Larissa Yopan: TESOL 103

Good or Bad Manners?  Have you ever thought that cultural differences also include manners? Well, I've found out that differences in cultures around the world cover more aspects than I imagined. For example, did you know that in some countries in East Asia belching is considered a compliment to the chef? In Brazil is considered very impolite to do it when you're eating. What about the "okay" sign, did you know that in Brazil it is an offensive gesture? Handshakes are also on the list, did you know that a  bone-crushing handshake is a sign of aggression in the Philippines, while in Brazil is a demonstration of professionalism? As you can see, a good manner may be considered a bad manner in some cultures, and vice-versa. A great tip to not pass through an embarrassing situation is given by Professor John J. Ivers from the BYU-Idaho University. He says that if we are surrounded by people from another culture we need to "see what everyone is doing", in other wor

"Give them the benefit of the doubt"  (Professor Ivers) I am from Brazil and I've never been abroad. I can't tell you how it's to live in another country and immerse yourself in a different culture, language, weather, and so on. However, even within Brazil, we can find many subcultures. I live in Santa Cataria, which is a state in the South part of Brazil. I know people from many different states and I guarantee how many different paradigms and beliefs exist in my own country.   Teachers need to deal with those differences in the classroom and sometimes they find some challenges that have to be overcome in order to assure the success and happiness of their students. Some cultural differences may be misinterpreted which can cause anxiety, frustration, and even hatred. These feelings may lead to a bad relationship among students and teachers. Professor John J. Ivers from the BYU-Idaho University once said that " w henever a student is from a different place or

Attributional Tendencies in Culture  According to  Sparknotes   Attribution tendencies  "are inferences that people make about the causes of events and behavior. People make att ributions in order to understand their experiences. Attributions strongly influence the way people interact with others". Professor Ivers from BYU-Idaho University explains that " A ttributional 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" . He also says that "in a ll cultures, we're always attributing things to other things".  I need to tell you that I've never heard about that before. However, reading some material about that I realized that  is what we typically refer to as cause and effect . Depending on the culture, people are used to attribute their failure and success, as well as the failure and success of others, to sp

  Personal Space Differences  in a TESOL classroom Imagine the following situation, you, the teacher, are in the classroom and approach a student who is struggling to understand the content taught that day. You come closer to your student to see his notebook and show willingness to help him. However, he steps back away from you. What would you think? You may think he is ashamed, or he is sad, or even he is not like you. Well, this situation may happen because different cultures have different personal space levels. Regarding this issue, Professor John J. Ivers from BYU-Idaho University says that we "have to be very careful [because] there is some very serious room for misinterpretation". The zone distance can vary from one culture to another.  For instance, in my culture, it's very common to hug and kiss people when you first meet them. However, for some cultures, like in Germany, this seems very inappropriate. Personal spaces are associated with the population density of

Individualism vs. Collectivism in a  TESOL Classroom In my last posts, I shared some cultural differences that exist around the world. Now, I would like to share some insights about an aspect that sometimes is not very well viewed, at least it was not very clear to me before I started reading some materials about it. I am talking about Individualism and Collectivism. There are some nations that are individualistic oriented, which emphasize independence, the pursuit for individual goals/interests, competition between individuals, whether other nations are collectivistic oriented, which emphasize interdependence, the fulfillment roles within groups, group decision-making, just to mention a few aspects.  Professor John Iverr from the BYU-Idaho University said that "there's no way we'll ever reach perfection culturally, at least we can be aware of some issues, and address them, maybe only in our personal lives, but if everyone addresses them in their personal lives, then, oh,

  Differences in Emotional Expressivity Around the World We all know that there are many cultural differences around the world, but have you already thought that these differences are also associated with how people express their emotions and feelings? Professor John Ivers from BYU-Idaho ex plains that " emotional expressivity is one of the things that are more easily misunderstood than many other things in cross-cultural differences". Although the emotions are universal and we all feel the same emotions, like happiness, anger, sadness, excitement, and so on, we express these emotions in different ways based on our "cultural tolerance for expressivity" (Professor J. Ivers). For example, most of the countries in Asia don't allow public showing of emotion as much as the countries in Latin America, where there is a higher tolerance for emotional expressivity in public. I live in Brazil, and I can tell you that here we are more intense and dynamic in our talks. We a