A Cross-Cultural Immersion in the U.S.: Changing Preservice Teacher Attitudes Toward Latino ESOL Students

Abstract

This paper describes a two-week cross-cultural immersion experience in the United States for preservice teachers attending a small liberal arts college in the Southeast. This immersion occurs early in their teacher training and is designed to positively affect preservice teachers' attitudes toward Latino students who do not speak English well. As a result of this short, local cross-cultural immersion, preservice teachers enhanced their knowledge, skills, and dispositions about immigration, matching their prior knowledge, culture, preconceptions, misconceptions, and feelings of isolation, with ESOL (English for Speakers & Other Languages) methods and curriculum. Through description and qualitative analyses, this study shows that an immersion of this type, along with an infused multicultural teacher preparation program, can help future teachers address issues of diversity and social justice in their classrooms.

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