20 February 2020

Week 7, Culture and Psychology 

My husband and I have six girls and one son. In my upbringing you are blessed if you have children. It does not matter if they are boys or girls. In my husband's family the people were always telling me how blessed I was to have so many girls. After a while I asked why they said that. They told me the girls or daughters would make sure the parents are taken care of in their old age. It's interesting because my husband was always concerned about his parents, not any less than his sisters were. In our family all of our children are concerned for us their parents. They all decided long ago that they would all help make sure we the parents would be alright in our older years.

I grew up thinking we are all responsible for our own well being. There was hardly anyone thinking that a man is the sole one to have responsibility for bringing in the money. It's strange for us to see the older movies where men are working for money and women stay home and do not work out of the home. I came to the conclusion that is what they do in movies and everyone is rich in the movies.
The quote by Albert Einstein makes me think of what people can accomplish if they are encouraged to do so. The quote is “Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it's stupid.” In Victorian England it seems that the gentry or ladies and gentlemen, the man made the money and the woman should try her hardest to get a man that had money. Then the 'poor' people seemed to marry the ones they wanted to marry.

In my ancestry are the Norsemen and the Vikings, and in Iceland two families would discuss whom their son or daughter would marry. People with land preferred their sons and daughters to marry landowners who basically lived next door. In the end it was the daughter who decided if she would marry the man or not. She also kept all her land. The land did not become her husband's property. In Iceland the women usually rule themselves and often we do not understand why a woman would give everything up to let the husband control her and her property.

I have learned to respect other people's cultures, especially when it comes to the role of man and women. In the classroom all students have to learn to respect one anther's cultural differences. We do not have to agree, but we can show one another respect.

18 February 2020

Week 7 Differences in Manners

In my husband’s country it’s good to burp as loud as you can when you eat, and this means you are happy with the meal. They also prefer to eat with their hands. When you finish the food off your plate they will put more food on your plate. I have learned to eat slowly, because I can not eat as much as they do.  In England it’s very common in the home you are visiting that the host fills your plate with food and gives it to you. I don’t eat much, and they give me too much food. This is the way they do it and I try to respect that or tell them there are certain foods I don’t eat.

A friend of mine got upset at her children when they put their elbows on the table. She was raised by her English parents. When her children were at my house, I told them it did not bother me if the elbows were on the table. I had seen my Catholic friends do this and I honestly thought it was a religious thing not to have the elbows on the table. My friends were in the Latter-day Saint church. In Iceland you take your shoes off when you enter someone’s home. This is very common in Europe. Some homes have slippers you can use inside their homes.

It can be stressful to students who are new in a school system to not be sure about what is good manners or watch others being rude in the student’s opinion. I have come across men from certain countries think I am in love with them because I am smiling, I smile at people when I meet them.  Be careful with chewing gum in some countries. It’s illegal to chew gum in public in Singapore. Once I entered the train in England. I sat across from two women and said hello. One of the women looked at me with a snobbish look on her face. I saw that and decided not to talk to her again. I lived in England at the time and had never seen this before.

Many people have ended in jail in some countries because of being ignorant of what is appropriate in some countries. As teachers we need to be aware of what makes the students uncomfortable and not force them to do anything that makes them uncomfortable, like shaking hands. Don't assume the students have learned American ways of doing things, yet.

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 [KTH1]

18 February 2020

Week 7 Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom

As teachers we should be aware of the culture the learners come from. This does not only mean the culture of the country they come from, but also the family values they have. Sometimes respect in one country can be seen as sarcasm in another country. One of my grandsons has spent his last five years in Australia. His father is African American from the south and his mother is our daughter. Their children say sir and mam. They came back to the United States and our grandson started school in North Carolina. He is eight years old and said the children in the class are rude and loud. He has been in Australia most of his life and the children are usually not loud in the classes. This was a sock to him.

