How communication changes

After close examination I have found that I do communicate differently with people from different groups and cultures. I do not think, however, it is intentional. For example, with children I talk in a very simple way using examples they understand and I am very animated. With people from my culture, like my family, I am very lax in my wording and use a lot of common language known among my family. I noticed that when I visited Honduras on a mission trip, I spoke with a Spanish-like accent (quite embarrassing to admit), and I do the same when speaking with parents with a Hispanic or Latin origin. I lived in South Korea for three years and learned enough of the language to get around and converse with people. Now, whenever I am conversing  with or encounter someone from Korea, I tend to speak English like they do. My shoe repair man, Mr. Lee, appreciates this however. He says it shows I know his culture.
Some strategies to employ when communicating with others would be for me to be mindful of who I am talking to and how I am talking to them, without being disrespectful to them or their language. Another strategy to employ would be to keep stereotypes out of the background of my mind so I can form my own opinion of the person with whom I am speaking based on their personality  and not what others have said they should act like. Being competent in intercultural communication will help me to adapt my behavior toward another in ways that are appropriate to their culture.

In an attempt to see how well I could read people in their non verbal communication- I watched a show I have never seen on mute. The show was called "The Middle" and it was full of non verbal communication in the form of vivid facial expressions, over exaggerated hand and arm gestures. It was easy to figure out that it was about a family. The girl was excited about something and the brothers were not as enthusiastic and were clearly put out with her by rolling their eyes and yawning. They continued to yell at each other throughout the show. The family was obviously put out with each other in one way or another. Arms flailed, hands on hips, arms crossed rolled eyes, grimaces, and smirks, smiles, and tears filled this episode. In the same way there was just as much verbal communication that took place in the form of yelling, and very excited and fast paced talking. Turns out that the daughter was trying to plan a surprise anniversary party for her parents and her brothers could have cared less. Even though it was a huge flop the parents were happy she tried.
 It was interesting watching the show muted because it seemed so long, but when I watched it with sound, it went so fast paced and was over so quickly. I learned that more often than not the non verbal communication that you give off says way more than what you actually say.

The Communicators I know

When I think of effective communication, one person that comes to mind is my Dad. He has always made the person with whom he is speaking feel important and never less than. He makes eye contact and smiles and speaks with confidence and in a welcoming tone. He is a motivational speaker and has taught me wonderful skills in communicating with others to include actively listening, body posturing, and eye contact. I would love to model some of my own communication behaviors after him because he is effective when communicating with others. Listening takes a lot of practice, especially when you have so much to say (which is usually my case). I use the skills he has taught me in my everyday dealings with children and families, but there are some areas I need to work on, such as my facial expressions. It has been told to me that I do not have a poker face, so I need to hone up on my expressional skills. Thanks Dad for teaching me how to communicate, verbally and non-verbally!

Ending the course but beginning with the fight...

As this course on diversity and anti-bias education comes to a close I realize that my role as an EC professional fighting for anti-bias education has just begun. I hope that one day diverse children and families will be welcomed and celebrated in the classroom by professionals who genuinely care about their well-being and education. I hope that my anti-bias work will influence and even change the societal stigma that diverse families and children face on a regular basis.
One goal I suggest for the early childhood field as it relates to diversity, equity, and social justice, is to train up professionals who are challenged to look past their personal bias and move forward with anti-bias education, before they begin in the classroom.
To all my colleagues I want to say thank you. Thank you for sharing your experiences, stories, and opinions openly. I have learned so much from the different perspectives you all have shared and it has made me a better professional and colleague. May you prosper in your efforts against bias in education.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

 

 

I chose Russia to be my new family's country of origin. I do not know anything about this culture and would love to learn more about it. Working in an early childhood center, some things I would do to prepare myself for the arrival of this child and family would be:

 

-Read up on the country history and government and learn about the traditions, culture, education systems, food, pop culture, and music.

-Include Russian children's stories and books in my class library and put out the food and dress  representative of the country in the Dramatic Play area. 

-Learn some basic phrases and words in the language like sit down, paper, crayons, scissors, bathroom, hello, etc.

-Print out labels in the written language to post around the room to accompany the labels in English and Spanish.

-Purchase popular Russian children's songs and include them into the curriculum.

 

I hope that by researching this country and setting up the classroom to include some of the things the child possibly saw in previous classrooms would be welcoming to the child and family. That they would see I was open and willing to help with the transition and with the education of their child. I hope they would see that me and the class were happy to have them be a part of our class community. I do not want to appear to be trying too hard and fake, so I would not bombard them with too much enthusiasm. Moving to another country is hard enough, so I would hope they could find some peace knowing their child was in an environment that celebrated her and not ignored her.



The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression?

My memory happened about five months ago when I arrived home from work, I had noticed my lawn had been cut. I had asked the young man who cut it for me not to cut it when I was not home (for safety reasons) and this happened to be the third time he had done so. I decided that I would pay him but no longer require his services. I drove around the corner to his house where his step father was sitting out on the porch. He called for the boy to come out and I gave him his money and told him I would no longer need his services. I also told him why and he said he forgot. As I was leaving his step father asked me where I got my truck (I had just purchased it the month before). I told him and he said it must have been a nice treat from my husband. I told him I was not married and to that he scoffed and said “you bought that all on your own? And you own that house up there on the hill? I thought for sure you had a man living there with you. I never heard of a woman doing that all by herself. My God! Well that’s a nice truck and if you ever need anything (creepy emphasis here) at all, you know there’s a man right here.”

This specific incident displayed sexism at its best. I thought it odd for him to think I, a hard working woman, could not buy a house and a car without the help of a man. He thought it odd for me to have done it. He acted like I was a freak of nature. This diminishes equity because he didn’t take into account my individual ability as a woman without a man. This incident , number one made me laugh at his ignorance, number two made me gag at his offer of manhood to assist me, and number three made me proud of my accomplishments. Did I feel a twinge of apprehension because I do want a husband one day? Nope. J

In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity that man’s thinking about the capacity of women needs to change. And perhaps meeting me has started that process for him...

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Microaggressions are defined as brief everyday indignities that are verbal, behavioral, or environmental. They may be intentional or unintentionally communicated to women, to people of color, or to those of differing sexual orientation, and have an insulting message behind them that often causes severe psychological distress and harm ( Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).

One microaggression that I have witnessed, among many in my workplace, was toward my best friend. She is bicultural with a Hispanic father and a German mother. She has a last name that is rather easy to pronounce but teachers in our school seem to have a difficult time pronouncing it. Her last name is Chavez. Many teachers pronounce it with a fake French-sounding accent (Shhhha-vez). She politely corrects them all the time and even provides a word to help them remember how to say it (rhymes with Travis). The other teachers responses range from apologetic to annoyance. One teacher in particular addressed her incorrectly (Hey Shhhha-vez or however you say it, I don't know. Well, all your names end in a 'z' anyway.)

I was furious upon hearing it, not to mention my friend's reaction- she walked away. This just happened in an elementary school by a teacher. When my friend addressed it the next day, the teacher got defensive and apologized saying she just gets confused.

I was aware of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes on people previous to this observation because I have been on the receiving end of them too often.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Microaggressions in Everyday Life. [Multimedia Presentation]. Retrieved from Walden University course notes.