1.0INTRODUCTIONMalaysia is a cultural country with many different culture and ethnic groups. The multiple cultures have demonstrated the uniqueness of our country. Malaysia has an extremely culturally diverse environment to offer. Not only is it multi-cultural, but it is also filled with many different ethnicities and religions that can broaden our perspective and build our inter-cultural communication skills, preparing us to be a global citizen who will be at home in any country or culture in the world. The three largest ethnic groups in Malaysia are the Malays, Chinese and Indians. They are complemented by minority ethnic races that include the Orang Asli, or aboriginals, the Eurasians, Peranakan and people from East Malaysia such as the Iban, Dayak, Melanau, Kadazandusun, Bajau and others. To add to this abundance of heritages, the different races have been mixing and marrying over a period of time, forming new, distinctive ethnic groups such as the Peranakans and Eurasians who have added colour to Malaysias sociological scene. According to Edward Burnett Tylor (1871), culture is the whole complex, which contains the knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and other capabilities acquired by a person as a member of society.1.1DEFINITION OF PLURAL SOCIETY(MULTI CULTURE)According to Furnivall (1948), the term plural society refers to one in which the different ethnic groups live under a single political administration but, apart from economic transactions, do not interact with each other either socially or culturally. Although Barth (1969) criticises the concept of plural society as vague, preferring the term poly-ethnic, he de nes a plural society as a society combining ethnic contrasts. Nevertheless, under pluralism, different ethnic groups can maintain their distinctive cultural identities. During British colonial rule, which lasted until 1957, Malaya at that time had reected many of Furnivalls descriptions of a plural society, as the three main ethnic groups were located in different geographical areas and conducted different economic activities. They were governed under one political administration (Nazarudin et al. 2003). To date, the population of Malaysia is 27,116,218 (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2008), with the Malays being the largest ethnic group (65%). By constitutional de nition, all Malays are Muslims, and they, along with the natives of Sabah and Sarawak and aboriginal tribes in Peninsular Malaysia, are of cially classi ed as Bumiputra (or sons of the soil) and are accorded a variety of constitutionally enshrined special rights or privileges (Ratnam, 1965; Mohamed Noordin Sopiee, 1976). The Chinese, who came to British Malaya in the early 20th century either voluntarily or through forced migration, form the second largest ethnic group (26%), are mainly Buddhists, and have historically played an important role in trade and business (even in present times). The Indians, mainly Hindu Tamils, from southern India, brought in as workers by the British, make up the third largest ethnic group (8%). The other ethnic groups are classi ed as others.In Malaysia, the objective of nation building and forging national unity amongst the various ethnic groups ranks very high in her educational and political agendas. In fact national unity and integration are the cornerstone of the education policy. It was stated as our major goals of the national education policy as the following: To inculcate and nurture national consciousness through fostering common ideals, values, aspiration and loyalties in order to mould national unity and national identity in a multi-ethnic society. One of the way to achieve these goals is to provide an opportunity for students of different ethnic groups to interact with each other, which is multi cultural education. In essence, the argument holds that bringing all ethnic groups together will lead to cross-racial contact, which will lead to better understanding of other races, or ethnic groups and would promote greater social tolerance and interaction. This belief has guided much of the educational promoting school desegregation especially in USA.

1.2GOALS OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATIONPaul Gorski and Bob Covert (1996; 2000) state that multicultural education has some objectives, such as to have every student achieve to his or her potential, to learn how to learn and to think critically, to encourage students to take an active role in their own education by bringing their stories and experiences into the learning scope, to address diverse learning styles, to appreciate the contributions of different groups who have contributed to our knowledge base, to develop positive attitudes about groups of people who are different from ourselves, to become good citizens of the school, the community, the country and the world community, to learn how to evaluate knowledge from different perspectives, to develop an ethnic, national and global identity, and to provide decision making skills and critical analysis skills so the students can make better choices in their everyday lives.It is important for all students to develop a multicultural perspective in order to enhance a good self-concept and self-understanding, sensitivity to and understanding of others, including cultural groups in the United States and other nations, the ability to perceive and understand multiple, sometimes conflicting, cultural and national interpretations of and perspectives on events, values, and behavior, the ability to make decisions and take effective action based on a multicultural analysis and synthesis, open minds when addressing issues, understanding of the process of stereotyping, a low degree of stereotypical thinking, and pride in self and respect for all peoples (Cortes, 1978). Areas within the educational setting in which multicultural education is implemented are textbooks and instructional materials, curriculum and instruction, teacher behavior, and school climate (Gollnick & Chinn, 1990)

