for classroom management is showing respect to the class so
they can respect the teacher. The good thing is that
they believe that they have to
gain respect.

Have student work more in

groups can be something that
can help learn learning because their culture is very social. It make learning beneficial for them then just making
the class teacher centered.

Adley-SantaMaria, B. (1997). White Mountain Apache Language: Issues in Language

Shift, Textbook Development, and Native Speaker-University Collaboration. Retrieved
October 15, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED415070.pdf
Apache Indian Tribe Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2015, from http://nativeamerican-indian-facts.com/Southwest-American-Indian-Facts/Apache-Indian-TribeFacts.shtml

Billings, S. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching. Research Starters: Education (Online

Edition).
Levinson, B., Borman, K., Eisenhart, M., Foster, M., & Fox, A. (2000).Schooling the symbolic animal: Social and cultural dimensions of education. Lanham, Md.: Rowman &
Littlefield.
Makofsky, N. (n.d.). Holidays & Traditions in Mexico. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from
http://traveltips.usatoday.com/holidays-traditions-mexico-13611.html
Native American Netroots. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2015, from http://
nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/1735
Nauert, R. (2008, January 5). Culture Influences Mexican-American Attitudes. Retrieved
October 15, 2015.
Telles, E., & Ortiz, V. (2008, July 21). Mexican American Culture and Language. Retrieved October 15, 2015
The Beliefs of the Apache Native Americans | The Classroom | Synonym. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2015, from http://classroom.synonym.com/beliefs-apache-nativeamericans-6291.html
Zimmermann. (2015, February 10). Mexican Culture: Customs & Traditions. Retrieved
October 15, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/38647-mexican-culture.html