5/26/2021; Week 6: Response to "Attributional Tendencies"

According to the sources consulted, it's interesting to note that one of the most outstanding features of human beings has always been their capacity to explain or infer the causes of events and behaviors present in their lives. These attributions are not always accurate. Several factors influence these attributions: life experiences, education, social culture... they are also influential when biases are present in these attributions.

In the previous article, I commented on the odyssey of using public transportation in Venezuela. The transportation system is so deficient that in general, the buses look like canned sardines on wheels, leaving no room for any kind of personal space. One of the most common events in this odyssey is theft. People are very crowded and pickpockets take advantage of the situation. If you dare to get on one of these transportation units, you must be aware of this situation and if you become a victim of theft, the guilty party "will be you". Logical, right? The reason is that defensive attribution is part of our culture, a tendency to blame the victims for their misfortune. If you got robbed on the bus, it's because you're a fool, how could you not notice?

Usually, when people are in extreme situations that they can't change, they even look for illogical reasons to live with it. And in this example, instead of standing in solidarity with the victim, it’s preferable to blame the victim as a fool instead of accepting that they are all prone to such experiences. Usually, the feeling of guilt (for something they are not really responsible for!) is so great that the victim prefers not to say anything rather than endure the mockery of people for how foolish he/she is, because "-You let yourself be robbed". Much less think about reporting it to the competent authorities, because they also make fun and in general, do not even take note.

Attributional tendencies refer to what do we attribute success, and to what do we attribute our personal failures. In my opinion, it’s likely that some cultures, due to their particular situations, adopt some tendencies to survive. I can't stop thinking about when the snake tricked our first parents. Eve blamed it on the serpent: - The serpent deceived me. And Adam defers the blame to Eve: - The woman you gave me ate and so I ate. Both of them making external attributions: - We are in trouble and we must survive!

To what extent can we say that we are being objective when we make these attributions? What do you think?

Sometimes as teachers, we can make unfair attributions in the classroom. On one occasion, when I was beginning my teaching experience in a very humble school, I started my class and there was a very restless group that did not allow me to continue. My first thought was: These kids want to sabotage the class, they are probably lazy. But my maternal protocol urged me to approach them and ask what was going on. The lunchroom was out that day and they hadn't eaten lunch. They were hungry. They could hardly assimilate anything in if they were hungry. I asked them to wait for a few minutes and went out. There was a bakery across the street from the school and I bought some bread. I went back and waited for them to eat at least some bread. I lost half an hour of class, but I was able to give the rest of it without any inconvenience... and I earned them for the rest of the school year. What would have happened if I had stayed with the first impression?

References:

Attributional Tendencies in Cultures https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Attributional+Tendencies+in+Cultures/0_u45682wd

Attribution Processes https://wattersattribution.wordpress.com/

Attribution https://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/socialpsychology/section3/

Image by Briam Cute at Pixabay

5/24/2021; Week 6: Response to "Personal Space Differences”.

Thinking about Personal Space Differences, I remembered the Tarzan episode when he meets Jane because of the personal space issue. It is a very funny episode because obviously, Tarzan didn’t know about the Friend Zone or the Intimate Zone, but it also highlights a reality that exists when two worlds meet, and it doesn’t always end well.

Appreciating the experience of the Japanese when they get on the subway impressed me, not because I had never seen anything like that before but because I thought that such things only happened here in Venezuela. Getting on the subway in Caracas or Valencia during rush hour is an odyssey, and in the rest of the country the situation is repeated with public transportation because the system is very deficient. But is it a cultural issue in this case? I have my doubts about that. In my personal experience, I appreciate that many people use it out of necessity, because they have no other means, and the only option involves sacrificing personal space. Usually, people over 35 are the ones who suffer the most because they were born in a prosperous Venezuela where everything worked. For young people who have never lived another reality, it’s probably not so uncomfortable, they may be used to it. Some might think, but why don't they complain? Because in communist countries you can't complain, the price for doing so is very high, even life. Those who resist and have the possibility to ride a bicycle, arrive sweaty to their destination but with dignity.

I believe that a healthy society needs to understand the limits of personal space. When they have been crossed, we are likely to be dealing with a very vulnerable society, and a responsible state should promote this through education. I believe that many sensitive issues inherent in humanity seek to be justified in the name of culture rather than calling a spade a spade. Certainly, there is a cultural aspect to societies, but it is worth thinking about whose hand moves the cradle? It won't be hard to find political systems that benefit from such differences. 

 

References:

Personal Space Differences

https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Personal+Space+Differences/0_yz4lk5f0

Personal Space Ownership

https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap9.html

Japanese subway station https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8FQsg12hoY

Image 2 by OpenClipart-Vectors on Pixabay

  

5/25/2021; Week 6: Response to: “Individualism vs. Collectivism”.

