CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A.COMMUNICATION
Communication is the exchange of meaning: it is my attempt to let you know what I mean. Communication includes any behavior that another human being perceives and interprets: it is your understanding of what I mean. Communication includes sending both verbal messages (words) and nonverbal messages (tone of voice, facial expression, behavior and physical setting). It includes consciously sent messages as well as messages that the sender is totally unaware of sending. Whatever I say and do, I cannot communicate. Communication therefore involves a complex, multilateral, dynamic process through which we exchange meaning.
If we seek to understand a people, we have to try to put ourselves, as far as we can, in that particular historical and cultural background (Jawaharlal Nehru). It is not easy for a person of one country to enter into the background of another country. So there is great irritation because one fact that seems obvious to us is not immediately accepted by the other party or does not seem obvious to him at all. But that extreme irritation will go when we think that he is just differently conditioned and simply can't get out of that condition. One has to recognize that whatever the future may old, countries and people differ in their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. In order to understand them, we have to understand their way of life and approach. If we wish to convince them, we have to use their language as far as we can, not language in the narrow sense of the word, but the language of the mind. That is one necessity. Something that goes even much further than that is not the appeal to logic and reason but some kind of emotional awareness of other people.
B.ACROSS CULTURE
The term "cross-cultural" emerged in the social sciences in the 1930s, largely as a result of the Cross-Cultural Survey undertaken by George Peter Murdock, a Yale anthropologist. Initially referring to comparative studies based on statistical compilations of cultural data, the term gradually acquired a secondary sense of cultural interactivity. The comparative sense is implied in phrases such as "a cross-cultural perspective," "cross-cultural differences," "a cross-cultural study of..." and so forth, while the interactive signification may be found in works like Attitudes and Adjustment in Cross-Cultural Contact: Recent Studies of Foreign Students, a 1956 issue of The Journal of Social Issues. Usage of "cross-cultural" was for many decades restricted mainly to the social sciences. Among the more prominent examples are the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) established in 1972 "to further the study of the role of cultural factors in shaping human behavior" and it is associated Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, which aims to provide an interdisciplinary discussion of the effects of cultural differences.
We encounter and make use of the word culture several times a day and in very different contexts. We attend cultural programs, discuss cultural differences as well as agricultural practices, read about the danger of cults and cultivate good or bad habits.
But for the purpose of intercultural relations and research, how do we define culture and how does it impact us?
Culture is a framework of behavioral patterns, values, assumptions and experiences shared by a social group, culture shapes human conduct within a cultural group. Culture is communication, it impacts how we send and interpret messages and something we learn. Cross-cultural studies, a comparative tendency in various fields of cultural analysis.
C.COMMUNICATION ACROSS CULTURE
Cross-cultural communication endeavors to bring together such relatively unrelated areas as cultural anthropology and established areas of communication. It is core is to establish and understand how people from different cultures communicate with each other. Its charge is to also produce some guidelines with which people from different cultures can better communicate with each other.
Cross-cultural communication, as in many scholarly fields, is a combination of many other fields. These fields include anthropology, cultural studies, psychology and communication. The field has also moved both toward the treatment of inter ethnic relations and toward the study of communication strategies used by co-cultural populations, i.e., communication strategies used to deal with majority or mainstream populations.
Cross-cultural communication (also frequently referred to as intercultural communication, which is also used in a different sense , though) is a field of study that looks at how people from differingculturalbackgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves and how they endeavor tocommunicateacross cultures.
Communicating Cross Culture describes acts as a sort of filter or lens through which we see others, affect the way we see them and create a variety of perspectives. With a cross-cultural study we can realize our own cultural condition and knowledge of another systems culture to build the foundation of cross-cultural training while paving the way to cross-cultural competence.
Every communication has a message sender and a message receiver. Communication is indirect; it is a symbolic behavior. Ideas, feelings and pieces of information cannot be communicated directly but must be externalized or symbolized before being communicated. Encoding describes the producing of a symbol message. Decoding describes the receiving of a message from a symbol. The message sender must encode his or her meaning into a form that the receiver will recognize—that is, into words and behavior. Receivers must then decode the words and behavior—the symbols—back into messages that have meaning for them. Cross-cultural communication occurs when a person from one culture sends a message to a person from another culture. Sends massage like educations, dancing, weddings ceremony, death ceremony, custom or habit and others.
