The nation is becoming more multicultural. More immigrants and refugees are arriving each year, and with globalization occurring, students should expect to deal with people from different cultures more than ever. If the students do not have adequate training, they could easily offend a member from a different culture. True, students should have had at least one class in Intercultural Communication, or taken other classes to prepare them for study-abroad. If a student is planning to go to France during their junior or senior year, they have studied the language and expectations of the culture. However, some classes do not have time to cover all topics related to cultures. In addition, students that are not planning to study abroad still need to know how to be intercultural competence because this nation is becoming more and more diverse. They will likely encounter someone from another culture in places such as health, business, or education contexts. There has to be an effective way to teach students proper ways of acting around different cultures; something that a professor can add as a supplement to their class, since they may already have a strict rubric. On the other hand, something a study abroad student can carry with them and use to look up information on how to behave. Something students can use even if they have no background in Intercultural studies, to help them adapt to the growing diverse population. Multicultural Manners, by Norine Dresser is a short guild that explains how to behave around each culture. It will help your students know what and what not to do around certain cultures, whether they use it at work, internships, study-abroad, or daily life.
Here is a scenario. An American, business stud...
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...is becoming increasingly more diverse, meaning that students should be more intercultural competent. The Multicultural Manners book is not a replacement for intercultural classes, but whether a supplement. It is not very dense and is easy to read. The student can carry it with them whenever they need it. In the back of the book, there is a section dedicated to explaining different cultures and their beliefs. This can help the universities’ students from making similar mistakes, expressed in the above scenarios. Multicultural Manners would be a great addition for the students.
Works Cited
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The article talks about how teachers need to have cultural compatibility. While it might be difficult for some teacher to grasp and understand the different cultures behaviors and beliefs. For those teacher that can are more likely to provide a learning environment that is enriching and responsive to the children’s different cultures. Teacher should have “meaningful interactions with members of other cultures and promote cultural disequilibrium (Colombo, 2005, p. 2).” Activities that have this are more likely to increase cultural competence.
If we aren’t understanding of the variances between cultures and the way they communicate verbally, emotionally, and nonverbally this can create considerable issues. The three primary problems that could arise if we don’t have an understanding of cultural differences are the ways we interpret others comments and actions, how we predict future behaviors, and conflicting behaviors of others (“Differences in Culture,” n.d). Culture plays a significant part in peoples lives because it shapes our personal values and views on the world. Having a perspective and understanding a persons culture is important because each culture is different in respect to personal views and behaviors, but it is key to respect their culture because just like us it shaped who they are. The reason we have stereotypes of other cultures is because of this particular reason, we assume that our culture is superior and the correct way to do things. For example, I have heard the stereotype that French people are impolite, offensive, and they hate Americans, but was this stereotype created because of a misunderstanding between cultures? Cultural differences can be educational because it allows us to understand the uniqueness of a culture and allows us to learn new things. Cultural differences allow people to feel a sense of belonging, which can be empowering knowing
People have long assumed that university is the home of the educated and open minded people. People expand their personal horizons here. The public believes university students can deal with the cultural differences of human beings. The public believes students can deal with these differences because university students are exposed to a wide range of academic subjects including Humanities. Humanities exposes students to world literature, art, and geography. The public expects these subjects to aid university students in understanding cultural differences.Use of cultural differences should be emphasized in the universities. These differences should be emphasized not to humiliate or disgrace people but to influence students to accept and acknowledge cultural differences.
I must admit that before I began taking this class I took for granted how much racism still exists in this country. I have started to put more thought in to the way the world really is, the topics discussed in class have started to catch my interest. When I first started reading the Tatum book I was mad when I read her version of the word “racism”. I thought to my self “I personally have never held down the black race, what does she mean?” As I progressed in the book I was starting to understand what she meant about the system of advantages that white people are given. I also understood this better when I read Elizabeth Munich’s list of examples of how there are advantages to being white. I couldn’t help agreeing with her argument based on what I have seen in my life so far. I have seen blacks harassed in stores and denied housing. At the time I simply felt it was too bad and forgot about it. According to Tatum I was practicing “passive racism” and I agree with her on that. I have never done anything to try and change the system and I do reap the advantages of being white whether or not I like it. I believe that reading this book has opened my eyes to how much racism still exists in this country that claims to uphold equal rights. Another argument that Tatum discusses is how everybody is prejudiced in one way or another. I also believe this is true, almost everyone I know has made a racist joke or laughed at one at least. I believe that this is because of th...
“Cultural competence is a key factor in enabling educators to be effective with students from cultures other than their own. It is having an awareness of one’s own cultural identity and views about difference, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families. It is the ability to understand the within-group differences that make each student unique, while celebrating the between-group variations that make our country a tapestry (National Education Association, 2015).”
