April 16,2012

Today in class for board work as a class we had already discussed what is appropriate and inappropriate at school. Today’s lesson plan was what is appropriate and inappropriate at work. We branched off into groups. It wasn’t the regular book group. Ms. Austin count off the students by fours. There were four groups of four students. Ms. Austin said that I could just walk around and help the groups with the suggestions. Ms. Austin said that they could use ideas from their culture as to what is appropriate or inappropriate.  So I walked around. The first group asked me how you would say when a person is not respectful. They asked would it be unrespectful. I knew that didn’t sound right. However, I couldn’t think of how to say it. I was nervous. My mind drawing a blank. I just told them yes. I still get nervous when they ask me questions as a group. I get nervous because I feel they look to me for answers. I feel like they expect me to be knowledgeable. I am also nervous that I will say something grammatically incorrect. I found out later that it was disrespectful.  I felt bad for making the mistake but everybody makes mistakes.  Nobody is perfect. I went to another group. Miguel was in this group and he said it’s inappropriate in Mexico to have tattoos showing. In Jumi’s group, she said it was inappropriate to bring guns to school. She kept saying that suggestion over and over again. I wanted to ask if that is what happens in Nigeria, but I didn’t want to offend and kept that question to myself. It’s very interesting to hear what other cultures allow or don’t allow. What they view as their reality.