  

Something that is part of our group-oriented culture in Venezuela is the treatment of children. In the USA it is common for young people after the age of 16 - 18 to leave home to begin the independence of their lives, because they go to college, enter the job market, or get married. In Venezuela, it is common to see children living with their parents after the age of 20 and maybe more because independence is achieved in another way. If their sons/daughters go to university, they usually go to the closest university to the family nucleus, and if they get married, they may even build a second floor to the house to support the new couple. It is very difficult for a Venezuelan mother to separate from her sons/daughters and vice versa, and when I emphasize the role of the mother it is because there is also a strong tendency to matriarchy even though there is a father figure in the home.

Spanglish is a very interesting film that reflects very well a bit of that group-oriented culture in Latinos. In the film, a single mother from Mexico emigrates with her daughter to the USA and becomes a maid. After sharing some time with the American family, the daughter argues with her mother and says something that (obviously adopted from the American culture) almost breaks her mother's heart: -Respect my space! and the mother responds a little angry but with a lot of love: -No, there is no space between us!

Obviously, if we look deeper, we will surely find individualistic aspects in Hispanic culture as well, maybe less than in North America, maybe more than in Asia, because group-oriented or individualistic culture can vary from one culture to another, even within the same country. Where these tendencies fall on the value continuum depends on many factors, such as how much they identify with the local/traditional culture, their level of education, and their experiences in their community. Exploring and understanding the values of young people and their families in the TESOL classroom is an important key to planning and providing responsiveness and support in the process of acquiring a new language. Teachers need to be aware of the contrasts between individualism and collectivism and the cultural basis of their own values and practices.

 

References:

Individualism vs Collectivism https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Individualism+vs+Collectivism/0_ojon0rjc

Individualism vs Collectivism http://www.ncset.org/publications/essentialtools/diversity/partIII.asp

Image 2 by Arek Socha on Pixabay 

5/24/2021; Week 6: Response to " Differences in Emotional Expressivity "

 

As I watched Prof. Ivers' class, I recalled many experiences when I was traveling within my country and when I moved to the city where I currently live. I identified a lot with Prof. Ivers about his way of expressing himself for being from Philadelphia and the differences with his wife for being from Nevada. In Venezuela, as well as in the USA, there are important differences in Emotional Expressivity. Usually, people from the eastern and Midwest region are very loud and speak very fast. In fact, if you don't understand the cultural issue, you may think sometimes that they are fighting but they are not fighting, it’s just their way of expressing themselves. This is something that can make people in the central region very uncomfortable, or cause laughter. And when it causes laughter, then they think the people in the central region are making fun and get upset.

My family lives in the central region, but we are from the Midwest and eastern region, and also part of my husband's family are Italians, and Italians also have a pretty strong expressiveness, but they are great, they are good people. Usually, when we would get together as a family and with some friends to justify the fuss we would make with those gatherings before we said goodbye we would sing "happy birthday" so that people would think we were celebrating something and that's why the fuss, but the truth is that the vast majority of the times we sang birthdays none of us were having a birthday, we just didn't want the neighbors to get upset and a birthday party could justify the fuss.

I agree with Professor Ivers when he says that we should take these differences seriously and understand that they are just part of a culture and that it makes us neither good nor bad. The TESOL classroom is full of these nuances in expressiveness and it’s very important to be able to understand this cultural aspect to avoid misunderstandings and to get the best out of our coexistence in the classroom. I confess that this same expressiveness was contagious in my classroom, and in order to avoid being called to attention because of the commotion in my classroom, we ended up singing happy birthday.

References:

Differences in Emotional Expressivity https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Differences+in+Emotional+Expressivity/0_753le546

Imagen de Darkmoon_Art en Pixabay 

5/20/2021; Week 5: Response to "Culture Miscommunication"

 

While watching Professor Ivers' lecture and the HSBC Bank commercials on misunderstandings in communication due to cultural differences, I also recalled some anecdotes from the other people when they shared with other cultures.

I'll never forget the story a friend told me when she was in London. She had a boyfriend and for some reason, she got very upset with him. She was so angry that she told him she never wanted to see him again. As she expressed her anger her boyfriend cried a lot and then left. Days passed, and the boyfriend never came back. A year later, she happened to see him again and they talked about what had happened. She asked him why he never came back and he answered, surprised by the question: that's what you asked me. In Venezuela, when a couple gets angry, they can even tell each other how bad they are going to die, but many of the things they say they don't really mean. Usually, after the fight, it's typical that the man comes back, asks for forgiveness and they reconcile. But in other cultures like London, if you say goodbye you are really saying goodbye.

I had a good laugh watching Prof. Ivers' video because it also reminded me of an experience when my daughter visited the US for the first time with a US Embassy program. One of the first things she was warned about was not to refuse food if she really wanted to eat, because Venezuelans often say no at first and wait for you to insist a bit before they can say yes. This is typical so as not to appear rude or "starving". So, it was difficult for her because she didn't want to seem rude but she also didn't want to go without food.

When we see these anecdotes, we may laugh or find certain behaviors in the communication process illogical, but beyond laughter it’s a very serious matter where the people involved don’t conceive the world in the same way and don’t understand each other's vision. This observation is of utmost importance in an intercultural classroom and we must strive to maintain effective communication, to put ourselves in the other's shoes. To take off their borrowed glasses in order to see as they see. That ability to inquire, to know that our interlocutor also feels, fears, struggles, observes, and is a conscious mystery like us, is called empathy. And we teachers must be promoters of this important value.

