Communicating with Cultures

• Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?
• If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?

I find myself all the time communicating with people from different groups and cultures. I have found that communicating with different groups can be difficult at times especially when you are not a part of that culture. 

Three strategies I can use during this could be :

1. Understanding cultural differences could be understanding yourself as a culture being and coming to understand that the way you see the world, organize your behavior and look at children are to a great extent, influenced by my own culture which may have been influenced by my training (Mena-Gonzalez,2010).

2. Understanding nonverbal cues can help when communicating. I look at others when they talk and I may be mislead by their nonverbal cues. One way is by looking at their eyes. Eye contact is very important in some cultures like  in the United States. It is very important that a person looks at someone when they are talking. (Mena-Gonzalez, 2010)

3. I shouldn't expect because I know someone's culture that I can predict their behavior pattern. Culture patterns will change when they come in contact with a new pattern. 

Reference: 

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 Strategies for Communicating and Working With Diverse Families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc

Blog Assignment 2

• The show I decided to watch because I have never seen it before was "Being Mary Jane" and it is a show that is on BET. Gabrielle Union stars as Mary Jane Paul a successful tv reporter and it started as a movie and is now a series. 
• I watched it with the sound off and the first think I thought about the characters' relationships was that it was sexual and there were many people who didn't like Mary Jane. Based on the nonverbal observations I thought they expressed hatred, jealously and envy for Mary Jane. I also noted that Mary Jane didn't care what the people thought of her and kept on doing her job as normal.
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• When I watched the show with the sound on it was true that Mary Jane was envied by her co-workers but she didn't care what people thought of her. Mary Jane worked her way to the top by being sexual and couldn't find a decent man to save her life. 
•  My assumptions would have been correct if I was watching my favorite show "Law & Order:SVU" because I watch that throughout the week and have seen all the episodes so I know how each character acts.  
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The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that the children receive an experience they will never forget. The experience will be involving them learning about different cultures and being able to express themselves in their own unique way. Most children don’t receive the chance to learn about other cultures because of their socioeconomic status which places them in a school district within their means.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is that all early childhood educators should be trained in how to deal with the three listed above. Most educators are sometimes place in a classroom with predominantly the race they are and when they venture out and work with a diverse of students they don’t know what to teach or how to teach so this should be a rule when becoming an educator.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for your interesting blogs, discussions and your input on my assignments. I have learned a lot in this classroom and because of you I feel more knowledgeable about equity and social justice. I wish you the best in your future endeavors.