English as a Second Language Cultural/Geographic Resources
Understanding the cultural backgrounds of students has an important role in increasing student learning and achieving academic success. To increase the capacity of classroom teachers to understand the culture of their students, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, in collaboration with the Center for Schools and Communities and the International Service Center has developed a series of geographic/cultural resources by country for use by teachers. These resources provide helpful insight and an increased awareness of the lives and backgrounds of students outside the school setting.
The following geographic/cultural resources for select countries of origin are available: Albania, Burma, Cambodia, China, Cuba, India, Iraq, Korea, Nepal, Russia, Somalia, Ukraine and Vietnam.
Additional Resources
If you do not see a country listed and would like to request consideration in having that resource created, please contact John Nau, Pennsylvania Department of Education at (717) 214-9391 or jnau@state.pa.us. Follow-up action on these requests will be taken when enough requests for the same country are made and funds become available.
