First let me say, I love slangs, I find them very amusing and some of them are very "cool". I come from an area that used slang as though it were the only language known to them, and I have a lot of sistrens from Jamaica who I speak to on a regular basis and their language is full of slangs too!
Yes I speak slang on a regular basis because its makes the situations more comfortable and relaxing and exciting. I absolutely love to laugh and I enjoy experiences that make me do, using slangs is the beginning to entertainment for me. I do not use slangs when speaking to people in authority and I hardly ever use it with my students. I do use it when I want to lighten the mood and make them laugh and they very well understand what I mean because they use those slangs too. However I do this sparingly and they know not to get carried away.
Given these details I would say I use slang appropriately. My family (except my mother) uses slangs when they are in the mood to "play cool". It depends on the physical context as well that slangs are used, the location and people around might deter me from using slangs when I would like to but this is just to be respectful towards them. When I am in different social settings and physical settings them i would use them to my leisure.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Am I an effective verbal communicator?
When communicating it is only natural that you are doing so for a purpose. Regardless of the purpose itself, when communicating it is also natural that you want to be understood. You are sending a message that you have encoded in your mind because of particular perceptions that you may have and as a result of that or because of it, you will want to send a message to someone and it is hoped that they understand you or interpret the message the way you would like them too. However there are many things one must consider to ensure that the purpose of the message is understood and the message itself is correctly interpreted. Effective communication is when those things are accomplished.
I would not say I am always an effective communicator on any given instance. I would say I am more of an effective communicator in my class when sending messages to my students. Because I have a standard one class and they too have problems relating experiences and expressing themselves, I have to set the precedent for them. With the exception of spontaneous and scripted communication, I carefully construct my messages and I do a lot of repetition or phrase the same message differently while drawing on references and asking questions to make sure I am understood and they too understand the purpose of the message and the message itself. We are six weeks into school and I learnt this lesson probably by my second week of school after realizing that my kids were behaving the opposite to what was previously expressed. I came from a standard 4-5 class and because their level of maturity and understanding would have been greater, I grew accustom to that and took it for granted that my standard ones would too. Well they do now and I am thankful for it.
With adults however, I cannot say that I am as effective a communicator as I am with adults. I often take it for granted that because we are mature and possess a certain level of understanding that some things should apply to common sense while others could be rationalized according to verbal/nonverbal cues given in the first place. This is not always so because many times especially with strangers or persons I am slightly acquainted with misinterpret my actions and messages to mean something else. Only when necessary will I try to recreate the message and ensure that I am understood, otherwise I do not even bother. Persons who I am closely related to almost always (if not always) gets the message first time around but that is because they know me.
Because I am respectful I would say that I demonstrate not a perfect but high level of linguistic sensitivity. I don't ever belittle persons according to their characteristics. I like to feel comfortable in spaces and around others so that I also try to do the same. I do not like labelling either and generalizing because it is often done by others when they describe "Rastafarians" to which sometimes they do not even apply to me although I belong to that co-culture. I try to pluralize and use words such as "their/they, some people, sometimes, in some cases, might..." etc. This was introduced to me at an early age because I was on a debate team in school and also when doing General Paper and Sociology for A Levels these things applied and maintained importance.
I am ever so conscious about how I speak, my language choices and body language because as a teacher so much is expected from you, even if you do not agree with those expectations one might find themselves trying to cause minimum disturbances and misinterpretations to save your image as a teacher. I use vocabulary I believe persons should understand and if I do not know you then during the course of communication I will be better able to decipher what one's vocabulary status may or may not be. I use jargons when I know I am with persons who belong to the same group associated with such terms, for example teachers and Rastas. ALl in all I do try to be sensitive and respectful because in my mind, its enough having to deal with the real content in our messages, let's try not to make situations even more complex by being offensive or insensitive.
I would not say I am always an effective communicator on any given instance. I would say I am more of an effective communicator in my class when sending messages to my students. Because I have a standard one class and they too have problems relating experiences and expressing themselves, I have to set the precedent for them. With the exception of spontaneous and scripted communication, I carefully construct my messages and I do a lot of repetition or phrase the same message differently while drawing on references and asking questions to make sure I am understood and they too understand the purpose of the message and the message itself. We are six weeks into school and I learnt this lesson probably by my second week of school after realizing that my kids were behaving the opposite to what was previously expressed. I came from a standard 4-5 class and because their level of maturity and understanding would have been greater, I grew accustom to that and took it for granted that my standard ones would too. Well they do now and I am thankful for it.
