Meeting 6: Values and National Cultures

Agenda:

I Review
1. Values and Power distance
Our definition:For the people in large power distance societies there is a far distance( inequality)between members of a group. It is natural.

II Values (20 minutes)
2. Individualism

3. Masculinity
Should fighting among kinds be tolerated?

4. Uncertainty Avoidance
Can teachers say, “I don’t know”?

Value identification exercises:

What value dimensions do you see in "Maybe we go ice skating"?

Uncertainty avoidance: The Japanese girls did not want to go ice skating, because they had never skated.

Collectivisim: The Japanese girls did not say their own opinions by themselves.

Masculinity(+): The Dutch students are assertive but the Japanese girls are not assertive.

"Top Gun"

Individualism: He is 一匹狼

Masculinity: He is assertive because he is aggressive towards his favorite girl.

III Explanation of Breaking Down National Stereotypes Discussion

MMCE Invitation
Excel File
Directions on how to do the survey

IV Preparation for next meeting:
1. Invite your guest to the MMCE discussion (MMCE Guest Invitation)

2. Go to the >CIA World Factbook
As a group find out the following information for your country. Be prepared to report your information in the next meeting:

Environment:
Area: (How much bigger is the area than Japan?)
Climate:
Natural Resources:
Current environmental issues:

People:
Population
Age Structure
Infant Mortality rate
Life expectancy
Ethnic groups
Languages
Literacy

Government
Country Name (conventional long form)
Capital
Government type

Economy
GDP per capita
Population below poverty line

3. Go to this site and take a geography quiz of your region. Be prepared for a geography challenge for the next MMCE.

Meeting 5: Considering Values

Agenda for Meeting 5

I Review
What are symbols?
What are heroes?

II Main Agenda:
What are rituals?
What are values?
General definition

Discussion on "Maybe we go skating"
1. What were the values of the two groups?
- Japanese girls were cooperative. We don't like isolation. The standing nail gets hammered.
- Japanese girls' value is harmony with other people.
2. What was the conflict?
- They did not try to understand each other's values.
3. Were these girls' values similar to your own?
- Yes and no: When I talk with friends it is yes but in class we debate with others.
- In the same situation it is yes because especially in Japanese we have fellow feeling.



Hofstede's 5 Dimensions:

1. Power Distance:
Should teachers’ authorities be challenged?
- Yes. Because if they make a mistake (time, stereotpye) we have to change the worng to the right.
- Sometimes yes and sometimes no. In the case of the stereotype, we say you are wrong because we are not sure that "all Japanese like sushi" so we say I think you are wrong softly. In the other kind of stituation, if I have time we do not say you are wrong but if we are in a hurry we tell the teacher "I have no time, we have class by 12."

2. Individualism:
Should all students be treated the same?
- We think yes and no. Because in complusory education it is yes but in another education, for example, high school and university it is no.
- Alm,ost the same but in elementary school sometimes 習熟度別学習　is good. For example once a week, and after school.

3. Masculinity:
Should fighting among kinds be tolerated?

4. Unvertainty Avoidance:
Can teachers say, “I don’t know”?

5. Long-term Orientation
Which do you agree with most?
Marriage is for love.
Marriage is for starting a new family and contributing to your own family.

III Preparation for Next Meeting:
As a comment to this post, please write the following:
How well did you understand the talk on values?
A: Very well
B: Well
C: Not so well
D: Not at all
What was easy for you to understand and what was difficult for you to understand?

I will ask you to complete the task below in two weeks:

1. Go to the >CIA World Factbook
As a group find out the following information for your country. Be prepared to report your information in the next meeting:

Environment:
Area: (How much bigger is the area than Japan?)
Climate:
Natural Resources:
Current environmental issues:

People:
Population
Age Structure
Infant Mortality rate
Life expectancy
Ethnic groups
Languages
Literacy

