Week 5: Response to "Cultural Differences in Concerning Time"

2/5/19

Professor Ivers talked about time and cultural paradigms. He mentioned that some cultures are monochronic, but the majority of the world probably are polychronic. We need to consider that monochronic cultures like to do just one thing at a time and polychronic cultures like to do multiple things at the same time. The United States is monochronic. E. T. Hall (1959) called M-time. He believes that people doing one thing at assumes careful planning and scheduling and is a familiar Western approach that appears in disciplines such as "time management". On the other hand, Polychronic cultures value human interactions over the material things. 

In the United States, human interactions are important but no as in the polychronic cultures. For polychronic people, time is seldom experienced as "wasted" and is apt to be considered a point rather than ribbed or road, but that point is often sacred. We can see the differences between relationships and the time in both cultures. 

As an ESL teacher, we need to consider the background of our students, age, English proficiency, education experience, communicative styles, learning styles, and the context and form that they use the time to consider what are the best strategies and activities to them. In other words, we need to consider and implement an intercultural classroom. Low context vs. Higher context culture. We need to consider differences in educational experience because ESL students will use their time differently than in the United States. 

It is not about what is the best, it is more about to find the best adaptation to help ESL students to build their strengths to become intercultural. The form that teachers use their time needs to benefit their students.