10/22/21; Week 6: Response to “Differences in Emotional Expressivity”

I knew that some emotional expressions are considered inappropriate in some cultures like the British or the Asian. Besides, as a Latin American, I know we are highly expressive, and it can be difficult to understand for people coming from countries like England, Japan, or Turkey. Nevertheless, what surprised me the most was to learn that there are people like us in the United States.

I had the wrong idea that people in North America were not used to show their feelings to others through words or physical expressions like hugs or kisses. Even though this may be certain in some regions of the country, there are other places where people can be truly affectionate and do not hesitate to demonstrate it. For instance, people coming from the South of the United States or New York. Obviously, it is a generalization; we can encounter people in those places who tend to be more private about their emotions than the rest. However, we can be surprised by the naturality with which they show their emotions publicly.

On the other hand, there are places like the Midwest were people have low tolerance to emotional expressions. It does not mean that they do not have feelings but that they demonstrate them privately., and so do many others coming from different places around the world. We may vary in the way we communicate with others depending on our origins and culture, but, as human beings, we are wired with the same ability to feel love, sadness, empathy, anger, and so on. For this reason, we need to learn how to express ourselves according to the person in front of us. We can not infer they are going to react the same way we do to others’ behavior or are going to speak their minds out freely like we may do. It does not mean they do not have an opinion or ideas related to a matter, but they probably prefer to manifest them in a different way or environment.

These cultural differences about emotional expressivity must be considered especially in a TESOL classroom setting, to avoid misunderstandings about our intentions and values, and to create a safe and comfortable learning atmosphere.

Have you experienced some confused episode related to emotional expressions? Share your story in the comments section below.

Thanks for reading!