Based on the above statement, then it can be formulated that multicultural education has some goals, such as encouraging students to achieve their potentials optimally, facilitating the students to learn and to think creatively and critically, giving the students to have same opportunities and environments, so that they can grow and develop to their fullest potential cognitively, academically, and affectively, modifying the environmental conditions and educational materials, so that cultural pluralism can be addressed, enabling the students to be a good citizen of the school, the community, country and world community, developing the attitude of respect among students, so that they can be empathy and tolerate one to another, making the students have positive thinking to other people with different characteristics, abilities, cultures, and traditions.

1.3TYPOLOGIES OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION Gary Burnett (1994) stated that multicultural education, however, cannot be all things to all people. It means that several attempts have been made to detail the various educational strategies that fall under the broad umbrella of multicultural education--to develop a "typology." 1.3.1CONTENT-ORIENTED PROGRAMS This is the most common and immediately recognizable variety of multicultural education. Their primary goal is to include content about different cultural groups in the curriculum and educational materials in order to increase students' knowledge about these groups. In its simplest form, this type of program adds a multicultural patina to a standard curriculum, perhaps incorporating a few short readings or a few in-class celebrations of cultural heroes and holidays within the school year. Other versions of content-area programs take a more thorough approach, adding numerous multicultural materials and themes to the curriculum. More sophisticated versions actively transform the curriculum. According to Banks (1994), these programs have three goals: * to develop multicultural content throughout the disciplines; * to incorporate a variety of different viewpoints and perspectives in the curriculum; and * to transform the canon, ultimately developing a new paradigm for the curriculum. 1.3.2STUDENT-ORIENTED PROGRAMSBecause multicultural education is an effort to reflect the growing diversity of America's classrooms, many programs move beyond curricular revisions to specifically address the academic needs of carefully defined groups of students, often minority students. Primarily, as Banks (1994) notes, while curricular programs attempt to increase the body of knowledge about different ethnic, cultural, and gender groups, student-oriented programs are intended to increase the academic achievement of these groups, even when they do not involve extensive changes in the content of the curriculum. As Sleeter and Grant (1993) describe them, many of these programs are designed not to transform the curriculum or the social context of education, but to help culturally or linguistically different students make the transition into the educational mainstream. To do this, these programs often draw upon the varied linguistic and cultural backgrounds of their student bodies. As a result, student-oriented programs can, themselves, take many forms, some of which are not typically thought of as types of multicultural education. 1.3.3SOCIALLY-ORIENTED PROGRAMS Socially-oriented programs seek to reform both schooling and the cultural and political contexts of schooling, aiming neither simply to enhance academic achievement nor to increase the body of multicultural knowledge, but to have the much broader impact of increasing cultural and racial tolerance and reducing bias. According to Banks (1994), this category of program encompasses not only programs designed to restructure and desegregate schools, but also programs designed to increase all kinds of contact among the races: programs to encourage minority teachers, anti-bias programs, and cooperative learning programs. As Sleeter and Grant (1993) describe it, this type of multicultural education emphasizes "human relations" in all its forms, and incorporates some characteristics of the other two program types; that is, it can entail curricular revisions in order to emphasize positive social contributions of ethnic and cultural groups, while using research on learning styles to enhance student achievement and reduce racial tensions within the classroom. But Sleeter and Grant (1993) also extend this type of multicultural education to include a much broader spectrum of programs with socially- oriented and social activist goals. The programs they refer to, which are much less common--and which can be much more controversial--emphasize pluralism and cultural equity in the American society as a whole, not simply within the schools. In order to reach their goals, such programs can employ a number of approaches. Many emphasize the application of critical thinking skills to a critique of racism, sexism, and other repressive aspects of American society; some emphasize multilingualism; others attempt to examine issues from a large number of viewpoints different from that of the predominant culture; still others can utilize cooperative learning approaches and decision-making skills in order to prepare students to become socially-active citizens.

