I don't think I really considered or cared much about how students from other cultures think students from the United States treat teachers. This is one aspect of cross-cultural students that I have not thought about. Now that I am aware of it, it also brings up the prospect of if I ever go to another country and teach in a classroom where I am the one not from the culture I will need to understand how a teacher is supposed to act to avoid misunderstandings with students and colleagues. I will also need to keep this in mind as I proceed with plans to teach English online since I will have students from many different countries and cultures.
I believe it is important to understand cultural norms and differences to help all students in a classroom to understand one another and me as the teacher. Since I intend to have classes with more than one student using a video chat platform I need to be aware of these and I believe it will be beneficial for me to teach some lessons about cultural differences so that my students are more aware as well.
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Saturday, May 30, 2020
30 May 2020 Week 6 Response To Attributional Tendencies
I learned that attributional tendencies are how people attribute success or failure. Internal attribution means a person attributes their success or failure to herself or himself and attributes the success or failure of others to the person who experienced the success or failure. External attribution means a person attributes their success or failure to other people or things and attributes the success or failure of others to people or things who did not experience the success or failure.
Some of my attributional tendencies are typical, according to Professor Ivers, for someone who grew up in the United States and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And some of mine are not typical. I attribute God and myself for my failures. It's my fault because of something I did and it is God's fault because he allowed the failure to happen. I also attribute successes to myself and God. I succeeded through my efforts and the help of God.
For other people, I do the same. A person failed because of their actions and God allowing them to fail. A person succeeded through their actions and God helping them.
For those I teach and will someday teach I need to be cautious how I attribute failures and successes and more importantly how I express these attributional tendencies to students because what I say can impact their actions and if what I say is the direct opposite of the attributional tendencies they have could cause miscommunications, misunderstandings, and internal turmoil.
Now that I am aware of these attributional tendencies I will learn about them for the cultures for my students and do what I can to reduce misunderstandings. I am unlikely to remember the differences between my culture's attributional tendencies and those of other cultures however I can simply ask my students how they attribute success and failure to themselves and to others and then use that to reduce misunderstandings.
I would not begin to think I could somehow come up with a way to help improve my home culture based on something I didn't consciously realize existed until about 45 minutes or more ago when I watched a video and read a little about it. I don't know which attributions are better than others or not and am actually of the opinion that it might be better to not use attributional tendencies at all but don't see how we as people could possibly avoid attributing our success and failure to someone or something. I can't see people thinking I succeeded because I succeeded or my success is not the cause of anything I or anyone else or thing did it simply is a fact that I succeeded.
Some of my attributional tendencies are typical, according to Professor Ivers, for someone who grew up in the United States and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And some of mine are not typical. I attribute God and myself for my failures. It's my fault because of something I did and it is God's fault because he allowed the failure to happen. I also attribute successes to myself and God. I succeeded through my efforts and the help of God.
For other people, I do the same. A person failed because of their actions and God allowing them to fail. A person succeeded through their actions and God helping them.
For those I teach and will someday teach I need to be cautious how I attribute failures and successes and more importantly how I express these attributional tendencies to students because what I say can impact their actions and if what I say is the direct opposite of the attributional tendencies they have could cause miscommunications, misunderstandings, and internal turmoil.
Now that I am aware of these attributional tendencies I will learn about them for the cultures for my students and do what I can to reduce misunderstandings. I am unlikely to remember the differences between my culture's attributional tendencies and those of other cultures however I can simply ask my students how they attribute success and failure to themselves and to others and then use that to reduce misunderstandings.
I would not begin to think I could somehow come up with a way to help improve my home culture based on something I didn't consciously realize existed until about 45 minutes or more ago when I watched a video and read a little about it. I don't know which attributions are better than others or not and am actually of the opinion that it might be better to not use attributional tendencies at all but don't see how we as people could possibly avoid attributing our success and failure to someone or something. I can't see people thinking I succeeded because I succeeded or my success is not the cause of anything I or anyone else or thing did it simply is a fact that I succeeded.
Friday, May 29, 2020
29 May 2020 Week 6 Response To Personal Space Differences
Before reading about personal space differences and watching the class by Professor Ivers I only considered personal space as something around me. I knew there were other spaces such as distance between cars and how we view our yard and how we view others using our property without permission. But I do not view any of that as defined as personal space.
