Final Presentaion

Reflection of the whole Cultural Diversity Course

In this class I learnt so many things that I did not know about it before such as glossary, Assimilation & Acculturation, Multiculturalism, Discrimination, isms and many different things. I really enjoyed the whole subjects because every time I learn a new things, but the most enjoyable moment was when we made the film as a group about UAE culture we had so much fun and we became more together as friends because it was the first time for us going out together and we laughed while we recording the film about our mistakes. For sure I had some difficult moment in this class for example at the first day of the class I was so confused because it was the first time ever for me studying about culture diversity and I thought it will be the hardest class in this semester, while the most difficult thing was the presentation I really do not like it but I have no choice and I have to do it, after I did it I felt so happy because it was not that difficult as what I thought before I hope if we had assignment as a group to choice a country out of the Arabic gulf and talk about it for example the culture of this country and do it as presentation and I think the class will be more interesting if we have an assignment that we have to go to some countries club in Abu Dhabi for example there is a Sudanese Social Club in Abu Dhabi where all Sudanese meet and we have to go there and ask them about different thing about them clothes, food, culture and different thing it will be more helpful for us and I think a lot of students will like the idea. In this course I learnt many helpful thing like knowing about other cultures, and how to respect them, types of isms and how to avoid them and other things. It is good to take subject that related to our country and our personal situation because it was easy for us to search, talk and give examples about it but we have to learn about other counties also to be more aware when we meet people from different counties. It little bit difficult to search about some information in UAE because the media do not mention everything. In general the course was really helpful and valuable for us because we learnt many things that we did not know about it before and for me most of these things was new things, because I was not interesting about culture diversity at all I thought it waste my time while now I’m very interesting in really glad that I took this class.  

Cross-Cultural Communication - Reflection

Many people all around the world have experienced cross-cultural communication and most of them had problems at first days put day after day they figured out how to get along with it. Each country has different communication ways for example verbal and non-verbal communication, verbal communication such as words and voice, while non-verbal communication such as gesture, posture, facial expressions, eye contact, vocal characteristics, personal appearance and touch. I also believe the key to effective cross-cultural communication is knowledge because if the person who migrate or travel to new country read and know about the country like the culture, communication and other things he or she will avoid problems of miscommunication that faced a lot of people at first days in this new culture but the person have to be patient and forgiving, rather than hostile and aggressive, if problems develop. There are so many things that increase the number of cross-cultural communication such as business opportunities, job opportunities, exchange students and other things. The benefits of cross-cultural communication are a lot for example learning new languages know about different culture, new experience. Cross-cultural are good as long as people understand it and know how to communicate with new behavior, attitude, thought and different things.  

Outsourced film questions

1. As soon as Todd arrives, he experiences the discomfort of being disoriented in a
strange new place. What happens at the airport?

He is trying to get out of the huge crowed at the airport, after that he face another problem that all the taxi drivers were fighting over him


2. When a friendly traveler helps him get on the train, what does he tell him to do? 
How could this advice apply to what an exchange student has to do?

He told him to jump into the train, the advise applied that the student let him set then he set on his lap.

3. When he gets on the train, he cannot find an empty seat. How is this problem
solved for him? How might this be a cultural solution?

The young kid offered him his seat and then sat in his lap, because of the high population in india people are used to such a solution such as sharing seats, standing and squeezing in the train cabins.



4. As any exchange student, he has a lot of experiences trying new food. His first
encounter is with an iced drink. What happens?

He got stomach ache, and got sick because of the polluted water used in the iced drink



5. First encounters with a culture can be shocking – Todd sees crowded streets with
cows, noise, and a man urinating in the street. But how does his host describe the
city?


“Bombay is terrible, but here it’s very clean”


6. Even though the host Puro speaks English, Todd uses American slang a lot
without thinking. So as not to insult Puro, what does he say the meaning of
Schmuck is?

“That means like a nice guy”



7. Todd wants to check in to a hotel. But Puro insists he come to a boarding house.
What is the reason he gives Todd?

That he will feel lonely if he stays by himself in the hotel.



8. As soon as they meet, Aunti Ji starts asking very intimate questions that
Americans who have just met would never ask. What kind of things does she ask?


What does your father do, are you married, what’s your salary, do you have a girlfriend? Why did you break up?


9. During his first conversation with Aunti Ji he makes two big mistakes. What are
they?

He ate with his left hand which considered not clean in india and he placed the same hand he ate with back in the food


10. The Golden Rule says do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That
means his Indian hosts and friends are trying to make him comfortable the way
they would be comfortable. How does this apply when the servant is preparing
tea for Todd?

She poured the tea for him and even put sugar just the way they do.

