Week Two - Multicultural Manners, Body Language, and Expression

Multicultural Manners
     The role of education differs depending on the economic standing of the students.  Sometimes survival comes first, and as a teacher this may be hard to understand at times.  If I find that a student is coming to class with homework incomplete, i need to take a step back and look at his or her social and economic background and see if i can work something out, like extra help or time to do homework in school.  I have experienced the case of a passing of a family member with one of my students, and she was gone for a whole month of school because she had to fly to her home country to be with her family.  Family was more important than her education.  She fell far behind in her school work, which caused a toll on her grades and academic standing.

Manners And Body Language Across Cultures
     Body language is more likely than verbal communication to be misinterpreted across the culture.  I learned about this in my undergraduate courses.  Sometimes when a student is asked to make eye contact, it is a sign of disrespect in his or her culture, so they fail to do so, which to us is a sign of disrespect.
     In Vietnam, when crossing your arms, it is considered to be a sign of respect, showing that you are giving your full attention to the speaker, while here, we may think of it as being a sign of disrespect and resistance to what is being discussed.
     I was surprised to find out that a smile means different things in different cultures.  If Koreans smiled, it was a sign of how serious a matter was.  We smile when we are happy.  I also found it interesting to learn that we look when we are listening, and look away when we are talking where in the African American culture, it is the complete opposite.

Manners And Verbal Expressions Across Cultures
      I learned that it is better not to call people by their first names unless you know them quite well.  Professionally, this is something that I abide by, however.  When complementing or praising people of different cultures, i must be careful because it could change the social dynamics among peers.  Complimenting could also cause tension among Asian cultures.  They may think that they were not doing something well before they were being complemented, making them feel worse.
     I learned to change my style of asking questions as well.  I may need to phrase my questions in another way such as "Tell me what you don't understand, What confuses you?" Instead of ," Does everyone understand?"  I learned that people will say yes because it is what they think you want to hear, and saying no would mean that i would not be a good teacher and that would be demeaning.