There are things we must take into consideration when communicating among cultures. I have never been uncomfortable communicating with anyone; however, I have always felt (because of my own upbringing) that you are to look someone in the eye when speaking to them. If you do not, that is considered disrepect. However, many cultures do not allow eye contact when communicating. Some cultures find it repsectful to actually look down or look elsewhere when being spoken to. This is a strategy I must work on as I need to understand and respect this. I am constantly telling my students to look at me when I am speaking. I must refrain from doing this as I do not want to cause contradictions among one of my student's cultures.
Gonzalez-Mena (2010) reminds us to be careful of our own non-verbal behaviors. Oftentimes, we are unconscious of these behaviors until we begin speaking to someone who does not fit our styles and beliefs. I will ensure I am not showing non-verbal behaviors that would make anyone feel uncomfortable or disrespected.
For all of us to be effective communicators, we must understand what culture truly means as well as how to teach children to embrace their own cultures. As educators, we must learn to never show any form of steretyping or disrespect as we are models for children. We want to show them how to be effective communicators while showing respect and empathy for diversity.
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. (2012). Real communication. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.
I first want to commend you at taking a looking at yourself honestly (not many people do this) and working on things about you that you find are faults in order to change for the good of the next generation. It is really hard to be brought up in one culture and then asked to adapt to another. I wish when we were younger someone would have given us a warning about this. It would make life that much easier.
ReplyDeleteBeing culturally sensitive is a critical piece of understanding different cultures. As you say eye contact or not having eye contact and understanding why will either allow you to be able to communicate or miscommunicate. As teachers who work with diverse families and their children we must be professional communicators if we are to be their positive resource for education.
ReplyDeleteIt is good when we can find our faults we do have to be sensitive in how we communicate to different cultures and watch how our body language is seen. We do have to watch what we say to children because it can cause the children to feel abuse.
DeleteCommunicating effectively across cultures is very challenging due to each individual culture having different customs and social expectations. I find that as an early childhood professional is extremely important to build relationships with families as a means to better understand their culture and its effects on their children’s development.
ReplyDelete