Blog post 1

The chapter 2 of Kumarazvedivelu talks about culture. While I was reading this chapter, it was interesting to see author’s viewpoint. Kumarazvedivelu stated that “In other words, because no culture can exist in its purest form, every culture is, willy-nilly, a hybrid cultural.” I completely agreed with this statement. Many different cultures are mixed with another. Every culture has its own significance; however, they are similar with each other. Even though every culture is similar, community of culture is individual. The cultures can be similar but they cannot be the same.  Another interesting viewpoint is that how the individual country wanted to learn another language after 1900’s. In Korea, many people desperately want to learn English because English is becoming a language that many people speak. I wonder why English became such an important language that many people want to speak.  

When I read Atkinson’s article, it was very interesting. While I was reading this article, there was an argument that how the TESOL teachers need to see the students as individuals rather than cultural groups. I believe that it is important to understand the students’ cultures. I think the people act differently depend on where they grow up. I came here when I was 13 years old. I only hung out with Korean friends until I was a sophomore in high school. For a while, I was having troubles looking at elder’s eyes. The reason is that when I went to junior high school, my maESL teacher was talking to me. However, I looked down because in Korea, it is very rude to look at the elderly person’s eyes when elderly person is upset. My ESL teacher got very upset and she grabbed my face and told me to look at her eyes when she talked to me. I knew that American’s norm is different than Korean’s norm. However, because I was used to Korean norms, it was hard for me to accept American’s norm that is completely different than Korean’s norm. I was so shocked when this even happened. I was more scared to talk to white people after that. If the teacher acted differently, I wouldn’t take a long time to adjust American culture. I have so much experiences that I realized how significant it is for the teachers to know their students’ cultures.

I believe that culture is very important. The culture makes who we are as person. If I wasn’t Korean, or lived in Korea, I would be a different person. In my opinion, people are so used to their own culture, many people are rejecting to learn and understand different culture. I personally saw people do this. When I was in high school, I had to talk about Korean’s norms and how it is different with American’s norms. One of the students in the classroom didn’t want to hear it because he felt like he needed to change his action based on someone’s culture. He didn’t understand why immigrants to keep their culture when they live in United States. I was really surprised to hear this because he wasn’t the only one who thought that. I argued with him and explained to him why people talk about their culture, and keep their culture.

These articles that I read made me re-think of the beliefs that I had, and how important it is to respect the culture.