The main theories for cross-cultural communication is based on the work done see the difference between the cultural values of tribal and other ethnic cultures. Therefore, in this paper we learn communication across culture in Amish Community, Cherokee Tribe, American Contemporary and Moi Tribe about their wedding ceremony, death ceremony and educations.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
A.AMISH COMMUNITY
1.THE WEDDING CEREMONY
Marriage and family are the cornerstones of any Amish Community. Deeply rooted in religious faith and traditional values, the Amish wedding is an important part of every Amish member’s life and allows the community to continue to grow as it has for hundreds of years. However, an Amish wedding is not the same as a traditional American wedding. Amish boys and girls begin preparing for the day they will wed when they are still teenagers. Finding a mate and starting a family is the most important decision. An Amish person must make in order to keep the Amish Community strong. All Amish children are expected to find a spouse, start a family and begin contributing to the Amish Community as a whole by the time they are in their early twenties. Amish children are not baptized into the Amish church until they are young adults because they are required to make the decision to stay in the Amish Community and follow the Amish rules on their own. Once an Amish boy or girl decides to stay with the Amish Community, they are baptized into the Amish church and are then expected to marry and begin living their lives as adults.
Once an Amish couple has been dating for a while and finally decides that they should get married, there is no engagement ring or party. During this time of dating and engagement, everything is kept very secret in the Amish Community, even from the engaged couples’ own parents and siblings. This is a common practice in Amish households and official announcement to the families of their intention to marry are usually made around July or August. The Amish Community itself will not be told of the pending union until a month before the wedding will take place when the engagement is announced in church or published in the Amish Community newspaper. Some Amish Communities have a specific Sunday set aside in October where the church deacon announces all the Amish couples who plan to marry and the fathers’ of the brides announce the dates that have been chosen for the ceremonies.
Most Amish weddings take place in November or December, after the harvesting season is over and Tuesdays or Thursdays are popular days of the week to get married because a full day before and after are needed to prepare for the Amish wedding and this can never include a Sunday. An Amish bride will usually make her own wedding dress out of blue or sometimes purple fabric. The Amish bride chooses two attendants who will also make their dresses out of the same cloth of fabric. All three women will wear Amish prayer capes and aprons. It is also general practice that an Amish woman will be dressed in her wedding dress, cape and apron once she dies. The Amish groom and his two attendants will wear black suits, white shirts, black brimmed hats, black high-topped boots and black bow ties. There are no wedding rings, flowers or veils during the Amish wedding ceremony.
The day before the Amish wedding is performed, married couples in the Amish Community assist the bride in preparing the food for the wedding celebration. This is one of the few days where the Amish men assist the women in the kitchen. On the day of the Amish wedding, everyone gathers at the bride’s home and an early morning church service is held where the couple will exchange their vows. Divorce is not allowed in an Amish Community, so the importance of the union and the ceremony is made very clear to the parties involved. The Amish wedding ceremony usually involves the church minister counseling the young couple, making sure they understand the permanence of the ceremony, hymnals are sung, scriptures are read and a long sermon is usually conducted. The Amish couple is then asked to make their vows, the couple is blessed and a final prayer is said to end the ceremony.
After the ceremony, around noontime, the party and feasting begins. Typical Amish wedding day meals include roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, salads, creamed celery, cheese, bologna, bread, butter, honey, jelly, fruits, pudding, cakes, pies and ice cream. Tables are set up around the perimeter of the largest room in the Amish home and a special table, called an Eck, is set up in the corner for the bridal party. The Amish bride sits to the left of her Amish groom, symbolizing where she will sit in their marriage buggy. The single Amish women of the community will sit on the bride’s side of the room and the single Amish men will sit on the groom’s side. The couples’ parents and siblings will typically sit together in the kitchen.
