There is a binder put together by one of the church groups that
supports missionary work by their youth members, entitled
"CultureGrams". Each page is devoted to one particular culture and
includes information about their beliefs, lifestyles, mannerisms, etc.
These are designed so that the Americans who go on these missionaries
will not engage in offensive behavior, e.g. whether or not you shake
hands with a person, where your feet are pointing when you are talking
with someone, whether or not you talk with men or women first, etc.
Very interesting.
I found this website for them: http://www.culturegrams.com/
Kathy Graves
IMC Director/Librarian (ret.)
Siskiyou County Office of Education
609 South Gold St.
Yreka, CA 96097
On Jul 21, 2008, at 7:09 AM, Diane Chen wrote:
> Dear Deb and LM_Netter's,
> I am very interested in expanding this discussion also. I am moving
> to a school of incredible diversity and will be in the minority (not
> the first time of my life). I need specific information on Kurdish
> families, Lebanese, Pakistani, and central America. I do have every
> other group out there so it's like a mini-UN, but these are the groups
> I need to learn the most about.
>
> Since I am asking for help, I'll contribute cultureal incidents that
> happened to me with Chinese families on Taiwan.
>
> When I lived in Taiwan for a short time, I understood the concept of
> "losing face." Late students had to stand in front of the entire
> school, other kids' parents would confront the late child's parent,
> students wouldn't raise their hands in older elementary if they didn't
> know the answer, and if someone answered incorrectly, no one would
> want to show up that child by raising their hand and triumphing with
> the correct answer. That was nearly 20 years ago and I'm sure
> attitudes have changed, but that was a direct application to the
> classroom.
>
> Also, the concept of family is often misunderstood world-wide. When I
> taught at private English language schools with 40 elementary students
> in the class, I also had the majority of their parents sitting in the
> back taking notes, planning homework, and joining in. When I taught
> the older group 16-70 year olds, discussions on society and family
> often cropped up. We discussed crowded houses with many generations
> living in one apartment (there were 9 adults in my 3 bedroom). When I
> explained that many children in America turned 18 and were adults so
> they moved out on their own to begin careers or go to college, the
> class became EXTREMELY agitated. They were horrified that parents and
> grandparents were abandoning family members when they needed the most
> help beginning a new life. It totally changed how I view our own
> culture of independence.
>
> --
> Diane R. Chen, Library Information Specialist
> John F Kennedy Middle School
> 2087 Hobson Pike
> Antioch, TN 37013
> Personal Email: dianerchen@comcast.net
> Blog: "Practically Paradise" at www.slj.com
> http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/practicallyparadise
>
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