Sunday, November 18, 2012
Week 3 blog post
When I think of communicating with people from different groups and cultures, I do find myself communicating differently, for example, when talking to western parents and Asian parents at my workplace. I have some stereotypical thoughts about these two groups, like most western parents want their children to be happy in the classroom while most Asian parents would want their children to learn something in the classroom. After learning communication skills, I think I should always to listen carefully before making any assumptions, because everyone has the right to express themselves and they want to be respected, like we want to be respected by others, so the Platinum Rule would help significantly during communication. Moreover, showing appropriate body language such as gestures and eye contact would be helpful during communication.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I can relate to your experience Karie. I am sure that all parents, westerners and Asians included, want their children to be happy. Yet culture indeed plays a role in where the emphasis is placed. I am facing this issue in my center. Although the center is faith-based and all students are Muslim, when families from the Indo-Pakistani background realize that our center is not a Montessori school, they are hesitant to enroll their children. The idea that Montessori is just one of many child development philosophies is hard to hard to communicate to them. The emphasis is placed more on academics verses the whole child.
ReplyDelete