For some object that is mine, if someone were to use it without permission I would not be pleased but I would not view it as a violation of my personal space only a violation of my personal property.
I grew up in suburban areas of the United States and for most of my life have lived in suburban areas. In the fall of 2017, I moved to a rural area in upstate New York and very much enjoy the fact that there are fewer people around where I live. I never lived in a city that had a subway until I moved to Virginia in 1997. However, my first experience with crowded transportation was in the Dominican Republic after my mission.
Even though I like living in the country and I grew up in suburban areas, I also believe that my personal space is smaller than what the reading and video indicated it would be. I base this belief on an experience I had many years ago. I remember distinctly a psychologist who did a demonstration of personal space with me. She told me to stand still and then, facing me, she approached me and kept getting closer until I leaned back at which point the demonstration was over and I am guessing it was at that point that she had entered my intimate space or possibly my close intimate space and since there was no emotional attachment between either of us I was unwilling to let her get closer. As I recall there were only inches (1 to 4) between us, especially our faces before I leaned my face backward to increase the distance.
It is very important to understand the differences in personal space from culture to culture and what effects it has on people. I found it interesting how the reading described that as a mob grew each individual in the mob had less personal space and that increased the agitation and violence of the mob. I also found it interesting that the reading attributed increased violence in crowded cities to people having less personal space. This makes me wonder about how crowded classrooms affect agitation levels in students who feel their personal space is constantly being invaded.
As a teacher, it is helpful for me to understand how personal space affects everyone in a classroom. Being aware of personal space will help me to find ways to organize a classroom and classroom rules to reduce students feeling their personal space is being violated. This explains why many classrooms are the way they are. I wonder if more improvements can be made.
And I'll leave anyone reading this with one final thought. I laughed when I read about the Luncheon Test. Essentially it indicated that when people eat together they divide the table up (subconsciously) into personal space and the salt and pepper and flowers and such are usually placed in the middle of the table to ensure it is not in anyone's personal space. To test this you should, one by one, push each object into the other person's personal space and that eventually, the person will push all the objects back to get them out of their personal space or lean back to readjust their personal space so the objects are not in their personal space. I laughed at this because I imagined doing this on purpose just to see people's reactions. Don't get me wrong I am generally a conservative, considerate person and try not to do anything to irritate or offend people. However, if you are ever eating with me in a restaurant don't be surprised if everything that was in the middle of the table when the meal began ends up on your side of the table before the meal is done. You have been warned ;)
For some object that is mine, if someone were to use it without permission I would not be pleased but I would not view it as a violation of my personal space only a violation of my personal property.
I grew up in suburban areas of the United States and for most of my life have lived in suburban areas. In the fall of 2017, I moved to a rural area in upstate New York and very much enjoy the fact that there are fewer people around where I live. I never lived in a city that had a subway until I moved to Virginia in 1997. However, my first experience with crowded transportation was in the Dominican Republic after my mission.
Even though I like living in the country and I grew up in suburban areas, I also believe that my personal space is smaller than what the reading and video indicated it would be. I base this belief on an experience I had many years ago. I remember distinctly a psychologist who did a demonstration of personal space with me. She told me to stand still and then, facing me, she approached me and kept getting closer until I leaned back at which point the demonstration was over and I am guessing it was at that point that she had entered my intimate space or possibly my close intimate space and since there was no emotional attachment between either of us I was unwilling to let her get closer. As I recall there were only inches (1 to 4) between us, especially our faces before I leaned my face backward to increase the distance.
It is very important to understand the differences in personal space from culture to culture and what effects it has on people. I found it interesting how the reading described that as a mob grew each individual in the mob had less personal space and that increased the agitation and violence of the mob. I also found it interesting that the reading attributed increased violence in crowded cities to people having less personal space. This makes me wonder about how crowded classrooms affect agitation levels in students who feel their personal space is constantly being invaded.
As a teacher, it is helpful for me to understand how personal space affects everyone in a classroom. Being aware of personal space will help me to find ways to organize a classroom and classroom rules to reduce students feeling their personal space is being violated. This explains why many classrooms are the way they are. I wonder if more improvements can be made.
