How Well Do You Communicate With Other Cultures?

Working as an Early Childhood Educator, I do find myself communicating with people of different cultures, religions, ethnicities, etc. Amongst my staff alone, in a professional setting, I communicate with various individuals from different cultures. I learned that some topics I can speak about with people of certain cultures, while other's do not understand exactly what I am talking about. As no one person is alike, I also talk differently with my own family members. For example, I can talk to my brother about music and making beats, but can not talk to my cousin about these topics. I can talk to my cousin about acting, but my brother would have no clue what I was talking about. We encounter different people of different cultures everyday, sometimes without even realizing it.
The same applies with my parents and children in my classroom. I communicate with all of my parents differently. The way I communicate with one parent may not be the best way to communicate with another. Some of my parents like my full honesty when discussing their children while other parents would rather not focus on the objectives that need enhancement but one the objectives already accomplished. Growing up in a Jamaican household, with a father and uncles who were raised by a father from Hong Kong, and an Irish grandfather, not to mention all who have lived under British rule for years, I have learned to adapt and communicate with others from different cultures. I have come to appreciate the essence of diversity within my parents and children, as I try to infuse such diversity into my classroom.

How Would You Interpret This?

The show that I chose to watch was the "Modern Family". I have seen bits and pieces of this show, but was never truly intrigued by it. In the segment I was watching, the woman, who I already knew was the mother, was fussing at the young boy, who I already knew was the son. In the episode, based on body language, she was pregnant, and using her hands and fingers to gesture what she was saying. It appeared that she was fussing at the young boy, but the young boy was laughing. This was kind of confusing to me. Her hands were flaring in the air, and she was pointing her fingers at the young boy. Then she turned around, as though someone said something to her. That was even more confusing. As the young boy was laughing, she walked away, and it appeared as if she was crying. I assumed in this segment of the show, she was yelling at the young boy for something, and I guess the young boy found it hilarious.

After turning off the mute button, I learned that the mother was fussing at the boy because according to the son, she snores like a gorilla in heat. The mother was trying to explain to the son, and to the father, who was standing behind her, that because she was pregnant, her hormones were out of whack. This is when she begin to wave her hands and fingers in the air, demonstrating how passionate she was about the conversation at hand. When she turned around, was when the father made a comment about her snoring, which triggering the young boy to laugh even harder. The young boy was laughing because according to him, the mother has always tried to be this prissy individual, who thought it was unlady like for any woman to snore, and now she is the one snoring. The young boy found this hilarious, which was why he was laughing so hard.

My perceptions of the actions portrayed in the show were not too far off, but they were off in some points. I couldn't understand why the young boy was laughing so hard at the mother, while she was showing that she obviously was upset about something. Also, the boys facial expressions were also confusing, as I was trying to understand what he was implying, but had a hard time. The elements of communication demonstrated in this show was some what explanatory, but also kind of difficult to decipher. In this show, it also demonstrated that her method of communication was not very effective in getting her point across to her son and husband, as neither the son nor her husband took her seriously, or even attempted to understand her point of view. Clearly, her flaring her arms, hands and fingers in the son's face and in the air were not very effective ways in communicating her feelings and emotions regarding the topic.

Either way, I am still not intrigued by the show....lol

How Well Do You Communicate?

Growing up, I have encountered many forms of communication. For example, growing up in a Jamaican household, many of my family members, when excited, tend to speak extremely loud. One who is unfamiliar with this, would assume that an argument is taking place, when in fact, my family expresses their form of communication very passionately. One person, who I believe demonstrates competent communication is mother. I love they way she articulates her thoughts, how she allows the other individual to express their thoughts and concerns, no matter how much she may disagree, she does not interrupt. She just has this way of making the other individual think about about what they are saying. After they have said all they had to say, the look on their face is priceless. I have experienced this myself, too often. Now that I am older, and have my own family and children, I hope to one day develop the ability to be patient and listen first, before interrupting or disagreeing with another, no matter how passionate I am about the discussion.