Classroom Rituals: Classroom Circle and Culture

Most people say that listening is a receptive language skill. In my listening class, students must be active to maximize the skill.

Communication plays important role to transfer ideas to knowledge. It is quite experienced in the context of education. By considering the proximity, teacher and student manage their communications so that the classroom environment performs.

Communication exists to facilitate sender in delivering message for receiver. As the result, it is hoped that the feedback happens then.

There are various ways of communication happen. It is done by verbal and non-verbal ways. First, verbal is done easily by uttering spoken language, while non-verbal one is done with body language, gesture, attitude, and emotion. Do you remember when your teacher gave you a chalk, showed it in front of you, directed your sight from the chalk to the blackboard and said "Would you answer the question I've written on the board, please?". The tone of teacher in asking you affected your bravery to come forward and did the challenge, didn't it? Compare this goal when the teacher used directly bare imperative. I bet you were afraid of your answer (minimally shocked at the first time before doing what she asked).

The communication performance is also influenced by culture. You will feel more comfortable to follow your class in your home culture than other country. You need time to adapt, don't you?

This is known as intercultural communication. It studies communication by its participants with different cultures. Intercultural communication involves the term named "ritual". This term shows the participants to do certain activities which have been internalized in their consciousness. It's such a habitual issue.

In the United States, a student will raise his hand if he wants to express his curiosity to his teacher, or there is a question which needs to answer. It is different in Jamaica where you find students flap or snap their fingers to do such thing. In several countries, students stand up when teacher enters the class. They are the examples of intercultural communications across countries.

I taught this topic for my lecture on the tenth meeting of critical listening. My students were encountered to listen intercultural communication existing in the audio. This meeting directed my students to identify intercultural communication. The result was amazing. They were able to express this issue related to their daily activities.

It is also important to allow students convey their views why this happening exists among us. I did it!  Let them active on doing analysis. Moreover, this lecture had reached critical level. They have been part of society and affected their existences as functioning human being. Quoting from the listened audio, they were directed to interpret more than just words.

This topic attracts our knowledge that there are various ways of performing communication, especially in the context of education, or classroom - where we transfer knowledge and values, see their emotions, and appreciate their ideas.