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Teaching
Tools, Strategies, and Resources, continued
Teaching
Tools, continued
 First step—culture
shock. According to Storti (2001), the first step of cultural
awareness, realizing that we expect others to be like us, is the
most difficult, because these expectations, thoughts, feelings, and
attitudes are subconscious.
“It so happens, however, that we
have readily at hand a fool-proof mechanism for raising this particular
instinct to the level of conscious awareness: it is none other than
that frustration, surprise, or anger that arises in us at the time
a cultural incident occurs” (p. 76).
One recommended method
of learning from cultural incidents is to schedule at a time each day
to recall these encounters and reflect on them, alone or with others.
With practice, greater awareness may become available during a cross-cultural
incident.
Consciously
practicing openness. Participating in self-awareness discovery
exercises, observing and reflecting on the behaviors of self and
others.
Seeking out
interactions and information. Another way of actively promoting
cultural awareness is to ask. This step includes, but is not limited
to:
- Working with a
cultural broker
- Using a culturally
competent process of inquiry
- Conducting focus
groups.
Active learning
and experience of other cultures. This step includes, but
is not limited to:
- Formal cultural
or cross-cultural training
- Reading translated
literature, biographies, and so forth
- Learning the language
- Participating
in cultural immersion programs.
Storti emphasizes
the importance of reinforcement and repetition in becoming effective
in specific cross-cultural situations. Ethnocentricity is like a default
position that must be resisted, and this resistance has to be ongoing.
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