Demographics – Culture

Hey, Mr. Postman!

Objective: Students will learn the meaning of “inclusive language”. They will learn how to identify language that is not neutral or all-inclusive and how to change it so that it is inclusive.

Materials: The worksheet for the students to complete.

Steps:
1. Begin the lesson on “Inclusive Language” by explaining what it is.
&nbsp: • Inclusive Language is language that does not discriminate against groups of people.
&nbsp: &nbsp: – Words or phrases that single people out based on sex, age, race, and/or culture should be avoided especially within a public speaking situation.

2. Once they have a general understanding of the meaning of inclusive language, ask them to try and think of some examples of titles, words, or phrases that we use commonly in our society but would not be considered inclusive language.

3. Discuss why it would be important to avoid using discriminatory language in a speech. Why might someone be offended if we accidentally said the word “chairman”? What connotations come with a word like this?

4. Hand out the worksheet over Inclusive Language.

5. Explain to the students that their task is to attempt to come up with an all-inclusive or gender neutral way of saying each word or phrase.

Results: By the end of this lesson and, after having completed the worksheet, the students should have a better understanding of what it means to use neutral language – especially when speaking formally for a public event. They should be more aware and be able to better identify words that could be considered discriminatory.

Inclusive Language

1. actress – actor, performer

2. anchorman – anchor, anchorperson

3. authoress – author

4. bachelor or bachelorette – single (or unmarried) man/woman

5. brotherhood (unless only men is meant) – community, amity, unity

6. businessman – executive, business person, manager, entrepreneur

7. cameraman – camera operator, photographer, videographer

8. chairman, chairwoman – chair (for both sexes) or chairperson

9. cleaning lady/woman, maid – housekeeper, housecleaner

10. clergyman – clergy, minister, priest

11. coed – student

12. congressman – member of Congress, representative, legislator

13. councilman, councilwoman – councilmember

14. craftsman – craftsperson, artisan, crafter

15. early man, caveman – early humans, early societies

16. fellow worker – colleague, co-worker, peer

17. fireman – firefighter

18. forefathers – ancestors, precursors, forebears

19. foreman – supervisor

20. founding fathers – the founders, pioneers

21. handicapped – person with disability

22. heroine – hero

23. hostess – host

24. insurance man – insurance agent

25. mailman, postman – mail carrier, letter carrier, postal worker

26. (to) man – to staff, to run, to operate

27. manhood – adulthood, maturity

28. mankind – humanity, human race, human beings, people

29. man-made – artificial, hand-made, synthetic, machine made

30. manpower – work force, human resources, labor force, human

31. middleman – go-between, liaison, agent

32. Oriental – Asian, Asian-American or specify ethnicity

33. policeman – police officer

34. repairman – repairer, repair person

35. right hand man – assistant

36. salesman – sales person, sales representative, salesclerk, seller

37. sexual preference – sexual orientation

38. showman – performer

39. spinster – single (or unmarried) woman

40. spokesman – representative, spokesperson

41. weatherman – forecaster, weathercaster

Kit Mentzer
Fall 2009

Cultural Understanding and Communication

Topic: Analyzing the Audience- Culture

Objective: The students will learn how to adapt their speeches to audience members from different cultures.

Materials: Handouts and will also need accessibility to a computer lab for maybe 20-30 minutes.

Steps:

1. Lecture and have the students take notes on “Cultural Understanding and Communication.”

2. Divide the students up into groups.

3. Assign each group a culture. A list of cultures includes but is not limited to:

Mexican Colombian Spanish Italian German Chinese Japanese Korean Australian Mongolian

Russian Ukrainian Egyptian Taiwanese

4. Each group is to research their assigned culture. Specifically, the students should look for differences between theirs and the assigned culture.

5. The group will think of an idea for a speech that might cause potential problems in how their assigned culture would view the topic.

Example:

Assigned Culture: India

Speech Topic: Converting or discussing Christianity with them.

Cultural Differences found: India’s main religion is Hinduism.