After this first meal, the rest of the afternoon will usually involve talking, singing and game playing. Sometimes an Amish wedding celebration is used as an opportunity for matchmaking between teenagers who are over the age of 16 and are assigned specific seats before the evening meal in order to bring them closer together. Very few gifts are given to a newly married Amish couple at their wedding. Usually just the closest family members or friends provide the couple with practical gifts, such as Amish quilts, tablecloths, canned foods or farming tools. A second meal is served around sundown where the bride, groom and their parents now sit in the middle of the room at the main table and the same type of food is served again.
Most Amish wedding celebrations usually go on late into the night. The newlywed Amish couple will then spend their first night in the bride’s home in order to help with the cleanup the next morning. The Amish do not go on honeymoons but they do spend the next several months spending the night or weekend with different Amish family members on both sides of the family in order to get to know each other. It is during this time that the Amish couple may receive gifts, such as dishes, cookware or other household items that will be useful to them in their new lives together. The couple then will live with the Amish bride’s family for the rest of the winter and will begin setting up their new marital home in the spring. The Amish bride’s family will usually provide the new couple a dowry which might include major appliances and the household furnishings. Other items will be given to them over the winter by other family members and all of the acquired household items will be used to furnish the Amish couple’s new home.
2.DEATH CEREMONY
The Amish way of life focuses on simplicity, humility and connection to God; their funeral and grieving processes reflect this belief system. The Amish believe that when a person dies they have left the physical world to be in the afterlife with God. Instead of focusing on the physical loss of a good or faithful individual, Amish funerals focus on praising God and reminding parishioners to prepare for their afterlife.
·The Body
Bodies are embalmed only if the state government legally mandates it. If it is mandatory, then a local funeral home washes, embalms and dresses the body in long, white underwear before returning it to the family. If it is not mandatory, then the community members help to wash and prepare the body for the service. Meanwhile, family members sew new, plain clothing for body to be buried in; they dress men in white pants, a white vest, and a white shirt, while the women are using new dressed, long white dresses, using the cap and apron in which she was married.
·Preparation for Services
An Amish individual is buried three days after death. During these three days the community members prepare the body, hand dig the grave, build the coffin, sit with the body and help prepare food for the family. The coffins must be handmade with plain pine, with no padding, handles or adornment. While the whole community helps, four friends are selected as pallbearers who take on the bulk of the responsibility. These pallbearers are responsible for preparing the room that the coffin stays in, aiding with the grave and preparing for the transportation of the coffin and body.
Note: if the deceased was single then the pallbearers must also be single, if he was married then they must also be married.
·Viewing Body
Amish mourning services are composed of three services: first an open casket viewing at the decedent's home, then a funeral service in a community space and finally the interment at the gravesite. After the body is washed and clothed, it is set up for an open casket viewing in the deceased person home. The viewing room is completely bare, the family and pallbearers remove all furniture and decorations to accommodate a viewers. After the Amish wake, the pallbearers carry the casket to a horse-drawn hearse so that it can be taken to the funeral.
·Funeral Service
The community members all attend the funeral, which takes place in the deceased's house, a large community barn or a formal church if the community has one. All of the mourners and family members must wear black to the funeral. Unlike many Christian faiths, the Amish funeral service focuses on praising God and giving thanks, however, there are no eulogies for the community member who passed away. Traditionally, the sermon focuses on Genesis, John 5:20-30, I Corinthians 15, and parables about resurrection and the afterlife. At the end of the two-hour service, the minister mentions the decedent's name, date of birth and date of death before leading the parishioners to the grave.
·At Grave
Unlike many non-Amish funerals, there are no flowers, no photos and no gifts laid on the coffin before it is buried. Community members have one last opportunity to view the body in the cemetery before it is interred. Mourners recite the Lord's Prayer quietly to themselves or silently in their heads while the coffin is lowered into the ground with ropes. Family members and pallbearers lower the coffin into the ground together and then fill in the plot by hand. Adult graves are marked by simple, uniform tombstones that state only the name, dates of birth and death and final age in years, months and days. If children's graves are marked at all, then it is done with a flat tombstone on the ground. Elders are responsible for keeping a map that identifies which body is in each grave.
