Chinese Night
Date: 3/8/12 Time: 7:30-9: 30pm
Today I met with Mary my Korean
partner. Before I met her I was kind of
nervous because I didn’t know what to
expect as far as her communication
skills, English skills, past experiences etc.
Our first meeting was in the New Dorms
where a Chinese Night was being held.
When I first met Mary she was very, very
shy and quiet! I didn’t expect her to be
loud and boisterous but she talked so
quietly that I had trouble hearing her
over the noise in the room. She seemed
happy to meet me, as was I. We spend
the rest of the time at the Chinese night
getting to know a little bit about each
other. The biggest difficulty I noticed
right away was that I was going to be
facing a major language barrier.
Classroom Observation
Date: 3/19/12 Time: 8:00 - 9:00 pm
The second meeting with Mary was in
her sociology classroom. I briefly spoke
to Mary before class started to explain
what I was going to do today in her
classroom. As class started I sat on the
left side of her so I could observe what
she was writing down as well as her
expressions during class. Immediately I
noticed that she wrote all of her notes in
Korean. The second observation was
that she almost strained her body to
hear what the teacher was saying. Mary
looked as if she was struggling at times
to keep up with the class notes because
the pace of the teacher was very fast as
slides came up on the projector and then
left. The final observation was that she
did not raise her hand and participate in
any questions that the professor had
prompted throughout the class. It did
not surprise me that she didn’t speak up
during class.
In the article, Nine Powerful Practices,
by Ruby Payne she states, “No significant
learning occurs without a significant
relationship.” This quote relates to my
experience with meeting Mary for the
first time at the Chinese Night. In order
to get to know each other and
significantly learn from each other we
needed to build a significant
relationship. I needed her to know that I
had respect for her and cared about
what she would tell me in order for to
open up and talk to me. I needed to call
her by her first name, answer questions
honestly that she would ask me, talk to
her respectfully, always notice her when
we would pass each other, and offer her
help when she would ask for it.
In the article, School Rules the author
states, “She stays focused on what she
must do in order to succeed: stay in
school and resist the pull of friends who
avoid schoolwork…she looks for friends
who will support her in this effort.” This
relates directly to Mary and the
observation I made about her writing
her notes in Korean and then rewriting
her notes in English later on. Mary stays
focused on what she needs to do to
succeed in the classroom. For her to
keep up with the pace in class she
needed to write her notes out in Korean
for speed purposes. She then rewrites
the notes in English to better understand
the language and information that is
being taught.
After class I spoke with Mary about my
observations. She told me that she writes
all notes from class in Korean so that she
can write faster. Mary told me that later
after class she attempts to rewrite all of
her notes in English for practice. I asked
her why she looked kind of strained
during class. She was surprised that I
had noticed this detail. She explained
that it is difficult to understand 100% of
the English that the professor was
speaking during her lecture so she
strains her body unintentionally trying
to understand what she is saying. The
last question I asked her about was the
speed of the notes coming up on the
projector. Mary said it is very difficult to
read all of the notes, understand them,
and then write them down in Korean
because the next slide come up. I asked
Mary why she didn’t speak up when the
teacher asked about certain topics. She
explained that her English speaking is
very poor so she feels embarrassed that
other student would make fun of her or
that she would stick out.
World Expo 2012
Date: 3/23/12 Time: 12:00-2:00 pm
My third time meting with Mary was at
the World Expo 2012. I spent about ten
minutes searching for her because there
were a lot of people walking around.
Eventually I found Mary at her table
where she was presenting about her
country with two other females. We
talked about where she was from which
is Daejeon, South Korea. Mary also
taught me all about the Korean culture
and more specific information about her
hometown of Daejon. Mary also taught
me about the food that they eat. This was
a great experience for me to get to know
all about her culture, hometown aspects,
and food traditions.
In the article, Gender Matters in
Elementary Education by Virginia
Bonomo she states, “Girls can multitask
better than boys because the female
corpus callosum is the nervous tissue
that sends signals between the two
halves of the brain.” This explains
exactly what I was going through at the
World Expo. When Mary was teaching
me all about her culture, hometown, and
food traditions. I noticed she could talk
explain different things to me about her
project without being distracted by
hundreds of other people walking up to
her table and talking around her. Even
though I was very interested in what she
was telling me I became increasingly
distracted by the mass of people walking
and talking around us. It was very
noticeable that she didn’t have an issue
with this and that may be because she
can multitask considerably better than
me.
