Flora Mondi- Reflection #8

Flora Mondi

Getachew Godana

COMM 211

Reflection #8

Class Overall

            The first day of class I remember doing the activity of meeting our classmates by walking around the classroom and asking them questions to try to fill our worksheets in. The checklist included many different activities or descriptive words which first started the bond and communication. First starting off the class with a communication showed us that we are able to create a bond with our classmates and not make judgements or assumptions about them.

            There were many different activities and movies we watched in class. One of my favorite movies that we watched besides Living on One Dollar was Promises. The movie was very inspirational as well as educational. We were able to see the different sides of the Israel and Jew children and get their opinion of how they feel about the situation they are in. The movie gave us two different perspectives instead of one so people would not make judgements instead of hearing each other’s stories and backgrounds. This is also another reason why I enjoyed the class which is hearing our classmate’s stories about their study abroad stores as well being international students.

            The class was great because not only did we learn about communication and how to become better listeners and interactors but also because we were able to share our own background stories and experiences.

Flora Mondi- Reflection #7

Flora Mondi

Getachew Godana

COMM 211

Reflection #7

An Idiot Abroad

            The show An Idiot Abroad was entertaining and funny at the same time. The main point that the show was trying to depict to the viewers is that do not go into the world with a close-minded attitude. We make perceptions about others all the time. It might me an opinion of how an international student might not know much about the place that they are studying abroad in, or how someone who looks “foreign” does not know the language that’s spoken throughout the country.

            My Nigerian international best friend always assumed that I did not know any Nigerian music. So the first time few times we hung out, she would just play American music assuming that I only listen to it. One day when she started playing a Nigerian song and I started sing, she was stunned and excited and surprised all at the same time. She could not believe that I knew songs that she always played back when she was at home. This proved how we cannot just make judgements and perceptions without asking nor getting to know the person first.

Flora Mondi- Reflection #6

Flora Mondi

Getachew Godana

COMM 211

Reflection #6

Living on One Dollar

            The movie we watched in class, Living on One Dollar, was very informative and eye opening. While watching the movie, I was able to see how difficult and how other people live their lives on a day to day bases. Here in the western culture, life seems to be look as if everyone is rich and has all that they have. The media portrays it that way, but if you go to the poor side of town or even downtown Lincoln, you would be able to see all the homeless and poor residents. This makes us unease as well which shows that we are uncomfortable with seeing sights like that but in some households, people throw away food every day or clothes when they can give it to the poor and homeless.

            In my household, my little brother and sister are the most spoiled children from all of us in the house. They are also so westernized that they refuse to eat African food that my mom would make. Once in a while, my mom would only cook African food, no American or processed foods in the house for a whole week and we have no option but to eat it. My little sister and brother would refuse to eat and would hide in their rooms for the remaining time being when dinner is served. All they want to eat is chicken nuggets, fries, or even pizza.

            While watching the movie, it brought memories of my sister and brother and I was disgusted by their attitudes. They don’t seem to see that there are many other people and families that struggle every to put food on the table to feed their families and my little siblings are starving themselves because they don’t like the food that was cook. The movie opened my eyes to see the other sides of the economy that is in the worst shape then what our perceptions seem to see the world.

Reflection #8

For my final reflection post, I've decided to summarize what I've learned this semester in this class.

For starters, it was easily the most diverse class I have ever been a part of, and I still remember going back to the first day of class having that "ice breaker" activity getting to know everyone based on questions on the paper such as "born in the same city as you". to "has the same first initial in their name", to "has gone backpacking."

I thought this was truly a great way to meet most everyone in the class, to get us comfortable enough to begin to talk about our own personal experiences with intercultural communication and how our competency levels have changed over the time in the course. We learned that some people are unaware of cultural miscommunication, that some know they are not competent yet do not attempt to change it, other like where our class is now at would be the consciousness of competency, and unconscious competency of intercultural communication. the majority of us, I would assume are at the conscious competency stage as only a few in the class have traveled abroad.