·After Funeral
Once the body is completely buried, the community members go back to have a meal with the decedent's family. For the next year, friends, family and some community members will visit the family every Sunday. The immediate family wears only black for an entire year. This is the only outward indication that the family is in mourning; they are required to keep their grief and emotions private.
3.EDUCATION
An Amish education consists of eight years in a one room schoolhouse being taught by a teacher with an eighth grade education. On the face of it, this seems like a woefully inadequate and unfair way to prepare Amish children for an adult life as productive members of society.But to properly judge this system you must take into account the society for which they are being prepared. This society believes that the pathway to heaven is paved with modesty.
Amish believe that a person must be separate from the world, forsake self interest and humbly submit to the authority of the church. This is the only way to be righteous in the sight of God. Any show of pride is sin and must be avoided. Amish highly distrust what the outside world calls “education”. Public education is designed springboard toward individual advancement, independence, power and distain for the simple life. All these ideas are contrary to fundamental Amish beliefs.
·Goals of Education
The purpose Amish education is not to promote individuality and critical thinking. The goal is teach children the worth of hard work, ethical living and how to be a valuable member of the Amish Community. Amish education does not seek to create artists, scientists, musicians or actors. The mission of Amish education is to teach the skills that are needed to lead a useful Amish life while developing the ability to function and do business in the outside world. But it also promotes separateness from the world. Amish view education as the responsibility of the parents, the school and the entire community acting, as always, under the influence the church.
The Amish believe that separation from the outside world is the only road to salvation. The mission of Amish education is to prepare their children to remain Amish. Creating a desire and making it easy for their children to leave the church is certainly not what the Amish seek in an education.
Amish education provides a good foundation in the basic 3 R’s and emphasizes the high value of work, community service, and obedience to church. This successfully achieves the goal of preparing Amish kids to become upstanding members of the Amish society while having the skills to do business in the outside world.
In Amish schools they teach English, reading, writing, arithmetic and history. These are considered all the skills that are needed to lead an Amish life and yet be able to do business with the outside world.
In the Amish Community, there are two phase to get education, Pre School and Post School.
1.Pre School
Amish children are looked upon as a gift from God. From birth until they start walking children are coddled and nurtured by all members of the family. A baby comes into this world completely innocent in the eyes of God. When a baby cries, it is simply a sign that the baby needs attention not correction. Babies are made to feel secure. They are not held to the family dining schedule but fed as needed. They sit at the table during regular meals so that they are included in this important time of social interaction.
During the period between when a toddler starts walking and when the child starts school, Amish education begins at home. Children speak only the Amish German dialect before they start school. They are taught to be obedient to older members of the family. They are taught to share with their siblings. They are assigned chores to create a good attitude toward work.
Amish pre-school children are given a lot of freedom to tag along with adults and older siblings as they go through daily chores and routines observing and absorbing knowledge like a sponge. The Amish have no pra-school. They believe that is important that very young children are with their parents and learning under their guidance.
2.Post School
After the eighth grade, Amish education moves from the school, back into the home and community. Some boys go back to the farm to continue learning agricultural skills. Others might apprentice to Amish shop owners or tradesmen learning skills that will provide a living for them and their future families.
Girls go back home to work with their mothers polishing their homemaking skills. Some might work outside the home for other Amish or keep house for an “English” family. Working outside the community poses a threat of overexposure to worldly influences and is avoided when possible. It could be argued that Amish education does not end with the eighth grade but continues into young adulthood.
·The Teacher-Student Relationship
Teachers are chosen from members of the community. A new teacher is usually a young girl. In the male dominated Amish society, men have more job options from which to choose. The fact that she has only an eighth grade education is looked upon as a plus. It is more important that she is strong in the faith and will stick to the Amish way of thinking as she teaches the children. Of course, she must have the intelligence and the ability to teach the curriculum and stay ahead of the scholars.
The new teacher first serves a time of apprenticeship with an experienced teacher. When she is ready, she begins teaching at the school where she was hired. This might be at the same school where she apprenticed if the previous teacher is retiring. For help as she gains experience, she can attend meetings with other local teachers to discuss problems and exchange ideas. Some areas have regional or statewide Amish teachers meetings.
