After learning all I have about communication the last few weeks, I have self-reflected and seen the differences in my communication with people from different cultures. I do believe that I communicate differently, especially with the parents of my students. I feel that I speak slower and I try to use very proper Spanish. I know that's from own hang-ups about being corrected for my "Cuban slang Spanish" through the years. I also find that I give a lot more detail on my Spanish directions to the parents because I feel that they just don't understand my directions most of the time, such as with homework assignments. This has been from my previous experiences with Spanish-speaking families.
Some strategies that I could use when communicating with them more effectively is to withhold judgment and get a deeper understanding of them, instead of using my past experiences as my impression of ALL Spanish speaking families. I also need to model things for them instead of giving so much direction so that they have an example to follow (when asking for family-made projects) and lastly create a better expectation of their abilities because I'm sure I could come off as coddling as compared to my English speaking parents who I just explain things to once and have an expectation that they know how to follow directions.
It's hard to be free of bias, especially when previous experiences have shown me to communicate a certain way with different people. It's something that I am aware of and something that I know I must work on for the rest of my career. It all begins with educating myself, so I'm ready to put this to practice!
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Jeannette
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