My personal experience on living the American Culture for 7 years.

One of the most important lessons in life that living immerse in a different country is the understanding of what a culture means and how to respect that culture even though my thoughts and beliefs could be the opposite. 

I lived in the USA for 7 years, when I arrived there I could not speak a word in English, nor eat any of their food nor understand the way they deal with germs and education either. 

Understanding and respecting their culture was a process, a process in which I not only learned about the american culture but also, South African culture and Mexican culture because we were cultural exchange visitors and we had to share our journey with them. 

What people normally do is criticized the other  people's beliefs and ways of do different things, then they compared those behaviors and styles with their own and finally, after many years of immersion they can learn to respect and many times adapt many of those behaviors and ways to their own.

One major aspect learnt through the years is that we cannot generalized a country's culture by one member or a few. In order to mention an aspect as cultural it needs to be predominant on  different groups of people there and be recognized for many.

Life when on a immersion changes a lot, you change your own perspective of the world and learn to take from each learning moment what may apply to you and  your ones. You get use to having lots of resources for teaching, to having all you need in your hand and to find answers when you have questions. 

You also get used to people looking at you differently, like you don't belong there because in order for understanding other peoples culture you need to be open minded and free of prejudice and the people in the USA is very conservative and don't allow racial differences that easy. The truth is many other Americans, the educated ones, learn also to respect your culture and seek knowledge from you even when sometimes what you do, eat or believe can be very different from what they do, eat or believe. 

It is very important to teach our students the differences among people from every where, including our own country. Kids need to grow up with an understanding of been unique in the world and face life without the barriers of race or culture. 

COLOMBIA AND THE USA PRESENTATION

Colombia is a beautiful country with many things to offer as you can appreciate yourself in the following video.

Interesting facts about the United States are among the many things that attract millions of people to the usa and want to be a part of their culture

Please watch these two videos and enjoy learning languages

An average American typical day

It may come as a surprise to some that when distributed acrossall American adults (15+, male and female), including weekends, the average American spent just 3.57 hours out of every 24 on work and work-related activities in 2011, according to the BLS' American Time Survey. The number one time consuming activity? Sleep, at 8.71 hours (an all time high for the series), followed by Leisure and Sports with 5.21 hours in second place. The balance of the 6.51 hours remaining? 1.77 hours for Household Activities, 1.24 for Eating and Drinking, and so on, until we hit less than half an hour (0.47 hours) spent on education activities. At least the average time spent on telephone calls, mail and email is not more than the amount of time Americans spend edumacating themselves. 

Americans be working less but at least they are sleeping more that ever 

On the days that they worked, 36 percent of employed persons age 25 and over with a bachelor's degree or higher did some work at home, compared with only 11 percent of those with less than a high school diploma.

From a media perspective, older demographics watch more TV but advertisers are keener on younger audiences – in particular young males with disposable incomes. We believe that this could change, as older demographics are more tech savvy and engage with social media and innovations such as second screen applications.

Multiple jobholders were more likely to work on an average weekend day than were single jobholders—57 percent compared with 33 percent. Multiple jobholders were also more likely to work at home than single jobholders—31 percent compared with 20 percent.

Taken from: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-05-13/how-average-american-adult-spends-24-hours-each-day 


A TYPICAL DAY FOR AN AVERAGE COLOMBIAN CITIZEN 

The typical day in the life of a 16 year old in the country of Colombia is not that different from that of an American 16 year olf. Colombia is a very modernized country with large cities and all of the modern conveniences of America. 16 year olds in Colombia eat more fresh foods, fruits and vegetables than American 16 year olds. 16 year olds in Colombia have more chores than American teenagers. Families are very strong on working together to make the home run smoothly. Most 16 year olds are huge soccer fans because that is the sport of the country. Though many 16 year olds in America enjoy soccer, the majority love football or baseball.

A general view

Good day.

This video can give us a general idea about what social competence is and their importance since the first years of any person.  I wait for your comments.