Caitlin CP #7

Date/Time: February 22th, 2016, 7-8pm

Location: Leon Collins Leon County Library

1) What did you learn and share with your conversation partner(s)?
    After Mary's tutoring session, we stayed for another hour just to speak iwth one another and practice her speaking skills. We talked a lot about health expectations and home remedies from Indian and American culture. Mary also told me about her niece and some of the issues her family is having with her behavior and recent marriage.

2) How did the CP session inform your awareness of other cultures?
   It was pretty incredible to hear the perspective that Mary has on marriage and dating and what a person should expect from the relationship. Mary's family is Catholic and so her niece had a Catholic wedding instead of a traditional one and almost everyone in the family was expected to send the new couple a thousand dollars or more so that they could then buy a home together.

3) How did the CP session inform your awareness of your culture?
     This session really made me think about how relationships between family members and significant others are in America. We often really lose touch with our non-immediate family members and even sometimes our parents when we move out of the house (which is strange compared to other cultures in of itself). Americans seem to have less of a feeling of responsibility toward their family members unless they are a sibling and even then it is still kind of iffy. I wonder if this stems from the idea of being independent or if there is another reason behind this difference from other cultures.

4) How could you apply what you learned to your teaching practice?
I can apply what I learned to my teaching practice by being aware of the familial and relationship expectations in the culture that I will be teaching in, which will be important for me when I have to choose appropriate class material. I would want to find both material about the American expectations in these relationships but could also look for material that would relate to a student's social expectations as well if we are focusing on a topic other than culture.