With adults however, I cannot say that I am as effective a communicator as I am with adults. I often take it for granted that because we are mature and possess a certain level of understanding that some things should apply to common sense while others could be rationalized according to verbal/nonverbal cues given in the first place. This is not always so because many times especially with strangers or persons I am slightly acquainted with misinterpret my actions and messages to mean something else. Only when necessary will I try to recreate the message and ensure that I am understood, otherwise I do not even bother. Persons who I am closely related to almost always (if not always) gets the message first time around but that is because they know me.
Because I am respectful I would say that I demonstrate not a perfect but high level of linguistic sensitivity. I don't ever belittle persons according to their characteristics. I like to feel comfortable in spaces and around others so that I also try to do the same. I do not like labelling either and generalizing because it is often done by others when they describe "Rastafarians" to which sometimes they do not even apply to me although I belong to that co-culture. I try to pluralize and use words such as "their/they, some people, sometimes, in some cases, might..." etc. This was introduced to me at an early age because I was on a debate team in school and also when doing General Paper and Sociology for A Levels these things applied and maintained importance.
I am ever so conscious about how I speak, my language choices and body language because as a teacher so much is expected from you, even if you do not agree with those expectations one might find themselves trying to cause minimum disturbances and misinterpretations to save your image as a teacher. I use vocabulary I believe persons should understand and if I do not know you then during the course of communication I will be better able to decipher what one's vocabulary status may or may not be. I use jargons when I know I am with persons who belong to the same group associated with such terms, for example teachers and Rastas. ALl in all I do try to be sensitive and respectful because in my mind, its enough having to deal with the real content in our messages, let's try not to make situations even more complex by being offensive or insensitive.
Newspaper Article- my perception
Title: Corporal Punishment is not the Answer
Newspaper: Trinidad Express
Date: October 11th
Author: Lennox Bernard PhD
Mr. Bernard expounded the idea of alternative methods to corporal punishment in schools. He explained the negative effects and dangers of such a resort and also gave alternative methods offered by the Ministry of Education and probably his own research. Frankly and fairly, the article was great and effective too, because I definitely caused in stir in me so much so that I chose this article to comment on. I am quite accustom to hearing people argue against the use of corporal punishment but many times these persons are not teachers. Parents too have called for the punishment to cease and I take it that this is because they don't have the kind of children that "haunt" our hallways and openly, consciously and purposefully cause serious detriment to others: that too is understood. So honestly, upon reading the article, I immediately got on my defensive and was annoyed by yet another "don't beat the children" argument.
It was only until I read his alternatives and gave arguments who which even they might fail to work as well, was when I seriously considered his point of view. I thought if he could admit that they do not always work then he is being unbiased in his claims. Furthermore he went to say that the culture of schools vary and some alternatives can be applied in certain cases whereas in other schools they are definitely out of the question. What I do find "funny" is that the parents who are mature and honest enough to admit their kids are a "terror" don't rebuke the notion of corporal punishment. For that matter, many parents in my school have come forward and asked teachers to use corporal punishment to discipline their children because they know for a fact that there is no other immediate, and I stress, immediate, method that would work as well.
"The disciplinary model of practice includes verbal reprimand, withdrawal of privileges, applying extra academic work, making reparation, a system of demerits, counselling services, detention, pupil/student courts, isolation, temporary and permanent exclusion to an alternative school setting." I quote his alternative methods because I have used such methods and I can laugh now because the boys in my school are immune to such applications. They laugh and smile at these things because they know to themselves that we are fooling ourselves. According to a classmate of mine, in a Character Education class, people need to realize we live in a physical and spiritual world, and believe it or not, many of these children are possessed. I have seen it for myself and whoever doesn't believe apparently does not read the Bible to know these things exist. They existed then and they exists now.