One thing I enjoyed most about this course was the eye opening documentaries about the situation in the middle east regarding how little religious tolerance there is. It is crazy to think that people have so much energy for hatred in their lives when still living in a third world country where they even struggle to survive.

Another documentary I really enjoyed was the "Living on a Dollar" and seeing how the truly poor people live. Not the beggars you come across here in Lincoln, Ne, but those who couldn't go to a homeless shelter as there are none in tiny poor countries.

My favorite part of the course was getting to see the pilot episode of Idiot Abroad and continuing to get more and more hooked on this great show. It really sums up how NOT to travel the world and live your life being ethnocentric and closed-minded.

Great semester and great class!

Reflection 7

I think that this was the most beneficial lesson for me.  More often than not, I think that I assume that everyone is somewhat alike.  Everyone understands my own terminology, my background, or the way I interpret something.  That is the farthest thing from the truth.  I think that one of the most difficult things to learn in college is how diversity plays a huge part of those four years.  For example, one of my roommates is from New York and it would be an understatement to say that we don’t see eye to eye.  Or another example would be my paired essay partner, Chi.  She was from Zimbabwe and I remember my first impression was that she wasn’t going to speak English or know much about the United States.  She ended up proving me wrong very quickly.  I think one of the biggest take away messages of this section was to realize that to have a positive self-perception you have to first see all other cultures in a positive perspective and not jump to conclusions. 

Reflection 8

As a final reflection, this class was truly eye opening.  I came to college from a small town with a graduating 
class of 48.  I think that in my 20 years I have been blessed with many travel opportunities.  However, it wasn’t until this class that I realized how intercultural incompetent I actually am.  It isn’t often that I find a college class that is interesting and I am able to take the lessons into real life.  This class was one of the most beneficial classes in the sense that I know that I have a lot more to learn.  I still have so much of the world and other cultures to see.  I think my one of my favorite parts about this class was the documentaries we watched and then reflected on.  I also thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s personal experience and stories about 
their travel abroad endeavors.  

Reflection 8

I Shan Yeh

Comm 211

Reflection 8

    The semester past really fast, it is almost the end of the semester, which is also a great time to look back what I have learnt from intercultural communication class. In the last chapter, “Striving for engaged and effective intercultural communication” is a good chapter that wrap up all of the chapter that we learnt from this class.

    In terms of knowledge, as an individual, I feel I learn many knowledges about different types of approaches and see how each approaches is like to use in different kinds of situation, which includes strengths and weakness. I also learnt about attitude toward different people. In terms of attitude, I feel taking this class makes me have different perception to many things, especially the chance of being able to paired up with SUSI students from Africa, I feel my attitude change to open up myself to my partner that I got pair up with.

    I also feel my intercultural communication competence changed from conscious incompetence to conscious competence. I wasn’t sure about why there are so many difference between me and American students in class and I don’t know why, to using the knowledges I learnt from this class applied in daily life and think about “why,” understand “why.” I feel glad to be able to take this class and be able to know more cultures.

Reflection 8

I appreciate the interesting information obtained from the documentaries that we watch in class. As we were watching "An Idiot Abroad," I was in awe of his ridiculous antics and pessimistic attitude. Throughout my life, I've had the opportunity to travel, and I've been raised to value different cultures and embrace differences to better myself. This man's attitude was exactly the opposite. I understand the dramatization of certain emotions for comedy or entertainment, but as I was watching, I realized that some people have not had the opportunity or even awareness to travel to other cities, let alone other countries. Traveling is a privilege that I believe especially college students should work towards and strive for because it provides so many educational opportunities. When we travel, we can learn about history, language, culture, and so much more. My strongest desire is that people view immersing themselves in different cultures as a challenge, but a joy, unlike the idiot abroad. When we suppress these ethnocentric and superior attitudes, we can learn a lot.

