Week 6 Intercultural Interactions Mike Harrington

         People from other countries all have different cultures, obviously.  They are no different than we are except they may have different ways of doing things.  People from different cultures should be treated no different than anyone else.  They are not inferior, just different.

         Understanding other people's culture is very important to treat them respectfully.  The best way to gain understanding is just to talk with them and get to know them.  Invite him or her to dinner at a restaurant that serves food from their culture.  Ask about the food and about the decorations and whatever else might help understand their heritage and culture better.  It can be very interesting to find out how other people live and what traditions they have.  All in all, people of different cultures should be treated with respect and no different than we treat our friends.

at AMIS children learn to be culturally competent

         I would say I am not very culturally competent in the sense that I do not know very much about other cultures.  I know enough to not appear stupid when speaking with those of different cultures, but I am no expert. I have grown up in the United States and have never left the country.  I know about cultures only by what I've seen and maybe learned in school.  I can successfully interact and speak with those of different cultures, but I don't know any other languages or much about other countries.  An easy way to make myself more competent would be to research other cultures or simply talk to someone who is very culturally oriented.
      
         Culture is everywhere in the United States and cultural competence is a big deal and something most people can't claim to have.  Being able to interact with people of other cultures is something that is growing in necessity and should be enforced.

I do my best to understand my mentees' culture, but because of the language barrier and our limited time together I haven't been able to learn much from them about their cultures.  But as we get closer of course we will learn more about each other, and I hope that this will make me a more culturally competent individual.  I consider the Joses to have a better world view than me, given the fact that they have already experienced differing parts of the world than many of their peers.  I hope that this will at least rub off on me a bit and lend me some cultural competence.

Week 5- Michael J Harrington

Immigrants have very different educational experiences than us.  I grew up in America, and my parents did too.  I did not experience many cultural practices distinctive to my ethnicity.  I went to a predominately white school and had the typical life of a suburban American.  Therefore I never had a chance to know anything remotely like an immigrant's childhood.  But my mentees continue to tell me about their life and experiences thus far I will continue to learn about other countries and ethnicities.  Jose1 has told me a fair amount about himself and his native country.  But Jose2 has remained pretty quiet.  In an effort to entice him into opening up Alex and myself used google translator on my iPod to converse in Spanish with him, and we also drew pictures of each other.

This is my mentee's picture of me

This leads me to believe that if conversation and fun activities such as drawing or doing crafts were used in schools with a student base with a limited knowledge of English then they would be more successful and possibley learn English better and be more involved in school work.  I will continue trying to integrate fun activities and bilingual studies into our times together.

One cultural holiday my family celebrates is easter.  On Easter we all have fun dying eggs and performing an egg  hunt.  My family has a huge egg hunt, we invite over 200 people and hide almost a thousand eggs in my backyard.  It's a blast, and quite entertaining for all involved.  But my favorite part of the day is the Easter egg dying.  Me and my sisters each dye 5-6 hard boiled eggs in various colors and designs.  This is part of our Catholic culture, and part of my families traditions.  Because my grandfather is a pastor religion has always been a big part of my family, and no doubt will always be.

These are my eggs. Yeah that's right, be jealous.

Week 4- Michael J Harrington

Psychosocial Experience of Immigration

As I have never immigrated, or even moved any real distance away from a hometown, I am certain that immigration is one of the most disruptive experiences possible, especially to a young child.  If one moves to any culture that is significantly different than their own then they will not only have to learn a new language but new mannerisms, niceties, and traditions.  I twice visited New Mexico and both times met natives of the state.  Now, although it is still part of the same country, the culture I saw was very different from what I had grown up observing.  I didn't have time to strictly observe the resident of New Mexico, but I did notice some large differences.  The houses were all pretty different, and the people were all very friendly.  I know that this isn't much to go off of, but even small changes like these can be very different.  Where one lives tells a lot about them, and changes even more.  We all grew up in some sort of house or apartment, and if we had to move to another one then I can imagine that this would severely affect a child's development.  Most immigrant are very poor when they move to the United States, and must live in fairly bad conditions.  Of course, it is much better for any child to grow up in a safe environment where they will have the resources to learn and grow up.  Some people may question how this relates to them, not everyone is an immigrant.  Just because you were born and raised in the US of A doesn't mean that immigration doesn't affect you.  In fact it affects every one of us every day.  Immigrants work in our industries, often in  unsafe conditions or for a very low wage.  If we can raise the working conditions for immigrants they will surely raise for everyone else in the working community.  Also, poorer individuals in bad situations often commit crime, affecting everyone, through taxes, direct violence, and other ways.

My mentees, Jose and Jose, are both immigrants, one has been here quite a while (about four years I believe) and the other has only been here a few months.  There are certain differences between them that we can use to look at how acculturation to a new country affects children.  First of all, the first Jose (the one who's been here longer, I'll call him Jose1) speaks fluent English.  He also can speak Spanish, but seems to have trouble finding the right words to say sometimes when translating for his friend (Jose2).  Obviously, the longer they have been in a country the better they will learn to speak the language, and possibly forget parts of their own (the extent to which this happens probably depends on the extent that English is spoken in their home, and I haven't talked to either about this).  Jose1 is much more open and less shy than Jose2, but this may be due to the fact that Jose2 doesn't speak English, and it is probably hard for him to continually be translated and have everything either Alex or myself says translated for him.  The language barrier may be one of the most difficult barriers to pass when dealing with immigrants, but it is definately not the only one.  Other ways in which immigrating may affect children is through the sudden uprooting of everyone they know, and having to meet new people tat are oftentimes uninterested in being friends with them.  Friendship is an integral part of childhood, and a lack thereof could have serious consequences for children.