Rudeness

==****Collaborating/Discussions**** ==

Scenario--Sang is a bright ESOL student in your 3rd grade class. He listens to you attentively and follows directions well. However, he is very rude when a classmate is speaking. He either talks to his neighbor or daydreams. He never joins in class discussions or wants to work collaboratively.

Response--In many cultures the teacher is the center of all learning. Other students are not seen as a source of information. These students need to be directly taught to listen to others, to express their own opinions and join class discussions. One way to do this is to ask Sang what his classmate just said. If he doesn't know, have the classmate repeat it. Ask him if he agrees with an opinion of another student.

**Addressing others/ Titles**
A very interesting and important Indian cultural trait is the way people address each other. It is by actual and assumed relationships. A daughter is addressed as Mother and a son as Father. This may sound strange but as people get old they become like children in many ways and children do take care of them. The roles are reversed universally. In fact in Singapore, it is a criminal offense not to take care of elderly parents. A father-in-law addresses his daughter-in-law also as Mother and she addresses him as Father. All people become uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, or elder brothers or sisters and so on. The way an uncle or an aunt or a nephew or a niece is addressed is how one can tell whether he is maternal or paternal and so on. This kind of networking becomes real in the sense that the roles carry certain rights and responsibilities, which are expected. For example, an uncle or an elder brother always foots the bill. Calling by first names is customary only among friends or siblings of near equal age or to those who are younger. It goes without saying that in India calling anyone senior by his or her first name would be considered utterly rude.