Chapter 12: Across Cultural Boundaries: Immigrant Teachers As Potential for Dialoguing

Immigrant teachers’ stories have been the focus of educational research in recent years. They have become the milieu through which researchers learn about teachers’ lives, careers, and teaching. Many narratives have revealed that in the process of becoming teachers, immigrant teachers encountered problems. These problems were related to their differences in race (Beynon, Ilieva, & Dichupa, 2004), social class (Cruickshank, 2004), immigrant status (Michael, 2006), gender (Walsh, 2007), and language (Braine, 2010). Research has also indicated, however, that immigrant teachers bring their cultural, social, and linguistic capital to schooling and actively use these assets in teaching. They develop a sense of belonging in students (Elbaz, 2005) and use students’ languages as resources for learning; they instill in them pride in their culture (Monzo & Rueda, 2001) and help them learn about other cultures (Ng, 2006). Immigrant teachers become cultural brokers in their communication with parents (Kamhi-Stein, 2004); they see language as a potential for dialoguing and as a way to empower students to acquire new content knowledge (Maum, 2003). Moreover, they involve community members in school activities and become advocates for students (Bascia & Hargreaves, 2000).