 

 

References:

Culture Miscommunication https://video.byui.edu/media/04%20Cultural%20Miscommunication%20/0_3aaa6xxh/28027982

Series of HSBC Ads about Culture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALWwK7Vz4gY

Image by LUM3N on Pixabay

5/19/2021; Week 5: Response to " Culture Paradigms”

 
If there is one thing I feel blessed to have been born in a culturally sensitive country, the product of a history that in the past embraced many immigrants, and influenced by that cultural diversity. I grew up buying bread from the Portuguese baker, ice cream from Haitians, clothes, and appliances from Arabs, shoes from Italians, playing baseball and not soccer because of the influence received from North Americans... and where telling someone: “Ven acá mi negro”, or “Gracias mi gorda”, are expressions of affection and not offense. Laughing at jokes about the Portuguese, about the Chinese, about ourselves... because if there is something we know how to do well, it is to laugh even at our own tragedies. All these experiences allowed me to appreciate the differences of all those cultural paradigms that were mixed in time to generate a culture, the Venezuelan family, where everything was “Chévere”. It is likely that all this diversity has allowed us to integrate very well into other cultures now that we have had to emigrate because of a cruel dictatorship.
 
This ability to see and understand the world from the point of view of other cultures can significantly facilitate coexistence in society. Understanding that the same reality can be interpreted in different ways.
 
"Paradigms are like glasses. When you have incomplete paradigms of yourself or of life in general, it is like wearing glasses that are not right for your eyesight" (Covey, 2003).
 
What is the key? Education centered on principles (respect, service, work, love, responsibility...), because principles are inherent to humanity, and not to a particular culture. Family and school go hand in hand.   
 
It is very important for a Tesol teacher to develop this intercultural awareness in the classroom to be able to determine if he/she is self-centered when interacting with his/her students, or on the contrary, if he/she is capable of decentering himself/herself, in order to perceive their needs and interests. In this way, we can show empathy towards our class. Intercultural education is necessary in order to take into account all the possibilities of human development that allows us all to develop as citizens of the world.
 

References:
 
Culture Paradigms

https://cdnapisec.kaltura.com/html5/html5lib/v2.88.5/mwEmbedFrame.php/p/1157612/uiconf_id/43228871/entry_id/0_9w0czg1f?wid=_1157612&iframeembed=true&playerId=kaltura_player_1539879321&entry_id=0_9w0czg1f
 
Cultural Clashes in Defining Beauty https://www.ted.com/talks/delali_bright_cultural_clashes_in_defining_beauty
 
Cultural Differences National Geographic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT0kzF4A-WQ
 
Covey, Sean (2003). The 7 habits of highly effective teenagers. Grijalbo Publishing House.
 
Image by Gerd Altmann at Pixabay

5/18/21; Week 5: Response to " Culture Differences Concerning Time".

 

A few years ago, a colleague's husband became unemployed and had to work on his own providing transportation services. One day he gave a ride to a person who had just robbed a store and the affected person identified my colleague's husband's car as the accomplice of the robbery. Shortly thereafter, the police arrested him. The man was really in trouble even though he was innocent of what had happened. My friend was a teacher, and when she arrived at the police station where her husband was being held, she recognized the officer in charge. She had been his teacher. And the officer recognized her too. Fortunately, the officer had good memories of her teacher and considered her an honest person. This previous experience was enough to release my partner's husband.
 
On the other hand, about 20 years ago, there was a terrible case of rape of a young woman named Linda Loaiza. Although the news outraged the whole nation, the criminal never paid his sentence because he was from a very important business family in the country. A couple of phone calls among his network of friends was enough to get him off the hook.
 
What is the middle ground, is there a middle ground, should there be a middle ground, how to survive in a polychronic culture?
 
Although I was born in a Latin American country, I must confess my monochronic nature. For me, both cases are irregular, even if one of them was really innocent.  The investigations should have been carried out to free the innocent and to convict the guilty. But such are polychronic societies.
 
How do you deal with these cultural differences in a TESOL classroom? These are real challenges inherent in the culture! I particularly consider the need to preserve institutions with a monochronic stance. Managers and teachers must be sure to keep clear what the rules of the game are. It does not mean that we become a society of insensitive people, but that we can all enjoy the guarantee offered by the norm. Advantages can never be seen as an act of mercy or faith. Either everyone has the benefits or no one has the benefits. That is called equal opportunity. And in a polychronic society, you can only access those opportunities according to the level of influence you have in your networks.

 

One thing I admire a lot in the US is its institutions. Bringing a president of the republic to court to face justice sends a clear message to all citizens of that nation. The family is the nucleus of society and the school is our second home. It is worthwhile to review how the inner workings are in order to infer what kind of citizens we are forming. That is what our society depends on.  

References:

Cultural differences in Concerning TIME. https://video.byui.edu/media/04+Cultural+differences+in+Concerning+TIME/0_1cjop6lc

Images by Pixabay