TEACHING
STRATEGY FOR
MULTICULTURAL
STUDENTS
Multicultural education
encompasses more than just
cultural differences. It involves
practices, policies, strategies, and
pedogogical approaches that
adhere to the differences and
interrelationship of student in the
classroom. It also includes an
examination of various stakeholders
like students, teachers, parenting
In the classroom, students learn to
interact effectively with diverse
backgrounds, enhancing their
communication skills, while teachers
adapt their methods to accommodate
each learner’s unique needs;
multicultural education begins with
the teacher’s self-reflection, with Dr.
Leanne Howell offering strategies for
Dr. Leanne Howell Multicultural Education
Strategies inside the classroom
Building relationship with your students. To establish
relationships among students, teachers must find time to speak
and have conversations with students even outside the classroom.
This includes talking with them about the school works, along
with the canteen, how they work with their groupmates, how they
find the homework and exams and other things that would make
them comfortable.
• 2. Approach students with curiosity. The teacher must consider
how the background of the students would affect their class
performances. This includes understanding the reasons why
some students show different behaviors in the classroom rather
3. Cultivate a mindset in the class. Making the students
set up even achievable small goals can help them
achieve progress as they are learning. For students who
find it challenging to improve themselves, the teacher
must emphasize that they are just in the process of
learning and developing, that it is normal to experience
slow progress, but giving them a mindset, that hard
work and dedication will help them achieve their goals
and succeed is still the best way.
4. Help students build confidence. Rewarding students
by recognizing their successful performances, good
deeds, and small victories can build up confidence
among themselves. Celebrating small victories from
5. Promote inclusion. Inclusion can be applied
to students who have different ethnicities,
races, provinces, dialects, genders, etc. It is
about the sense of belongingness the students
should feel in the classroom.
6. Remember students are not the same. It can
be challenging to identify the difference
between students with the same grade level
and age. Teachers must utilize pre-assessments
or profiling to determine where students can
meet their needs in both academic and
instructional experiences to determine whether
7. Focus on culture when designing learning
experiences for students. The teachers should
take the cultural differences and diverse
experiences of the students as an asset to
promote richer learning among the students.
These differences must not be taken as a
hindrance for the teacher to manage the
classroom.
8. Present more examples of diverse literature.
Assessing the text materials in the classroom is
very essential so that the relatability of these
resources to the students is ensured. If the texts
9. Be facilitative. Teachers as facilitators are
very important in the classroom. Learning is not
a one-way process where everything is given by
the teacher to the students. The students
themselves must learn and discover by
themselves through the guidance of the teacher.
10. Align teaching style and physical space to
support objectives. Cooperative learning
activities must adhere to the educational
objectives in the classroom. Ensure that all
students must participate and not just a few
students performing.
11. Design opportunities for students to work together.
Pairing the students with different groupmates
promotes inclusivity inside the classroom. Through
challenging problem-based strategies, the students
solve real issues in cooperation with their group.
Through groupings, the students learn to work together
and create empathy among their classmates.
12. Involve the community. Having a guest speaker to
discuss in the classroom makes the students more
immersed in what is happening in society.
Understanding the current events in the community
from external speakers brings a realistic emphasis on
the students learning since there is an established clear
connection between the lesson and the current
13. Check how school leadership shapes the school
practices. School leadership can be reflected on student
discipline methods in executing diversity and practices
among the school stakeholders such as faculty, staff, and
students. The inclusivity promoted by the school
administrators and leaders helps promote student
success not just in the classroom but also at school.
14. Take a look at the whole school environment.
Multicultural support should not only be visible in the
classroom but also the school. Students might feel
comfortable inside the classroom of a teacher who
upholds inclusivity, but when students are outside the
classroom the inclusivity might be at risk. Thus, more
than the classroom, the school should also be