Introduction
People’s culture defines their ways of life and the activities they engage in daily. However, the culture of a group of people also determines the interactions they have with the society and the rhythm of life. It is easy for cultural differences to create a good rhythm in life when people learn to acknowledge the diversity as strength while some people may view it as a source of conflict in a society.“The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down “by Anne Fadiman is an example of how cultural differences affect the whole society in all aspects (Fadiman, 1998). However, when we learn to handle every lesson well, culture works a strong point. This paper analyzes the cultural conflict in the story. The paper also provides a lesson that can help people from a different culture acknowledge the cultural diversity in an area.
Part I-Book Response
The relationship of the family with the society and treatment of the child mainly face barriers from the cultural set up and beliefs of the Hmong people. First, the Hmong believe that epilepsy is a blessing and ability of the people to get into the spiritual world. When advised to give her child some medication for the same, she does not believe that it is for the good of the child. In fact, she thinks that by giving the child the medication, she is weakening the family and denying it what her culture refers to as noble. The treatment of the girl is also affected by the miscommunications in the cultural renderings of the two communities. The American doctors mainly believed in the scientific conceptualization of epilepsy as a severe condition that needs treatment, while culturally, the Hmong people believed that it was a spirit that gave the people power to get into the spiritual world. The miscommunications and unwillingness of the doctors to understand the cultural stance leads to worse conditions for Lia Lee who cannot get any assistance at that level (Fadiman, 1998).
In most of the instances, the doctors were right in their behavior. Epilepsy is a medical problem that needs a medical approach. In most cases, the doctors will give their prescription on the dosage and instructions for the treatment. However, the doctors were wrong by failing to understand the background of the problem. Their impatience and giving up the treatment fast led to the family believing that they were after the innocent child’s fame and power.
The parents were wrong because they failed to take the instructions on the doctors especially on dosage. The mother also failed to understand the medical concept of epilepsy hence she could not understand the essence of treating a condition she regarded as a normal and in fact superior condition. The family also believed in misleading information that epilepsy was a sign of superiority. As much as the Hmong people preferred the epileptic people as their leaders, with some of them claiming that the epileptic connected to the spiritual world through epilepsy, she failed to understand why the condition weakened the daughter.
However, the greatest failure is the cultural alternation of the two parties. Each of the parties believed in what they were doing, with the American doctors believing their scientific conception of epilepsy and the Hmong people believing their spiritual conceptions (Fadiman, 1998). However, none of the cultural orientations taught any of them how to acclimatize with conflicting beliefs. The Hmong people thought that any person attempting to remove the epilepsy from them was after their power and utilized the innocence of people like children. Such cultural miscommunications particularly hindered the interactions with the society.
Part II-Lesson Plan
Lesson 1- Respect his/ her difference
Duration of the lesson: 1 hour
Cross Cultural Awareness Objectives
The lesson aims at making the students understand that diversity should be utilized positively. It also aims at making the learners know that when we are different, it is a chance for us to learn new things and tie up our lives to new ways and not to undermine or fight each other.
Literacy skills involved
During the lesson, some of the skills that will help to facilitate the delivery and understanding of the message include direct comparisons, onomatopoeia, poems, songs, and proverbs from different cultural settings.
Procedures
The lesson will involve only three steps. First, the students will acclimatize with the fact that they live in a diverse globe hence the need to understand their diversity. The practical interactive session will be the second and the students will have to know at least five people from a different culture. Differentiation will be the last step. During this step, each of the learners will try to get the differences she/ he got from the people they talked to and harmonizing them into a complete relationship (Davis, 2013).
Assessments
The assessment will be through takeaway tests involving study and analysis of different cultures.
Follow up
In order to know how diverse the learners studied the culture, each of them will provide data about the people they talked to.
Lesson 2-I am unique, but not isolated (a song writing lesson)
Duration of the lesson: 1 hour
Cross Cultural Awareness Objectives
The lesson will aim at making the learners understand that the fact that they are unique from the rest of the people does not mean they live in isolation. The lesson will also aim at enabling the learners to understand the essence of cooperating with people from different life set-ups and having the patience to learn their ways of life.
Literacy skills involved
The skills that will be categorically applied during this lesson for the delivery and understanding of the message include direct comparisons, onomatopoeia, poems, songs, and proverbs from different cultural settings (Gardiner, Mutter & Kosmitzki, 1998).
Procedures
This lesson will have four steps. First, the learners will have to identify a song they like in another culture. The learners will then share about the songs which they like in other cultures in groups of five, with all the members of the groups from across the cultures. The learners will then compose a song on a decided theme in the group, with each of the stanzas in a different language to represent all the members in the group. In the last step, the learners will attempt to get the differences in delivery of every stanza and discuss the best way to amend the delivery gap.
Assessments
The assessment will be through takeaway tests involving study and analysis of different cultural songs. The learners will then compose a song on an event in another culture
Follow up
Presentation of the songs will show the depth of study undertaken by the learners.
Lesson 3- Where I Come from (A story telling class)
Duration of the lesson: 1 hour
Cross Cultural Awareness Objectives
The Lesson aims at making the learners to know that when they have a different origin and they need to understand the origins of one another.
Literacy skills involved
The literacy skills will include direct comparisons, onomatopoeia, poems, songs, and proverbs from different cultural settings.
Procedures
The lesson will involve only three steps. First, the students will tell each other in their groups about a unique thing in their origin (Gardiner, Mutter & Kosmitzki, 1998). The practical interactive session will be the second and the students will write a story and narrate it in groups about another cultural origin. Differentiation will be the last step. During this step, each of the learners will try to get the differences she/ he got all the stories and how the gaps can be bridged.
Assessments
The assessment will be through takeaway tests involving study and analysis of different cultural origins. Each student will write about the origin of a culture of choice.
Follow up
In order to know how diverse the learners studied the culture, each of them will provide data about the people they interviewed.
References
Davis, L. (2013). Common Core Literacy Lesson Plans: Ready-to-Use Resources, K-5. [N.p.]: Routledge.
Fadiman, A. (1998). The spirit catches you and you fall down : a Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures / Anne Fadiman. New York : Noonday Press, 1998.
Harry W. Gardiner, Jay D. Mutter, and Corinne Kosmitzki. (1998), Lives Across Cultures: Cross-Cultural Human Development. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1998, 330 pp. Fifth Edition