And I'll leave anyone reading this with one final thought. I laughed when I read about the Luncheon Test. Essentially it indicated that when people eat together they divide the table up (subconsciously) into personal space and the salt and pepper and flowers and such are usually placed in the middle of the table to ensure it is not in anyone's personal space. To test this you should, one by one, push each object into the other person's personal space and that eventually, the person will push all the objects back to get them out of their personal space or lean back to readjust their personal space so the objects are not in their personal space. I laughed at this because I imagined doing this on purpose just to see people's reactions. Don't get me wrong I am generally a conservative, considerate person and try not to do anything to irritate or offend people. However, if you are ever eating with me in a restaurant don't be surprised if everything that was in the middle of the table when the meal began ends up on your side of the table before the meal is done. You have been warned ;)
Thursday, May 28, 2020
28 May 2020 Week 6 Response To Individualism vs. Collectivism
I grew up in the United States and therefore in an individualistic culture where emphasis is given to being independent. I know this way of thinking and being very well and in most cases it suits me just fine. However, there are times when being more group oriented has its advantages. Ultimately I think a blending of the two is better than one extreme or the other.
As I began my journey into the world of sailing I learned of a collectivistic culture that has taught me a great deal about being part of a group. I have only sailed on sailboats that are about 32 feet in length or less and mostly on sailboats between the length of 15 to 25 feet. These sailboats often have a crew (including the captain) of 3 to 5 people.
One of the first things I learned from captains of these sailboats was that onboard a sailboat there are no passengers. Everyone is considered part of the crew and has responsibilities at all times (except when asleep or cooking or something) for the safety and wellbeing of the sailboat and everyone on board. This means if I am not assigned a particular task then my task is to keep watch for other boats and things floating in the water and to report them out loud to the person at the tiller regardless of if I think he/she sees what I see or not. I must also be ready to respond to commands from the captain and to take any position when told to do so by the captain or first mate.
The group mentality of sailors is such that before I had a sailboat of my own, all I had to do was walk up and down the docks on race days and ask the captains if they had need of an extra crew that day. Since there were 30 to 40 sailboats participating in each race there were always crew that for one reason or another could not make it. I always got on a sailboat even with captains that knew very little about me and knew, because I told them, that I was a beginner and knew very little about sailing.
I will always remember the generosity of these captains in including me as part of their crew and for mentoring me to become a captain of my own sailboat.
I believe that some kind of group oriented way of thinking is beneficial in a classroom setting. It would need to be something that could be easily understood by the students as beneficial for the group rather than something contrived. On sailboats, it was very easy to notice how things the crew did increased or decreased the speed of the sailboat.
One way would be to have students teach each other what they learned in groups and then follow up with them to ask them what they learned that they did no know before the group discussion. Perhaps a written assessment before and after the group discussion could help them see more clearly the benefit of working with other students. However, I think more than this, if that is even possible, would be even better.
Do you have ideas on how to make classrooms more group oriented?
As I began my journey into the world of sailing I learned of a collectivistic culture that has taught me a great deal about being part of a group. I have only sailed on sailboats that are about 32 feet in length or less and mostly on sailboats between the length of 15 to 25 feet. These sailboats often have a crew (including the captain) of 3 to 5 people.
One of the first things I learned from captains of these sailboats was that onboard a sailboat there are no passengers. Everyone is considered part of the crew and has responsibilities at all times (except when asleep or cooking or something) for the safety and wellbeing of the sailboat and everyone on board. This means if I am not assigned a particular task then my task is to keep watch for other boats and things floating in the water and to report them out loud to the person at the tiller regardless of if I think he/she sees what I see or not. I must also be ready to respond to commands from the captain and to take any position when told to do so by the captain or first mate.
The group mentality of sailors is such that before I had a sailboat of my own, all I had to do was walk up and down the docks on race days and ask the captains if they had need of an extra crew that day. Since there were 30 to 40 sailboats participating in each race there were always crew that for one reason or another could not make it. I always got on a sailboat even with captains that knew very little about me and knew, because I told them, that I was a beginner and knew very little about sailing.
