5 Assumptions

In this class, we will continue to examine what are the visible parts of ourice berg and what the invisible parts are. I will start the students in their homogeneous groups, drawing a physical representation of their country's cultural iceberg. After they have completed this activity, they will give a short presentation and I'll hang the posters in the classroom. I really want to stress again at this point is that culture is learned, and that without people to learn it from, we would be culture-less, and therefore, almost non-human, which raises a lot of questions about what it means to be human.

The second part of the class we will get into the reading about "Five Cultural Assumptions". Within our own cultures, we hold that our views and ideas about these things are true, at least we hold others within the culture to these truths. The assumptions are:

1. Activity: How active should someone be in life, both in work and play? How do we measure a person's success? What does it mean to live a good life? Is improving your life valued or is accepting your status and position valued?

2. Social relations: Is equality or hierarchy stressed? Does language reflect a person's status. Is there formal language for "higher-ups" or is the language used similarly for all people?

3. Self Orientation: Where does our identity come from? Our own unique self or the group(s) to which we belong? Is our worth in our own individual uniqueness or the level of harmony in which we are with others? Do we have certain social responsibilities and obligations to others and how does that work? How do we view elders and youth?

I am going to break up the class into fours and try and post each group with two international students and two Korean students. 3 groups will read about Activity Orientations and answer the questions in Table 4.3 on page 91. They will write the question on the poster-board and then answer and design it with answers from their nationalities. 3 Groups will read about social relations and answer the questions in Table 4.4 and make a poster. And the final two groups will read about Self-Orientation and answer the questions in table 4.5 on a poster. Then each group will present their answers to the class.

The journal assignment will be to answer the following questions:

What is culture? 100 words

What is my home culture like? 100 words