W05: Response to 'Culture Paradigms'

Paradigms run rampant in our brains. Our brains make connections to different things. How we interpret things around us is explained in one word: paradigms.

From the time we are born we start learning and making connections. Our social status, gender, age, religion, and culture are just a few characteristics that affect how we interpret things.

In the future I want to teach English as a second or foreign language. This means that in my career I will meet and teach people with many characteristics and paradigms different from my own.

I love learning about other cultures and about other people's lives. I believe that experiencing and exposing myself to other ways of thinking and living will be beneficial to me. I am currently learning Korean. I am not just studying how to read and write using the Hangeul alphabet and speaking in Korean. I am also learning about the culture in South Korea.

Being from a western culture means that how I think and act will differ from other countries and areas of the world. As I learn about the Korean culture I realize that they are more focused on group accomplishments or solving problems together. Whereas in the United States there is a higher emphasis on the individual; individual accomplishments and not trusting others.

As a teacher I will need to be mindful of my students' upbringing and the paradigms that my students grew up with and currently have. My teaching methods will vary depending on the audience. If I am teaching in western societies I may focus more on the individual. If I teach in a society that focuses on being respectful, such as always addressing officials as 'sir' and 'ma'am' then I will need to adjust to that, while also teaching my students how the American English culture is different and more relaxed in regards to addressing each other.