As coming from different culture and living in multi cultural community has made me a person with tolerance, respectful and understanding. These characteristics have developed humbleness and adaptive towards different cultures. The small gestures showing interest to learn language, to learn about food habits about different help the youth build relationship and trust. It is learn and accept other cultural values and beliefs without lo
Moreover, culturally responsive teaching practice demonstrates a clear feature since it contains guidelines that have a connection to different styles of teaching. It uses strategies that fit and matches with the teaching style that the teacher uses. Indeed, culturally responsive teaching practice is crucial because it plays a vital role in appreciating their culture and the cultural heritage of others. Besides, it includes resources, materials in all subjects, multicultural information disseminated in schools. Therefore, culturally responsive teaching practices consider the cultural customs of every student, thus it ensures that the content is worthy and fits in all cultures of the students. It is crucial to note that culturally responsive teaching practices involves considering the environment of the classroom. Activities would
America is a multicultural society that is compiled of many ethnicities and cultural orientations. With the different backgrounds, it can sometimes be a task to incorporate each culture in the classroom. It is the teachers’ responsibility to make his or her classroom a multicultural environment for their students to broaden their horizons. Many may think
Coming to the United States for college can introduce cultural differences that even the most prepared students might not anticipate. From campus life to classroom etiquette, US school can be quite a different experience from learning in other countries around the world. It is rather natural for students from other countries to join communities that somehow remind them of home and give them the opportunity to remain connected with their roots and at the same time bring the world a little closer to fellow classmates. By raising collective cultural awareness, organized expressions of diversity which create a cultural spillover from which we all benefit.
represents and strongly argues in favor of the first tendency. In his article, “America: The
Culture is a powerful influence plays a big role in our interactions. Culture may also impact parenting style and a developing child. Having a strong sense of their own cultural history and the traditions associated with it helps children build a positive cultural identity for themselves. This also supports children’s sense of belonging and, by extension, their mental health and wellbeing. This class is crucial in understanding and working well parents, staff, and children. An effective educator understands how students’ cultures affect their perceptions, self-esteem, values, classroom behavior, and learning. As director, I need to use that understanding to help my students and staff feel welcomed, affirmed, respected, and valued. One way that I can do this is by using multicultural literature, especially children’s literature, to honor students’ culture and foster cross-cultural understanding. If cultural differences are not understood by teachers and management, it can lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings on both sides. It will be my job to do all I can to overcome both language and cultural differences to ensure a positive learning environment for
Durant, A. & Shepherd, I. (2009).Cultural and communication in intercultural communication.Retrieved November 5, 2013 fromEbscohost online.http://web.ebscohost.com.libproxy.troy.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=156ad285-9697-4852-955e-40fe40b75b83%40sessionmgr110&vid=6&hid=118
As the diversity in classroom progresses, there are always tensions between students, which reflect on teachers. Educating students from different cultures puts teacher in a position where it is essential to perceive ways in order to make a classroom safe and strip away all of the stereotypes students deal on daily basis. Teachers have to recognize those stereotypes, and overcome them between students, “by examining their own roles in the perpetuation of institutional racism” (Kendall, 1996, p.4). Once succeeded, with the result of harmonized classroom, teacher and students will explore a new space full of fun activities and learnings.
Cultural sensitivity occurs when people recognize and are aware that each country or various ethnic groups of people have their own set of experiences, beliefs, values, and language that affect their perceptions toward life. Addressing Cultural sensitivity permits people to comprehend that there are differences between cultures. Furthermore, having awareness in the differences between cultures permits a culturally competent person to communicate effectively with others that are outside of one’s realm. Some of the differences of Cultural sensitivity can be discovered while traveling outside of the country, such as through Cross-cultural sensitivity experiences. Likewise, a culture has its own norms and beliefs to how one should dress; how one should greet others, such as by referring to a significant individual by his or her first name or surname (comprehending which name should be stated first in foreign names); and/or what foods are permitted to eat or forbidden to eat or understanding what may offend a person (e.g. not accepting a home cooked meal). There are norms, taboos, cultural cues, and cultural etiquette standards that are significant to learning about one’s culture before exploring another country or while working with people who are from your country but who are part of another racial group. It takes time and patience to build a high level of Cultural sensitivity. Educating oneself with a culture’s psychology and its norms is significant toward achieving an increasing awareness toward Cultural sensitivity.
To elaborate, by mentioning intercultural understanding, I meant that each cultural group has different ways to communicate. For example, Western culture encourages people to be up-front and straight-forward with their communication; contrastly, people who are influenced by Eastern culture might be less outspoken about their ideas and pay a lot of attention to nonverbal language of the people around them. Culture is something that if one have never encountered or exposed to it, he or she would never know. I hope that after this project, besides of the knowledge we gained from the research itselves, all four of us would improve even more on our intercultural and interpersonal communication skills. Because at the end of the day, the knowledge that one have learnt might be forgotten, but all of the skills that one have gained will stay for a very long time.