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themselves. The teacher must ask open ended questions to stimulate the cognitive activity of the learners and encourage them to seek out answers. The teacher must also offer praise and encouragement during in-class group work to help maintain motivation within the groups. Teachers must also aim to extend participation within the groups and ensure that all group members are involved, without directly interfering in the group dynamic. The teacher must be able to guide the learners through self evaluation and shouldering of responsibility and they must facilitate student learning of cognitive and social skills.

An Overview of Peer Tutoring

Peer tutoring involves structured sessions in which peers are able to teach and learn from each other. This is a good teaching method for a multicultural class as it encourages learners to interact on a one to one basis and get to know and understand one another. It is often the case that in suitable circumstances peers can be more effective mediators than the teacher since, once furnished with the information, they will have very recently been involved in a learning experience, they can acknowledge from personal experience, the areas that need more discussion or definition to become clear and they are often more outspoken and forthright with each other thus limiting misunderstanding. Peer tutoring is usually carried out one on one although it can still be effective in small groups. Peer tutoring is beneficial to the tutor as well as the learner because in order to teach something one has to know about it. It also develops self esteem and motivation to learn as the tutors feel a certain amount of self importance with the responsibility given to them.

The Role of the Teacher

It is the teacher's responsibility to ensure that peer tutors have a thorough understanding of the subject matter so that they do not pass on incorrect information. The teacher must also ensure that there is a structure to the process of tutoring in order for it to be effective. This means that the tutors must understand the manner in which to pass on information as well as to ensure that the learner understands and grasps what is being taught.

Teaching Skills in a Multicultural Environment

In order for a teacher to offer effective education in a multicultural environment they need to develop certain skills to overcome the challenges posed. Importantly a teacher must be able to impart knowledge and information to culturally diverse learners. This infers that effective

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