6/4/2019; Week 7: Response to Differences in Manners

Having culturally appropriate manners is important for the future teacher - as well as anyone else who wants to be polite.  Professor Ivers, in this sections lesson (BYU -I, circa 2015) comments on some of the differences around the world for manners.  A few of them surprised me as an American as well: I was always taught that it is proper to cover a yawn, but apparently in parts of the US, that is not common.
 In addition, in many places in the US, it is common for people of all ages to call each other by their first names.  I have lived in Texas for about half my life now, and I can assure you it is not so in the South.  The rule of thumb seems to be if a person is old enough to be your parent, you call them by their formal name until they ask you to call them by their first name - and that may not happen.  It is also considered Very rude for a child or teen to call an adult by their first name if they are not family.  If the child is emotionally close to an unrelated adult, they would indicate that by calling them Miss Mary or Mr. John rather than Mr and Mrs Perkins.

My parent served a mission in Myanmar.  Traveling by boat up to a more inaccessible area, my parents noticed the men of the group -always- went in front. My parents wondered if this was a sign that women were held in lower esteem.   Later they were told that this was traditional to protect the more vulnerable women and children from crocodiles and other river dangers. This was also true in the inaccessible areas - a man who let women go in front of him while walking was cowardly and was deeply inconsiderate of  women or children.

These seem like small and simple things, but by small and simple things can dreadful misunderstandings happen!  If you are in the South, be a bit more formal than in other areas of America; if you visit Myanmar, show that you love your wife by always walking in front of her to protect her from harm. 

And- if you have a student in the US that is from a different culture and they do something that seems inexplicable to American eyes, give them the benefit of the doubt - take them aside quietly and mention how local manners go.


Comments

  1. JohnaJune 11, 2019 at 11:14 PM

    I have fears that if I live in another country, I might have a difficult time adjusting to a new culture. Learning about cultural differences in the lectures I heard from Professor Ivers gives me more courage to adjust to other people's cultural differences. I enjoy reading about this topic in this course. I also learn that recognizing these differences through information and careful thoughts and actions are incumbent to all of us teachers.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

6/6/2019; Week 7: Response to Culture and Psychology

Professor Ivers' lecture (BYU-I circa 2013) hit a lot of points today: witchcraft/mass hysteria, mental illness, cultural stereotypes, the effect culture has on self-esteem, and more !  The point of the lecture was that our brains take what our culture teaches us - whatever that may be- and train us as people to act as though the culture was 100% accurate. I would really like to address the mental illness aspect, since mental illness runs frolicking through my family, but it would take a couple thousand words, at least, and that is too much for the purposes of this assignment.  Instead, I  will touch briefly on Schizophrenia from my own personal studies and family experience.  The hallmark of Schizophrenia is confused thinking. There is no cure, only treatment.  Each afflicted person must consciously sift through what their brain is bombarding them with and decide what is accurate.  People with firm standards and strong support systems - no matter what ...
Read more

6/4/2019; Week 7: Response to Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom

This weeks focus on Cross-Cultural students in the classroom was puzzling to me at first.  Professor Ivers lecture (BYU-I circa 2015) was principally concerned with the perceived differences in the US educational system for Asian students.  Some of the comments were positive: Being able to interact with the professors, ask questions and have dialogue. But the comments regarding American students were negative. I am 53, and live in the South, so perhaps I am atypical for most university students, but I was shocked at some of the things the American students did as well.  Interrupt the teacher ?  Eat in class?  Read the newspaper (or use a phone) during class?  Walk out of class?  I can't imagine doing any of these things in class. It seems very rude to me. As a teacher, I would have to adjust to the students of my own native country more than to the students of other countries ! However, the list included a few things that I've seen myself while tea...
Read more

6-11-2019; Response to Deep Culture in the Elementary School

This week we are going over how to -teach- young kids about other cultures.  This seems like a Very Large task, yet one that has the opportunity to be fun - if only I can figure out a way how!  Professor Ivers shared some thoughts about the benefits of having understanding of more than just your own culture.  Since each culture has distinct traits and ways of thinking, learning to think with more than one point of view can jump start creativity and innovation.  For example, think of the different styles of body decoration favored by different cultures in different locations.  Some places worked metal to make jewelry, other places used shells, bone, fibrous textiles, and even scars on the skin to decorate the body. None of these items is inherently good or bad, just different from each other.  Imagine then, what happened when various cultures interacted- what might a textile using culture think to do with metal? Probably something quite different from the ...
Read more