10-12-2021 W05 Blog: Culture Paradigms

10-12-2021  

                   W05 Blog: Culture Paradigms

    I have recently gone back to school. I am studying online, seeking to gain a degree to increase my personal marketability for when I retire. I have a largish family and have not been able to save enough for a work free retirement. One of the courses I am studying this semester is TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course. I am seeking a TESOL certification, so I can potentially teach English online as a retirement job. This week we are focusing on personal and interpersonal Paradigms.

    Paradigms control how we perceive the world. They are quite literally the lens through which we see the world. They control our interactions and emotions. They are often a product of our culture.

    I learned some interesting examples of cultural paradigms. Professor Ivers, a dean in BYUI (Brigham Young University - Idaho) gave his class this example: "In ancient Hawaii, the king of ancient Hawaii was fed up with some perverted sexual behavior on the part of the men. The terrible act they were doing: .... they were trying to watch the women eat. In ancient Hawaii the opposite sex was not supposed to see each other eat.  It was considered to be sexually promiscuous."

    Another culturally different paradigm is found in certain African countries. The personal story is told by Delali Bright during a TEDX talk. Delali is a slender lady who immigrated from one of those countries. She spoke of how she was considered ugly throughout her childhood and as a young adult years due to her being considered too skinny. Her parents were so concerned with her health and the perception of her health by others that they sought medical help to increase her weight. She struggled with this negative body image until she moved to the USA. Here, to her surprise, she found she was considered beautiful due to that same slenderness. 

    The discovery of culturally distinct paradigms is the most important thing I learned from this lesson. While I had known of paradigms before, I never thought too much into how they affect a classroom. In a culturally diverse English Learning class, I will be faced with many differing cultural paradigms. Each student will have their own. My job as a teacher will be understanding and working with these differing paradigms.

    The second most important thing I came to understand is they can be changed and molded. I will need to teach my students the importance of acknowledging these culturally differing paradigms. I must work with them to understand that while they cannot control the paradigms of others, they can control and/or reshape their own if necessary. It is not an overly easy prospect, yet it can be done.