Strategies For Effective Communication

           

         

Having a basic understanding of cultural diversity is the key to effective cross-cultural communications. When I communicate with people from different cultures or groups the first strategy that I have to learn is at least their language of communication.When communicating with families, you can ask questions to find out how families would like to communicate.

                                                         
                               

            The second strategy I use to establish communication is to get to know a little about the person; I have a colleague who is from Lima, Peru. We had the privilege of obtaining our early childhood degree at the same school and now we are working in the same child development center but with different age children. She speaks English but is her first language is Spanish.  She has customs and beliefs that are different than mine. She celebrates holidays from her country and the US.   I found that my colleague and I shared a lot of similarities in the way that we do things in everyday life i.e. religion,  family customs, and hobbies. In our profession as early childhood educators since my colleague is bilingual, she helps me to communicate with parents who I may interact with that speak English as a second language. The point is that when we learn to communicate with others who are different, we can enhance our knowledge and at the same time gain some valuable information.  

            When it’s hard to communicate with families from different cultures I have found that a third effective strategy that I use to communicate is combining communication skills.  It works best when establishing communication and trying to get my message across to the person who I may be taking.  I use verbal and nonverbal communication skills. My nonverbal skills including body language, making eye to eye contact and listening  make it easier to describe things that I may not be able to say in their language.

Photos retrieved from

 Communication Stock Photos, Illustrations, and Vector Art. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2016, from http://www.shutterstock.com/s/communication/search.html