I will always remember the generosity of these captains in including me as part of their crew and for mentoring me to become a captain of my own sailboat.
I believe that some kind of group oriented way of thinking is beneficial in a classroom setting. It would need to be something that could be easily understood by the students as beneficial for the group rather than something contrived. On sailboats, it was very easy to notice how things the crew did increased or decreased the speed of the sailboat.
One way would be to have students teach each other what they learned in groups and then follow up with them to ask them what they learned that they did no know before the group discussion. Perhaps a written assessment before and after the group discussion could help them see more clearly the benefit of working with other students. However, I think more than this, if that is even possible, would be even better.
Do you have ideas on how to make classrooms more group oriented?
Monday, May 25, 2020
25 May 2020 Week 6 Response To Differences in Emotional Expressivity
My ancestors on my mother's side of the family are from many parts of Europe including Great Britain and Scandinavian countries. My father is from the Netherlands. I was trying to find out what the public emotional expressivity of the Netherlands is. From what I can tell it may be in the middle of a scale of low to high. Whereas Great Britain and Scandinavian countries are at the low end.
I lived in Missouri from about age 1 until age 4 and from then until age 17 I grew up near Salt Lake City, Utah. After school I joined the military and lived in Southern California and Okinawa, Japan from ages 20 to 24. Even though I lived in Japan twice for six months each time I lived on military bases and was not immersed in their culture.
I believe all of this has led me to be less likely to express emotions in public which is why most people that know me view me as too serious.
Then at age 24 I went on a mission to the Dominican Republic where public display of emotion is high and done often. I still remember leaning far back into a sofa to avoid kisses on the cheek from a young lady whose house we were visiting. I did this because it was against our mission rules. For Dominican ladies this is an acceptable way to greet a man. When I returned after my mission and was greeted by a lady kissing me on the cheek I accepted because I was no longer a missionary.
In the Dominican Republic is where I remember first encountering a nation where almost everyone was happy, friendly, and very kind to everyone. I soon began to compare these people with those of the United States and the best way I found to do this comparison was to refer to the Dominican people as very open whereas the people from the United States are closed.
I wanted to and still would like to live in the Dominican Republic. I would have far more friends there and not just because I would be viewed as a rich foreigner. While on my mission I learned far more than just the Spanish language. I immersed myself in the culture and did my best to learn how to be a Dominican. In many was I succeeded. I am far more outgoing when around Latinos and speaking Spanish than I am when around native English speakers.
As I reflect upon my life and how I express emotions I find it very interesting that I believe I have been more emotionally expressive in public during periods of my life when I lived in the Dominican Republic than when living in any other place. Just thinking about it makes me long to return there.
I lived in Missouri from about age 1 until age 4 and from then until age 17 I grew up near Salt Lake City, Utah. After school I joined the military and lived in Southern California and Okinawa, Japan from ages 20 to 24. Even though I lived in Japan twice for six months each time I lived on military bases and was not immersed in their culture.
I believe all of this has led me to be less likely to express emotions in public which is why most people that know me view me as too serious.
Then at age 24 I went on a mission to the Dominican Republic where public display of emotion is high and done often. I still remember leaning far back into a sofa to avoid kisses on the cheek from a young lady whose house we were visiting. I did this because it was against our mission rules. For Dominican ladies this is an acceptable way to greet a man. When I returned after my mission and was greeted by a lady kissing me on the cheek I accepted because I was no longer a missionary.
In the Dominican Republic is where I remember first encountering a nation where almost everyone was happy, friendly, and very kind to everyone. I soon began to compare these people with those of the United States and the best way I found to do this comparison was to refer to the Dominican people as very open whereas the people from the United States are closed.
I wanted to and still would like to live in the Dominican Republic. I would have far more friends there and not just because I would be viewed as a rich foreigner. While on my mission I learned far more than just the Spanish language. I immersed myself in the culture and did my best to learn how to be a Dominican. In many was I succeeded. I am far more outgoing when around Latinos and speaking Spanish than I am when around native English speakers.
As I reflect upon my life and how I express emotions I find it very interesting that I believe I have been more emotionally expressive in public during periods of my life when I lived in the Dominican Republic than when living in any other place. Just thinking about it makes me long to return there.
