Teresa Herbert

I do find myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures.  For example, my class is comprised of students who are African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian.  When I am communicating with the Hispanic and Caucasian parents, I find myself speaking more in a formal and direct manner.  However, when I am speaking to the parents of my African American students, I find myself speaking more informally to them.  I adjust my communication based upon who I am talking to, especially when it comes to interacting with people from different cultures and backgrounds, but there are some strategies I could utilize to assist me with communicating with people from various cultural backgrounds.             Furthermore, some of the strategies I employ is using direct eye contact, using hand gestures to explain what message I am conveying, and using formal language.  This way, it will assist me...

In the series “Gimmie A Break,” as I watched it with the sound off, I noticed that based upon what I saw, it looked as if there is a mother-daughter relationship.  The mother was African American, and the daughter is Caucasian.  The mother looked as if she was caring for her daughter because the daughter came home with a black eye from a fight at school.  The feeling is that the mother is upset and angry about her daughter being hit in the eye, and she wants her daughter to fight back.  The feeling of the daughter is one of being nonchalant in her attitude, for her face had an expression of indifference as if she was nonchalant from sustaining a black eye.  When the daughter was given the initiative from her mother to fight back, the girl began to ball up her fists and make an aggressive face to show her mother that she is ready for battle. However, when I watched the show with the sound turned on, the assumptions that I had was that the mother was the girl’s...

The person who demonstrates competent communication is my mother.  For instance, my mother is my emotional support and my foundation.  I can come to her for advice, and she continues to guide me whenever I am facing life’s circumstances.  What makes my mother effective is that she is a great communicator, and she is a great listener.  I am extremely close to my mother, and we have extensive conversations on a consistent basis.  My mother is sensitive to my needs and wants, for whatever I am concerned with, she is concerned also.  My mother always display empathy towards my siblings and me because she understands what we are experiencing throughout life.  She is also aware of who she is as a woman and as a mother.  I would like to fashion some of my own communication behaviors after my mother because she is my role model.  I have already expressed some of my mother’s competent communication tendencies because I am empathetic and caring as wel...