Communication and Culture

I find myself communicating differently when families of a different culture come into our center.  I overly prepare.  I think of how we interacting with the previous family and draw on the knowledge from that family.  However, in doing so I negate that fact that a family may be from the same culture but the families culture may not be the same as the previous family.

Three strategies that I could use to help me communicate more effectively with the people that I have identified are: “Be conscious of cultural differences, rather than ignoring the differences, Learn as I interact and be willing to adjust my behavior as I learn, and adjust my behavior to others to ethnically accommodate difference and expectations” (Beebe, 2011, p. 114).

References

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

           

Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

SILENCE

I chose to watch 30 minutes of a movie clip. The title of the movie was “Source Code.”

In silence the movie began with a view of a city with water surrounding it and a train that was moving along a track.  A man sleeping train was frowning, he appeared to be dreaming. Suddenly he wakes up and looks frightened.  There was a woman seated across from him that began to speak to him while smiling.  The man appears to be confused.  The man talks to the woman and she smiles.  He gets up and walks on the train looking around as if he is lost.  The man goes to the door of the train looks out and then gets back on the train.  He sits back in his seat and peers out the window of the train while frowning.  He holds up his head and looks at his watch. He begins to talk with the woman using a hand gesture to indicate stop.  Then an explosion happened and the man opened his eyes in a different place.  He’s looking around, closes his eyes tightly and reopens he appears to be confused.  He‘s fastened in a belt in a seat and struggles to free himself but could not.  He talks with a woman on a television screen. Then he flashes back to the train with the young lady on the train talking and smiling at him.  He still appears to be confused, but he smiles and look at his watch and seems to be at ease.  He jumps out of his seat and goes over to another passenger, snatches the papers out of his hand and speaks to him in close proximity.  He get’s off of the train, then steps back on. He walks along the aisle of the train as if he is franticly looking for something, he begins to search compartments, his eyes are looking back and forth, he opens a vent and looks in an finds what appears to be a bomb. He looks up and is talking to someone.  He then leaves that area flashes his identification and states something.  He walks over to a passenger with a computer and states something the passenger responds and then the man proceeds to punch him in the face.  After this occurred the women moves out of her seat says something to the guy and helps the young man that was punched.  He is then back talking with the woman on the screen, he yells and appears to be very upset.  He looks directly at the woman.

WITH SOUND

After watching the movie clip with the sound the difference that I noticed was the music indicated that there was something about to take place.  And as the facial expressions by the actor was as I had indicated when viewing the clip in silence he was confused.  An “Aha” moment that took place was that I noticed that when I watched the clip in silence I could not turn away for a moment because I would miss something that happened during the movie clip, but with the sound the music and listening to the language that was being spoken aided in my interpretation of what was taking place during the movie.

Effective Communication

I will use my mentor she is a very effective communicator.  When it comes to her staff she always provides answers to why certain things have to happen.  Her nonverbal communication is always pleasant.  We she is feeling certain why she openly communicates with her staff. She is honest.  She is not passive.  She addresses issues so that it does not leave room for assumption. She guides her staff in their educational development.  She makes everyone feel valued and important in their respective places but always leaves room for their growth.

I definitely would like to model my own communication behaviors after this person because it makes your job much easier and the staff have a certain level of respect because of your honestly and they see your genuine care.