WHY IS ENGLISH GRAMMAR SO DIFFICULT?

The story of how English was formed can help you to understand why grammar is so hard, a language that has so many influences.

https://youtu.be/L_D6oBmwJ-M

February 26, 2019 Deep Culture in the Elementary Classroom

My culture, my Heritage, my interpretation of life...

The Oscar´s Nomination for Best Actress this year catapulted a beautiful Mexican girl. There were many sayings in the newspaper and media. The movie portraits the work and life of a domestic servant in Mexico in the 70´s. The director showed how people live and how the domestic servants worked and stayed most of the time in their employers home. 

Many people loved the movie and some others didn´t. I liked it because it helps to deep in to Mexican Culture, even though many years have passed there are many things that haven´t change, as the legal rights of the domestic servants, also the focus on families and trials and strengths.

When I was a teenager my best friend had her nana, she called nana to her domestic servant, she was more than that, she feed them when the went back to school, she helped them with homework and took care  of them, their parents came back from their jobs or other activities until it was night, so for them  the nana was having the role of mom and dad at the same time. 

For me it was hard to understand my friend how she talked about her nana and their complicity. Now with this movie I can understand a little bit more. How great it would had been if back then our teacher would help us to understand our culture paradigms. 

We as teachers must and can help our students to know these huge world, with so much differences and so alike at the same time. Professor Iver's said: 

Exposure to cultural diversity may form students to may form  new neural connections in the brain to be able to sufficiently interpret meaning in things to they are not accustomed.

How can we introduce and deep in students in new cultures, and not just sharing favorite dishes, customs?

Attributional Tendencies, lesson 6

Attributional tendencies

Professor Iver, from BYUI taught in an class;Attributional tendencies refer to what do we attribute success, to what do we attribute our personal failures, to what do we attribute the successes of others, to what do we attribute the failures of others. In our culture, in all cultures, we're always attributing things to other things, like other causes. I'll give you some examples here in a minute.

There is a popular in saying in my country, De tal palo tal astilla, which means, Like father like Son, such saying declares that our children are like the consequence of our good or bad teaching. When our kids are misbehaving, we feel as we have failed, and when they are gaining progress we feel succeeded,  but are really the parents responsable for  all their children decisions, either good or bad?

For some cultures they are, and also the children try their best to honor their parents by their achievements.  For some cultures success means getting an education,  having a family, being married, or having a great job, or having children. As you can see every culture attributes succeed or failure to what they determined as good or wrong, or to an inner or outer influence. In some cases it is irrational and in some is understandable.

For example in my country many years ago it was not good seen that men make home shores because it was attributed to only female as their queen of home, but lately rules have change. It is taught  that since we all partake of the benefits of home we all must take care of it. An since many woman have a job, man also can help with home shores.

In some cultures parents are in charge of their children marriage, they choose not just the wedding gown but also the groom or bride. Would you accept that? Maybe yes or maybe not, but if it was your culture paradigms you would see it natural.

It is time to realized that we as cultures have different attribution tendencies and that those differences exist but they can gather us instead of separate us. In a TESOL classroom, there might be different attributed tendencies, for some cultures respect  for the teachers means, absolute submission, and for some students and teachers are equal, so it will be good to find out what tendencies have your students to better help them in the process of learning.

02-21-2019 Lesson 7 Cultural and Pshychology

OUGHT SELF V.S. REAL SELF AND SELF-ESTEEM

I have being married for more than 21 years, at the beginning of our marriage my husband and I planned our family who was in charge of things, so he was going to be the provider and I was going to be in charge of raising our future children and our home. I become a stayed home woman, and then we had our first kid, we had heard that I shouldn´t work out of home so I didn´t.

We struggle financially very much, but we still kept our family plan.  In my country there are a lot of woman that work and raise their children, and it is acceptable.  After some years I met some of my coworkers and students and they were wonder why I didn´t have a job. Some of them asked me if my husband was a macho. But we were trying to follow the advice to be a stayed home mom to raise my children.

It was around 7 years ago when I started to make cakes for selling, I felt good and to be honest my self-esteem was higher than my first years of marriage. I don´t mean that I didn´t enjoy being a stayed home mom, I loved it and I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to raise my children and be able to live every experience possible with them, but I needed something where I could develop my talents and feel that I was being productive.

Then I joined the Pathway Program and BYUI online later.  So after these years I realized that I needed more, my culture stated an ought self I must pursue, a married woman, with children and a job, a career, that would be a succeeded woman.

At the beginning of my years of  going back to my education path I realized that I spent a lot of time at my school assignments, until one day after many arguments my husband told me that he was afraid he was loosing his wife and my kids their mom.  In pursue of becoming a succeed woman I change my priorities and I became a selfish woman, I was blessed that I could understand my mistakes and made some changes I am still getting an education but now I am focused on becoming and learning little by little going one step at a time.

We all have different ought self v.s. real self that are determined in our culture, but in order to succeed which means to become the best version of ourselves  we must consider what to do, when and how to do it, even if it is not what our society determines. In as much as your real self connects with the ought self  your self-esteem will become higher.

In the past girls didn´t pursue an education many of my friends only got a High School diploma, but lately our cultural ideas changed and many are getting prepared and receiving an education which is very inspiring. Now in my classroom I try to guide my female students to keep on the hard work and don´t stop until they get a degree, just as their bothers and male friends because we can do it too.

