Imagine\nthat you are trying to get accustomed with a new language and education system.\nThe scenario can be quite intimidating. In the Middle East, most students are\nArabic speaking, even if they have different dialects and come from different\ncultural background. The ELL students use Arabic most of the time in\nconversation. They speak Arabic at home as their parents were not fluent in\nspeaking English or didn’t know the language. These students have phonetic\nissue ie, identifying the difference p/b; j/g is a big challenge, as there is\nno ‘/p/’ or ‘/j/’ in Arabic. Ex: Pepsi is Bebsi, Park is Bark, Jam is gam etc.\nComprehension is a major challenge for Arabic speaking students. When they\nspeak, they have the tendency of translating everything in their native language,\nwhich ends up by saying or writing wrong phrases. Ex: ‘Close the light/AC’,\n‘open the light/AC’ instead of ‘switch on the light/AC’ and ‘switch off the\nlight/AC’, drink cigarettes instead of smoke cigarettes. Writing is a big challenge,\nas there is a huge difference between English writing styles and Arabic writing\nstyles, organization and structure. It is written from right to left, which is\nopposite to English. Students even open the book in that manner and sometimes start\nwriting from the back page. These students tend to write endless\nrun-on-sentence, as run- on- sentences are not considered error and are\nacceptable in Arabic. They don’t realize that long sentences are not easy to\nfollow for English readers.

The\nother group is Filipinos. Filipino students generally don’t choose American\nschools for their education as they prefer the Filipino curriculum. ELL Filipinos\ncan communicate fluently in English, even if they have an accent. Like Arab ELL\nstudents these students also have phonetic issue. For them /f/ is /p/. Ex: ‘First\nis Pirst’, ‘Filipino is Pilipino’. Their pronunciations of certain words are noticeable.\nThis proves the Tagalog influence when they speak English language. They tend\nto use ‘Taglish’, which is a mix of Tagalog and English. Filipino English has\nwords which are longer used in English language. They are generally good\nspellers and their fluency is excellent. But, they have immense difficulty in\ncomprehending what they have read. Filipinos often use their eyes, lips, and\nhands to convey a wide range of messages. Filipino parents are very cooperative\nand supportive towards faculty and staff. Filipino culture emphasizes obedience\nand respect.

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Understanding Cultures and Languages- Action Plan