What Is Communication?

My blog this week is on a family member who demonstrated competent communication within a particular context.  The family member is my uncle who once had a misunderstanding with another senior member of the family and the other person got so worked up that he started yelling at the top to his voice, but my uncle remained calm and allowed the yelling to subside then he just said in a low tone, “…but brother, your are speaking with me here, we don’t need to shout to be heard….”.  That was the magic phrase and the yelling stopped totally.

I would say that even though the situation looked as if it would turn violent, my uncle exhibited what I can call assertive behavior, that is, he was clear with what he wanted and, without being nasty, stated it  firmly.

I often model some of my communication behaviors after my uncle because this kind of communication helps the other party to check himself/herself; it also helps to avoid physical combat, thereby building matured people in a matured society.

Considerations, Reflections, Aspirations

The hope that i have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that, having gone through this course on equity and diversity, I will be able to create a more peaceful and conducive atmosphere for learning and forming relationships.

The goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is helping children to treat one another fairly and with open mind with respect for other people’s identity.

Hello everyone!  So soon we have come to the end of another course.  However, i need to mention the fact that without you being there i might not have been able to come this far, therefore, i am saying, from the bottom of my heart, a very BIG THANK YOU to you all for always being there for me.  I will always cherish your supports, your probing questions and insightful comments, I hope we will meet again.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The name of the family’s country of origin is Ghana.

In order to know more than surface facts about the immigrants’ country of origin, the five different ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family are: 1. I will try to learn some simple welcoming words in their language, and knowing how and when to use them; 2. I will learn what the family values are in order to know how to support; 3. I will try to know about the family gender roles so as not to misplace priority when addressing the family; 4. I will try to know the showing of emotion in the family so that i would conform when showing sympathy or empathy to the family; and 5. I will learn the family’s idea about being on time and speaking up in group.

I hope that these preparations will benefit both the family and myself because i will be able to include the cultural norms in the class curricula and involve other pupils in the understanding of the new culture.  This inclusion will make the family welcomed and be ready to participate in the growing up of their children.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The memory I have is that of an incident when I witnessed someone as the target of bias.  We wanted to employ a temporary hand, but the group lead decided that a female would not be able to cope with the rigour and stress of the job, and therefore requested for a male.  The recruiting officer did not see the reason for the ‘discrimination’, therefore sent a female graduate.  The lead was not available at the time the temporary hire was brought, I was overseeing the office and had to explain to the recruiting officer and the lady that was brought; the job involved moving from one floor to another, and one office to another on each floor, pushing trolley to distribute letters to employees.  I saw that the lady was not too happy about the job but she was desperate to have a job, any job.  On the long run, I had to fix her into another group with a more relaxed schedule, and her terms of employment was being renewed every six months afterwards.  I never knew because she was expected to work for some few moths and leave.  The lady met me about four years afterwards and began to thank me and recounting how she would have been edged out if I had not intervened.  Although I do not support bias, prejudice, or oppression of any kind, I believe there should be dignity in labour coupled with job satisfaction for every employee.

The specific bias in the incident mentioned above does not diminish equity which could be termed fairness; actions, treatment of others, or a general condition characterized by justice, fairness, and impartiality.  Not wanting the female temporary hire go through the rigours of carying out the daily routine of her job, to me, is faireness to all concerned.  This helped to properly place her and also no lost man hour was recorded as this would have been the case after a very stressful day or week.

The incident brought up the feelings of care and understanding for one another.

What would have ended up a biased incident became an opportunity for greater equity as the terms of employment was being reviewed  and renewed every six months instead of just some few months and one time.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

We were in the staff bus, on the way home when a car crossed the road; not wanting the tires to touch a pool of water.  An old staff, a woman, in the bus hissed and said, ‘we are talking of cars, look at the rickety car she’s using to cause obstruction, the type of Anthony’s car’.  Anthony was a staff and was in the bus.  The microaggression happened in a neutral context; there was no form of discussion prior to the microaggression.  I felt that the target was being marginalized as the perpetrator’s statement suggested that the target was so inferior that he uses only bad things.

My observation experiences this week affect my perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people as I now have a more understanding of the feeling of humiliation it usually leaves in its trail.  I now see and feel how detrimental and damaging it is to be at the receiving end of microaggression.  In other words, there is need to be mindful of my utterances; if I imagine myself as the receiver of my utterance I would be more careful with what comes out of my mouth.

We all need to pay more attention to the way we address other people and our actions too.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

The answers received from my colleagues on culture and diversity are as follow:

 

CULTURE:

”Culture is simply the way people behave that reflects where they are from”.

“When we talk about culture we talk about what people are made up of, like me now, my whole culture is

in me and I am full of my culture”.

“Culture means what we are individually depending on a lot of things like our upbringing; that is, family,

ethnic, environment, language and the way we speak it, the way we do a lot of things and the type

of names we bear. In fact, everything is based on culture”.

“Culture is total believe, norms, custom and tradition of a society or a group of people”.

DIVERSITY:

“Diversity means the differences in the way people behave which will affect the relationship on the long

run if care is not taken to accommodate other people’s behavior”.

“To me this could mean different ways of doing things; that is diverse ways for various people”.

“Diversity could mean the various ways people interact and react to their culture, custom and tradition in

relating with one another”.

From the answers I received, all the aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included.  For example, culture is said to include behavior of people, the generality of who people are, people’s upbringing, language being spoken and the mode of speaking, norms and tradition of a group of people.  Diversity is said to be the differences in people’s behavior, the way they act and react to issues around them in their relationship with one another.

I could not get any omitted aspect of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course as all aspects are included in the definitions I received.

Thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity has influenced my own thinking about these topics in the sense that I now have a better understanding that these topics are truly vast and very wide; the topics can be defined by many people in many ways and meaning the same thing.

My Family Culture

In this kind of situation, I know I would have to learn the culture of my host country, and learn it fast! 

The three items I would choose are:

1. My language – since those of us remaining would be moving together and probably camped together, I would continue and also advocate for the continuous communication in our language so that our children too will continue in it while hoping that some day we would be back on our land.
2. My religion – I would need this to continue interceding for my people and my nation because definitely it was because of this that I was spared in the first place. 
3. My mode of dressing – this has been part of me because hardly can I put on a sleeveless top or attire and my dress must stop below my knees at most if not ankle length.  However, since I am not sure of the mode of dressing in my host country, whether they wear cloth or leaf, I would pack some clothing for myself. 

I would explain to others that the three items I have chosen – language, religion and mode of dressing – are sources of identification for us, they signify who we are and how we relate with one another.  Language, for example is a body or group of words which we as people in this same community or country, the same geographical area, or the same cultural area have been using to understand ourselves and to get along peacefully.

If upon arrival, I was told that I could only keep one personal item and give up the other two items I took with me, I would feel totally naked and thoroughly stripped of everything I am, everything I stand for; even for me taking only three items I would feel the same way.