Personal Reflection #5

Cultural Diversity class is one of my best classes for this semester. It is a good course to go out of the stress of studying and projects. In this essay I will discuss what I have learned in this course and the benefits of taking such course. 

First of all, I’m going to talk about what I have taken in this course. One of my best subjects that I have enjoyed in it is the blue and brown eyes experiment. It was talking about discrimination in America. It was in a primary school and the aim was to show the students how it is to be discriminated. It was really a good class and very helpful to me and the students who was experimented. Also I learned about the cultural diversity in the world and different meanings of the word. UAE is a diverse country and has varied types of people from different religion and different countries. This was a good topic that we have discussed in class and much more interesting topics like Stereotyping, Para Olympians, What does it mean to be Emirati, Cambodian Culture, and benefits of taking gap year.

Secondly, the benefit of taking this kind of courses is to go out the stress of studying, also to go out the mood of classes and to speak out, Give your opinion to the teacher and share ideas with my colleagues. Also to learn about countries, this was our project. Each four students had to make a presentation about a certain country and talk about it. These courses will help me to get new information about cultural diversity and to change my thinking and thoughts in my future. 

All in all, I really enjoyed taking these classes. I hope that this will be helpful in my future.

Portfolio Exercise #7

Obama and Cultural Diversity 

Obama was talking about cultural diversity in America and the different types or groups that he mentioned to work together which are black, white, poor, rich, able, disable, gay, straight, Asian, Spanish, Native American, young, and old. These groups of people will help to produce more and push America to further more to the highest levels. In Obama speech, he relies on some delivery action and ways. People who attended the speech felt very hopeful to Obama by these types of delivery which have an emotion. One of the most ways is his voice. He tried to start with lower voice then started to increase slowly until the end. He also depended on eye contact to the audience which was very helpful for him. Another good way is body language. He showed some body language like hand movement with good voice. These delivery actions made the audience feel like Obama is part of them which was very clear in the whole speech.  

Portfolio Exercise #6

Objective: To understand some similarities between Emirati and Cambodian Culture

Task: Compare Cambodian and Emirati values

Highlight in yellow all the values that are similar to Emirati values

A.    Traditional Cambodian values include a strong family identity and loyalty

B.     Cambodian-born people have a respect for culture and older people.

C.     Cambodian families tend to be very private and reluctant to discuss family issues or conflict with non-family members

D.    Stoicism is a highly valued Cambodian character trait, reducing the tendency to complain about their health or services they are receiving

E.     Modesty, particularly for women, is very important

F.      Visitors to Cambodian-born people’s homes are often expected to remove their shoes, however they might not ask

G.    Accepting of food and refreshments when offered may break down barriers, open communication and build trust

H.    Cambodian-born people regard touching people on the head or pointing feet or shoes at them as offensive.

I.       Cambodians consider it impolite to make eye contact with someone who is older or considered a superior

J.       Cambodians have a tendency not to question instructions or authority

K.    ‘Yes’ may be an ambiguous response to a question or request, and does not necessarily indicate agreement. Reponses that might mean ‘no’ include; no response, changing the subject, or statements such as ‘it’s OK’ or ‘no problem’ or even an unconvincing ‘yes’

L.     It may take time to develop working relationships, trust and rapport

M.   Loud or over-familiar behaviour towards others is generally not favoured.

N.    Cambodians tend to avoid showing anger or getting involved in confrontation

O.    Cambodians prefer to be addressed using their correct title. For example Mr, Mrs and Dr

P.      Women traditionally retain their own family names on marriage or they may have two surnames. Cambodian names are traditionally written with the surname first, followed by the given name.

Q.    Cambodians may not recognise their names if they are pronounced incorrectly

R.     Cambodians may not always address people by their name.

 

Compare Cambodian and Emirati values

There are many differences and similarities between Cambodian and Emirati cultures. One of the values is having a strong family identity and loyalty. Emirati-Cambodian born people respect old people and culture. In my opinion almost all the countries in the world have this value of respecting. Families try to be more private about their family problems for non-family members. Modesty in both cultures is very important especially for women. Also, touching people head or point their feet or shoes at them are considered impolite and disrespectful. Loud talking or bad behavior against other is generally not good. 