1.4ISSUES OF ETHNICITY IN MALAYSIASince independence in 1957, it is fair to say that the state of the plural society in Malaysia is a far cry from Furnivalls plural society, in spite of inheriting social, economic and political vestiges of the colonials policy of divide and rule in the country, in which many ethnic groups already existed at that time (Ruslan, 2003). There have been many instances when relations between ethnic groups were fraught with tension and distrust. Thus, the process to bring about national integration is indeed a big challenge. The term integration has been de ned as a process whereby political actors in several distinct national settings are persuaded to shift their loyalties, expectations and political activities toward a new centre (Haas in Syed Serajul Islam, 2008). In brief, national integration is a process of bringing together discrete elements of a society into a more integrated whole, or to make out of many small and diverse societies a closer approximation of one nation (Wriggins in Syed Serajul Islam, 2008). The issue of race or ethnicity has been the most persistent social dilemma in Malaysian society. Some writers in national newspapers argue that Malaysian universities have done poorly in their attempts to foster ethnic integration (Kamaruzaman, 2006; Sidek, 2007). Many observers point ngers at institutions of higher education for failing to unite diverse students. These critics contend that instead of uniting student bodies, current campuses are in danger of breeding intolerance, ethnocentrism and segregated communities on campus (Segawa, 2007). These matters require urgent attention. This is because many believe that higher education is the key to bridging racial differences, given its atmosphere of academic freedom and collegiality. Because universities often provide the opportunity for students to interact with others from varied ethnic, economic and social backgrounds, effective new strategies to address the racial divide become critical.