There is also a monthly Amish teacher’s magazine called "Blackboard Bulletin" that contains many articles addressing methods, problems and solutions. Since all schools are locally controlled, the teacher must develop teaching methods that conform to the desires of the local school board and church authority. If she can adapt, the job eventually becomes second nature. After all, experience is the best teacher.
·Discipline In Amish School
In some cases, teachers in Amish schools will be expected to make use of corporal punishment to discipline children as well. Karen Johnson-Weiner notes that use of spanking varies among Amish schools. Johnson-Weiner finds evidence that corporal punishment is applied in conservative Amish schools, though this does not necessarily mean that teachers enjoy it.
The Amish approach to school discipline, including physical punishment now extinct in modern public schools, reflects the role of the Amish Community in raising children to exhibit Christian values. Amish stress disciplining in a spirit of love rather than anger. Though Amish parents and teachers typically consider it unpleasant and difficult to discipline children, they know that neglecting to do so would mean neglecting the child’s well-being.
B. CHEROKEE TRIBE
1.WEDDING CEREMONY
The Cherokee wedding ceremony is a very beautiful event, whether it is the old fashioned, or 'ancient' ceremony or a modern one. The original ceremony differed from clan to clan and community to community, but basically used the same ritual elements.
Because clan ship is matrimonial in the Cherokee society, it is forbidden to marry within one's own clan. Because the woman holds the family clan, she is represented at the ceremony by both her mother (or clan mother) and oldest brother. The brother stands with her as his vow to take the responsibility of teaching the children in spiritual and religious matters, as that is the traditional role of the uncle.
In ancient times, they would meet at the center of the townhouse and the groom gave the bride a ham of venison while she gave an ear of corn to him, then the wedding party danced and feasted for hours on end. Venison symbolized his intention to keep meat in the household and her corn symbolized her willing to be a good Cherokee housewife. The groom is accompanied by his mother.
After the sacred spot for the ceremony has been blessed for seven consecutive days, it is time for the ceremony. The bride and groom approach the sacred fire and are blessed by the priest and/or priestess. All participants of the wedding, including guests are also blessed. Songs are sung in Cherokee and those conducting the ceremony bless the couple. Both the Bride and Groom are covered in a blue blanket. At the right point of the ceremony, the priest or priestess removes each blue blanket and covers the couple together with one white blanket, indicating the beginning of their new life together.
Instead of exchanging rings, in the old times the couple exchanged food. The groom brought ham of venison, or some other meat, to indicate his intention to provide for the household. The bride provided corn, or bean bread to symbolize her willingness to care for and provide nourishment for her household. This is interesting when noting that when a baby is born, the traditional question is "Is it a bow, or a sifter?" Even at birth, the male is associated with hunting and providing and the female with nourishing and giving life.
The gifts of meat and corn also honor the fact that traditionally, Cherokee men hunted for the household, while women tended the farms. It also reflects the roles of Kanati (first man) and Selu (first woman).
The couple drank together from a Cherokee Wedding Vase. The vessel held one drink, but had two openings for the couple to drink from at the same time. Following the ceremony, the town, community or clans provided a wedding feast and the dancing and celebrating often times continued all night. Today, some Cherokee traditionalists still observe portions of these wedding rituals. The vows of today's ceremony reflect the Cherokee culture and belief system, but are in other ways similar to wedding ceremonies of other cultures and denominations.
Today's dress can be in a tear dress and ribbon shirt, a wedding gown or normal attire worn at a Ceremonial Ground. The Cherokee Nation has a marriage law and Cherokee couples are allowed to marry under this law instead of the State marriage laws. This is because Cherokee Nation is a sovereign government. The couple is not required to obtain a license; however, the person(s) conducting the ceremony must be licensed by the Cherokee Nation in order to do so.
After the religious leader contacts the Cherokee Nation District Court, the court clerk will prepare a certificate. This paper shows that the couple were indeed married in a ceremony by a religious or spiritual leader licensed to do so. The certificate is returned to the Cherokee Nation District Court after all parties have signed it and filed in the official records.
