Communication and Culture

I do find myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures. Some of these different groups are church members at my church, coworkers at my agency, my children, my husband and also early childhood professionals that I meet. I have learned that you have to talk or communicate in so many different ways such as formally, informally, professionally, and this also includes nonverbal communicating. 

While I am communicating with church members from church it is different than how I communicate with coworkers. I talk more formally with the church members because they are mostly older than me and I have been raised to respect my elders. I know they have more knowledge and experience within the church. When talking to my coworkers I still communicate with respect but it isn’t the same type of respect that I show towards the church members. This respect is different because it is showing them that I am on the same page and that we are all working towards the same goal. 

Communicating with my children, I think it is the most fun that I have communicating with any group. Most of the time it is informal and easy going with my children but there are some times it isn’t fun. Children are a wealth of information and they are fun to listen to. I love just to sit back and just listen to all three of my children communicate with each other. 

Three strategies that I could use to help communicate more effectively are as follows:

1.      1. Treat everyone with respect.

2.      2. Actively listen to the person who is speaking.

3.      3. Follow the “Platinum Rule”: “Do to others as they themselves would like to be treated.” (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 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.

Watching in Silence.

 Watching in Silence. 

For this assignment I was to watch a television show that I don’t normally watch. First I watched the show without the sound on and then I watched it again with the sound on. The show I watched was called “The Glades”. I had never even heard of this show until this assignment. I was reading the directions to my mother and she said that I should watch that show. There was a lot of nonverbal communication through the show that I picked up on the first go around. At first I couldn’t tell if the lead characters liked each other or not because of the body language and also the facial expressions. Going back and watching it the second time with the sound turned up let me figure out that they do like each other. I could also tell just by body language and facial expressions that what was going on in certain scenes were very stressful and they had a lot of tension.

I had already tried this during our first discussion assignment with the video of the meeting we had to watch. I watched it without the sound and then again with the sound. I have found myself doing that with regular television shows as well. I like to just watch people and observe their nonverbal communication. I think we can learn a lot about a person with watching and becoming aware of nonverbal especially with regards to body language and facial expressions.

I think one thing that we have started to implement at our office is video tapping our supervision meetings. I put the camera on me and not the employee so that when I review it, I can focus on what I am doing verbally and especially nonverbally. I never thought about watching it without sound but after doing this assignment, I can tell seeing the nonverbal is much easier without the sound.

Communication

The one person that comes to my mind when I think about competent communication is my own mother. Everyone talks about “the look” that every mother needs, my mother has that look. I would stop dead in my tracks when she would give me that look. I knew right away that I was doing something that she didn’t approve of. She also used “the look” while she was teaching in elementary school. Her nonverbal communication is very clear and effective. I have started realizing that I have started utilizing “the look” with my own children. My look is not as effective as my mother’s but I know that it takes practice. I think learning this kind of nonverbal communication can be very beneficial not only in raising children but also while working with young children. 

 This is a picture of my mother, my oldest daughter and myself.