1.4.1PAST RESEARCHFindings of a study on the inter-ethnic relations of students in institutions of higher education indicate that the disposition towards ethnicity has been internalised in the self as the product of cultural capital gained from individual history and social processes in social settings, including that of education. Such disposition may be due to socialisation processes at home and in school (Amir, 2004; Faridah & Amir, 2004). Rabushkas (1971) early study on ethnic attitudes among university students in a public university shows that the university was a highly polarised place. A research report on Practices toward Unity in Six Schools by the Planning and Research Unit of the Ministry of Education (1995) shows that these schools have yet to achieve their objectives of shared values and practices toward unity. According to Mat Saat (2004), a multi-ethnic society that harbours prejudice and suspicion carries a high risk of racial tension. However, a number of studies have shown that campus communities that are more racially diverse tend to create rich educational experiences that help students to learn and prepare them better for participation in a democratic society (Astin, 1993; Chang, 1999; Gurin et al, 2002). For example, students from diverse ethnic groups often have differing opinions and viewpoints about a wide range of pressing contemporary issues such as religion, war, terrorism, the death penalty, free speech and the prevalence of discrimination (Ancis et al, 2000; Chang, 2003). Because of the power of diversity to shape life experiences, it can create a rich and complex social learning environment that can subsequently be applied as an educational tool to facilitate students development.1.5 HIDDEN CURRICULUMHidden curriculum refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school. While the formal curriculum consists of the courses, lessons, and learning activities students participate in, as well as the knowledge and skills educators intentionally teach to students, the hidden curriculum consists of the unspoken academic, cultural, and social messages that are communicated to students while they are in school.The hidden-curriculum concept is based on the recognition that students recognize and absorb lessons in school that may or may not be part of the formal course of studyfor example, how they should interact with peers, teachers, and other adults; how they should perceive different races, groups, or classes of people; or what ideas and behaviours are considered acceptable or unacceptable. The hidden curriculum is described as hidden because it is usually unacknowledged or unexamined by students, educators, and the wider community. And because the values and lessons reinforced by the hidden curriculum are often the accepted status quo, it may be assumed that these hidden practices and messages dont need to changeeven if they are contributing to undesirable behaviours and results, whether its bullying, conflicts, or low graduation and college-enrolment rates, for example.It should be noted that a hidden curriculum can reinforce the lessons of the formal curriculum, or it can contradict the formal curriculum, revealing hypocrisy or inconsistencies between a schools stated mission, values, and convictions and what students actually experience and learn while they are in school. For example, a school may claim that its committed to ensuring that all students succeed academically, but a review of its actual performance data may reveal significant racial or socioeconomic discrepancies when it comes to test scores, graduation rates, and other measures of success. And because what is not taught in school can sometimes be as influential or formative as what is taught, the hidden curriculum also extends to subjects, values, and messages that are omitted from the formal curriculum and ignored, overlooked, or disparaged by educators.While the hidden curriculum in any given school encompasses an enormous variety of potential intellectual, social, and environmental factorsfar too many to extensively catalogue herethe following examples will help to illustrate the concept and how it might play out in schools: Cultural expectations: The academic, social, and behavioural expectations established by schools and educators communicate messages to students. For example, one teacher may give tough assignments and expect all students to do well on those assignments, while another teacher may give comparatively easy assignments and habitually award all students passing grades, even when their work quality is low. In high-expectations class, students may learn much more and experience a greater sense of accomplishment, whereas students in the low-expectations class may do just enough work to get by and be comparatively uninterested in the lessons they are being taught. Similarly, schools may unconsciously hold students from different cultural backgroundsfor example, recently arrived immigrant students or students with disabilitiesto lower academic expectations, which may have unintended or negative effects on their academic achievement, educational aspirations, or feelings of self-worth. Cultural values: The values promoted by schools, educators, and peer groups, such as cliques, may also convey hidden messages. For example, some schools may expect and reward conformity, while punishing nonconformity, whereas other schools might celebrate and even encourage nonconformity. In one school, students learn that following the rules, acting in expected ways, and not questioning adults are rewarded behaviours, while in other schools students learn that personal expression, taking initiative, or questioning authority are valued and rewarded behaviours. Similarly, if biased or prejudicial behaviours and statements are tolerated in a school, students may embrace the values that areeither explicitly or implicitlyaccepted or modelled by adults and other students. Cultural perspectives: How schools recognize, integrate, or honour diversity and multicultural perspectives may convey both intentional and unintended messages. For example, some schools may expect recently arrived immigrant students and their families to assimilate into American culturefor example, by requiring the students to speak English in school at all times or by not providing translated informational materials or other specialized assistance to parents and families. Other schools, however, may actively integrate or celebrate the multicultural diversity of the student body by inviting students and parents to share stories about their home country, for example, or by posting and publishing informational materials in multiple languages. In one school, non-American cultures may be entirely ignored, while in another they may be actively celebrated, with students experiencing feelings of either isolation or inclusion as a result. Curricular topics: The subjects that teachers choose for courses and lessons may convey different ideological, cultural, or ethical messages. For example, the history of the United States may be taught in a wide variety of ways using different historical examples, themes, and perspectives. A teacher may choose to present the history of the world or the United States from the perspective of the European settlers and explorers, or she may choose to present it from the perspective of displaced Native Americans or colonized African and Asian peoples. In the first case, teaching American history from a strictly Eurocentric perspective would likely minimize or ignore the history and suffering of Native Americans (a common educational practice in past decades). Curricular topics may also often intersect with, or be influenced by, political, ideological, and moral differences that are broadly contentious in American societye.g., teaching evolution in science courses, multiculturalism in social studies, or sex education in health courses. Teaching strategies: The way that schools and teachers choose to educate students can convey both intentional and unintended messages. For example, if students earn good grades or extra credit for turning in homework on time, listening attentively, participating during class, raising their hands, and generally doing things they are told to do, the students may learn that compliance is important and that certain behaviours will be academically rewarded and allowed to compensate for learning deficiencies. On the other hand, instructional strategies such as project-based learning or community-based learning, to name just two options, may communicate specific messagesfor example, that skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, and attributes such as persistence, resourcefulness, and self-motivation, are valued and important (in the case of project-based learning) or that being informed about and involved in local issues are valued and important (in the case of community-based learning). School structures: The way that a school or academic program is organized and operated can convey messages to students. For example, if non-English-speaking students are largely separated from their peers for most of the school day, or students with physical or learning disabilities are enrolled in specialized programs that are relegated to windowless classrooms in the basement, these organizational decisions may have unintended effects on the students sense of cultural belonging, self-worth, or academic potential. In addition, the structure of a school program can also mirror or reinforce cultural biases or prejudices. For example, students of colour and students from lower-income households are often disproportionately represented in lower-level courses, and special-education programs may inadvertently reinforce some of the social stigmas that children and adults with disabilities experience outside of school. Institutional rules: The formal rules in a school may communicate a wide variety of intentional and unintentional messages to students. For example, some schools require students to wear school uniforms, some ban certain types of attire (short skirts, clothing with images and language considered to be inappropriate), and others have very liberal or permissive clothing policies. While the intent of formal school rules and policies tell students how they are expected to behave, the degree to which they are enforced or unenforced, or the ways in which they are enforced, may communicate messages the undermine or contradict their stated intent. In this case, stricter dress-code policies may communicate that students will be judged on appearances both inside and out of school based, while looser policies might communicate that they will be judged on other qualities.1.5.1 REFORMGenerally speaking, the concept of a hidden curriculum in schools has become more widely recognized, discussed, and addressed in recent decades. Ideas such as white privilege, equity, voice, and multicultural educationto name just a fewhave arguably led to greater tolerance, understanding, and even celebration of racial, physical, and cultural differences in public schools. In addition, school communities, educators, and students are more likely to actively and openly reflect on or question their own assumptions, biases, and tendencies. For example, topics such a bullying and diversity are now regularly and widely discussed in schools, and academic lessons, assignments, readings, and materials are now more likely to include multicultural perspectives, topics, and examples. Political and social pressures, including factors such as the increased scrutiny that has resulted from online media and social networking, may also contribute to greater awareness of unintended lessons and messages in schools. For example, harmful, hurtful, or unhealthy student behaviours are now regularly surfaced on social-networking sites such as Facebook or Instagram, which often leads to greater awareness of student behaviours or social trends.That said, a hidden curriculum is, by nature, hidden, which means that many of its lessons and messages are difficult to perceive or acknowledge for any number of reasons. For example, long-standing policies may become so deeply embedded in a school culture that people simply forget to question them, or a school faculty that prides itself on celebrating multicultural diversity may find it emotionally difficult to acknowledge and openly discuss behaviours that seem to contradict that identity. For this reason, every school will always have some form of hidden curriculum.

