Practices of Submersion Education and Readiness of Teachers to Teach in a Culturally Diverse Classroom on the Case of Georgia

Abstract

In this article will be introduced the teaching practice and challenges for one of the most popular education programs in Georgia, the Submersion Bilingual Program. The practice of submersion bilingual education includes the learning and teaching process of linguistic majority and minority students together, in the same classroom environment, with the same curriculum in the majority language. The existence of a submersion bilingual program in Georgia is conditioned by the ethnic and linguistic diversity of the country's population. The article is based on a qualitative research in which I studied the attitudes of teachers in submersion schools and their professional readiness to teach in a multilingual classroom. The research analyzes the difference between teachers' expectations towards minority and majority students and the impact of teachers' attitudes and preconceptions on the process of forming expectations towards ethnic students. The article below also highlights the challenges specific to submersion schools, the
methodological knowledge and intercultural skills of teachers, and their practices for effective teaching in a different language environment. At the end of the article the author's conclusions and recommendations are provided which are based on the research findings in order to improve teaching practice.