*Yukari* Week 4 【Reflection】

What we did in the class was following:

1.    Videos of Japan, China, and the U.S.

     In the class, we watched three videos about Japan, China, and the U.S. The structure of the videos of Japan and China were quite similar. Both were consisted of two parts; traditional and modern aspects of Japan. I found many similarities as well as differences of each country from the video. For example, I saw some people kicking a ball, trying not to drop it on the ground in the video about China. It is called Kemari in Japan, a traditional game for noblemen, which came down from ancient China about 1,400 years ago.

     The video regarding the U.S. featured on smiles of many people, which gives a positive impression about the U.S. to the audience.

    

1.    Skits about the reading

     After the discussion about videos, we were divided into two groups and did some skits regarding power distance; our team showed how power distance affected the behavior of people in a workplace. I found out that it was difficult for people to imagine the actual situation as long as he or she did not live in the society. For example, students who were from countries whose power distance was high were not able to give suggestions regarding the skit to express low power distance. As the proverb “Seeing is believing.” shows, reading the text is not enough to truly understand the culture.

     Performing and watching the skits were very interesting. Students exaggerate the feature of the culture, which made skits very funny.