For my part, I use the alternative methods for my boys especially because they hate losing their play time on a lunch hour. The girls do not give me trouble to say I have to resort to anything other than a verbal warning. My boys on the other hand are another story and yet still I am thankful because it could have been worse. My boys are just playful and wild, not possessed. However, I have witnessed on more than one occasion boys who most likely were and in such cases even corporal punishment can't stop them. They have been to counsellors, social workers, psychiatrists, given detention, a beating, lines, called in parents, the full works. What is more worrying is that some of the deeds they do not point to or give evidence as to the root of the problem. They have manipulated even psychiatrist and the principal on many occasions to think that they own up to their deeds and will even apologize and give logical explanations as to why he did things and apologize. After this the psychiatrist thinks they have succeeded, then as soon as he walks away the terror starts and he smiles while doing it. In such cases, when all else fails, what are teachers supposed to do?
Newspaper: Trinidad Express
Date: October 11th
Author: Lennox Bernard PhD
Mr. Bernard expounded the idea of alternative methods to corporal punishment in schools. He explained the negative effects and dangers of such a resort and also gave alternative methods offered by the Ministry of Education and probably his own research. Frankly and fairly, the article was great and effective too, because I definitely caused in stir in me so much so that I chose this article to comment on. I am quite accustom to hearing people argue against the use of corporal punishment but many times these persons are not teachers. Parents too have called for the punishment to cease and I take it that this is because they don't have the kind of children that "haunt" our hallways and openly, consciously and purposefully cause serious detriment to others: that too is understood. So honestly, upon reading the article, I immediately got on my defensive and was annoyed by yet another "don't beat the children" argument.
It was only until I read his alternatives and gave arguments who which even they might fail to work as well, was when I seriously considered his point of view. I thought if he could admit that they do not always work then he is being unbiased in his claims. Furthermore he went to say that the culture of schools vary and some alternatives can be applied in certain cases whereas in other schools they are definitely out of the question. What I do find "funny" is that the parents who are mature and honest enough to admit their kids are a "terror" don't rebuke the notion of corporal punishment. For that matter, many parents in my school have come forward and asked teachers to use corporal punishment to discipline their children because they know for a fact that there is no other immediate, and I stress, immediate, method that would work as well.
"The disciplinary model of practice includes verbal reprimand, withdrawal of privileges, applying extra academic work, making reparation, a system of demerits, counselling services, detention, pupil/student courts, isolation, temporary and permanent exclusion to an alternative school setting." I quote his alternative methods because I have used such methods and I can laugh now because the boys in my school are immune to such applications. They laugh and smile at these things because they know to themselves that we are fooling ourselves. According to a classmate of mine, in a Character Education class, people need to realize we live in a physical and spiritual world, and believe it or not, many of these children are possessed. I have seen it for myself and whoever doesn't believe apparently does not read the Bible to know these things exist. They existed then and they exists now.
For my part, I use the alternative methods for my boys especially because they hate losing their play time on a lunch hour. The girls do not give me trouble to say I have to resort to anything other than a verbal warning. My boys on the other hand are another story and yet still I am thankful because it could have been worse. My boys are just playful and wild, not possessed. However, I have witnessed on more than one occasion boys who most likely were and in such cases even corporal punishment can't stop them. They have been to counsellors, social workers, psychiatrists, given detention, a beating, lines, called in parents, the full works. What is more worrying is that some of the deeds they do not point to or give evidence as to the root of the problem. They have manipulated even psychiatrist and the principal on many occasions to think that they own up to their deeds and will even apologize and give logical explanations as to why he did things and apologize. After this the psychiatrist thinks they have succeeded, then as soon as he walks away the terror starts and he smiles while doing it. In such cases, when all else fails, what are teachers supposed to do?
Saturday, 15 October 2011
What I learnt from the culture I presented
My group presented the Aborigines tribe in Australia. yes I would say it was strange to me for many reasons:
1. They were mostly naked except in cold parts of the region they wore animal skin.
2. They were semi-nomadic, moving from place to place according to the season
3. They don't have any written record of their language, it was only spoken
4. The family and marriage rites were too confusing because it involved too many co-cultures that included people who also belonged to other co-cultures.
Now presently I would not say it was so strange that it affected me or my way of communication is a dramatic way. All I have to do is watch national Geographic and I would find many other cultures that have similar differences. What I did learn was that despite the numerous differences they possessed in comparison to the western world, their culture worked effectively enough for them and that is really what mattered to me most. It worked. For that matter they were existing quite comfortably until some ethnocentric Europeans came and wiped them out. It just goes to show that domination and invasion destroys cultures, it doesn't integrate or expand it.
