Building Multi-Cultural Awareness--A Teaching Approach for Learner Centered Education.

Overview & Synopsis

The Lutheran Settlement House Women's Program has offered many different avenues of personal exploration for more than 5,000 women in its Philadelphia neighborhood for 6 years. The women's program components include adult basic education classes, self-development workshops, a community-based degree-oriented college program, a bilingual crisis hotline for abused women and children, employment counseling and job readiness training, personal counseling, and free childcare for participants. This manual is designed to describe and share the experience of developing this multi-cultural awareness project. The manual articulates a learner-centered approach for the development of curriculum materials for adult education classes which explore and analyze people's experiences living in a multi-racial, multi-cultural community. The process, teaching approach, and materials used in the project are included in the manual, along with a description of the women's program. The manual also contains a bibliography and list of resources. Appendixes to the manual provide techniques for six inservice sessions and the materials for the project's "Lighthouse" program. (KC)