I chose my culture ought self which is no Mexican culture  but it is the culture of a disciple of Jesus Christ and I will have to make many changes but I know they will be worthy and will bring me real happiness and joy.

Difference in Manners, February 19, week 7

GOOD MANNERS 

What is good in Asia, must not be good in Europe. Imagine that you are visiting your fiance at China,  so you are going to give your first impression to your future parents in law, you must know that when you gather to eat good manners in China means that:

• You may lift your bowl to mouth level and use chopsticks to push rice into your mouth. ...
• Unlike in the West, spitting small bones out onto your plate or an empty bowl is acceptable. .
• Serving utensils might not be present.
• If you are provided a cloth napkin, tuck the corner under your plate so that it hangs in your lap. This also prevents it from falling onto a possibly dirty floor.
• Never play with chopsticks as if they were sticks for drum.
• And so many more.

In this world we don´t have to go to another country to meet people from all around the world, almost in every country we have the opportunity to share space and time with other cultures. Being educated requires also to learn of other cultural manners. 

So next time that you meet someone of other culture try to learn about their manners and be respectful, 

Professor Ivers, from BYUI, give us some good advices he taught during a class:

Loud music is tolerated in some Hispanics countries.

Time period in South America  is more than 10 minutes is almost 30 minutes so don´t feel b ad if your appointment starts a little more than 5 minutes after you were supposed to.

Blowing your nose in public in America is acceptable but not in Asia.

In the Middle East showing the bottom of your foot is considered insulting.

Don´t use the first name unless everybody does it.

He said: " Members of the Afghan army killing American soldiers. Some of those killings have been linked to cultural insults that would not have been insulting in the United States. Some of them had been linked to American soldiers laying down on the ground, pointing the bottom of their shoes toward that person. An American soldier doesn't think anything is  happening. The Afghan takes it as an insult. Another, there's other things been linked to, you know how in America, sometimes, like in a sport situation and you do a good job, these sports players are patting, banging each other on the rear end? You know? Sometimes American soldiers do that. That would be an offense to Afghans. So, anyway, they're starting now to train the American soldiers in cross-cultural differences. And, of course, a lot of the insider killings are religiously motivated, but there's a lot of cultural differences."

So knowing other manners would stop wars, wouldn´t it be important to instruct our students on the matter?

Consider studying the following 13 good and bad manners examples.
 https://people.howstuffworks.com/13-examples-of-good-and-bad-manners-around-the-world5.htm

Cross Cultural Students, February 19, lesson 7

EGALITARIANISM

All men are created equal, Thomas Jefferson

I had just been twice at Disneyland but I loved it specially the Small World Ride.
https://youtu.be/iJFGAX77zw4

So many cultures, so different and so equal at the same time. Do you really see a difference between these children? Yes there are but only on the outer, inside we all are equal.

In a classroom there could be students from different cultures,  some more expressive and some less expressive, some can jump and shout when they get an A or can say without any expression " OK" like if it didn´t matter. An it doesn´t mean they don´t care but they express their feelings in different ways.

In a classroom the teacher must know about the culture paradigms of  Expressivity, wether  it is High like in the Hispanics culture, or low like in Asian cultures, where they limit their comment and never disagree with the professor because that will mean disrespect.

So differences can change our value? No and that won´t change their value, all men and women have the same value, we all are children of God, and are his creation, He loves us, we have trials, goals, joy and and weakness, There is no a perfect human being nor a perfect culture, but we all can understand  that differences doesn´t determine the value of each person.

It will be very enriching to understand others cultural paradigms.

February 16 th, Personal Space

PERSONAL SPACE IS SACRED FOR SOME CULTURES... IS IT FOR YOU?

Have you ever heard your little kids arguing and and saying things like:
You are touching my chair, or you are breathing my air, or you are looking at me!
Really! Does it really bothers them?

I am hispanic and I live in a city of  1,321 milliion people. We have problems of very crowded busses at rush hours, some of my kids get the bus daily, but I pick up the little one, When I have to pick her up an take a bus, she gets mad,  she doesn´t like to be touch by others, or been in a crowded bus,  I would say that she believes that her personal space is sacred. Is it for me?

In a recent research of personal space that focused on the brain mechanisms, specific areas of the brain contains neurons that monitor the space around the body and they track objects. These reurons are almost like radar firing signals when something looms close, thir activity risins to a frenzied peack if the object touches. When those neurons become highly active, the feed directly into our movment control, subtly adjusting our movement or, in extreme cases, causing finching or cringing. It impacts our sense of sef, our ability to use tools, our culture and our social and emotional behavior, which means to be human. (1)

So next time that your kid doesn´t want to sit next to a unknown person in the theater, don´t think he is being rude, he is just protecting  his personal space. I have my own sacred personal space. Ones I was talking with my daughter best friend dad, he stood up to closed to me, I gave one step back and he one step to me, I did that so many times and felt so bad, so next time I was going to see him, I walk away immediately because I didn´t want to talk with him anymore.

Imagine that we all have a portable air bubble which determines our personal space, for some is a little bubble specially for those who grew up in a big city, since they need to share their s pace in their apartment or at the bus or at the mall. On the contrary a person that grew up in town with low population sems to have a giant air bubble, we can see how they extend their arms to shake hands, like saying stay thre, don´t cross the line, and the other one seems to be more invasive, he even touch his elbow. 






So we all have sacred  personal spaces the difference is the wide or narrow space,  How would this information help you  when someone invade your personal space?



1.-  http://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap9.html