Personal Reflection #4 Gap Year

A gap year is an expression associated with taking time out to travel between life stages. It is usually between the high school and university. This Gap year is to get educate, do volunteer works, or working which is in a period of time (not necessarily 12 month). 

There are plenty of benefits of a gap year. One is to learn how to depend on myself and to be responsible for my life. Also, to see new countries and learn about their cultures. Some students could take a gap year to educate and study. Others can take to refresh brains and relax so they can start a better year in university.

In UAE, some students are not familiar with the idea of taking a gap year. There are no lectures, brochures, or a gap year planning companies. However, there is another reason which is the parent’s idea about gap year. They think that it is a waste of a year period. Instead of that, parents let them start the university directly after high school so they can get work and be responsible. I think new generations will be more familiar with it and parents will get a good idea about it.

If I am going to take a gap year, I will go to japan. Japan in my opinion is a good country to travel and learn about their culture. Also, Japanese people are the most organized and well educate people. So, we can learn a lot from japan like organizing time and how to schedule my week day. (259 words)

Personal Reflection #3

 

Discrimination nowadays is much less than before. The world is changing every day. But the difference between today and before discrimination is discriminating about what and whom. I will talk about some situation where I faced, experienced, and saw discrimination.

It can be clearly seen that, Arabs and Islamic people (Muslims) are discriminated in some countries but not all. Last summer I went to Bali, Indonesia. Bali’s people are all Hindu and Buddhist. There are very few Muslims that can be counted by fingers. In Indonesia, They hate Saudi’s people because of political reasons. So, In Bali we were discriminated for Islam and they think that we are Saudi’s. So, they treated us as they treated Saudi’s. But when we tell them that we are from UAE, they smiled and treated us happily. In that moment we felt like we want to kill them. Really it was a bad feeling to be discriminated to Islam and us.

On the other hand I think that media is playing a huge role on people thought about Islam and Arabs. That’s what causes a believer in people’s mind. These days, media is called the fourth Estate of a country. So, if want to change the thought of people we have to make use of the media and start to make movies and Ads that will affect the people. Not necessary by the TV, We can publish them on YouTube and social websites. And also by tourist who come to Arabian countries.

All in all, we hope that people remove the idea of discrimination from their mind and start a new thought and believe of the Arab countries and Islam especially.

Portfolio Exercise #5 - Stereotyping & Blue Eyes Video

With a partner, please answer the following. You may use internet resources to help you.

 

1.      Define:

a.       Stereotyping: a thought that may adopt about specific types of individuals or certain  ways of doing things, but the belief may or not accurately reflect reality.

b.      Prejudice: is most often used to refer to preconceived, usually unfavorable, judgments toward people or a person because of gender, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, language, nationality or other personal characteristics

c.       Bias: is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of (possibly equally valid) alternatives

d.      Discrimination: is the prejudicial or distinguishing treatment of an individual based on his or her membership - or perceived membership - in a certain group or category

2.      Give an example of each.

Stereotyping: Cultural and ethnic, Sexuality related, Gender

Prejudice: race, gender, nationality, social status, sexual orientation or religious affiliation

Discrimination: the persons race, deformities, mental issues, the clothes they wear, what size they are.

 

 

Watch  Class Divided

ü Understanding

With partners, answer the following:

1.      Where, when and with whom did this experiment take place?

·      Midwest, USA – Late 1960’s – 3^rd grade class.

2.      Describe the experiment.

·      Colors of eyes (blue and brown); discrimination.

·      Divide the class into two groups ( blue eyes and brown eyes groups)

3.      What were the results?

·      Remove the idea of discrimination.

·      The children felt how to be discriminated by others.

4.      How successful do you believe it was?

·      It was very successful because the experiment affect the children

·      Never treat others by eyes color or skin color.

Going Deeper

In groups of four, discuss the following:

Ø  a time she or he experienced prejudice or discrimination

Ø  a time she or he discriminated against somebody else

Ø  a time she or he witnessed discrimination and did nothing about it

Ø  a time she or he witnessed discrimination and did something about it