1.6IMPLICATIONS ON MULTICULTURAL EDUCATIONFor the consequence, culture also effect on education. Everyone has right to have an education even in a different culture. So in this context, teacher needs to create a friendly culture environment for students that came from many different cultures to sit and learn. Teacher also needs to know the students background and necessity to wisely adapt the teaching and learning so that the student performance can be fully maximized.

Excellent teachers are those who can inspire the intellectual, social, and personal development of all their students to their highest potential. These students are increasingly diverse in terms of race, culture, and socioeconomic back ground, as well as personal knowledge and experience. (Edward & Kuhlman,2007)

As teachers, our main goal is to strive for the intellectual, social and personal development of our students to their highest potential. Teacher wants to provide each student with an equal opportunity to learn. Teachers knowledge and understanding of culture can help all students reach their potential. Students bring to school, not only differing racial and ethnic heritages, but also a wide range of histories, perspectives, experiences, expectations, and approaches to learning (Hixson, 1991). All of these factors will influence childrens educational experience. The increasingly diverse student population requires that teachers have a broader range of skills and knowledge to meet these diverse needs of the student body (Bynoe, 1998). It is unacceptable for teachers to have little respect for their students, or to blame poor school performance on the fact that the student did not come prepared to adapt to the school environment (Hixson, 1991). Teachers must recognize the impact that cultural differences can have on children and childrens education. Teachers who are aware of the impacts of cultural differences are more likely to bring childrens different cultures into the classroom (Gay, 1994).Baruth, L.G and Manning, M.L (2004), multicultural education is both a concept and deliberate process designed to teach learners to recognize, accept and appreciate differences in culture, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, religion, special needs and gender. Most people agree that the population of Malaysia will continue to grow more and more diverse. Schools will be challenged to address the needs of students from many backgrounds.