Government
Country Name (conventional long form)
Capital
Government type

Economy
GDP per capita
Population below poverty line

2. Go to this site and take a geography quiz of your region. Be prepared for a geography challenge for the next MMCE.

Meeting 4: Symbols, Rituals, Heroes and Values

Agenda for Meeting 4

I Review of Last Meeting

1. What is culture 1 and what is culture 2?
2. Discussion of Martian meets Earthling Role Play

II Reveal Countries for "Breaking Down National Stereotypes" Discussion

III Symbols, Rituals, Heroes and Values
1. Symbols
2. Heroes: Our heroes are
Mother
Principal
JHS Teacher
Father 3
No idea
Mother 6
Grandmother 2
Mr. Kamada
Spiderman
Grandfather
MLK jr.
Mr. Ueda
James Brown
Mr. Hall

This means that:
1) Our heroes are close to us, we love them.
2) We are easily influenced by close people. We want to trust who we can trust
3) They give love to us, we all receive a lot of love
4) We have courage to do anything we want to do

Discussion of "We go ice skating" :

Preparation for next time:

Please read "maybe we go ice skating" and answer the following on this blog:

1) What were the values of the two groups and why did they conflict?

For meeting 5 we will discuss:

1. Heroes; 2. Rituals, 3. Values

Resources used for MMCE Meetings 4, 5, & 6

1.Hofstede, G. (2003). Culture and Organizations: Software of the Mind. London: McGraw-Hill 2. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's Consequences. London: Sage Publications.
3.G.　ホフステド (1995). 多文化の世界　有麦：閣東京
4.Cultural Perspectives in Educational Studies (A141) taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education by Dr. Kai-ming Cheng
5. Campagnoli, M. (2005). Baka Pygmies: Right of initiation to the Spirit of the Forest. <<http://www.pygmies.info/baka/initiation.html>>
6. Smith, J. (2003). Components of Culture: Symbols, Language and Values. <<http://www.fulbright.org.nz/events/fulbrighthays-projects/smithj.html >>

7. Hofstede, G. Pedersen, P. & Hofstede, G. (2002). Exploring Culture. London: Intercultural Press

Meeting 3: A Introduction to Culture

April 30, 2008

In this meeting we will learn about visible and invisible culture as well as have an intercultural communication experience.

This is our Agenda:

1. Discussion <<20>>

a) "By nature people are nearly alike, by practice they got to be far apart."

Group Answers:

1) "All the people must be the same but in reality they are very different"

2) "People are the same but they change by a different environment"

3) "For example, people who live in the USA and people who live in Japan are the same but people who live in Ausralia and people who live in Africa are different based on their clothes etc. In other words, people are the same but they differ by food, clothes, house, hair color."

4)"When we were born we did not know anything and we were the same but we experienced different things which made us as individuals."

5) "When we were born we were almost the same but we grow up to be a totally different person depending on the country and environment. So this phrase means that our essential is the same so we can understand eachother."

b) "We go ice skating" ** We might do this in the next meeting.

2. JH will talk about culture <<20>>

3. Intercultural Role Play: the Martians meet the Earthlings <<40>>

You can see the descriptions of the Martians and Earthlings here. Below is footage from the role play:

For next meeting:

Reflect on your "Martians meet the Earthlings" experience. Were you an earthling or a martian? Did you get along well with members of the other group? What was your impression of them? Did this experience teach you anything about intercultural communication? Why or why not?

Meeting 2 - The State of the World

The State of our World

I. Ice Breaking <<Done>>
1. Make a circle and count

2. CLG introductions: 2 facts and one lie

II As a group, discuss about the following: If there were 100 dollars in this world, how much money would the following regions have? Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, The Former Soviet Union, Africa, Middle East, South Asia, South/Southeast Asia, Oceania, North Africa, South Central America and the Caribbean <<Done >>

III Please fill in the information on this sheet by yourself and then watch the movie If the world were 100 people . (To view the movie, you might have to download the Adobe Flash Player Plug-in)

When you have finished III, please write a comment to this post and discuss your reaction to the information you received in II and III as well as to meeting 2 of MMCE in general.

Meeting 1: Welcome to MMCE

Welcome to MMCE. I am looking forward to learning about cross-cultural understanding and world issues with you all this semester. Below is our schedule for meeting 1:
1) Introduce MMCE and the syllabus
2) Make CLGs
3) The world geography challenge