Cultural Diversity

I meet people from different groups and cultures everyday; and I find myself communicating differently with each of them.  Actually, I use a different language while communicating with my neighbors than my family.  I also use different communication codes; in fact, my husband would understand what I meant to say from a simple look whereas a stranger would misunderstand me.  I also think that I avoid disagreeing with people who come from a culture where disagreeing with an older person is considered rude.

            In order to communicate more effectively with people from different groups and cultures, it is important to have knowledge about these groups’ culture and values.  We should also put any biases, stereotypes and prejudices aside while communicating with others; this will promote healthy relationships.  Another strategy we could use to communicate more effectively is using the Platinum Rule (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011).  It allows us to treat others the way they would like to be treated; therefore we should listen to them more carefully and to consider their feelings.  

Nonverbal Communication

           For this assignment, I chose to watch the show “Suits”.  I had never watched the show before and I was not sure what it was about.  Watching the episode with the sound off, there seems to be six main characters, three men and three women.  They all work in a law firm.  One of the men seems to be the boss, I can tell because of his posture and physical appearance.  He seems to be interested in one of the women.  The two other women also seem to be lawyers working with the men.  The man, who seems to be the boss, is showing dominance over the other lawyer and seems to want to show him that he is superior.  One of the women seemed to be giving advice about dealing with his boss.  The two men were in court dealing with a case, the boss came in with his phone in his hand and that seemed to upset the judge. The third man was difficult for me to read, I was not sure what his relationship is with the other characters but he seemed to be an important character in the show. 

After watching the show with the sound on, I found out that I was right, one of the men was the boss and he was being very rude to his employee; he seemed to lack communication skills.  The woman he seemed to be interested in was actually someone he was dating; and the third man was her husband.  The woman who was giving advice to the second man was telling him how he should deal with his boss and solve the case. 

If I knew the show well before watching it with the sound off, I think I would have understood it more because I would have known about the characters’ relationship with each other; I also would have had an idea about the main plot.  However, even though I watched the show for the first time with the sound off, I had an idea about who had effective communication skills and who did not. 

Effective Communication

            In order to have effective communication skills, a person must be able to communicate with others while respecting their culture and beliefs.  That person should also be able to listen to others to understand their personal point of view.  This will allow them to be able to respond accordingly. One person who demonstrates competent communication is my mother.  Actually, she was always able to communicate with people from different backgrounds and cultures and create healthy relationships with them.  In fact, some of my friends feel comfortable enough to ask her for advice.  She was always patient with others and took the time to listen to their ideas; this allowed her to gain the ability to suggest advice without seeming disrespectful or offensive.  I try to model some of my own communication behaviors after her because I see how it has helped her create healthy relationships. 

Professional Hopes and Goals

            When I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, I hope that I will be able to communicate with them more in order to understand their individual needs and to avoid any misunderstandings. 

            A goal I would like to set for the early childhood field would be to engage all early childhood professionals in advocating for diversity, equity, and social justice.  I believe that the best educators teach children to become good community members; and to do that, they must teach children respect diversity by encouraging equity and social justice.

            I would like to thank all my colleagues for the great discussions that we have had during this course.  Their comments gave me new insight about the early childhood field and encouraged me to become more engaged in the field. 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country I chose for “my” family is Malaysia.  In order to be culturally responsive towards this family, I would first learn to say a few greeting words in Malaysian.  I would also learn a few things about the Malaysian culture, such as the dominant religion, values and traditions.  Learning about national holidays and displaying photos in the classroom would also allow the children to feel more confortable.  I would also learn about family structures in Malaysia in order to prevent misunderstandings while meeting the family, I would not want to offend any family members.  Learning about education in Malaysia would also help me better understand this family’s expectations.

These preparations will give me some knowledge about what to expect from this family and will promote a successful first meeting with them.  However, I believe that the best way to get to know the family is to listen to their individual needs and expectations for their children; and to discuss ways they would want me to help their children be successful at school.  The most important thing is not to keep any stereotypes or biases in mind while meeting the family and their children to prevent microaggressions.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

            I experienced prejudice during the first few months of high school in France.  The teachers knew I was previously in a school in Saudi Arabia so they assumed that I was not fluent in French.  They always talked to me in simple words even though I always assured them that I understood what they meant.  That made me feel terrible especially as a teenager in high school; I felt intellectually inferior and that I always had to prove to the teachers that I was capable of completing assignments.  I felt that equity was diminished because I was not treated according to my individual needs; the teachers could not put their prejudice aside in order to take my personal needs into consideration. 

            In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity; I think teachers would have to change by listen to their students more carefully.  I would have probably felt more confident if my teachers put their prejudices aside and listened to what I needed from them.  I believe that teachers need to pay attention to each one of their students’ individual needs in order to achieve equity.  Each student is unique and comes from a different background and culture; therefore each student has individual needs in order to succeed academically. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

One microaggression that happened recently was in my classroom with the students.  A group of boys were playing with animals and a girl came and tried to start playing with them.  One of the boys told her she couldn’t play because she wouldn’t understand what game they were playing.  She felt that because she was a girl she didn’t know how to play the “right” way.  I explained to the children that there was no right or wrong way of playing, that we could all play in our own way. 

Microaggressions happen very often to many people; however, they usually avoid talking about them because they involve friends or colleagues.  People practice discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes regularly without noticing because of their biases.  This week’s observations have affected me because I am more aware of the negative effects of microaggressions.  I am motivated to pay more attention to what I say in order not to hurt anyone's feelings; I am also motivated to teach my students to pay more attention to their friends' feelings and to be careful not to hurt them with words.  Children need to learn to put their biases aside while talking to their friends.  This can be done by teaching the children about each other's differences and how these differences can become benefits.