2.DEATH CEREMONY
As a culture, Cherokee Indians are very spiritual people that view death as a transition rather than an end. Services are usually conducted by a Cherokee shaman the day after death. The bodies are traditionally buried in the ground in the belief that they will provide nourishment to the earth. Typically, the Cherokee dead are not embalmed nor are their organs donated.
The pride of the Cherokee people exists not only in how they live but also in how they lay their dead to rest. To honor the deceased, the Native American Cherokee Ceremony of Burial Rites is performed by a Cherokee elder man.
·Body Preparation
To prepare a Cherokee Indian for burial the body is first washed and scented with lavender oil. The Cherokees' believe lavender to have strong spiritual properties, among which is the cleansing of impurities. The body is then wrapped in a white cotton sheet and placed into a coffin. An eagle feather is then placed on top of the chest of the corpse. Cherokees and most other Native American Tribes, venerate the eagle is a sacred bird.
·Burial
The funeral begins with Cherokee prayers led by the shaman. During the service the shaman prays on the behalf of the deceased and offers spiritual lessons to the living. The funeral ends in prayer and the body is carried to it's final resting place on the shoulders of the funeral procession. Cherokee tradition is that the funeral should take place either on the day of or the day after, the person's death; however, if circumstances do not allow for a swift burial the funeral can be delayed.
·Mourning Period
Traditionally the Cherokee have a seven day mourning period under the auspices of the shaman. This period is considered a spiritual cleansing time, apart from the tribe, for the survivors to be spiritually cleansed. During this time family members are not allowed to be angry or jovial and must restrict their intake of food and drink. The shaman ritually cleanses the house with tea and removes any items deemed unclean from the house of the deceased.
·Cleansing of Survivors
After seven days of cleansing, the shaman ask the mourners to a river and instructs them to immerse themselves in water seven times, alternating direction of facing east and west. After the immersing ceremony the mourners are presented with fresh clothes, an offering of tobacco and sanctified beads. After the ceremony the mourners are welcomed back into the tribe.
3.EDUCATION
·History of Education in Cherokee Tribe
Before the Europeans came to America, old Cherokee men would educate the children about their culture by telling them stories about how Cherokee land was created. After Europeans arrived in the end of 1800s, they tried to convince the Cherokee to let them open schools for the children. It would give them a way to spread their religious beliefs. In 1801, the Cherokee agreed to let the white men open a school because they wanted their children to have the tools to resist the white men’s efforts to take over their land.
In Cherokee Tribe, there are two education: Informal Education and Formal Education. Educational differences for female and male on Cherokee Tribe.
a.Informal Education
Education was achieved through legend, precept, example and sanctions. The responsibility for the training of Indian youth usually rested with the clan. Since the Cherokee clans were matrilineal, and since it was rather common for the male to abandon one mate for another, the father's role in the education of his children tended, on the whole, to be a somewhat negligible one. The mother, the maternal uncles, and the old men of the tribe were the child's important mentors. In 1925, the Cherokee people founded the Sequoyah School, an Indian boarding school that now covers more than 90 acres with a dozen major buildings on a campus five miles southwest of Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
b.Formal Education
The first school established the European, called Moravian Brethren, taught children reading, writing, and arithmetic. Some kids were also taught English, grammar, and geography. Children were also taught economical skills such as how to make clothes. Children mainly learned in English until a Cherokee man named Sequoyah invented the Cherokee alphabet, which was taught in schools soon after.
Before the Cherokee were forced to leave the South during the Trail of Tears, they relied on the missionaries to educate their children. Soon after reaching their destination, they established a national school system.
·Educational differences for female and male on Cherokee tribe
a.Female
The first point of controversy was whether females should be educated outside the home at all. After that followed the questions of "Which subjects?" and "By what methods?" In the earliest years of this country, parents who wished an education beyond basic literacy for their girls taught them at home or had tutors come to the home. A few fathers taught their daughters Latin and Greek, and even "natural philosophy, which we today would call "science" but most felt that a young lady's educational needs were the female accomplishments of drawing, music, dancing, and, above all, fancy needlework.