11. How does Todd figure out why one does not eat food with the left hand?

The owner of the boardinghouse explained to him by sign language why Indians think left hand isn’t clean to eat with




12. What is ethnocentric about his statement "You need to learn about America"?




13. Why do they disagree on how a "native" speaks English?

Because of the way Americans pronounce some words with an American accent not proper English, they think it’s a matter of different accents which doesn’t mean their English is wrong in India at the end it is a matter of correct English 
He was shocked and didn’t understand why Aysha said that. High-context culture


14. What doesn't Todd understand about the Indians' response to the "cattle brand"?

He was talking about it in an insensitive way without knowing how sensitive and holy cows are in India



15. What is Todd's reaction to "You need to learn about India"? What stage of culture
shock might it represent?

He was shocked and didn’t understand why Aysha said that. High-context culture



16. He calls home several times. Why? What stage of culture shock might provoke
calls home?

Because he is homesick.



17. What mistakes in language usage are represented in the recording of the call about
"a rubber"?

Rubber means eraser in English – British accent, as it doesn’t mean the same in the American English



18. Why is he so eager to go to McDonnells?

Because heve been having troubles with food since he arrived plus he’s homesick and craving for a meal that reminds him of home



19. Todd doesn't understand bargaining. How does the Indian respond to this?

He thought that Todd is barging and started barging back immediately without even paying attention to whats Todd’s actually saying as it’s a very common habit in india 



20. What does I.N.D.I.A. stand for? How might this be an example of the "Inbound
Syndrome"?

I’ll Never Do It Again,



21. What advice does his fellow American have for him?

That once he gives in and stops resisting he will do much better.



22. When Todd develops the incentive system, he has begun to adapt to India. How
has he adapted?

Once he saw improvement from the team he apologized to them and admit that he should learn more about India. He also asked for suggestions and opinions on how to create a better environment from them to work



23. When he looks at the cow in the office the second time, why is his reaction so
different?

Because he started to adjust and fit in which was shown in his second look, it was friendlier and more receptive that his first look and reaction when he just arrived to india



24. Explain the difference between American and Indian cultures when Todd and
Puro discuss how often he visits his family and why he doesn't live with them.

Indians are more attached and close to their families than Americans. They consider the family an important and number one priority in their lives and that explains why they live with their families even if they get older and what their parents mean to them. While in America people mostly move out in a very young age and get caught up in their busy lives away from their parents and they’re family and only gather when there’s an event such as weddings, Christmas and thanksgiving.



25. What cultural values are involved in the exchange between Aunti Ji and Todd
about ironing his underwear?



26. How well does Todd handle himself when he is invited over the wall to an Indian
home for a meal?

Very well, that showed us how open he became to new things from a different culture and class than what he’s used to 



27. In what ways does he show he has adapted? How does he know he is successful?

when he dance with the employes and wear Indian clothes also when he had lunch with indian family and get sad when know that he have to go to China 


28. When the call center floods and they are shut down, Todd finds an "Indian"
solution. What is it?

He asked the poor indian man from over the wall for his help with replacing the wires as he saw in his place how they all surviving on a public source of electricity by extending wires from it. And that’s an indian way as the economy is very bad and people try to survive in many ways in that was one of them



29. When Todd's boss comes to India, he eventually explains why – Todd has to

leave. How is his reaction similar to that of an exchange student?

because they have the same problem in China and he have to go there and reduce the number as he did in India he got upset because he get to used to live in India and he have to leave it know 


30. When Todd comes home, there are several signs that his Indian experience has
influenced him. Name three ways he has become more "Indian".


First by calling his mother and planning to visit her, then the way he made his tea, and he drank it with his right hand, the small touch he added to the dollar plate he has and finally his mobile ringtone which was an Indian tune

Outsourced

presntation 2

Reflection 2 - Cultural Diversity film

When I joined the class at the first day of the semester I was not excited at all and I thought that it would be hard class for me because I never take class in cultural diversity before. But day after day I started like the class and I became more interesting about culture diversity.

One day when the Ms Frankie say the we have to make a movie about Emirati Cultural Heritage and Identity I was shocked at first and I was like no way she is not serious because I never do something like this before and I was worry about it but, I have no choice and I have to do it so first thing for making the movie is choosing members and I asked Saif if he want joined because he was sit next to me then I asked Mohammed, Faisal and Abdullah and all of them say yes. We met after the class to discuss about the movie and separate the work between us and first thing we thought about was the place each of one of us say different places but at the end we all decided to go to Heritage Village. One day after we finished the classes we went to Heritage Village to record the movie by using Ipad camera, we stared recording by the introduction about the movie by Faisal then I talked about Bait Alsha’ar , Abdullah talked about Falconry, Saif talked about The Camels and Mohammed thalked about Alhadeera at the end of the movie Faisal and Saif make an interview with tourist and asked him some questions about the culture diversity in UAE and about his culture and other questions.

We really had fun there and this movie make us know more about our culture and thing we did not know before, I’m glad that I worked with these cool guys they were very helpful and kind and I’m looking forward working with them if we have other projects.