Reflection 7

DeAnna Cyza

Comm 211

Reflection Post #7 : An Idiot Abroad

          We watched the first episode of this Netflix show in class one day, and it was odd how at first it was entirely just comical. This British, middle aged Caucasian man is set up to travel the world by his close friend who decided to film the spectacle of his trips and produce it as a television show. Carl Pilkington is the gentleman's name, and he is completely interculturally competent. 

He is first sent to China after reluctantly agreeing to go. He gets there and literally hates every minute of it. From seeing the Great Wall, the learning some karate and eating traditional Chinese cuisine of toad, he is not impressed by anything. In later episodes I have since watched, he goes to Mexico and India, and I can see how much of an incompetent person he is. If these contacts he meets on his trips abroad could fully comprehend everything he says and does, they would be tremendously offended by his abrasiveness and lack of cultural awareness.

I believe that him being so culturally incompetent has opened up some of my own misguided stereotypes about other countries, and shown me a small part of how the rest of the world really lives. The best thing we can do to promote competence is honestly traveling with an open mind to experience the wonders of the world. 

Sydney Svoboda

Reflection #8

Professor Getachew

April 21, 15

            While reflecting on this chapter it has really put into a bigger picture why some are culturally incompetent. I think that the motivation definition has a big factor to play in why many aren’t culturally competent. Not only Americans but also all of us can say we have been ethnocentric at some points in our life, when it comes to things we do in our daily lives involving our own culture. Since many think like this it may also factor in the idea that most are unmotivated to learn about others cultures. Some may find it a waste of time because they think that their own culture is better than others or that it wouldn’t benefit them in anyway. Others may not travel often, or when they do travel they only see the “American” side of traveling to other countries. Because of the low motivation I think that pop-culture could play a role to help motivate people to cultural competency. If pop-culture wouldn’t derive from only the United States, and wasn’t filled with certain stereotypes of other cultures people would be motivated to travel and learn more. I also think pop-culture generalizes certain places for example, Africa, America, or Asia as making up one culture, which is also not true, but rather they are made up of thousands of cultures. A lot of the things we see in pop-culture are the same assumed stereotypes of every race and culture. If only one could break those stereotypes and fill our mass media with more of the truth and what the roots of a certain culture really are, I think people would be more interested in traveling and learning more about these awesome cultures that reside all over the globe.

Presleigh Reflection 8

As I read through the final chapter “Striving For Engaged and Effective Intercultural Communication,” I felt as though it tied a lot of this class into an appropriate ending summary.  I think that this chapter is what the overarching goal of this class was.  What I found most interesting in this chapter was William Howell’s four levels of intercultural communication competence.  He describes these four levels as being unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence.  I feel as though this class has helped me reach the conscious competence level of intercultural communication.  After all of the class interactions, readings, discussions, presentations, and documentaries, I feel as though that I am consciously aware of how I interact with everyone that I come in contact with, no matter their cultural background.  Reaching this level is a necessary part of being able to communicate effectively with others.  At this level, I am aware that interaction is going well and I also understand why it is.

Going off of that, I think this class has been a very valuable tool in helping us to reach this level, or close to it.  As Audrey had stated in class, this class is a very necessary class for everyone to talk.  No matter one’s gender, age, race, culture, language, major, or career type, everyone can benefit in more ways than one.  It has provided me with opportunities to learn about the importance of being culturally competent communicators and has helped me to hold a respect for cultural diversity.

Audrey Beedle - Reflection 8

Audrey Beedle

COMM 211

Reflection #8

            I have chosen to do this reflection as one of the entire course through the semester.  I can’t believe we’re only a few short weeks away from summer time!  It went by way too fast.  I can genuinely say that I learned and experienced some very beneficial things throughout the course of this semester in COMM 211.  I decided today in class that I and leaving this class with three main take-away points:

1.     Everyone can benefit from taking and learning about Intercultural Communication.

There is no age, class, gender, race, or career type that wouldn’t benefit from becoming more interculturally competent.  It can help with your job and schooling, but even more importantly than that it can help you with your day-to-day life and make yourself more comfortable in many more situations.  As well as creating and overall understanding and respect for cultural diversity.

