Entradas

06/04/22 - W07 Blog: Culture and Psychology.

Imagen
One of the biggest challenges a teacher can face in a classroom is the psychological factor due to cultural issues. It has been discussed last lessons, that different cultural factors impact a student's performance. We can think just in the United States and largest cities, there is cultural diversity. Every country has its own cultural diversity or subcultures. For example, be expressive, open mind, task-focused, or the opposite of these. If a student comes from a very religious or social group, she might interpret poor performance as punishment. If we add the factor of collectivism or individualism, this can be increased. Or on the contrary, the feeling of belonging to a group can minimize it. Self-esteem is susceptible to external and internal factors. If the teachers give examples of qualifying adjectives using the students’ body types. They can fall into a psychological adaptation problem, whether they suffer from anorexia, obesity, economic issues, etc. It can result in t...
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

06/02/22 - W07 Blog: Differences in Manners.

Imagen
Manners can be an introductory form of people by themself. If manners are socially accepted, they would seem polite. Then if their manners are gruff or non-existent, they will be seen as rude or gross. That happens in all places, home, family, school, work, or neighbors, being polite is part of good behavior. Those could be relaxed if people around are close to them. They will depend on the people. What happens when you visit or meet a person in a different country and discover that their manners are opposite yours? Are they rude people? No. Just different customs.   Cross-cultural students will have different manners than you, even if they are from the same teacher's country. It could be a student who comes from a place where being outgoing and talking at all times would be correct and accepted. It could also be a student who asks to interact. Possibly this last student feels intimidated by the other student and ignored by the teacher. If the teacher shows authoritarianism tow...
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

05/31/22 - W07 Blog: Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom.

Imagen
Every classroom has a cultural background behind it. There are nonwriting rules for every aspect of the students and the teacher in class. They must follow them with no exceptions, it is a social must to be integrated and belong to the community. Nowadays, the classroom has major diversity in classes, and teachers will find Cross-Cultural Students in them.  The teacher should consider every student’s background, knowing them will allow him to treat them better. Understanding the differences will give a powerful tool to make the learning process successful. In the video, Professor Ivers talked about some cultures that consider American rude and not showing respect to their teachers. He explained that some Asian cultures use to respect their teachers. Just like some Latin-American countries where teachers are important to the community helping them to improve kids’ skills. In Mexico is so common and normal that students on National Teacher’s day, bring a cake and give presents to t...
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

05/28/22 - W06 Blog: Personal Space Differences

Imagen
Personal space is a private limit to everyone. It is like there is a "bubble" around, which limits the approach of others. The approach limit will depend on how familiar is the other person, husband, friend, co-worker, client, or just people around. It will also depend on whether the introverted, extroverted, conservative person lives in rural areas, small cities, or large urban areas. And the most important, the cultural one. It will determine how you establish personal space.   I remember I met some missionaries who had gotten on the subway in Mexico City, one of them was from Wyoming, and the other was from Arizona. None of them had been in a subway before. A missionary from Wyoming said, "people in Mexico City push us when we get on the subway, but we agree to say that we could get on the subway and survive." They both felt people pushed them on purpose to annoy them or that people touched them to dirty their clothes. I made it clear to them that it is norma...
Publicar un comentario
Leer más

W06 Blog: Individualism vs. Collectivism.

Imagen
There are two ways of dealing with an environment in countries: individualism and collectivism. Collectivism is representative of Eastern cultures, which mostly show this type of behavior in their society. While individualism is predominant in Western cultures. The United States is the best example of a culture oriented towards collectivism. Perhaps its history of being a nation of migrants,  and a greatest representative of capitalism, made it a nation of competitive citizens. Giving rise to individualism.   Reading about the educational level of the United States, versus the Chinese model. It gives us a look at the competitiveness between those nations. Today they are the first and second economic powers. China will be the first in 2030 . It is important to note that education is the basis of your system. The American model has failed in recent years to increase the educational level of its students, higher than in non-developed nations, but lower compared to other devel...
2 comentarios
Leer más

05/24/2020 - W06 Differences in Emotional Expressivity

Imagen
The video of Professor Iviers' class reminded me of a movie about Elizabeth I; England’s Queen in XVI century, in which a character comments that the Italian Medici Family spend their time at the party and in the drama, just like the people of Spain. It's the Mediterranean's fault, said one of the characters. That reminded me of how Americans see Hispanics in their country, very expressive and emotional. Pre-Columbian cultures were very emotionally expressive, as were the colonizing countries; Spain, France and Portugal. Historically and culturally, Hispanics are emotionally expressive.   As a Tesol teacher we must also take into account the Differences in Emotional Expressivity. In order to understand our students, how can you show your discomfort or lack of understanding of a lesson, if it is not easy for you to express it. We must create communication channels to create an environment of awareness and understanding. Although Mexico is a country that is in the range o...
1 comentario
Leer más

05/21/2020 - W05 Blog: Culture Miscommunication

Imagen
I remember an activity that the teachers made us play at school. Someone started with a phrase and whispered it in the ear of another student, and he did the same with another student, at the end the last person had to say the phrase. It was never the same sentence, it ended up being illogical or with a different message. The lesson was that the information had to be clear and concise to be understood, otherwise there would be a problem of misinformation. That little game left us an important lesson. Today misinformation is the main cause of problems of understanding. You can speak the same language, but you can't understand it if both people don’t have the same culture. In the video, Professor Ivers explains that one person can give a message or have a certain attitude, and another person cannot understand them and give them the wrong meaning. Cultural differences make this problem bigger. If a person from the United States visits Latin America, he may feel his personal space inva...
1 comentario
Leer más