1. They were mostly naked except in cold parts of the region they wore animal skin.
2. They were semi-nomadic, moving from place to place according to the season
3. They don't have any written record of their language, it was only spoken
4. The family and marriage rites were too confusing because it involved too many co-cultures that included people who also belonged to other co-cultures.
Now presently I would not say it was so strange that it affected me or my way of communication is a dramatic way. All I have to do is watch national Geographic and I would find many other cultures that have similar differences. What I did learn was that despite the numerous differences they possessed in comparison to the western world, their culture worked effectively enough for them and that is really what mattered to me most. It worked. For that matter they were existing quite comfortably until some ethnocentric Europeans came and wiped them out. It just goes to show that domination and invasion destroys cultures, it doesn't integrate or expand it.
In-class presentations on culture
The presentations shared the same categories I would say of language, dress, food, speech, behaviours. The cultures all had something differentiating them from each other. I learnt that simple greetings such as a hug may be well accepted by one culture but banned in another. Greetings vary according to the culture as well (that is the language). Dress code and religion seem to go hand in hand in certain cultures where religion is the state. Food is not a universal ethic where meat is concerned especially for Muslims and Rastafarians. Naturally one's entire lifestyle is guided relatively by culture and this is evident in mannerisms and the way we communicate with each other, may it be through verbal cues, gestures or other non-verbal cues. To each their own and it is only through a matter of respect that each can live in harmony by understanding that they are all equally important.
How culture affects my communication
Your culture is actually your way of life, how you do things, customs, mores, traditions, beliefs, laws and more so guidelines on one's behaviour. By its definition alone one should be able to understand why culture can influence certain behaviours and affect communication, but sometimes, we forget that their are co-cultures within a dominant culture and this changes things a lot. A dominant culture is a shared system of beliefs by the masses. It is a general understanding of how things work around there, but a co-culture is a group within a dominant culture who operate differently.
I am a Trinidadian and in our culture people generally dress however they please when in a social atmosphere, eat various types of food and meat, listen to different genres of music, etcetera. However, I belong to a co-culture with that dominant culture, that is, the Rastafarian community. More specifically I am belong to the 12 Tribes of Israel which is a sub-culture of that culture, one would say. Now within this culture (12 Tribes) females are not allowed to wear pants, generally we listen to reggae music and we eat the meats the Bible spoke of in the Old Testament. The way we greet each other is different to the way the dominant culture greets one another. Whereas one might say "Hello, good morning..." we usually say "Greetings" to which the same is replied or we say "Rastafari" to which "Selassie I" is the reply.
Now we are not ethnocentric because we believe that other culture too will also enter into the kingdom of God. We do hold ourselves in high esteem because we belief that we are prince and princesses out of Africa. Some might find us proud and that we are but we are humble in that give Jah glory and not ourselves! This makes us think a certain way and behave a certain way which in itself is communication. I wear mostly skirts (only pants when hiking or on field trips with my students) and I speak and think a certain way because of my beliefs. Certain body languages I do may only be interpreted by other Rastafarians and the things I say may only make sense to Rastafarians but generally because I am part of a dominant culture I reflect those things are are common with my co-culture.
I am a Trinidadian and in our culture people generally dress however they please when in a social atmosphere, eat various types of food and meat, listen to different genres of music, etcetera. However, I belong to a co-culture with that dominant culture, that is, the Rastafarian community. More specifically I am belong to the 12 Tribes of Israel which is a sub-culture of that culture, one would say. Now within this culture (12 Tribes) females are not allowed to wear pants, generally we listen to reggae music and we eat the meats the Bible spoke of in the Old Testament. The way we greet each other is different to the way the dominant culture greets one another. Whereas one might say "Hello, good morning..." we usually say "Greetings" to which the same is replied or we say "Rastafari" to which "Selassie I" is the reply.
Now we are not ethnocentric because we believe that other culture too will also enter into the kingdom of God. We do hold ourselves in high esteem because we belief that we are prince and princesses out of Africa. Some might find us proud and that we are but we are humble in that give Jah glory and not ourselves! This makes us think a certain way and behave a certain way which in itself is communication. I wear mostly skirts (only pants when hiking or on field trips with my students) and I speak and think a certain way because of my beliefs. Certain body languages I do may only be interpreted by other Rastafarians and the things I say may only make sense to Rastafarians but generally because I am part of a dominant culture I reflect those things are are common with my co-culture.