An education that is multicultural is comprehensive and fundamental to all educational endeavors. Given an understanding of the nature of human differences and the realization that individuals approach concepts from their own perspectives, advocates of education that is multicultural are consistent in their belief that respect for diversity and individual differences is the concepts central ingredient. (Tiedt.P.L. and Tiedt I.M, 2002)

Referred from the statement above, it clearly seen that multicultural classroom can act as catalyst in shaping children self-belief and respect for other individuals. It is compulsory for teacher to inculcate this kind of thought to children so that they can be open and be accepted during the teaching and learning process occurs. New approaches need to be done by the teacher nowadays to accommodate the needs of a diverse population. Malays, Chinese and Indians are among the major ethics that consist in Malaysia today as Malaysian is a multicultural country. The variety of ethnic groups, with their own unique lifestyles and value systems will be living together. Razak Report in (1956) stated that, good education must reflect diversity, encourage understanding of various cultures and lifestyles. The Razak Report (1956) advocated that education system should encourage a commitment to share values and should enable pupils to respond positively to these. Therefore, the main goals are to change attitudes among the multiethnic pupils and to develop a pattern of education that enables all pupils to give their best. Education system in Malaysia should think several recommendations that might improve the educational experience, such as making the instruction and assessment more culturally relevant and responsive. One of aspect that needs to consider in Malaysia education system is its curriculum itself. Curriculum, in its most simple, essential, commonly understood form, is the "what" of education. It is crucial to academic performance and essential to culturally responsive pedagogy. Even the most "standard" curriculum decides whose history is worthy of study, whose books are worthy of reading, which curriculum and text selections that include myriad voices and multiple ways of knowing, experiencing, and understanding life can help students to find and value their own voices, histories, and cultures. Discovering diversity takes creativity, extra effort, diligence, and courage on the teacher's part. The diversity in socio-culture is a crystal clear fact in a country like Malaysia which consist of different ethnic like Malay, Chinese and Indian which happens to be three of the major ethnic in the country and not to be forgotten the aborigines in Sabah and Sarawak. Every ethnic has its own socio-culture that is been inherited from their ancestors. According to Oxford Dictionary (2014), states that culture can be defined as the attitudes and behaviour characteristic of a particular social group. It also indicates intellectual and manners. In education context, diversity in socio-culture is not only seen as races, ethnic and tradition only but it also consists of bigger scope which contend and trust. The diversity in socio-culture in the society system is directly affecting the development of education system in general and to the atmosphere when handling the lessons activity in the classroom. Thus, suitable curriculum needs to be done to suit with all culture without any differentiation. According to Aundrey Denise Bowser (2008), multicultural education is a way of promoting unity and respecting diversity among all individuals. The multicultural education is not only for fulfilling humans need but it is also to increase the unity among races. With the appropriate approaches and activities, teacher can actually provoke the multiracial students to endeavor unity. For example, teacher can use group work approach that had been introduced by famous psychologist, Jacob Kounin. With different races member in a group, it can slowly activate unity among themselves through cooperation in completing the task. Students will automatically set their own environment to socialize among others. Despite of that, a suitable activity also can arouse unity among multiracial students in teaching and learning. Teacher need to wise in planning activity that can cover that particular aspect.Other than that, the implication that can be derived from having multicultural students is encourages interactions among students widely in the classroom. Interaction in the classroom is one of the aspect that need emphasizes by the teacher. Through interactions students are able to socialize with each other without using difference in religion and belief as obstacle for them to interact. Interaction is one of the medium for the students to interact for the sake of learning and also socializing by getting to know and understand each other. Because of difference in learning style and motivation, it can helps in increasing the achievement in term in negative behavior. Teacher need to make sure every make sure they behave in a positive behavior to avoid students being impelled by the negative actions. Students can also able to experiences learning in a fun and exciting way. Classroom that has been instilled with friendly culture is capable in making sure that every member of the class will always be ready every time teaching and learning sessions takes place. Attention and focus of the students is capable in stimulating them to give more cooperation with the teacher in every class activity. The best stimulation is when teacher is able to attract students interest to use their five senses during the lesson. This consists of observing, focusing, listening, jotting down the notes, questioning, answering and responding towards activity done by the teachers. Cultural friendly environment is has become the main factor in creating a fun interactive learning session.

