The classes I registered for my first
semester at SJSU made me realize that I belonged to the group in my class.
These classes were comm 173F: Intercultural Communication and Global
Understanding and comm 172F: Multicultural Communication. We had to work on
group assignments within our class space wherein I got to interact with every
class member and learned to respect their views. Both of these classes demanded
to be culturally sensitive to the fellow classmates and respect them as
individuals. Our teachers made it very clear to have a tolerance of ambiguity
when writing comments, posts, essays in class or online and follow a set of
norms while talking in the class. Although, I am aware of the cultural
diversity that we live in which makes US such a unique and wonderful place,
these classes laid the foundation of sensitivity about critical issues related
to multicultural communication in the international society. We learned to
navigate smoothly in the diverse class environment because of the norms laid by
our teachers in these classes that groomed us with techniques to behave
comfortably among a vibrant crowd.
Hi Spring Blogger,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how your teacher made cultural considerations a part of group interactions. This is true especially living in Silicon Valley it is important to recognize differences and embrace them. I recently took a multicultural class as well and I am glad I did. We learned why certain cultures act certain ways and how to interact and respond to them. I like how you became culturally sensitive and were able to learn a lot from them. I remembered the biggest thing that I came away with from this class was to imagine moving to a place not knowing the culture and language and having to adapt and learn. I have so much respect for those who can do that because being born and raised here I have not had to do that.
The best part about you rblog is that you point out the most time guzzling social norm we have at SJSU. We have a norm that makes us feel inclined to listen to everyone's ideas, even if they are not on topic or missing the point. In a professional environment, there is not enough time to talk out every idea and politely listen to people ramble on about things will get the group nowhere. when time is money, the norm is more likely to be that we think out our plans before it's time to brainstorm as a group in an effort to expedite meetings and maximize an ideas possibility to become a solution. For some reason we all sit around during group projects and worry about people's feeling, and I for one, think that it is why we get surprised with our grades.
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