Major Guidelines To Be Followed in Developing a Successful Bilingual/Multicultural Teacher Education Program.

Overview & Synopsis

Curricular experiences in a bilingual/multicultural teacher education program should be designed around the experiential and conceptual backgrounds of multiethnic children and youth. The concepts, generalizations, content, language patterns, values, attitudes, habits, and cultural heritage familiar to all racial and cultural groups should constitute the core of an effective program. This allows the prospective teacher to acquire the competencies needed to design and implement bilingual cross-cultural programs, function effectively in ethnically diverse classrooms, and carry out "culture context teaching." Every aspect of a multicultural teacher education program (general education, area of specialization, and professional education) should be designed to help the teacher acquire a realistic understanding of a culturally diverse society and assist culturally diverse children in coping with the persistent problems of everyday living. (MSE)