Before focusing on students acceptance in learning, we must set the mindset of the teacher first. Teacher is a backbone in teaching and learning process. So, it is must for teacher to mentally prepare in conducting multicultural classroom. Teachers in multicultural classrooms must be open to their students and put forth the effort needed to get to know their students inside and outside of class. If a teacher is hesitant about being open, the class will reciprocate and the students will become estranged from one another and the teacher.

In order to be open, teachers must be interested in their students, fearless, willing to try new and different things, sure of themselves in order to avoid taking things personally, and non-judgmental of his or her students. Also, openness is not making assumptions and being prepared for the unexpected. (Canning, 1995)

After discussing the students' behavior with a fellow teacher, Canning learned that the students were showing her respect and in no way trying to make her feel uncomfortable. Many cultures have many different mores and folkways. Teachers must be open to what the students are doing and find out why they do what they do. This openness will create communication in the class, which will ultimately develop into a classroom that is learning, understanding, and culturally fluent.

In addition to openness, teachers must know the learning patterns of the students in their class. Teachers must understand the learning patterns of the students who grew up in a culture other than their own. The teacher can calmly explain to the students that while critical thinking is wonderful it is not okay to openly criticize the teacher in front of the entire class on a consistent basis. Therefore, teachers need readjusting the participation structure of the classroom in a calm and professional manner. Referring to Jones and Charlotte M (1985), the best way to handle culture clash is to be open, knowledgeable, and not be afraid to talk about the cultural differences in class no matter what discipline the teacher is teaching. An open teacher will create an open class and an open class will have open lines of communication that will create a positive and beneficial learning environment for everyone.In such a multicultural classroom, teacher needs to be aware of students language difference. According to Samuel A. Perez (1994), a teacher who tries to learn the native tongue of her or his students, if only a word or two will convey respect for the culture of his or her students and increase their potentially suffering self-esteem. Student will be demotivated when their language are not be understood by others. This will lead to communication blockage among their classmates. Introducing the language or culture of all students in the class into the curriculum will communicate that students of that culture are important. In fact, Teacher needs to be sensible in order to help student in narrowing their language difference. As we all know, our Malaysia first language is Bahasa Melayu. So, teacher has to promote the usage of this language intensively. This is actually depends on the subject that student having in a class. If the students are having English subject, English language has to be in priority. The positive action that has been done by government is Memperkasakan Bahasa Melayu, Mempertabatkan Bahasa Inggeris (MBMMBI). This program has indirectly given positive onwards language difference in a multicultural classroom.Library is a source of information. Many sources such books, magazines, journals, dictionary and encyclopedia can be found in library. Relevance on that, it is very suitable to have a mini library inside a classroom. Howard M. Miller (1997) suggests that one very simple way for all teachers to add multicultural ideas and content to his or her curriculum is to build a classroom library of multicultural literature. From my opinion, I truly agree with the suggestion that Howard M. Miller already suggested. With variety of sources about many different cultures, it will help the students to understand more about each other culture. It also can help teacher in providing materials to teach in a class. Due to variety of culture in a classroom, the presence of cultural materials or source is one of the implications of multicultural towards teaching and learning.For multicultural classroom teacher, religion possesses endless challenge and raises many troubling question (Anita C. Danker, 2005). When it comes to different culture, it always is a different religion. In a multicultural classroom, there are varieties of religions that consist in. So, teachers should be aware of the religions practiced by the different ethnic groups. The main religions are Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Teaching should not touch upon one place of worship only. It should not promote or condemn any type of attire based on any religious beliefs. It should also not belittle the practice of any religion or comment on the procedures of prayers of any religion. There should not be any comparison of the concepts of God. Since religious issue is a very sensitive issue, so teacher should be aware because no religion should be criticized. Most classrooms are of mixed composition. The teacher must be aware not to offend any race in whatever situation. Stereotyping the students according to race should be avoided. Comparison between performances of students of different ethnic groups is not condoned as it can arouse ethnic sentiments. Segregating students in class based on ethnicity is not encouraged. Knowing how and what to degree our students experiences are complicated by issues tied to racial and cultural identities can enables us to take a more thoughtful approach to aspects of classroom life, from taking roll until our students leave us. (Mary Dilg, 2003)On top of that, students show a variety of beliefs and behaviour in a multicultural classroom. It is imperative that the teacher understand such beliefs and behaviour as the lifestyles of the different students. The teacher should not be hasty in passing negative comments on other peoples lifestyles. The teacher should not show any prejudice against certain cultures no matter how primitive they may appear to the teacher. The teacher should avoid showing a negative attitude towards students who come from ethnic groups which are different from the teachers. The teacher should not make negative remarks in anger and refer to students parents or ancestors. The teacher should not ignore students of another ethnic group although there may be only a few of them in the classroom.

