In class this week, we learned a lot about cultural communication. My professor had us do an activity to simulate for a short amount of time what it might feel like to have a communication barrier. The class divided into small groups of 4, and split up into teams of 2. Each group of 4 was given a deck of cards, and a folder containing the rules for a card game. The rules stated that there was no verbal communication allowed, including mouthing words! Some of my classmates were designated to make sure that this rule was being enforced.
Once the card game got started, the rules were collected and put away. Our group played the game fairly quickly, because we had understood the rules. When my partner and I won the match, we rotated to another group to play against someone else. When we got to the other table, we smiled and waved, not being able to say anything. When the game got started there was some confusion because my partner and I seemed to disagree with our opponents on what the correct rules were. After playing the game with a few other pairs, we realized that each group was given a different set of rules, and we were all trying to play the same game!
Looking back at the exercise, I remember the frustration of not being able to communicate what I wanted to say to the other group. I really wanted to let them know that we had different rules but I couldn't without speaking or moving my mouth. I felt misunderstood when I tried to communicate and the people around me could not guess what I was trying to say. I also felt very confused when the other team thought that they were winning, and we thought we were winning as well. As the game went on with each team, my partner and I began adapting to the rules of the table that we were at. I became good at reading people's reaction after each card was played.
I can see how this activity relates to different cultures while trying to communicate, and I was able to experience some of the feelings associated with cultural communication barriers. This was very helpful to me as a future professional working with people because it enforced the importance of patience and understanding.
Hello!
My name is Emily, and I am in my final year of the Child and Youth Work Program. I am taking a course this semester called "Cultural Issues and Diversity", which requires me to write a blog. I will be using this blog to reflect on my learning throughout the semester.
I am very excited to begin this course because I am a very open-minded person. I have always enjoyed learning about other people, and the way that they live. I have been fortunate enough to learn about my friends' different cultures, but I am really looking forward to learning about new things in this course.
Although I have a very open mind to learning new things, it does not mean that there isn't anything that is outside of my comfort zone. I am excited to learn about new things that are outside of my world, and I hope to take some of that learning and put it into my own culture.
In my world, I have always been interested in learning about the people around me. It is very difficult for me to pick one thing that I am looking forward to learning the most this semester. The one thing that stands out to me in this course that we will be learning about understanding Deaf Culture. I have always wanted to learn how to speak in Sign Language, and a trip to Sir James Whitney sounds like a great opportunity. Many of our course topics this semester are things that I have been exposed to before, but I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn more in depth about the cultures of the people around me.
The video that I have posted to my blog shows a few of the many cultures in our world. Watching the video made me think that there are so many cultures that I would really like to learn and understand. What stood out to me in this video was when the people are all shown with different pieces of people. I think that people take bits an pieces of their own culture, and mix it with other people's as we learn new ways. An example would be in our first class my teacher explained to us the meaning behind a wampum and we made our own with a class meaning behind it. My professor got this idea while visiting Quinte Mohawk School and we were able to use in in our classroom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8GDUIh_Tis
In closing, I am looking forward to diving into the course content this semester very much! I am excited to try new things that may be outside of my comfort zone, and more importantly to learn things about individuals.
- - Emily
