Saturday, March 10, 2012
Week 2- Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening
I picked a video from the Disney Channel, one that I had never heard of. I wanted to look at a video that was directed at children, so that I could see how some of my students might interpret the show.
I chose the show Austin & Ally. I started to watch it without sound, Austin dropped his ice cream on his pants and then took off his pants and make an ice cream sandwich with it (and then ate it). Then it showed him with another girl on the computer and they had a conversation and walked around the music store. A girl in a pirate outfit came in followed by a boy in a pirate outfit. The girl was animated and it looked like she did not like the other boy in the pirate outfit. All four of them talked. It showed photos of Austin running into walls and having broccoli in his teeth. Then the girl with the pirate outfit laughed and Austin looked sad.
I had no idea what the show was about but what I found out after watching it with sound that Austin was being targeted by a bully and embarrassing pictures where being posted of him by a girl on her blog. Hearing Austin talk it was clear that he was upset during the show but without the sound he did not look very upset until the very end. It was confusing without sound as to why people were dressed up as pirates but with sound is was obvious it was for their jobs. Also, the girl dressed as a pirate was clearly making fun of Austin the whole time she was talking.
If I knew the show well I might assume that Austin gets himself into pickles all the time or would have known his relationships with his peers.
What I got from this assignment is first, how valuable language can be and second, how difficult it must be for people who are not speaking the native language to pick up on nonverbal cues if they are not obvious. For example in the show I could not tell Austin was sad until the end. This is a good reminder to choose your facial expressions wisely and use them in appropriate ways.
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Abby,
ReplyDeleteYou mentionned a very important thing about the importance of language and especially for people who doesn't understand the native language. I found it very hard to rely on nonverbal language to understand what others are saying.It leads us to misinterpret or misunderstand what is really going on. so, as teacehrs we should always make sure to look to rely on both verbal and nonverbal behaviors to understand the others.
Abby:
ReplyDeleteIs impressive when you can find out all the miscommunication, when we do not pay attention to certain things that parents or children tell us at school? In this assessment, I felt so bad because we usually do this maybe not intentional. Today I read and see all the missing parts of the communication I was not using properly.
Abby,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to know that I am not the only one that looks at Disney..:-D By the way awesome blog page! Referring back to your post, it is very hard to make decisions from a child's nonverbal communications. I would love to learn more from you about children non verbal and verbal communication.