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Comm Skills 104 - My perception
From what I read, self perception is divided into two parts; one being self concept and the other being self-esteem. The former is referred to as your self-identity or my mental image about my abilities, knowledge, competencies and and my personality. My self-esteem is my overall evaluation of my personal worthiness or how I value myself.
My perception of myself is as follows:
First and foremost I am a child of God, I am my own life's author, I create my own masterpieces. He gave me free will so He gave me this option to create how my life should unfold. I am a Rastafarian (a proud one I might add) and I am open minded too. I am a great friend to have. I am honest 98% of the time (I may tell a "harmless lie" for lack of a better adjective). Once it is my choice to do something, or walk a particular path, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll work VERY hard towards for it. I am caring, considerate and respectful
I try not to be judgmental, but once you are human that is just a hard thing not to be. I think I am skilled at verbally expressing things, especially if I want to get the point across very clearly. I am also skilled at writing and expressing myself (if I want to be read).
I am a teacher, a concerned, willing and assiduous one. I am a daughter, sister, mother, friend and girlfriend. I am protective of my sistrens because the ones I have are rare and hard to find. I am emotional, free-spirited and nature-loving. I'm a thinker, I am always thinking metaphysically and spiritually about something. I love myself, I love my spirit and my characteristics, I adore my personality. I am very understanding. I do not believe my appearance contributes THAT much towards who I am; and I am referring to my dress code. I am currently doing a wardrobe make-over, when I'm done with that, then I will agree that my appearance contributes or reflects (a little more than before) the type of person I am. I am intelligent, (I sometimes boast or others do it for me), I love to read and I love life.
I have mixed temperaments, that is, my personality is dominantly choleric and sanguine, which means I am out-going, a daydreamer, compassionate and thoughtful, while also being full of energy, ambition and passion. hardly ever am I melancholic but sometimes I am phlegmatic especially when it comes to some courses.
I believe I have a strong heart and spirit and my mind is positively on a roll. My favourite quote is from Deepak Chopra and it says a lot about my perception: "Each of us is here to discover our true selves; that essentially we are spiritual beings who have taken manifestation in physical form;that we're not human beings that have occasional spiritual experiences,
My perception of myself is as follows:
First and foremost I am a child of God, I am my own life's author, I create my own masterpieces. He gave me free will so He gave me this option to create how my life should unfold. I am a Rastafarian (a proud one I might add) and I am open minded too. I am a great friend to have. I am honest 98% of the time (I may tell a "harmless lie" for lack of a better adjective). Once it is my choice to do something, or walk a particular path, you can bet your bottom dollar I'll work VERY hard towards for it. I am caring, considerate and respectful
I try not to be judgmental, but once you are human that is just a hard thing not to be. I think I am skilled at verbally expressing things, especially if I want to get the point across very clearly. I am also skilled at writing and expressing myself (if I want to be read).
I am a teacher, a concerned, willing and assiduous one. I am a daughter, sister, mother, friend and girlfriend. I am protective of my sistrens because the ones I have are rare and hard to find. I am emotional, free-spirited and nature-loving. I'm a thinker, I am always thinking metaphysically and spiritually about something. I love myself, I love my spirit and my characteristics, I adore my personality. I am very understanding. I do not believe my appearance contributes THAT much towards who I am; and I am referring to my dress code. I am currently doing a wardrobe make-over, when I'm done with that, then I will agree that my appearance contributes or reflects (a little more than before) the type of person I am. I am intelligent, (I sometimes boast or others do it for me), I love to read and I love life.
I have mixed temperaments, that is, my personality is dominantly choleric and sanguine, which means I am out-going, a daydreamer, compassionate and thoughtful, while also being full of energy, ambition and passion. hardly ever am I melancholic but sometimes I am phlegmatic especially when it comes to some courses.
I believe I have a strong heart and spirit and my mind is positively on a roll. My favourite quote is from Deepak Chopra and it says a lot about my perception: "Each of us is here to discover our true selves; that essentially we are spiritual beings who have taken manifestation in physical form;that we're not human beings that have occasional spiritual experiences,
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