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
I am agree with what you published about the family nucleus and its closeness, that is considered very essential in Ecuador too, also when you mention in if we look deeper we are going to find opposite cases as in young people who by life situations they get ahead independently. Thank you very much for your excellent post.
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