Meet with friends
Date: 3/27/12 Time: 1:00-3:00 pm
The fourth experience I had with Mary
was in the Smaug where I met Mary’s
friends. As I met the three friends Mary
had brought with her I noticed right
away that they all were extremely shy
and withheld. I had to initiate all
conversation at the beginning because
they didn’t really have much to say to
me. Because of this I told them all about
myself and what American culture is
like. I also informed them that I am a
student –athlete at Winona State. I
explained what the sport of football is
and what life in college is like playing a
sport and going to school. They seemed
very interested and laughed a lot at what
I was telling them. Towards the end I
told them that I would sit back and
In the article, How Girls Negotiate School
by The Jossey-Bass Reader on Gender in
education, “Girls have accounts of
pressures to be “nice” and “quiet”, to get
along with everyone to avoid conflict or
even notice.” This quote relates to my
observation of Mary and her three
friends when I met them. They all were
very, very quiet and shy. When we I
asked Mary or her friends certain
questions they simply smiled at me and
not really answer initially. This is
partially because I was still getting to
know Mary and meeting her friends for
the first time. It was also because
females have the pressure to be “quiet”
and “nice” so they aren’t seen as being
rude which had may have been the case
observe them interacting with each
in her culture.
other. I noticed that they constantly
were laughing and giggling with each
other, which is fairly normal for friends
to do. They all went and got lunch and
brought that back. I observed that they
all chose the Asian option of food. None
of them used chopsticks but they told me
they usually do if they have the option to
use them. They ate fairly quickly and
didn’t converse much while eating.
Interview
Date: 3/30/12 Time: 10:00-11:00 am
The fifth meeting I had with Mary was to
do an interview with her and to get
lunch. We met at Winona Sandwich
Company on Huff Street. Mary brought
two new friends this time.
As we were eating I asked her more
about what some of the biggest
differences the US had with South Korea.
She told me that she noticed everyone in
the US wore sweat pants and sweat
shirts compared to South Korea where
everyone dressed up in nice attire. She
told me that Americans really appreciate
their privacy and possessions and that it
is more important than what Koreans
value.
Next, I asked her what the biggest
challenges were when coming to the US.
She replied with the language barrier is
extremely difficult to communicate with
others. She said it was difficult to make
friendships with Americans because we
are all stuck in our ways and don’t
branch out as much. She also said that
academics is much harder here in
America than what it is like in South
Korea.
I asked Mary what her reasoning was
for choosing Winona State University
over all of the other schools in the United
In the article, Nine Powerful Practices,
by Ruby Payne she states, “When an
individual is learning something new,
learning should happen in a supportive
context.” This relates to my discussion
with Mary and her friends when I was
teaching them about American cultures.
When I explained why Americans would
wear casual attire they assumed that all
Americans wore casual clothes all the
time. In order for them to understand
that Americans don’t always dress in
casual clothes, I needed to explain this
concept in a supportive context. I went
on to explain that this is because they
are only exposed to college students who
prefer to dress in comfortable clothing
while at college. I continued to explain
that in the professional world outside of
college, Americans dress in professional
attire. Also when Americans go to a
formal occasion they would dress up in
formal clothes.
States. She told me that there were 20
different options of schools to choose
from. Her main reason for picking
Winona State was that they were told
that Winona State did not have a very big
Korean population. They valued this
because with fewer Koreans the more
opportunity they would have to speak
and learn English. She was very
surprised that Winona had such a large
population of Koreans with about 400
students.
I asked Mary what her and her friends
do for fun when not in school. She
replied that they mostly sit around and
talk with each other, do homework
together, eat food, walk/ride bikes
around the lakes, and sometimes going
out for a drink at the bar. She explained
Americans drink very hard when out at
the bars. Mary and her friends only have
a couple of beers.
References:
Bonomo, V. (2006). “Gender matters in elementary education. Educational
Horizons”,257-265.
Ginorio, A. (N.D.). “Characteristics Of Communities Affecting Participation/ Success”.
The Jossey-Bass reader on gender in education, 525-543
Payne, R. (2008). Nine Powerful Practices. Educational Leadership, 48-52
Research for Action (N.D.). How girls negotiate school. The Jossey-Bass reader on
gender in education, 243-273