Many difficulties can come up when students and teachers might misunderstand one another because of cultural understandings. Students need to know it's alright to ask questions and discuss the lesson material. Students might feel uncomfortable giving their opinions about the lesson material. Perhaps students have nt been allowed to do that before. They might think other students are rude speaking back at the teacher. 

It’s true in many places in the world Americans are considered loud in public. It is a culture shock for many students to come here from other countries. It’s also a learning process for them to open up with their opinions in class. I ask the learners to raise their hands to comment or ask questions.  Some are loud and I tell them I can not hear them any better if they are loud and speak out of turn. The classroom rules need to be established at the beginning of term and even written up on a poster on the wall.

15 February 2020

Week 6 Attributional Tendencies in Cultures

There are often internal and external attribution tendencies in most cultures. This can be positive or negative in your life depending on how you see or use this. Some people think they are cursed and blame all their failures on this curse. If they are successful, then perhaps God has blessed you more than you think you deserve. Sometimes we blame our circumstances in life for what goes wrong. In some cultures, the success of an individual is attributed to the parents of the person, like their personal input does not matter. If the same person is a failure that might be blamed on the person for not listening to the parents. The good is attributed to the family the bad to the person themselves.

Somebody I know did poorly in school as a teenager and was called stupid by the people around him. Especially his family. He moved to a different country away from his family and did very well in his work. He worked well with his hands and people were impressed with the work he did. He learned these new skills by watching how it was done by those who had these skills.  This man was encouraged by others to go to school, and he said he was no good at book learning. Now days there is help for those with difficulty learning. This man realized he had learning disabilities, but his experience in his culture as a child is still very strong in his mind.

Teachers should pay attention to those who are having difficulty learning. Learners should be complimented on their work and realize the good they do is because of their own work. If they are not too sure about advancing in their school work they can be encouraged to try. I taught a woman in Iceland the Icelandic language and she was a great student and eager to learn. At the age of twelve she had left school in Thailand and went to work. Her Icelandic was good enough for her to go back to school. She looked at me with a surprised look when I asked her if she had thought of going to school. She said she was not good enough and I told her she was. She smiled with hope in her face.

Learners should know they are not cursed or their accomplishments in school are their own doing. They do not have to think they are cursed or hopeless because of choices they made in life. We can always change. This can be difficult for some who have learned that their culture is always right or their families are. It takes time to change attitudes about social and cultural attributional tendencies, whether they are positive or negative. 

15 February 2020
W06 Personal Space Differences

I watched a video on how people in Japan are crammed into the subway trains. I could not deal with that. Does anyone faint from not being able to breathe or all the perfume smells on the train? I was on the ‘tube’ or subway in England and we had to stop in a tunnel because of some accident. I had a seat and the tube was not crowded, but it was difficult to breathe because the carriage we were on was shut down and it was hot and humid, since nothing worked. Thank goodness we did not have to spend too much time in there.

It’s common in the United States that people have an invisible bubble zone that they call their private space. No one is supposed to come into that zone without being invited. How do they deal with that in crowded NY walking space? Some space is obviously marked by the space in a bedroom or a home. To enter that space, we usually knock on the door if that space is not owned by ourselves. Years ago, women had hoop skirts on and no one could enter to close to them since the hoops were in the way.

Some of the following are examples of personal space in different situations and this is according to a article I read on https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap9.html.                                       

1.     “The Intimate Zone” is 6-18 inches circular space and is the space you decide who comes into.

2.     “The Personal Zone” is about 18-48 9nches around you. This is considered the space you want at different gatherings.

3.     “The Social Zone” about 4-12 feet around you. This is for those we do not know very well.

4.     “The Public Zone” is over 12 feet. When we are speaking to a gathering of people.

Surely this thinking can not always work when we live in this world, we are in. We might all have to have a big piece of land if we would demand all this space. Some people go to rock concerts and I am sure there is not that much space for everyone. Then again, people are choosing to be in this small space. Common people in England prefer to live close to another. Like one English friend of mine someone, they live on top of one another. The same person told me she did not like North America because there was too much space everywhere.