ThecontroversyoccurredbecauseCherokeeTribalcustomsthathave the view that, womenonlyhave a dutyin terms ofmakinghandicrafts(such as cooking, sewingclothesandothers)andalsoonlyobligatedtotake care ofhomeorfamily. TheCherokeeTribewomen werebelieved to befundamentalin continuingdescent, evenas forone of the clansCherokeeTribebelievesthat thewomanis the incarnation ofthe god's blessing giverso itdoes notnecessarily have tobe involvedin the development offormaleducation. Thus theissueof educationto thefemale, almostsee a bright spotthat is Cherokee already believed that females had rational minds which could profit from knowledge. This is not to say that homemaking skills and modest behavior were not important –or even pre-eminent –but only that there was also room for, and a need for, such subjects as science, mathematics and languages.
b.Male
In the process of getting an education in Cherokee Tribe is very different from the female, the male is given the freedom to determine his will in gaining knowledge because the male is seen as a leader as well as head of the family and even the leader of their tribe. Therefore learning system for the male is very broad. Male taught hunting, gardening, taught to be a leader, taught as a fighter, even the male is considered a hero in a battle in the fight for the rights of their people.
·The Teacher-Student Relationship
The teacher student relationship is very important for children. Children spend approximately 5 to 7 hours a day with a teacher for almost 10 months. We ask ourselves what is considered a good teacher? All of us have gone through schooling and if fortunate had a favorite teacher. A positive relationship between the student and the teacher is difficult to establish, but can be found for both individuals at either end. The qualities for a positive relationship can vary to set a learning experience approachable and inviting the students to learn.
C. AMERICAN CONTEMPORARY
1.WEDDING CEREMONY
Marriage in American Contemporary is one of the most important events in their life and the ceremony and tradition involved are an integral part of the day. Wedding ceremonies and customs vary greatly based on their religion or their country.
When guests arrive at the church they are greeted by the ushers who will give them whatever books, flowers or leaflets are needed for the ceremony and then seat them correctly. Usually the family and friends of the bride will sit on one side of the church and the family and friends of the groom on the other. The front rows are usually reserved for family and close friends. In many ceremonies the bridal party will stand at the alter, but if not they will be seated in the very front rows.
The bride and her entourage will arrive at the church in elegant cars, limos, or even sometimes horse-drawn carriages hired for the ceremony. The bridal entourage typically consists of the bride and her father, all the various bridesmaids, the maids of honor and the flower girls and page boys that are to attend her.
- White Wedding
A white wedding will typically take place in a church and the couple will want to get married in the most beautiful church they can find. This sometimes means that prior to the wedding, the couple will begin to attend the church unexpectedly, even though they would not otherwise go to church, much to the chagrin of the parish. As a result, some churches now require that in order to use the church for their wedding, couple join the parish or pledge to do so in the future. White weddings in the United States can also be held at the family’s home, a private club or somewhere special like a botanical garden, etc.
A full white wedding ceremony includes an organist and maybe a choir for the wedding music. Flower arrangements for the church and lapel flowers as well as keepsake wedding leaflets with the Order of Service need to be purchased to be given out by the ushers at seating.
- The Wedding Reception
After the wedding things move to the reception where the newlyweds, their parents, the best men and the wedding entourage greet the guests. The reception usually consists of a catered three course meal, drinks, numerous toasts and speeches and the cutting of the wedding cake by the bride and groom, all accompanied by music.
The dancing is usually started by the bride and groom who commonly get the first dance caled the “Bridal Waltz”. Dancing a waltz is actually rare, couples usually choose their favorute love song for their first dance.
After the first dance, a dance between the bride and her father is traditional. Often the groom will cut in halfway through, to symbolize the bride leaving her father and joining her husband. In maerica, dances between the groom and his mother are aso becoming popular.
Usually the newlyweds will be the victim of some sort of good-natures hazing or “shivaree”. This is the typical custom of tying tin cans to the car bumper or putting shaving cream on the car windows.
Finally, the newlyweds are ready to set out on their honeymoon. Newlyweds try to celebrate honeymoons in places that are in some way special and romantic to them. Sometimes they will be secluded, sometimes exotic or warm or somehow special to the couple. Recently couples will combine the wedding and honeymoon into one location or substitute one for the other.