Hindus believe that purification happens by bathing in the Ganges River (their holy river). As a Christian, to say that one is purified by confessing and repenting of their sins to God, the Father of Jesus, is a foreign concept. It may be offensive to say that anyone who does not do this is a terrible person because a lot of Hindus probably have not even heard of the Christian concept of purification. Thus, one should approach a Hindu without saying their concept of purification is wrong even if one believes it is totally wrong. Find a way to understand their beliefs. Why do they bathe in the Ganges River? After some research is done, one might find out that Siva was one of their main deities and most Hindus believe that Siva sprung up from the Ganges River.

6. After the students have researched their culture and have thought of ideas about how to approach an issue which is viewed differently in other cultures, discuss what each group found as a whole class.

Results: The students will be able to analyze their audience on the basis of cultural differences.

Lecture Notes for Cultural Understanding and Communication

Culture

“All people have the right to be equal and the equal right to be different.” Shimon Perez
“I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.” Spinoza
“The heart of culture involves language, religion, values, traditions, and customs.” Huntington
- Ethnocentrism- the belief that one’s own group or culture is superior to all other groups or cultures. It is difficult for one to not be ethnocentric- it happens unconsciously.

It is hard to see and give meanings to words and behaviors with which are not familiar to us.
A symbol is an arbitrary representation of a person, place, or thing.
- Example: a physical dog is denoted with a symbol “dog” in English or “perro” in Spanish or “anu” in Japanese.
We study other cultures from the perspective of our own culture.
Culture relativism– the only way we can understand the behaviors of others is being and living in the context of their cultures.
The values and behavior of a culture may not be the values and behaviors of all individuals in that culture.
Nonverbal communication and communication rules are different in other cultures.
Culture is made up of beliefs and values.
- The audience makes a judgment on your speech which is influenced by their cultural and individual beliefs.

Ways to Improve:

Seek to understand diverse message systems.
Be aware of cultural differences in listening.
Encourage feedback.
Develop communication flexibility.
Learn about cultural adaptations.
Learn to empathize- pay attention and use culturally accepted behaviors.
Meanings are in people, not in words!
Strikingly, people are different and perceive things differently. Not everyone will respond the same to a given message. Thus, one may have to approach some people in different ways.
Know Your Audience:
- This will help you figure out what they know and what their view of the world is.
- If you do not know your audience or what they need to act on your speech, you will not persuade them effectively.
- Helps you determine what arguments are necessary for an audience on a particular issue.
- The audience has to make the change in a speech (if the speaker proposes a challenge), not the speaker.
Identify with your audience. Identification helps to overcome an inherent division. Identification seeks harmonize one’s beliefs, values, or interests so that the inherent division is not as noticeable.

Name_________________________ Date__________________

Class__________________________

Directions: Research your assigned culture. Be aware of and find possible differences in relation to your own culture. Think of a topic for a speech which addresses a particular issue that is viewed differently in your assigned culture. Discuss with your group members how you would appeal to these people if they were listening to your speech. Be sensitive to their point of view.

Example:

Assigned Culture: India

Speech Topic: Explaining what Christianity is.

Cultural Differences found: India’s main religion is Hinduism.

Hindus believe that purification happens by bathing in the Ganges River (their holy river). As a Christian, to say that one is purified by confessing and repenting of their sins to God, the Father of Jesus, is a foreign concept. It may be offensive to say that anyone who does not do this would be a terrible person because a lot of Hindus probably have not even heard of the Christian concept of purification. Thus, one should approach a Hindu without saying their concept of purification is wrong even if one believes it is totally wrong. Find a way to understand their beliefs. Why do they bathe in the Ganges River? After some research is done, one might find out that Siva was one of their main deities and most Hindus believe that Siva sprung up from the Ganges River. Use what you know about Hinduism to explain the differences in Christianity.

Assigned Culture_______________

Speech Topic__________________

Cultural Differences_____________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

How would you approach this issue if you knew people from your assigned culture were going to be present for your speech? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Carrie Miller
9/23/09