Life of Learning

This week I read a paper by Professor Ivers. It was written for teachers on how to incorporate more diverse culture into the classroom. First, the article mentions why we would want to teach others, especially young children, more about culture and diversity. I really appreciate how the author relates it to world history instead of just saying that people perform better in school or they're more successful academically. The history of the world shows the success of the cultures that were willing to learn from and adapt to new cultures and innovations. I think about how the ancient Romans would absorb the languages, religions, innovations, and knowledge from the nations they conquered. I used to make fun of them for that...like they didn't have their own culture they just took others...but I guess in this context part of what made them the powerhouse that they were was this ability to absorb and take what they want from each culture. The article suggests 4 ways that a teacher ...

Are there any elements in your home culture that are irrationally causing you to have low self-esteem? If so, what are they and how would you like to change them? Yes, there are elements, though I've grown used to or moved passed a lot of them. I'm overweight. I have acne. I eat too much sugar. I talk really awkwardly. I don't have a clean house or well-behaved children. Those are all things that people are judged for that make them feel less adequate. My culture promotes perfection to some degree and any status below that gives reasons to think less of yourself. It's not just aesthetics either. People determine your worth by how much you care about your self and your children. If you don't exercise, eat too many calories, over-indulge in sweets, shower too little, yell at your kids too much, don't discipline your kids enough, etc then people treat you like your less of a person and how can your self-esteem not be affected. In the church, I'm a topic of Bra...

Manners are something that seems universal among cultures. We can't agree what is good manners vs bad manners but we all agree that manners matter. They do matter because we want to make good impressions and impacts on people. They matter because sometimes there's more than just a little offense or trouble that can be caused by insulting someone. I made a list of all the things Professor Ivers mentioned. Rather than write down exactly what is and isn't bad manners, because I doubt I'd remember which culture went with which manner, I wrote down things to keep in mind when traveling and interacting with other cultures. How you hand things to people How you eat and place your hands How people act on public transit Covering your mouth when you yawn, stretching in public, How people are sitting—their posture Hands in the pockets Tolerance for noise—loud music elicits different responses Blowing your nose in public—handkerchief’s are gross Pointing the bottoms of y...

In a classroom of students from different countries and cultures, there are a lot of paradigms in a small space. This can be a minefield for teachers who aren't ready to understand the differences and give students the benefit of the doubt. That was one of the most important things I heard today, I think. If you don't know if something is offensive or not then you have to give your students the benefit of the doubt. I'm pretty unassuming--even when my mother-in-law says things that most people would take as offensive I'm not. I know that she loves me and isn't trying to hurt my feelings, so I choose to take what she says in the spirit it was given. I think that's a skill that could help me out in my time as a teacher to people of other cultures. If you don't know you're being made fun of or that you should be offended, as long as it doesn't affect your classroom, what's the harm in ignoring it and moving on. I was a little surprised that Profes...

People have a bubble of personal space around them. The size of this bubble is determined by a person's culture and background. I think that this could cause some potential challenges in a TESOL classroom. The first problem that I think is possible is students from different cultures getting into misunderstandings with each other or the teacher. They could be offended that people won't be as close to them as they are used to or they could feel like they are being invaded by other people who are more comfortable in large groups. Another problem could be that rural students will have a larger bubble than students from city environments and thus they will need to be given more space to get comfortable. Another concern I have is if the students are from a similar culture that requires little personal space then they might get into trouble for being too touchy-feely and intimate at school. The successes of this in a TESOL classroom could be that as you respect students need for ...

Today I learned about attributional tendencies. This term was a new one for me, but when I break it down it makes more sense. When consequences happen a person decides whether they are responsible or outside factors are responsible--this is the attribution. Whether someone is more likely to attribute those consequences to internal or external factors--this is the tendency. The video shared the tendencies of three different cultures. Americans are more likely to believe they are responsible for their successes and others are responsible for their failures. They also believe the opposite for others. Others are responsible for the failures internally while external factors are responsible for their successes. This sounds like the culture that I live in. People are individualistic and they see that they can win or lose based on their choices, but are slow to realize their influence on their failure. Its easier to see all the obstacles that lead to failure instead of all the stepping ston...