2.     You can never learn everything there is to know about intercultural communication.

This subject is ever changing and is extremely subjective.  No two people will have the same cultural experiences, which will lead to different understandings.  Culture exists in every facet of human civilization, and can be regional, state-to-state, or even international.  And even if I just so happened to travel to every single continent, country, region, city, and neighborhood, I would still not be an expert because culture changes all the time and among individuals.

3.     Becoming more interculturally competent makes you a better person.

I mean this in all aspects of the term “better person.”  It makes you more aware of your self and you place in this big, culturally diverse world.  It unavoidably creates a sense of unity and understanding for individuals from different cultures than your own, which in turn when applied to a bigger picture could mean the difference between war and peace.  It is beneficial to everyone to become more aware of the world that we live in and the people that live on it.  Intercultural communication could be the key to world peace.

Reflection 8 Danny Clare

Danny Clare

COMM 211

4/21/15

Reflection Number 8

            I thought discussion in class today was extremely beneficial because it tied everything together.  The main topic we discussed was cultural competence and how there are different stages of cultural competence.  Being cultural competent is a timely process that won’t come overnight.  This process takes a lot of time and many aren’t willing to put in the time and effort to become culturally competent.

            During the presentation, I thought the most standout part to myself was when forgiveness was talked about.  I never really thought about intercultural communication from a forgiveness standpoint.  People from different cultures make mistakes all the time and we must be aware that that will happen.  What we must change is being judgmental to these mistakes.  We must be able to forgive people of their mistakes and help them learn what they need to do instead.

            Personally, bringing this all together, I want to continue to work on being culturally competent.  It is something that doesn’t come easily but if you stay caught up with people of diverse cultures, competence will come naturally over time.   

Reflection #7

Danny Clare

COMM 211

4/21/15

Reflection number 7      

The chapter 7 discussion was something that I find very intriguing, indirect and direct language.  This is used so much within intercultural communications and although it’s a strange subject to talk about, noticing these two language differences something we must be aware of.  When we begin to notice how we interact with people of different cultural backgrounds, our behavior can either stay the same or be changed according to how much we like the type of language we are speaking. 

First I am going to discuss direct language.  Direct language is the form of language in which I prefer to use, because there is no mix up in feelings and no possibility of someone taking an action the wrong way.  Direct language is more of a confrontational behavior in which someone “directly” talks with another individual.

Indirect language is where mishaps may occur.  Within indirect language, people might make a body motion or talk behind peoples backs, and through the grape vine words get mixed around and peoples’ feelings could end up getting hurt.  Like I said before i don’t prefer indirect because people’s words get flipped around to mean something completely different than what they really mean.

Erika Reflection #8

Erika Beedle

Intercultural Communications

Reflection #8

            As we enter in the last few weeks of class I think it was very appropriate that our final chapter was “Striving For Engaged And Effective Intercultural Communication.”  One of the most interesting topics I found from this chapter was William Howell’s four levels of intercultural communication competence.   The four levels he describes are unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence.  For my research paper, I am talking about how traveling increasing intercultural competence, so Howell’s idea correlates with my findings. 

            I believe through this class I am on the third level intercultural communication competence: conscious competence.  When you are at this level you are aware that interaction is going well and understand why.  Reaching this level is a necessary part of the process of becoming a competent communicator.  I hope at this level I will move forward to become unconsciously competent, and help others move on from being consciously incompetent, or unconsciously incompetent. 

            If I reach an unconscious competence, I will be able to communicate smoothly, but it is not a conscious process.  This level of competence is not something we can acquire by consciously trying to. It occurs when the analytic and holistic parts are functioning together.   My goal is continue traveling, learning about other cultures, creating intercultural friendships, and acquire unconscious competence.