Multicultural Manners

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The nation is becoming more multicultural. More immigrants and refugees are arriving each year, and with globalization occurring, students should expect to deal with people from different cultures more than ever. If the students do not have adequate training, they could easily offend a member from a different culture. True, students should have had at least one class in Intercultural Communication, or taken other classes to prepare them for study-abroad. If a student is planning to go to France during their junior or senior year, they have studied the language and expectations of the culture. However, some classes do not have time to cover all topics related to cultures. In addition, students that are not planning to study abroad still need to know how to be intercultural competence because this nation is becoming more and more diverse. They will likely encounter someone from another culture in places such as health, business, or education contexts. There has to be an effective way to teach students proper ways of acting around different cultures; something that a professor can add as a supplement to their class, since they may already have a strict rubric. On the other hand, something a study abroad student can carry with them and use to look up information on how to behave. Something students can use even if they have no background in Intercultural studies, to help them adapt to the growing diverse population. Multicultural Manners, by Norine Dresser is a short guild that explains how to behave around each culture. It will help your students know what and what not to do around certain cultures, whether they use it at work, internships, study-abroad, or daily life.

Here is a scenario. An American, business stud...

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...is becoming increasingly more diverse, meaning that students should be more intercultural competent. The Multicultural Manners book is not a replacement for intercultural classes, but whether a supplement. It is not very dense and is easy to read. The student can carry it with them whenever they need it. In the back of the book, there is a section dedicated to explaining different cultures and their beliefs. This can help the universities’ students from making similar mistakes, expressed in the above scenarios. Multicultural Manners would be a great addition for the students.

Works Cited

Knobloch, Leanne K., and Bethany Schmelzer. "Using The Emotion-In-Relationships

Model To Predict Features Of Interpersonal Influence Attempts." Communication Monographs 75.3 (2008): 219-247. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.

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