In the Icelandic culture we did not go in line and wait our turn, we just pushed our way through. Then people were told to wait their turn and not push. Now Icelanders wait in line and do not step over the painted line on the ground to give others their space. We had to be told what to do and learn new ways of using the space around us. We should respect that someone needs their space. In the classroom this can be difficult, but we can work around it by understanding the desk is your space. You do not take things that do not belong to you, without asking first. Rules need to be established in the classroom and the teacher and the learners need to discuss this.

13 February 2020

Week 06, Individualism vs. Collectivism.

This week we have been learning about individualism vs. Collectivism  in our Pedagogy class. The emphasis is on the subject matter of how this might affect the teaching in the classroom. I decided to look these words up online. The result is: “Cultures are typically divided into two categories: collectivist and individualist. Individual cultures, such as those of the United States and Western Europe, emphasize personal achievements regardless of the expense of group goals, resulting in a strong sense of competition. Collectivist cultures, such as those of China, Korea, and Japan, emphasize family and work group goals above individual needs or desires.” https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Collectivist_and_individualist_cultures

Perhaps we are not too far from either concept in the United States. Brother Ivers said in a video we watched that in some countries changing political parties might be seen as if the person is a traitor. This happens in the United States also, if you are a part of the two main political parties in the United States and go against what the ‘collective’ in the party thinks you might have some terrible consequences come your way. In these cases, individualism does not seem to matter.

Culturally diverse learners should be shown respect when it comes to their thinking. When they come from ‘collectivism’ when it comes to culture, it might be alien to them to think as an individual in their new country. It’s like the saying that you can take someone out of the country, but you can not take the country out of the individual. I married a Pacific Islander and we have been together for around 40 years. He is from a 'patriarchal society' and I am from a 'matriarchal society'. We have lived in five different western countries. My husband was fine adapting to the ‘individualism’ thinking rather than ‘collectivism’ when he lived in the western countries. When he is around his countrymen the western thinking seems to go out the window. People must change their own thinking and that can not be forced upon them.

When it comes to the classroom there can be discussions about the different thinking according to the cultural system the learners come from. This can help the learners and teachers to try to understand the differences, and how the teaching will take place. If the teachers and learners do not accept the difference bullying and disrespect can occur. If the learners are underage the teacher must be more careful not to cause disruption or disunity in families. Rules for the classroom can be discussed with the learners and follow the school rules and protocol, so not to cause more difficulties than need be. It’s culture shock enough to have different thinking learners in the classroom. Everyone might be able to learn something new from one another.

11 February 2020
Week 6 Differences in Emotional Expressivity

This week we have been learning in our class about "Differences in Emotional Expressivity". We have learned about the different ways people express their emotions or do not express them. Because of the way they express themselves should not necessarily means others in the class should be alarmed unless it oversteps some boundaries that have been set in the classroom.

When I was nine years old we were in a class where slides (video) were shown of how a chicken developed in the egg. It looked like they were able to see inside the egg. You could see the veins, blood etc. I said out loud "how gross". The teacher asked who said that. I said I did it. She said it was not gross, but I said again yes it was gross. I was mostly raised as Faroese like my mother is and I was not afraid to voice my opinion. The teacher might have asked why I thought what I said.

I have learned through the years to be respectful when speaking to others. I like the idea of being able to discuss with others and I think it's great when we can discuss different things. I tell people that we  should be able to discuss things without being rude to someone else's thinking. As a teacher I need to be aware of this and agree to disagree and be respectful to other's opinions and how they express them.

I think "Emotional Expressivity" should be encouraged in the classroom, but everyone needs to know there are rules as not to insult one another. I think it's wonderful that we are all different. we can all contribute greatly to the classroom. We should not be too critical of how others express their emotions. In the classroom there need to be boundaries of what is appropriate and what isn't. Some people might feel uncomfortable with the way others express their emotions. Any needed rules should be established at the beginning of classes and discussed with the learners.