Friday, May 22, 2020
22 May 2020 Week 5 Response To Cultural Miscommunication
I never knew that the Japanese are considered a group culture and that it is not good to stand out. The Asian child who was selected to be the student of the week who began to cry and the parents who were not pleased with the public singling out of their child. I didn't know they would not want that for their child. And the saying that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. One example given was that if you stand out in a company you are most likely to remain in the mailroom because you need to be more a part of the group rather than to stand out and not be part of the group.
And I have lived in Okinawa, Japan two times, for six months each time. I was in the military and lived on base so obviously that was not enough for me to truly understand their culture.
This has put me to thinking about a service project I did while in Okinawa, Japan. There was a sugar cane farmer who was hurt somehow. He had a cast on a leg or arm as I recall and was not able to harvest his sugar cane as usual. The normal way is to harvest it a little at a time and place it in bundles on the side of the farm and on a certain day a truck would come and pick up what was harvested. Anything not harvested would not be picked up and therefore the farmer would not get paid. Because of this Japanese farmer's injury he was unable to harvest and in a week or two the truck would come and he would earn no money. So the English speaking branch organized a service project. We went on a weekend. There were about 10 or more people mostly white including missionaries harvesting under the direction of this farmer. We harvested his entire field in one day when it would have taken him weeks to harvest. I don't know what was more extraordinary about this, the fact that his field was harvested in a day or that a Japanese farmer had United States military volunteers harvest his field. In any case we made the news. I have a clipping somewhere from a local newspaper showing some of us in his mostly harvested field.
In light of what I have learned about Japanese not wanting to stand out, this Japanese farmer did and I now wonder if this affected him negatively in any way for not being part of the normal Japanese groups. I hope it did not have a negative effect on him. I know he appreciated the help and the fact that he was able to earn the money he needed for his family. I have always remembered this as a good experience for me where I harvested sugar cane for the first time and learned to do it with a machete.
And I have lived in Okinawa, Japan two times, for six months each time. I was in the military and lived on base so obviously that was not enough for me to truly understand their culture.
This has put me to thinking about a service project I did while in Okinawa, Japan. There was a sugar cane farmer who was hurt somehow. He had a cast on a leg or arm as I recall and was not able to harvest his sugar cane as usual. The normal way is to harvest it a little at a time and place it in bundles on the side of the farm and on a certain day a truck would come and pick up what was harvested. Anything not harvested would not be picked up and therefore the farmer would not get paid. Because of this Japanese farmer's injury he was unable to harvest and in a week or two the truck would come and he would earn no money. So the English speaking branch organized a service project. We went on a weekend. There were about 10 or more people mostly white including missionaries harvesting under the direction of this farmer. We harvested his entire field in one day when it would have taken him weeks to harvest. I don't know what was more extraordinary about this, the fact that his field was harvested in a day or that a Japanese farmer had United States military volunteers harvest his field. In any case we made the news. I have a clipping somewhere from a local newspaper showing some of us in his mostly harvested field.
In light of what I have learned about Japanese not wanting to stand out, this Japanese farmer did and I now wonder if this affected him negatively in any way for not being part of the normal Japanese groups. I hope it did not have a negative effect on him. I know he appreciated the help and the fact that he was able to earn the money he needed for his family. I have always remembered this as a good experience for me where I harvested sugar cane for the first time and learned to do it with a machete.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
20 May 2020 Week 5 Response To Cultural Differences Concerning Time
I grew up in the United States. I lived in the Dominican Republic for about 2 years as a missionary. According to the video the United States is monochronic which means we value keeping to schedules. Whereas most other places are polychronic. This means the people in most other countries value relationships over schedules. The Dominican Republic is polychronic.
Before watching the video I don't remember ever hearing the words monochronic and polychronic. However, I certainly have experienced both without knowing those two words existed.
People who are Latinos have a much different concept of time. For them it is common for people to show up an hour or more late to most every planned activity. I have even seen church activities plan for people to show up late. For example, an activity may be officially planned for 4 PM with the expectation that no one will actually show up until 5 PM or later. This includes Spanish speaking wards I have attended in the United States.
