Think about the cultural diversity you see in your
colleagues at school, in your neighborhood, in your workplace, and also,
possibly, within your family. Consider all the aspects that make up culture,
including race, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, varying
abilities, and so on.
•Do you find yourself communicating differently with people
from different groups and cultures?
•If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?
I find myself communicating differently when I feel I need
to. For instance, within my classroom I
have many families who do not speak English.
I have learned some very basic and elementary words in Arabic, such as hello,
goodbye, bathroom and sick, but I am not conversationally fluent. Fortunately, I have a translator as one of my
aides and I am able to communicate through her.
In the few instances that she is not with me, I have resorted to using
Google Translate, pointing to pictures and reading body language, or a child
who speaks both Arabic and English has helped.
It is not ideal but I feel that the families know that I am taking the
time and trying to communicate with them even when I do not have a
translator.
Based on what you have learned this week; share at least
three strategies you could use to help you communicate more effectively with
the people or groups you have identified.
One strategy that I read about and will help me to
communicate more effectively is to change my thinking, feeling and
behavior. I can change my thinking by
learning more about different cultures and co-cultures. I can change my feelings by working to have
more pleasant, less anxiety ridden intercultural interactions that feel more
comfortable. By working to change my
thinking and feeling I then can accomplish the goal of not only changing my
behavior, but also becoming more mindful of what is appropriate (O’Hair,
Wiemann, Mullen & Teven, 2015).
The second strategy would be to become more aware of my
nonverbal behaviors, and be able to pick up silent messages in the way that they
are intended. I also need to be aware
when learning about and trying to understand unwritten cultural rules of
nonverbal communication that it will take time (Gonzalez-Mena, 2010).
The last strategy is in the form of a goal “A worthy goal is
for teachers and other early care and education specialists to become
culturally sensitive and begin looking for the meaning of parenting behaviors
and beliefs they run across in the families they serve” (Gonzalez-Mena, 2010). This idea makes me reflect on situations
where I may not have looked for the meaning and motivation behind parenting
behaviors. The example of the child
having a bottle in their lunch bag made me reflect on how important it is to be
looking for the meaning of the parental behavior first, instead of making
assumptions. Before I understood this
goal, I would have just thought that it was completely inappropriate. Now, having taken the time to look through
the lens, that the book suggests, I learned that the family may strongly
believe in teaching dependency because they feel that the child will eventually
learn to be independent on their own.
References:
Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating
and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education,
Inc.
O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2015). Real communication (3rd. ed). New
York: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Jill,
ReplyDeleteYour last example made me cringe, because try as I might to see things from another family's perspective it's still hard to justify the bottle. I suppose as caregivers the most we can do is explain why it makes the transition to cups hard and perhaps provide information on orthodontic problems, but beyond that just let it go. It's a good example though because it's a solid illustration of how hard it is to let go of my cultural myopia regarding bottles and pacifiers beyond a certain age. Thanks for your post!
Jill
ReplyDeleteWe have to change our way of thinking, feeling and behavior. This is the way to effectively communicate and understand each other. There is a lot to be learned if we have an opened mind and ready to receive.
Hi Jill,
ReplyDeleteGreat post!I like the second strategy that you gave yourself which is being aware of the nonverbal behaviors. I have to do the same thing because my face always tells on me. I am trying to get better, but nonverbal behaviors are so hard because they sometimes happen without any thought.
Cierra