??      Cultural Mis-communication

        May 22, 2021.  --Week 5

      When you add the prefix 'mis' to the word 'communication' it means the opposite of the word.  It means to not do what was intended.  In this case, to not communicate or to not understand.  And cultural miscommunications are not understanding someone based on your differences in cultures.  This leads me to realize that the culture one grows up in gives many assumptions to people.  Things that we don't even realize that we think or know just because of where we grew up.  For example, I grew up in Idaho, in the USA, and there it is generally assumed that you should smile and greet everyone to be polite and friendly.  This is not accepted behavior everywhere, I have now learned.  I have been accused of flirting, when I was not; of laughing at someone, when I was not; and of knowing someone that I did not.  All because I thought I was being appropriately friendly.  

   In a TESOL classroom, where it is to be expected that there may be many cultures present, I feel that it will be very important to address this topic early in the classroom.  I feel it needs to be noticed and pointed out so that we--as a classroom--can decide together on a classroom culture.  And I will hope to make the classroom culture loving and accepting of everyone.  If we follow the teachings of our Savior, and strive to help everyone understand that we are all doing our best and trying to be kind, then I hope that we can get past many of the misunderstandings that are probably going to happen.  We can mitigate the consequences by being open to changing our perceptions, and realizing that our assumptions may be false.