2.0CONCLUSIONAs a conclusion, multiculturalism is an important element in the Malaysian school learning environment. It is an awareness that all involved in the school system should not take for granted. In fact, it should be emphasized. Failure to do so may lead to undesirable consequences. Thus, in the classroom, activities for learning should contain elements that will promote multiculturalism. The teacher must make sure that the cultural sensitivities are avoided to enable students to give their cooperation. Positive aspects which are common among the religions practiced in the country should be promoted. Students should also be made aware of the differences between the different ethnic groups and religions. Efforts should be made for them to understand and accept the differences. Mutual respect should be inculcated among the students. Materials writers must ensure that the content of what they write does not violate any cultural, linguistic or religious norms of any group. The school administration should monitor the situation from time to time to effectuate a harmonious atmosphere in the school. As our country continues to exhibit great diversity, the need for understanding and accepting the differences among all people has never been more important. Thus, the challenge for educators is to present an effective multicultural education foundation by means of which all children can learn to accept others. The goal of multicultural education is not only to teach children about other groups or countries. It is also to help children become accustomed to the idea that there are many lifestyles, languages, cultures, and points of view. The purpose of multicultural curriculum is to attach positive feelings to multicultural experiences so that each child will feel included and valued, and will feel friendly and respectful toward people from other ethnic and cultural groups.

One key to helping young children develop a sense of being citizens of the world lies with the early childhood teacher. The disposition exhibited by this individual in promoting everyone's culture will be the successful factor in the child's development of a multicultural perspective. Therefore, teacher needs to fully prepare in order to promote favorable classroom climate for multicultural classroom.

3.0BIBLIOGRAPHYBOOKSBanks, J. A., and Banks, C. A. M. (Eds.) (1993, 2000). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 800-666-9433.Burnett, Gary, (1994), Varieties of Multicultural Education: An Introduction. ERIC Digest 98.Syed Serajul Islam (2008). National integration in Malaysia at 50: Achievements and aspirations. Singapore: Thomson LearningClark, C. (1999). Teachers guide for in the shadow of race. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Miller, H. M. (2002). Becoming a multicultural teacher. The Reading Teacher, 55(4), 346-347.

JOURNALSElectronic Journal of Literacy through Science, Volume 3 (12), 2004MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION: HELPING ALL STUDENTS SUCCEED IN SCIENCEWilson J. Gonzlez-Espada Arkansas Tech UniversityCapella-Santana, N. (2003). Voices of teacher candidates: Positive changes in multicultural attitudes and knowledge. Journal of Educational Research, 96(3), 182-190.Rabushka, A. (1971). Integration in urban Malaysia: Ethnic attitudes among Malays and Chinese. Journal of Asian Studies, 6.

INTERNETSnyder, L. (2003). Discrimination and race. Retrieved on October 15, 2003, from http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~lsnyder/sw301/Discrimination.htmCollier, V. P. (1995). Acquiring a second language for school. Directions in Language & Education. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. Retrieved on February 2, 2004, from http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/ncbepubs/directions/04.htm