Juanita Hall, EdDLinda Boberg, MS

International Student Services

Culture is the shared assumptions, values, and beliefs of a group of people which result in characteristic behaviors (Craig Storti, 1999)

What we do and say are not arbitrary or spontaneous.

Culture proscribes our: Notions of politeness and appropriateness Language Foods, music, danceHOWEVER, people are individuals and therefore

there is a great deal of diversity within cultures

Universal :◦We all eat◦We all want to be treated with respect

Cultural:◦What we prefer to eat ◦What is considered respectful

Personal:◦ How much we eat◦ Choosing to be respectful or not

Leaving school or work to attend the wedding of a distant cousin

Centrality of the family---------Centrality of work

Agreeing to a suggestion you think is wrong

Being direct---------------------Being indirect

Visiting offices in groups to solve a problem

Individualistic------------------Collective

Not speaking in class

Formal -------------------informal culture

Asking students to call you by your first name

Deference to authority-----------Egalitarian

Accepting, without question, that something cannot be changed

Fatalism----------------------Determinism

Exceptions to rules should be very rare, otherwise you open up the floodgates

Particularist--------------------Universalist

Having no anxiety about arriving late to an appointment

Monochronic-------------------Polychronic

Non–dominate hand exercise

Empathy Patience

Example: Student: I have some questionsJuanita: Okay, fire away

Example:Student: So, Linda, what are you doing this

weekend?Linda: I’m getting out of Dodge.

Exercise: What’s your idiom?

Let your hair down Show your true colors Once in a blue moon Under the weather The bottom line Throw in the towel

Strike while the iron is hotRaining cats and dogsPiece of cakeTwo-facedSleep tightFeather in your capWith flying colors

Different strokes for different folks◦ Different rules for international students

How will you modify your communication to be understood by international students?

Thank you!

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