TESOL 103 by Jamie B.

An insightful friend once told me… …the closer your actions align with your soul, the happier you’ll feel. Why do you do the things you do? Is it because societal norms and your culture tell you to? Is it because that’s who you are and what feels right? If it’s the latter, good for you! That’s not easy to do in a world where we are expected to fit into culturally created ideas. Here are a few examples: genders are expected to behave in certain ways or pursue certain careers, some cultures are thought to excel in sports or academics over others, people should look, act, or a dress a certain way for their particular culture. If you don’t perform to certain cultural standards, it can be embarrassing and shameful. Self-esteem falls from failure to perform these cultural expectations. Then there are those who do everything they can to fit the mold; to live within the boundaries that have been set by those around them without any thought for the natural talents, gifts, abili...

I happen to be the mother of three boys (and two girls), but I am going to focus on the boys – especially my two youngest who are budding teenagers. For several years now, they have found immense humor in loud bodily functions. It drives me crazy! “What do you say?” is a common query to our boys. Seriously though, do they really mean “Excuse me,” when they flaunt their bodily functions to solicit reactions? Ugh… Manners are something we have been working on for a long time, and for the most part, our boys display what we have taught them in public (thank goodness). Three years ago, we had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Taiwan to visit my relatives. It was my husband and boys’ first time visiting Taiwan. They absolutely loved the food, hated the heat, and were totally stoked when burping at the table and slurping their food was allowed; so stoked that there were even a few comments about moving to Taiwan despite the heat. When we returned home, they attempted to continu...

Have you ever been on the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disneyland? It has been one of my favorite rides for over 35 years. I love the vivid colors, happy faces, diverse costumes, variety of languages, different styles of dancing, and unique cultures the ride showcases. What a rich, stimulating world we live in. It is not uncommon for our classrooms to be filled with many different cultures from around the world today. While this can be a powerful learning experience and opportunity, it can also present some challenges as we blend different cultural paradigms in one room. Some of us are loud; some of us are quiet. Some of us are individualistic; some of us are collectivistic. Some of us are expressive; some of us are inexpressive. Some of us have internal attributions; some of us have external attributions. Some of us have a big bubble; some of us have a very small bubble. Okay, I think you get the picture. How do we deal with all these beautiful differences in one room? Fi...

What are attributional tendencies? They are the assumptions human beings make about reasons for circumstances, their behavior, and others’ behavior. There are two types of attributions - internal and external. Basically, internal attributions conclude circumstances are a result of self and external attributions conclude circumstances are a result of someone or something else. Why is it important to understand attributional tendencies? People who lean towards internal attributions will blame themselves. While it can be productive to be aware of our weaknesses and what we can improve, it is important that we don’t let these paralyze us or bring us down. Those who lean towards external attributions may not be accepting responsibility for their part of the outcome. In a world setting, this can help us to be mindful that we don’t know everyone’s story and to be kind. In a classroom setting, understanding attributional tendencies can help teachers guide their students to an h...

In my Culture and Diversity class, we are working on group semester projects. Four of our group members are from the United States, and two are from a South American country. For these projects, we are to create a diverse classroom scenario to be addressed. One of our classroom management actions in response to the scenario we created is to remind the students to stay in their own bubble. Interestingly enough, the group members from South America told us they have no problems with people entering their personal space. As such, they don’t use the “stay in your own bubble” concept. We decided to focus more on appropriate personal space for the classroom. This was enlightening for me. I had not thought about personal space differences much until this group planning conversation. Then I was reminded of visiting another country and having people walk right into or through me instead of going around. In the United States, we do everything we possibly can to avoid contact with ano...

From the time my youngest daughter was a toddler, she wanted to be an adult. She would pretend to own businesses. She would put sticky notes on items all throughout the house with prices and ask us to shop at her store so she could ring us up on her plastic cash register. One year for Christmas, all she wanted was office supplies so she could play “office.” She was a little adult in a little girl’s body with mom and dad still making a lot of decisions for her. She couldn’t wait to be a real adult – to be responsible, be independent, and make her own choices. Just like that, it happened…all of a sudden she was an adult. With it came all the responsibilities of adulthood – budgeting, paying bills, signing paperwork, and making really tough decisions. She was torn between two cultures…one where the elders in her life made all the decisions for her and one where she was free to be independent. I can’t tell you how many times she has yelled, “I hate adulting!!!” I imagine that ...

"Hello, nice to meet you!" A handshake, a word, a bow, a hug, a kiss, an air kiss, a nose bump, a fist bump, a face rub. These are ways people greet each other around the world. Okay, stop right here and make a list…which greetings would you feel comfortable with? This will probably say a lot about whether your culture is low tolerance to expressivity (does not show public emotion) or high tolerance to expressivity (shows public emotion). In a Brigham Young University - Idaho class lecture, “Differences in Emotional Expressivity," Professor Ivers categorizes several countries for us.   Scandinavian, British, and Japanese cultures were listed under low tolerance to expressivity.   Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Italian cultures were listed under high tolerance to expressivity. The United States fell in the middle. Different subcultures within the United States were noted to be on opposite ends of the spectrum as well. One of my favorite s...