I believe I have adapted well to both types of thinking. If I make an appointment with someone I show up on time. If the person I have the appointment with is busy or late I simply do something on my cell phone and wait a while. If it is a church activity I arrive on time and chat with anyone who happens to be there until there are enough people for the planned activity to start. I do not get upset nor bent out of shape if someone else is late.
For my TESOL practice class I am teaching two people that live in polychronic countries. Both of them have rescheduled classes on a regular basis. The reasons they give me are they had to visit a sick friend or go shopping or eat dinner and so on. I have not felt upset in the slightest and simply adjust my schedule and do something I had planned for later in the day at the time when the class was to take place and then give that student the class during the time now freed up.
Before watching the video I don't remember ever hearing the words monochronic and polychronic. However, I certainly have experienced both without knowing those two words existed.
People who are Latinos have a much different concept of time. For them it is common for people to show up an hour or more late to most every planned activity. I have even seen church activities plan for people to show up late. For example, an activity may be officially planned for 4 PM with the expectation that no one will actually show up until 5 PM or later. This includes Spanish speaking wards I have attended in the United States.
I believe I have adapted well to both types of thinking. If I make an appointment with someone I show up on time. If the person I have the appointment with is busy or late I simply do something on my cell phone and wait a while. If it is a church activity I arrive on time and chat with anyone who happens to be there until there are enough people for the planned activity to start. I do not get upset nor bent out of shape if someone else is late.
For my TESOL practice class I am teaching two people that live in polychronic countries. Both of them have rescheduled classes on a regular basis. The reasons they give me are they had to visit a sick friend or go shopping or eat dinner and so on. I have not felt upset in the slightest and simply adjust my schedule and do something I had planned for later in the day at the time when the class was to take place and then give that student the class during the time now freed up.
Monday, May 18, 2020
18 May 2020 Week 5 Response To Cultural Paradigms
What most impacted me from the videos was the one where a woman spoke about how in her country a thin body is not considered beautiful. This catapulted my mind into deep thought because I was born and raised in the United States where a thin body is considered beautiful. From another video I watched I know that both these are cultural paradigms learned from the places where we grew up.
Which one is correct? Could both be incorrect? Does it matter? Is a blending of the two paradigms better?
Correct or not, as a single man attracted to women one of the first things I notice is how thin or not a woman is. My logic tells me that I should not focus on outward beauty and yet before I have a chance to talk to a woman I have formed an opinion of her based on what I see. This opinion is heavily influenced by the paradigm I learned in the United States. Is there anything about thin or not that comes from something beyond what I have learned? I find that I don't have any other frame of reference I can use. I grew up with this all around me all the time.
I don't view women that are not thin as ugly and I guessed that someone would be attracted to them, but it wasn't me. From this video, I now know that there will be men that find women who are not thin to be beautiful.
I have lived in and visited other countries and even been immersed in the culture of one (the Dominican Republic) and yet I have never come across anything to challenge this cultural paradigm I learned in the United States.
I wonder, can I unlearn something that I have known for decades? Can such a shift in paradigm take place in a short period of time or will it take more decades? And if I want to make such a change wouldn't the best change be to view all women as beautiful whether they are thin or not?
Which one is correct? Could both be incorrect? Does it matter? Is a blending of the two paradigms better?
Correct or not, as a single man attracted to women one of the first things I notice is how thin or not a woman is. My logic tells me that I should not focus on outward beauty and yet before I have a chance to talk to a woman I have formed an opinion of her based on what I see. This opinion is heavily influenced by the paradigm I learned in the United States. Is there anything about thin or not that comes from something beyond what I have learned? I find that I don't have any other frame of reference I can use. I grew up with this all around me all the time.
I don't view women that are not thin as ugly and I guessed that someone would be attracted to them, but it wasn't me. From this video, I now know that there will be men that find women who are not thin to be beautiful.
I have lived in and visited other countries and even been immersed in the culture of one (the Dominican Republic) and yet I have never come across anything to challenge this cultural paradigm I learned in the United States.
I wonder, can I unlearn something that I have known for decades? Can such a shift in paradigm take place in a short period of time or will it take more decades? And if I want to make such a change wouldn't the best change be to view all women as beautiful whether they are thin or not?
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