Annette Devenish Blog

Culture & Psychology 23 February 2019 “Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by his ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it’s stupid” Albert Einstein What a powerful statement that Albert Einstein has said. How often do we not look at ourselves and feel that we are not capable of doing something because of what someone else has said, or we may just not realize that we have that talent? I grew up with no mother and when I met my husband, Len his mother decided I could do all sorts of things. Not wanting to disappoint her I made it happen. One day she arrived to fetch me from work with yards of material on the back seat and said “Look what I found? It was a bargain. Can you make my curtains?” Curtains, I did not know even where to start but I did it. Often, I would look at items that are cross stitched and admired it, thinking it is a way to difficult for me to make it. Then one day I saw my sister-in-law doing it and I th...

TESOL103 W07 Differences in Manners 20 February 2019 This makes me smile because My husband, Len and I were invited to go to the Maldives on holiday and our children stayed with their grandparents. Their grandmother died many years before and their grandfather had gotten remarried. She was not the most loving grandmother. When we got home the children, we so happy to see us because what Callie did was put plates under their arms. It had a twofold purpose – firstly so that they would not fly and secondly, they would not put the elbows on the table. It was something that did not bother me though. Listening to Bro Ives in the video he mentioned about blowing your nose. Well all the missionaries that served around us told us that it was bad manners to blow your nose for example while you are sitting in the sacrament, but it was okay to sniff it down to your stomach. One day my daughter just could not take it anymore and offered them a tissue and that is how ...

TESOL103 W07 Cross-Cultural Students 20 February 2019 I have attached this picture because I could not find the picture I wanted. My husband and I often go to the Midlands , in KwaZulu Natal and the hotel that we stay in normally has some of these young lads staying with parents. It is obviously the weekend off and it is cheaper for the parents to just stay at the hotel than to go back home. The school’s name is Michaelhouse and it is a boarding school as well as a day school. The reason I mention this is because they normally wear straw hats and greet everybody with such respect even us that are just staying at the hotel. They have an honor code the same as BYU has an honor code and you can see it by their behavior. I certainly wished that they were closer to our home and also that they were not so pricey. While watching the video of Bro Ivers I can understand why the Asians get upset. Th...

TESOL103 W06 Attributional Tendencies 19 February 2019 In our country the attributional tendencies of the people tend to lean to it is never their fault. There is always somebody else to blame. When I grew up, I never had the opportunity to study and my dad did not allow me to follow my dream career. What did I do about it? I found a job and made the most of it. Unfortunately, the mindset of our younger generation is not that way. Where I feel it a privilege to be able to study, they feel it is their right to get an education . Their external attributions to this would be to course great destruction. I believe it is important for us to acknowledge to ourselves when we have been successful. The reason being is that we need to see that we can only succeed if we work at it. How can we better ourselves if we can not identify how to do it.

TESOL 103 W06 Personal Space Differences 14 February 2019 On Facebook, there was a teacher that showed how she greeted her students every day. I looked at it but did not take much notice. While going through this lesson I realized the importance of what she was doing. She had a sign at her door and the students could decide how they wanted to greet her. They were – a hug, high five, fist pump, a wave etc. By her doing this she would be able to distinguish where her students were in their Personal Space. With time I am sure that she was able to make them more comfortable and get a hug. It also demonstrated to her what their feelings were for that day. Something may have happened at home which made them feel a little apprehensive.     I am glad I do not have to take the train in Japan because I may just not get to work. That would certainly not make me feel comfortable. Once we have learned a little more about the culture of your students you would be able to judge as ...

TESOL W06 Differences in Emotional Expressivity 13 February 2019 While watching and listening to the video with Bro Ivers a thought came to mind. Differences in Emotional Expressivity has changed for me over the years. About 31 years ago I would do relief for the bank in a tiny branch. Over month end there would only be 2 of us. The rest of the month there would only be the teller who worked at the bank on a full-time basis. The reason I mention the timeline is because of the change that has taken place. While working with Liz, she would always refer to the client in front of her as “Ma.” To me, this meant mother in Afrikaans but to her, it was a sign of respect for her African clients. I was disgusted with what she was doing. Funny thing, today I refer to them as “Ma” whether it is male or female. Since having guests here from Hawaii, I have tried to greet in their language and say, “Thank You.” What has changed over the last 31 years? Me. I have matured and realized that...

TESOL 103 W05 Cultural Miscommunications 10 February 2019 This lesson certainly was an interesting one. Maybe now I understand as to why my Chinese guests ate so little. Len has a Chinese business partner who stays in South Africa, but they deal with a company in China. When we had these gentlemen to dinner Joshua suggested that I make traditional food, for example, a braai (barbeque). I went out to get some foods I knew they would not have tasted before. When snacks were brought out, they refused at first then eventually one of them tasted it. When we sat down to dinner, they both served a teaspoon of just one or two of the food items.   I can not even remember what I made them for dessert, but I was then told they do not eat sugar. Eventually, I asked Joshua whether they had stopped at McDonald's because they really did not enjoy my food. They had brought just big and expensive gifts for us as well. They knew that they were coming for dinner. Would I still need to offer...

8th February 2019  Cultural Differences concerning Time This is a very interesting topic. While doing this lesson there were a couple of things that stood put to me. With living in South Africa, our people normally go on Polychronic time. We call it African time. Most of our professional people like doctors, lawyers, dentists etc also all work on Polychronic time. They are not as bad as the hairdresser Bro Ives spoke about. They do not book 2 to 3 patients in at the same time but if their patient needs double the time, it is okay for everybody else to just be late. I come from a family who are monochronic where you need to plan and see that you get to where you are going on time, even if it means that you are 30 minutes early. My husband and I are total opposites. He is totally Polychronic as he is late for every appointment. With saying that, he has lots of friends in the business world and they just accept him like that. Our family actually tell us to be at a function an h...

5 February 2019; TESOL Week 5 Cultural Paradigms Learning about your students for example when I went to teach Tira (a little Turkish boy) his mom politely requested that I take my shoes off. This is not part of our culture, but we often walk around with no shoes on. Also, before the mom would open the door, she had to cover her face but when with her friends inside her home it was okay not to have her face covered. My son informed me that is it polite not to knock on their door but to call them to tell them you have arrived and were at their gate. Having learned this I now know what to do when I go to their home. If you have a variety of cultures, you may encounter that one paradigm has more than one meaning. Once you get your class list and you know where your students are from you can do research so that you understand their culture. Doing a cultural lesson where the children can learn about each other. We could even have them bring some of their favorite foods and how they...