Rebecca Skucas

ETEC 565G
Hands on Assignment 2

For this analysis, I opted to look further into the ethnic diversity of east
Vancouver where I currently teach elementary school. This investigation will help me to
gain a better picture of the general population of students in Vancouver. It is essential to
be aware of the cultural make-up of your classroom to understand learner preferences, as
the learning process involves entrenched cultural roots and ways of thinking (Nesbitt,
2003).
Vancouver is a large city comprising of 603,502 people as found in the 2011
Statistics Canada profile. Vancouver is divided up into different pockets highlighting a
variety of ethnic neighbourhoods. Some of which include distinct commercial areas, such
as Chinatown, Little Italy, Punjabi market, and Greektown (Wikipedia, 2016). All of
these commercial communities influence the type of people who decide to live in these
neighbourhoods.
In the Vancouver School district, many teachers will indicate they either teach on
the west or the east side of Vancouver. Most of my experience has been on the east side.
It is valuable to learn more about the documented ethnic diversity in the area I teach as
through my own reflections I have come across my own biases of certain cultures that
have influenced my teaching instruction. In my teaching, I definitely have encountered
some of the struggles highlighted in the framework of Parrish and Linder-VanBerschot
(2010). Awareness and accommodation of cultural differences are the prominent areas of
concern for me in my teaching.
Most of the quantitative data compiled came from official censuses carried out by
the Government of Canada in the last five-years or more. This type of source of
information can be seen as reliable however in the context of looking specifically at
ethnicity there may be some confounded variables. The accuracy of a census is dependent
on those responding to the questions honestly and different groups of people may be
more or less likely to fill out a census and this could be directly related to their culture. In
addition, the census used is over five years old and therefore the numbers are not a true
representation of the current population as there was a 4.4 % increase in population from
2006-2011 (Statistics Canada, 2011). In addition, the city is divided up into six electoral
districts, one of which is titled east Vancouver however its geographical boundaries are
different than the boundaries of the east side in the Vancouver school district. The east
Vancouver city profile used from Statistics Canada showed a smaller area than the actual
geographical position of the east side of Vancouver.
According to Statistics Canada in 2011, the population of east Vancouver was
103,920 with slightly more females than males. The most common ethnic origins in east
Vancouver were Chinese, First Nation, German, Canadian, English, Irish, Scottish,
Ukrainian, Italian, Vietnamese, and Filipino.

30000

25000

20000

15000
Females
10000 Males

5000

Figure 1. Summary graph of common ethnic origins in east Vancouver (Statistics Canada
20110.

As a classroom teacher, my job is to aim to have my entire class of students

succeed in their academic interests. With the roll-out of the revised BC curriculum this
year in which teachers are to support personalized learning plans for their students,
reflecting on a students ethnic background should be part of a learners profile in order
to be inclusive of all students. Parrish and Linder-VanBerschot claim learning
differences is becoming an increasingly critical skill in this time of rapid globalization
and technology-influenced cross-cultural interactions (2010). The focus on how culture
impacts learner processes has become more apparent and should be seen as a regular
component of instruction. However, additional supports for teachers need to be put in
place for this to happen as accommodating a full of class of 30 different culturally diverse
students while still upholding the prescribed curriculum is a tall order.
My findings in the data are not terribly surprising to me as compared to my
experience with the range of ethnic origins I have found in the schools where I have
taught. My current school definitely encompasses many of the dominant ethnicities
mentioned for this area however they are some ethnicities that are more prevalent among
my classroom. In Vancouver, it was mentioned certain neighbourhoods are full with
dense areas of ethnic concentrations and therefore two schools that both reside in the east
side of Vancouver could have vastly different ethnic profiles due to pocket
neighbourhoods of specific ethnicities. My personal observations from the schools that I
have taught highlight this to be true. There are also other variables in place because even
though students live in a certain catchment area they do not necessarily attend the nearest
school for a variety of different reasons. For one, they may select to attend a school that
offers a specific program or a school that offers different before and after school care
programs and this may require students to travel to another region of Vancouver.
The complete investigation of this type of data did reveal to me the range of
ethnic origins that do encompass the area I work on. From statistics Canada there were
easily over 100 different ethnicities documented in east Vancouver. Quantifying the
depth of this data has brought a realization to me that Vancouver is very culturally
diverse leading to a classroom of many different multicultural exchanges and one in
which the teacher needs guidance in order to support the many multicultural situations.

References:

Nisbett, R.E. (2003). The geography of thought: How Asians and westerners think
differently...And why. New York: Free Press.
Parrish, P. & Linder-VanBerschot, J. A. (2010). Cultural Dimension of Learning: Addressing the
Challenges of Multicultural Instruction. International Review of Research in Open and Distance
Learning, 11 (2), 1-19. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/809/1497

2006 Community Profile (2006). Retrieved from Statistics Canada:

http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/92-
591/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CSD&Code1=5915022&Geo2=PR&Code2=59&Data=Cou
nt&SearchText=vancouver&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=59&B1=All&Custom=

Vancouver. Retrieved from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver