Teaching Deep Culture in the Elementary Classroom.

I find out very interesting that some researchers find that why did certain civilizations in world history seem to be more "advanced" than others. The answer to that question is related to the fact that those societies that had more access to cultural diversity were more apt to advance than their more isolated counterparts. Nowadays we have to be able to verify due to our technological advancements some neat explanations for that happening. it is said that those expositions to diversity will foster more neural connection in the brain that can be used to help solve different problems than the one who causes the neural connection to be formed, this propels the individual to be more creative and smart in regards having ideas and interesting solutions for many and different tasks he may encounter ahead.

it is being said that to teach deeper culture one has to acquire enough culture so that he can compare to new ones, or different than the one he belongs to. In fact, he can only make those comparisons if he had a frame of reference, that is his own culture. By the other hand children, exposure to stories and situation that is on their level of understanding can contribute for them to recognize a cross-cultural difference when they see one, and by consequence to deal better with the situation.

Culture and Psychology

This topic of psychology got my attention because the same situation can take a whole different meaning to the one who is experiencing it. It was illustrated by professor Ivers by saying that farming was a feminine job on the Indian culture and it takes several generations until it became in such a way that there is no job that can be more manly than that. This also reminds me a few times when I see people working with kids, I learn a few things raisin, my own children, and that was when sometimes is much easier to apply a little psychology to make a child to some stuff than using the force, that is the power of psychology over us, so we should not underestimate that power.

Self-esteem is considered for some to be the most important factor of achievement, this topic remembers me the story of Johnny Lingo that I like so much, it demonstrates in that story how self-esteem can play a powerful tool in someone life change for the better.

This is also related to a concept called stereotype threat, it says that we live to the cultural expectation of the stereotype we are in, this is being studied and the results show is this: consider that white male usually feels less athletic power compared to black male, and when before the test if the male is reminded of that he usually will perform worse. 

Asian Americans usually perform better academically and financially than white Americans, even thou the statics confirm that we cannot say it is always like that, perhaps the we can even say the statistics data is responsible for the stereotyping.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y9BM82D

 

Differences in Manners

As a returned missionary I have seen a lot of this happening a mission field, I guess it was fun when it was harmless, and it happens to ones who came to live and experience a mission in a different language and culture. It was nice to have a companion to help but it ends up being the companion who set the stage to trick you if you are the foreigner. It goes like this, go and say this or that you want to convey this message, or explain when people say this they mean such and such, and then we sit back and watch and have fun with...I am talking about this experiences because I want to say that there is two way you can learn about the other culture, you can take that easy and have fun and maybe laugh at your self or not, I prefer the first option, also I had so much fun and enjoy so much living this kind of experience that I am planning to live abroad again.

Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom

Professor Ivers in this video about Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom share a lot of stories about what Asian students think of the behavior of American students in class, and their interpretation is very different in terms of many aspects such as how the students show respect for the teacher by not packing or leaving the class before it ends, or how expressivity is a thermometer to evaluate how students are engaged in the class, or the freedom students have to disagree with the teacher and discuss the topic at hand and many others. The main point to be taken from this lecture is always to give the benefit of the doubt for the student in a class with students from a different background.

Attributional Tendencies in Cultures

Attributional tendency is kind of putting a glass to see or interpret the situation, different cultures have different way to see things, and how to interpret them.... so it would be normal for you to have the same tendencies to act and see things the same way people from your culture sees it, but that doesn't mean that is the right explanation for it. we are subject to do many wrong attributions due to lack of information, and that can even be possible to judge our own behavior incorrectly, which is called bias in attribution. The attribution has some other categories like external vs internal. Stable vs Unstable and the last one, the topic of this article: Individualism vs Collectivism

A) Internal Attributions ascribe the causes of behavior to personal dispositions, traits, abilities, and feelings.

B) External Attributions ascribe the causes of behavior to situational demands and environmental constraint.

A) Stable = Concrete, unchanging factors of success/failure.
B) Unstable = Temporary, changing factors of success/failure.

A) Individualism: Involves putting personal goals ahead of group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group memberships.

B) Collectivism: Involves putting group goals ahead of personal goals and defining one’s identity in terms of the groups one belongs to (such as one’s family, tribe, work group, social class, caste, and so on.)

Personal Space Differences

It is very interesting this concept of personal space as it does affect how we relate to other people without even noticing it, I have heard about this in a course of science of people with Vanessa Van Edwards and in a didactic way she uses all of those traits even this one how to maximize the human relations, it is a very interesting course. Because I was unaware of many things I do and why I end doing it was hard to notice and change for the better, it is good to know why her tactics work. It seems that I am advertising her here, but I simply found it so much interesting and also there is a whole lot of studying and science being done on this field.

I never thought of personal spaces in terms of understanding collective behavior such as increase in violence and crimes in more populated areas as stated by professor Ivers

Individualism vs. Collectivism

Professor Ivers always talk about the positive and negative of the Individualism vs Collectivism, not about the one being better or worse than the other, that is because each one of them has its advantages and disadvantages. But the way I see as the world gets more populated, and cities becoming bigger with more people per area, having to live together is becoming more important to learn how to live among people, society needs to function properly, so rules and laws must be obeyed and respect so that we can live better in society, this is one trending I see is happening. All thou collectivism doesn't foster creativity it has its good points to a better society. We can learn from both sides.

I did find one interesting topic that is about knowledge transmission, I reflect back on the scripture when Jesus said: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (New Testament | John 8:32)", so I was raised in a way that I was incentive to seek for knowledge as it would help me make informed and better decisions in my life in many aspects of it, also the church is fostering the acquiring the knowledge. My question here is, what is the positive side of how collectivism transmit knowledge? There are other issues, about taking responsibility for our own decisions, it is clear that I have an opinion being raised on individualistic culture, but trying to learn something from the other side as well.

This book "ESSENTIAL TOOLS" was about to provide the tools and understanding the differences between those two culture views and how people from those culture view things, it may help a teacher who has students from different background such as most likely to happen in language class to cope and better address issues that arise regarding those differences. A teacher with this knowledge would be lenient with a student that doesn't look directly at him when he is talking because he understands that in his culture that is disrespectful.

I like so much the article "The Myth of Chinese Super Schools" because it explains the reasons behind the difference in test results between China and United States, it also makes a lot of sense the explanations. There was a time when people were not allowed to read, for example, the Bible because lack of knowledge makes it easier to exercise control over the masses, if they have the knowledge they can disagree and argument against you. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints foster education as maximum as it is possible, all its efforts, even maintain a University it is part of its doctrine to pursue education, but on the other hand it does require we follow the commandments and require of us obedience, as educated members we may have the knowledge to argue against its demands and requirements. How can someone understand this paradox ?? Well, let me say.....

I was married to a woman and helped her to developed her potential, there were once she was even earning more than me, but I always, thought that I want her to remain with me because she wants that and not because she is dependant on me. Well she did choose a divorce anyway.... that was hard for me, but now with better understanding I may risk saying that was for the better.... and if you did not pick up the why here, you also may never fully appreciate the difference between having the power of doing something and still not do it.

Differences in Emotional Expressivity

I end buying a course from Vanessa Van Edwards from people science because I thought the subject was very interesting and wanted to learn more, in her course she talks about the 7 micro-expressions that are involuntary, so we cannot control those expressions and by that we reveal ourselves to those who know how to interpret those signs. It was very consistent with the class we just watched for this topic because from those different cultures we learn how to control our expressions to fit in, but the teacher said we all have the same emotions and in private we may express them while in public we behave the way the culture dictates. So those micro expressions it is kind of interesting to learn about because they are microexpressions and involuntary, so it would be very useful to the one who learns to interpret them, even I did buy the course I must say it will require a lot of practice to become good at.

We are pretty big as regarding the scale different cultures accept and tolerate the way we express, and that can be a source of misunderstanding, and misinterpretation so we need to be aware of the pitfall we can go into if we don't know anything about the culture we are going to visit.

Update: Here is what I have learned, I did also teach my students in china about people skills

Cross-Cultural Miscommunication

If I have watched this video before living in the USA and come back to Brazil, I may have to disagree with the teacher's point of view (in the video) he said the Latin Americans is more about having a pleasant time than given the right directions. And by being a latin American myself I see receiving the right information more important than having a pleasant time. I notice that when I came back from the USA, I had changed, but I only noticed when I came back to Brazil. I have get used to the American way and start to think that even my own parents now were getting too much in my own family business. This experience helps me from that point on not to judge too fast and try to understand other points of view and seek for better communication because the problem many times is only a difference of perception.

"the nail that sticks out is hammered down" exemplifies a big difference between the culture from Japan and USA, in Japan, you should act collectively for the common good not drawing the attention of anybody, in the USA is just the opposite. Those difference in perception can make a reward turn into a humiliation very quickly, so be aware of at least seek to understand those difference is going to save you a lot of trouble in jobs like ESL teacher, where you can be very often exposed to students of different places.

Another point that can draw so many misunderstanding in the business negotiation, and I may say in personal communication too is that Asian society speaks indirectly even sometimes not even getting to the point, while western society speaks more directly most of the time given the point of the discussion first following the justifications afterwards, there are so many differences between the cultures of the world that some of them are exactly the opposite from the other, making it a perfect situation for misunderstanding

The advertisement made regarding the miscommunication between different cultures was funny and humorous, but in real life, it can destroy a business opportunity or worse, so it was indeed a topic worthy of attention

Cultural Differences Concerning TIME Video

I never have had seen anything about what is being discussed in this video regarding a society being polychromic or monochromic, but since I am a Brazilian Guy that have the experience in living in the USA I could compare the situation the teacher told to explain the concept. I could easily relate to what he was telling even remembering situations where the same things happen to me. So it becomes really clear to see the difference where a society value more felling of time (schedule).

The interesting thing is that because I have lived in both places I can both of them are right and wrong at the same time, it makes you see the good and bad from both sides, and arrive at the conclusion that one may not be better than the other, but if you can be aware and understand the other side you will be more likely to more understanding, more tolerant of other people. That foster sympathy and friendship, those things are important to deal with people, especially a TESOL teacher that need to work with students that may come from different places.

Another point discussed was that those things will influence the way you do business, look for a job, or many other things so it will affect the way you live in a society.

Cultural Paradigms

(TESOL 103 / week 05 – October 08 2017)

I believe the most natural place to encounter people with different point of view from you would be in language class, by speaking a different language between the students we can readily notice their different background which translates in different ways and places they have been raised and brought up. So the langue is sort of the tip of the iceberg, there must be many other differences not so apparent as the different languages.

When I learn English in the USA, in my class we have people from my own country but also students from Japan, Korea, and Russia or so, I don't remember exactly anymore, but in those class when we talk about our country and culture we could see many differences in how they see and perceived things. Learning to see that sometimes there is no wrong or right just a different way of doing things is a start to make a friend from some others parts of the world, which is very common in some ESL classes.

The biggest learning about different cultures and differences between people came when I was living in Toronto Canada, most of the people in that city if not all, immigrate to Canada, as me so they speak their native language from where they came from and the common language which is English, so that was a city most cosmopolitan in the world I came across, even in meeting some people that speak my own language but from different countries such as Portugal and Angola I could spot some things they do differently than what we are used to doing in Brazil.

Being aware of those difference for the most part does not imply better or worse , but it is a good knowledge to have to be an English teacher in where such a diverse environment is more likely to occur, that awareness can help you be a better teacher because it helps you see and understand the students from different places, or at least not judge them so quickly without considering your own paradigm. The most impressive thing I did learn was about how different a very simple paradigm can be between two different cultures and they can be the source or explanation to embarrassment to a very different behavior

update: (me teaching in china after the TESOL graduation)

Book: My Chinese Experience

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y9BM82D

Book: The Key to Learning English

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M8X4BWG

my free online class on how to use music to improve your English (in YouKu):

https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTg2NTQ2MjE3Mg==.html