Reflective journal 1

When I realised that I was taking CDE for my IHE this year, it made me wonder what this module is actually about. Is it about understanding cultures only? In what way is it special from the other IHE modules? These kind of questions kept popping out of my head.
When I was briefed about how we are going to get assessed for this module, I knew it was going to be a tough module. A lot is required from us to do well for this lesson. We have to prepare ourselves well by reading notes in order to be able to participate actively during class, voicing our opinions about topics related to our module such as the role of women.
The first tutorial was about Cultural Quotient. This phrase is not entirely new to me, as it is part of Hwa Chong’s plan to educate students. But I have never fully understood what this actually really meant. But through our first tutorial, I was able to get a more in depth idea of what this phrase really means. There was this question posed to the class that really got me thinking - Is being efficient in CQ really necessary to survive in this constantly changing and globalized world? This made me recall when I was back in Beijing for the Beijing satellite programme a month ago.
I was in a foreign land living for 6 weeks. The Chinese in Beijing definitely have cultural differences with us Singaporeans, but how am I going to overcome these differences in order to live amicably with the local Chinese. One of the methods mentioned in the article was to prepare ourselves by reading up on the culture, getting to understand it better. That was something that I did not do in Beijing, yet I was able to live with the Chinese for six weeks without any cultural clashes. How did I do it? I certainly did not prepare myself, but how was I able to not offend anyone there? In class, it was said that language is the main factor for one to be able to interact with other cultures. But is it really true? Yes to a certain extent in my opinion. Language allows you to communicate with others, thus in this process, get to know and understand the opposite party’s culture in much more depth. When you are able to communicate, information is being transferred from one person to the other. And it is this transfer of information that allows you to be able to understand the dos and the don’ts of the particular culture.
But language is not the most important factor in my opinion. I feel that by actually immersing oneself into the culture, you are able to learn more than just by communicating with the people. By immersing one’s self, you are able to observe how one behaves. Through their behavior you can understand how their culture have affected their actions. And this was what I did in Beijing. I observed the chinese’s behavior, actions and how they interact with one another. It was like learning in an outdoor classroom. And from these observations, I am able to slowly become like one of them, thus I am able to interact with them.