Jen Whetten's TESOL Pedagogy II, BYUI

     One of Bro. Iver's stories very much resonated with me. The story of the time he took his wife to the barber who cut his hair when he was a little boy ended with her feeling like she was witnessing an argument between two men. Her husband explained to her that they were good friends and simply having a friendly debate. This reminded me of the time I had an intense debate with my father in front my newly-wed husband. My father and I had often loved to debate about many issues. He always told me that I need to pick a side and never sit on the fence. This teaching caused me to think deeply about many issues that I might have ignored.       The incident to which I referred above happened one day in his kitchen when the subject of pornography came up. He, being an non-member, saw little wrong with viewing it, but I felt differently. We argued vehemently, for over an hour, many times raising our voices. Of course, we were never angry one with another, j...

     This study of cultural differences is so helpful in understanding differences in students from different parts of the world or even in different regions of a specific country. Understanding concepts such as differences in expressivity, whether a society is polychronic or monochronic, or differences in hierarchal tiers within cultures, is so helpful because it changes our attitudes towards others. It changes our perspectives to one of perhaps annoyance to one of acceptance and even an ability to appreciate the differences in culture.       Here in Mexico, different forms of the word "you" are used. One uses "usted" when speaking to someone on a higher social scale than oneself, but uses "tu" when speaking to someone on a lower social scale. An example would be when an employee speaks to his or her employer. In this case, he or she would use "usted". However, if this same employee were speaking to a child, he or she would use "tu". O...

      I have considered attributional tendencies in my own life often. For example, someone will say something like, "You sure did a good job in raising your daughter. She's a wonderful mother and faithful member of the church.". I always say that I can't take credit for that because if I did, then I'd have to take credit for my children who live their lives in ways that worry me.         I have also seen myself diligently searching for internal and/or external attribution of others when they die of COVID. I want to think that they had comorbidities, such as old age. If they are young, I often wonder if they were overweight, had diabetes, asthma, or other health challenges. I do this, and so do many other people I know, because I want to blame something for their death other than just the random fact that someone young and healthy can die from COVID.       Here in Mexico, there are a lot of kidnappings for ransom. This is anoth...

     I experienced differences in personal space when I traveled to Paris in 2018 with my mom and aunt. We decided that rather than take a taxi from the airport, we would take the subway, so as to get the full experience. We certainly did. When we first got on our subway from the airport, there were very few people on it. My aunt and my mom each had two very huge suitcases which fit comfortably in the space in front of where we were sitting. However, as we progressed along our journey, which happened to be during rush hour, many, many more people came onto the car and the suitcases were pushed further and further back from the door. Additionally, we were pushed closer and closer to the window, until our shoulders were being pressed into the window on one side and our other shoulders were being pressed against fellow passengers. As we traveled, we saw that the doors only stayed open for exactly twenty-six seconds, and we began to be very concerned about how we would swim t...

      In assessing the needs of my future students, it will be important to know if they come from an individualistic society or a collective society. People who come from an individualistic society, by definition, will focus more on themselves and how their own personal wants and needs are met. In collective societies, individuals are focused more on the greater good. In a classroom setting, this makes a difference in group assignments and in how students assist one another. One of BYUI's main tenets is that we teach each other. This works better with a collectivism mindset.      On potential problem that could occur when dealing with students from a collective society is that they may not want to call attention to themselves or strive to set themselves above the rest. As we learned in "The Myth of Chinese Super Schools"(Ravitch, 2014), the Chinese way of learning focuses mostly on testing individuals on their proficiency for doing government work. Wh...

     It was wonderful to watch yet another one of Brother Iver's lectures, this one on "Cultural Expressivity". Cultural expressivity is a measure of how much members of a culture outwardly express their emotions in public. This varies vastly across cultures throughout the world, but it can also vary by region within one particular country. This not only affects how members of different countries, regions, cities, and smaller municipalities relate to one another, but it can even affect how spouses who were raised in different regions understand one another.       Here in Mexico where I live, people are much more expressive of their emotions than many who grew up in the United States. One thing I often notice myself doing is starting a WhatsApp message something like this: "Hey, Rafael, were able to find the adapter we need for the slide show?" However, after reading it, I realize that it's all wrong and I have to erase it and start over, writing someth...