Thursday, April 30, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"


The Letter 'L'...




Left to right or back and forth
These kinds of nodding can both mean yes
The wave of a hand can say come, go, hi, or bye
Keep it straight to avoid a mess


Love or dislike our differences, you'll see all can agree that we: 
  • laugh with smiling faces
  • know how to speak our language
  • want to win and never lose
  • wonder why a giraffe has a very long neck
  • enjoy learning
  • read literature
  • know its important to be law-abiding
  • believe 'late is better than never'
  • try not to be lazy in class
  • know how to print the letter L

Nothing divides anthropologists (and others seeking to generalize about humanity) more than issues of cultural variability. There is no serious dispute among professional anthropologists about the wide variations, documented by increasingly detailed ethnography, in the economic, organizational, and communicative patterns by which humans live. There is also a consensus regarding documented variations in cultural standards of intellectuals, moral, and aesthetic judgment. Furthermore, few anthropologists consider the world a melting pot in which, as popular belief would have it, variation is disappearing so fast that ethnography has no future. On the contrary, it has become abundantly clear that, although hunter-gatherer populations are threatened and many customs have indeed disappeared , world cultures as a whole are resisting homogenization, even as they eagerly embrace Western consumer goods and bureaucratic forms. Anthropologists disagree not about these facts of cultural variation but about what to make of them in generalizing about cultural variability.

LeVine, Robert Alan and Richard A. Shweder

Friday, April 24, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"


The Letter 'K'...



Kimono, barong tagalong,
Cheongsam, batak, sari
on our traditional dress days
These and more you'll see


Keeping our differences is important, yet all can agree that we:
  • seek knowledge
  • try to be keen in class
  • love to fly a kite
  • realize the importance of kinship
  • hurt when we scratch a knee
  • try to be kind to new classmates
  • smile when we see a cute little kitten
  • hold dear to our hearts special keepsakes
  • cherish a kiss from mom and dad
  • know how to print the letter K

With the advent of the 21st century, bilingualism is at a crossroads both in California particularly and in the United States generally. Is this country moving to respect and preserve all of the languages spoken here? Or, is the future direction towards English Only? These are essential questions underlying the bigger issue of who will rule America.

As educators, we need to take a stand on this issue and to promote bilingualism and multiculturalism in our own research, policy and practice. We can take action in our classrooms as well as in our courtrooms and state boardrooms. First and foremost, it is our responsibility to figure out the best ways to train prospective teachers and educators to uphold and promote bilingualism in all arenas. Given that many other states are now looking to California for exemplary leadership, we need to take well-informed action now.

Katz, Susan Roberta

Friday, April 17, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"

The Letter 'J'...


Justice is a very big word
So are 'values' and 'ethics'
What they mean to each of us
Can be a powerful 'mix'


Just as we are different so are we similar in many ways - all can agree that we:

  • know that jogging is healthy
  • join the teacher when singing a song
  • know a judge works in a court
  • laugh very loud when we hear a joke
  • love strawberry jam on toast
  • like to wear jeans on free dress days
  • think a jet is very cool
  • know Jupiter is the largest planet
  • feel joy when a holiday is near
  • know how to print the letter J

Cultural characteristics, such as individualism/collectivism, high/low context, Eastern/Western knowledge construction, linear/circular cognitive styles, tradition/innovation, and action/being orientation are embedded in an artist's work. Works of art illustrate the ways in which cultures view nature, human concerns, and notions of time and space. Artists reveal a culture's values, assumptions and biases, attitudes, beliefs about life and the world, giving us imitate knowledge of the cultural dynamics that underlie and condition a culture. For instance, embedded in the art of cultures like the Native cultures of the Americas, the Dagara culture of Ghana in West Africa and the Aboriginal cultures of Australia, are traditions and practices that are more collectivist in nature, more circular in their aesthetic style, and that express a being orientation.

Johnson, Lorena

Friday, April 10, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"


The Letter 'I'...



Individuals we all are
Soccer, hockey, cricket, polo
Different sports we all enjoy
Come on team - Go! Go! Go!


Indeed we are different, still all can agree that we:

  • have an imagination
  • feel sad when we are ill
  • know that a clown will illuminate a dreary day
  • want to be intelligent
  • learn when we have something incorrect
  • know the internet has much information
  • improve our class work with each passing day
  • have our idols
  • practice our intonation when learning a new language
  • know how to print the letter I

One popular image of the probable condition of humanity in the twenty-first century anticipates a new Armageddon with all the great civilizations at war with each other. This model neglects a less dramatic but deeper-seated process of worldwide change in which national economic and political systems become more alike and populations worldwide come to adopt similar lifestyles and develop similar attitudes and values for daily living.

Inkeles, Alex

Thursday, April 2, 2015

A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education

Vaughan M. Blaney
Director
BSc(UNB,Canada), BEd(UNB,Canada), TEFLA(University of Cambridge), MEd(HKU, Hong Kong)

Book: "A to Z: Cultural Perspectives in Education"

The Letter 'H'...

Humanity in all of its glory
Holds heroes near to its heart
Gandhi, Terry Fox, Yang Liwei
Are a few with whom we'll never part


How can it be that we are so different, yet all can agree that we:

  • laugh when we hear humour
  • know hydrogen is an element
  • hush when the teacher is speaking
  • belong to the human race
  • have a place we call home
  • know what is hot and what is cold
  • have hormones
  • admire a beautiful sunset on the horizon
  • help those in need
  • know how to print the letter H

Culture programming starts in the environment in which a young child grows up, usually a family of some kind. It continues at school, and what happens in schools can only be understood if one knows what happens before and after school. It continues at work. Workers' behavior is an extension of behavior acquired at school and in the family. Managers' behavior is an extension of the managers' school and family experiences, as well as a mirror image of the behavior of the managed. Politics and the relationships between citizens and authorities are extensions of relationships in the family, at school, and at work, and in their turn they affect these other spheres of life. Religious beliefs, secular ideologies, and scientific theories are extensions of the mental software demonstrated in the family, the school, at work, and in government relations, and they reinforce the dominant patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting in the other spheres.

Hofstede, Geert