5/18/15; W05 Blog: Culture Paradigms

We shall know eachother or we shall exterminate eachother.” by Carlos Fuentes, a Latin American intelectual.

There is a cool video online called Cultural Differences National Geographic

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT0kzF4A-WQ Here is the link.

If you think about it, many people in many countries may not know what a donut is.  Some of the most simple things you see everyday could be totally new and fascinating to people from other countries. We must confront tourists or new immigrants with the utmost respect and withhold judgement. Education may be a sea of boardome that makes teachers force themselves to make everything interesting. According to Professor Ivers, after every class period, “You will be one more hour closer to death.” It is our responsibility as teachers to make that class time enjoyable.  Our interpretation of a certain term. For example, if I told you that eating in front of a man is going to be illegal and deserve the death penalty you would think I am crazy, right?  That is a different paradigm that actually existed in ancient Hawaii.

Delali Bright shares her personal story of how growing up in West Africa. In a TED talk she shares her personal story of growing up in West Africa and being teased for the paradigm of being skinny and its relation to AIDS and a poor body. We need to open our eyes and be respectful. The judgemental ruin society and the sense of community that we can all have in our own towns. Teachers, above all, have this duty.

For TESOL instruction, we usually need to cater to the diversity in the classroom. As an ESL classroom may be, many people have different cultural backgrounds. We neeed to be ready to observe, listen, and talk about cultural differences. The English language has its own culture in the USA, in Britain, and in many other countries where it is a usual L2. In closing, culture is a huge part of a language. In like manner, it is necessary to lead teh discussion with great care and respect.