Cultural Representations: Culture and Teaching Materials

            The readings for this week were about cultural representations and how the materials used for teaching can cause stereotypes about races. As I was reading Construction of Racial Stereotypes in English as a Foreign Language Textbooks by Cosette Taylor-Mendes, I kept thinking about the textbooks that I have read and what and how races were represented in the images. When people ask me what I am, I will say that I am Asian. In my group of friends, there have never really been any Asians, so I always get to hear the stereotypical Asian jokes and I usually laugh it off, but after the readings this week, I think that it is terrible that I’m always the token Asian among my friends. Although I know that my friends do not really mean it since most of the time it is harmless and funny, but I think about how people base their views from the images they are presented about races and the stereotypes that they create.

            As a future bilingual teacher, I know how important it is to promote multiculturalism in the classroom. I want to make sure that all languages, races, and cultures are equally represented around my class. I agree that “it is important for teachers to consider the images present in English-language textbooks prior to entering the classroom.” I think it is also important to be able to discuss about the issues that images imply with our students. So my question is this: When is it appropriate to discuss the issues of stereotypes of race and culture?