Education That is Multicultural

1. Education That is Multicultural Module 3 Cultural Sensitivity & Communication Casey Keyser

2. Today’s Objective • To recognize bias and stereotyping • To learn how to speak up against bias and stereotyping without blame or guilt From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

3. Today’s Ground Rules Keep an open mind Participate in the activities Listen and respect other points of view Honor starting and stopping times Silence all electronic devices

4. What is Bias? It is…

5. Bias is… A predispositionto see things or people in a certain way. You can be biased toward some people and predisposed to see them in a positive light. Likewise, you can be predisposed to see others in a negative light, based on their appearance, group, etc. From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

6. Stereotyping and You Write a response to each of these questions: • Think of a time when you heard a racial/ethnic slur/joke or a prejudicial comment. How did you react? If you could replay the incident, would you respond differently? If so, how? From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

7. Stereotyping and You Your Experience?

8. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt • Assume Good Intent / Explain Impact • Rephrase • Repeat and question/ Ask a question From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

9. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt • Interrupt and redirect • Make it Individual or Broaden to Universal Human Behaviors • Say “Ouch!” From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

10. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt Assume Good Intent / Explain Impact When you assume the best, there is no need to blame or insult the person who just said something biased or demeaning. There are effective ways to speak up. For example, “I’m sure you meant that to be funny. That stereotype is no joke. Unfortunately, some people actually believe that.” From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

11. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt Rephrase With this subtle technique, you do not directly point out the language that was demeaning. Rather, you restate it in a more inclusive way when the opportunity arises. This is helpful when you do not want to interrupt the flow of conversation, yet you want to leave more inclusive language in people’s minds. For example, someone comments, “Both Christians and Non-Christians attended the ceremony.” Rephrase: “People of many faiths attended the ceremony.” From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

12. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt Repeat and question/ Ask a question Repeat: Sometimes people don’t realize what they’ve said. Repeating a question gives them a chance to rethink their comment. For example, “It sounds like you are saying… Is that what you really mean?” From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

13. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt Repeat and question/ Ask a question Ask a question: This is an easy, low risk, highly effective tool that everyone can use. You can change the outcome of a situation through the use of a non-blaming question. For example, “What do you mean?” “What are you saying?” “What is it that leads you to say that?” From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

14. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt Interrupt and redirect This technique changes the direction of the conversation abruptly, without necessarily soliciting further discussion. Imagine someone makes a slur or begins a joke that you suspect will be derogatory. Your response might be, “Let’s not go there.” or “Let’s not assume that all…” From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

15. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt Reveal the Contradiction This technique may reveal that while a certain behavior or characteristic may be true of an individual, it is not true of everyone in a group. Stereotypical statement: “Supervisors don’t care about us.” Seek Contradictions:“Don’t you know any supervisors who do care?” Stereotypical statement: “Immigrants don’t even try to speak English.” Seek Contradictions:“Actually, I’ve met dozens who have learned English or are trying to learn it. It’s not an easy task.” From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

16. Techniques for Taking Action Without Blame or Guilt Just Say “Ouch!” “Ouch!” Says… Your words had a negative impact on me. “Ouch” is a word that says a lot with little effort. From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

17. Communicating Respect and Inclusion While we may never be completely free of all bias, we can work toward communicating in bias-free ways that are most likely to respect and include the listener. From: Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Leslie C. Aguilar

18.      ”… We all grow up in different environments, with different influences and experiences that shape our opinions and views of life.  …In spite of our differing views and opinions, it's important to realize that what constitutes a "good" human being cannot necessarily be judged by the external things one sees about them.”  John Alston,“To Relate Well to Others, PracticeUnderstanding” Feb 8, 2006

19. “Communication provides the legs for bias, carrying it from person to person, from generation to generation. Eventually, however, communication will be the way to end discrimination.” John N. Bailey, Past President, International Association of Business Communicators Without Bias

20. “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” Anthony Robins

21. What are the implications in an educational setting? For Group Discussion. . .

22. Afrikaans (Africa) - Dankie Arabic - Sukran Burma(Myanmar)  - Jae Zu Din Pa De (Thank you) Cantonese - M'goy (sp? -- thank you for the service) Cantonese - Do jey (sp? -- thank you for the gift) Cherokee (Eastern) - Skee (Thank you) Chinese (Mandarin) - Xie_Xie (shieh shieh) Danish - tak (tahg) German - Danke (dahn'-kuh) Greek - Efharisto (ef-har-ris-tou') Greek - Efkaristo poly Hawaiian - Mahalo Hebrew - Toda (toh-dah') Hindi - Shukriyaa , Dhanyavaad Italian - Grazie (grahts'-yeh) Japanese - Arigato (ah-ree-gah'-toh) Japanese - Domo arrigato Korean - Kamsa hamaida (kam'-sah hum-nee-dah' ) Polish - Dziekuje (dsyehn-koo-yeh) Spanish - Gracias (grah'-syas) Swahili - Ahsante (ah-sahn'-teh) Vietnamese - Kam ouen Xhosa (Africa) - Nkosi Yiddish - A dank - Yasher Koach (KOY-ACH) Yoruba - Modupe Zulu - Ngiyabonga Thank you for your participation, openness, and honesty.

23. Final Thought • All human beings are programmed by cultural “software” that determines our behavior and attitudes. • Once we recognize what our programming teaches us, we have the capacity to control our choices. Awareness + Knowledge = Choices