The way people express their emotions depends on their Culture

 16/10/2021 - Week 05 Response to "Culture Differences Concerning Time"

Do you know that what is something that differentiates cultures? Time. Yes, time.

There exist two types of time which are Monochromic time known as M-time and Polychronic time.

Let start by explaining both of them separately and see the differences between cultures when it comes to time.

Cultures can prioritize different things, for example, time and people relationships. This is interesting to understand and learn, especially when we are in contact with people and we don't understand some decisions when it comes to time or money, but if we take time to learn about each culture misunderstandings could be avoided.

In Monochronic countries, such as in The United States, habitants prioritize the value of time over people relationships. For United States' people, time is not something to waste, so they consider it so important, whereas Latinos enjoy more time and relationships like their Family. M-Time works paying attention to one thing at a time.

On the other hand, Polychronic time which is commonly in Latin America, people prioritize human relationships instead of time, which is not essential for them. Latinos are more focused on caring about their social relationships and it doesn't matter the time, that is something secondary. So many actions could be understood now with all these aspects of Culture. 

Another important aspect of Polychronic people is that they are unpunctual, so imagine the situation of two companies working together: a Monochromic and a Polychronic company, something a little bit complicated.

All the mentioned differences and features of each kind of Time could be appreciated in Human relationships and also in Business companies, it is a mixing of cultures in that economic relationship.

Could this affect an ESL classroom? Yes, of course, they could! All these features are reflected on students, where they are from will tell us as teachers how they are and how they work in the classroom. 

Homework, meetings and schedules could be something important to pay attention. Those things could affect the academic aspects of a student if they come from Latinamerica, maybe not, but here in Latin America rules are different, and it is not rigorous like in the United States. Now we have something new to learn from our students, maybe they are not misunderstanding how a program work and its scheduling, it is just the way they are. 

Please, let's be patient with our students taking time to get to know each of them, and ask them questions about how they are or how they would like to work in class. Making a welcoming environment involves also makes all students feel comfortable even if they are from another country with different rules. There is always enough time to do that.