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Hello, my name is Alicia Braswell and I have 2 beautiful daughters; Alexis and Destiny. I will be presenting my cultural interview in the following slides. My interviewee’s name will be: Mr. J His wife’s name will be: Mrs. J The oldest son’s name will be: BIG J The youngest son’s name will be: Lil’ J

* All of the pictures presented on the slides are NOT the actual pictures of the family interviewed; these pictures are all from the website or clip art; however this is a real picture of me and my family. * 2

Mr. J is 46 years old and is African American, born in 1967 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Graduated from High School,

completed 2 years of college and received a diploma from high school and college

He is a husband and proud

father of 2 boys and is now a U.S. Citizen

Mrs. J is 32 years old and is African American, born in 1981 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Graduated from High School

and did not attend college but did receive her high school diploma

She is a wife and proud mother

of 2 boys and is now a U.S. Citizen

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Mr. and Mrs. J like to go to dinner and a movie for fun and they enjoy going to church as a

family

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In 1998 Mr. J ran away from home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and crossed the border on a bus to Kenya

He had stay in Kenya for 2 years. In the year 2000 the American Government finally

granted him asylum to come to the United States because of the Ethnicity War

He was granted an immigrant visa to come to the USA and was accepted by the United Nations in the year 2000

After being in the U.S. for 10 days he applied for a social security card then 2 years later

applied for his green card. He had to keep his green card for 5 years and he also had to turn in his green card to immigration in order to apply for citizenship

He filled out lots and lots of paperwork, got his background checked thoroughly, everything checked out ok and all his paperwork was completed and turned in

After he turned in his green card, completed all the necessary paperwork , and getting background check approved, he then had to take oath during a big ceremony at the immigration office.

Finally after showing the immigration office his driver’s license and social security card, he

received his Citizenship Certificate becoming a citizen of the USA. Mr. J has been in the US for 13 years now. He said it was so difficult becoming a citizen and Americans take being a citizen for granted.

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Mrs. J has been in the US for 15 years because her mom was already in the US since the late 80s. Her mom filed to bring her here as an immigrant from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1998; coincidentally the same city and country Mr. J was from.

She had to follow the same procedure as her soon-to-be husband in

order to apply for her green card and then eventually become a citizen of the USA as well.

She had to follow all of the exact same steps as Mr. J in order to become

a citizen of this great United States of America. After 5 years of both of them having their green card, they both became citizens after all the long immigration process. Mr. J said he and his wife loves this country and do not take one moment for granted. He said it is such a blessing to be an American; wow!

Mrs. J had a flat tire…

She stopped at a Texaco and Mr. J worked there

Mr. J helped Mrs. J change her tire

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He then asked what does he

get for helping her She said her phone number He couldn’t find her number

and accidentally washed her phone number in a pair of pants

Can you believe it? He could still read the phone number and called her after a week had passed

This was meant to be and on top of that they were from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia… OMG!!

Referred to as the “Horn of Africa”

Common Language is Amharic

13 months of sunshine because very close to equator 7

Mr. & Mrs. J met in 2002; he was 35 and she was 21; this was 2 years after Mr. J had come to the US

They dated two years after that and got married in 2004

One year later they had their first son in 2005; BIG J

They had Lil’ J 3 years after that in 2008

They have been married for 9 years and living a happy Christian life says Mr. J.

These are a couple of traditional weddings

held in Ethiopia

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BIG J is 8 years old and is African American

Born in 2005 in the United States of America

He is in second grade He wants to become a

policeman or a lawyer when he grows up

Lil’ J is 5 years old and is African American

Born in 2008 in the United States of America

He is in first grade He wants to become a

professional football player when he grows up

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For FUN the Boys like to play soccer, ride their bikes, and

play video games

Religion 60% Christians 40% Muslim in

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Child-rearing Practices To discipline their sons they put

them in time-out

Holidays Their family celebrates all holidays Americans celebrate; especially Easter. They fast 2 weeks before

Easter Sunday

Food Injera is a popular bread in Ethiopia and Mrs. J makes homemade apple juice. Their family do not eat fast food or drink soda because of the sugar.

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In America BIG J and Lil’ J love their private

Orthodox Christian School Mr. J loves that there are only 14-

15 kids in a class & they each have their own desk

Mr. and Mrs. J like that the teachers check homework , that their kids wear uniforms, and also that teachers communicate via email to keep them informed

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Mr. J says there are 40-50

students in 1 class in Ethiopia They do not have desk but

instead they are all crowded at each table

The teachers are underpaid so they do not care if children come to school or if they are late

The teachers don’t check for homework and just simply do not care about educating the children

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The only ISSUE is that the teachers do not teach about cultural differences in class

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The Multicultural Education Approach is geared towards everyone. Multicultural Education is a popular term used by educators to describe

education policies and practices that recognize, accept, and affirm human differences and

similarities related to gender, race, disabilities, and sexuality.

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“Diverse identities of diverse individuals and

communities reflect principles of equity and

justice for everyone”

Curriculum

The curriculum should be reworked so that it regularly presents diverse perspectives, experiences, and contributions that are often omitted or misrepresented.

Educators need to learn more about each student in their class by finding out what other language they speak, their family tradition and culture, and learn about various groups and gain some depth of content knowledge.

Multicultural Assignment

In order for students in class to learn about the culture of each of their classmates, the teacher needs to have all the students to choose a partner and do an age appropriate project or paper about the culture of that student they chose.

The students will do an oral class presentation about the entire

culture background of the student they chose. They must also have

pictures regarding this culture and everyone will post their paper and

pictures in the classroom for the entire semester so that teachers

can include each of these culture backgrounds in his/her lectures each day. This way the students can really understand and learn

the diverse cultures in there class. This should be mandatory for all teachers at all grade levels K-12

and at the college level.

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I found the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia culture quite interesting. It made me realize how blessed Americans are and to appreciate my

citizenship more and not take it for granted. This interview really taught me the process of immigration and it made me realize that we as Americans may not be perfect but we have a lot more than

some countries can offer in terms of a great education for our children and most of all freedom to just be “Free”. I would like to say

that I really appreciate Mr. J taking time out of his busy schedule and for agreeing to complete this interview with me and allowing me to get to know his family better. Multicultural Education is very

important in society today.

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Addis, Ababa Ethiopia website http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Addis+Ababa+Ethiopia&Form=IRTRRL#a

Sleeter, C.E., & Grant, C.A. (2009). Making Choices for Multicultural Education: Five approaches to race, class, and gender (6th ed.) Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Cultural Interview Presentation 40 / 40 Final Calculated Grade Points 100 / 100