Melany Niebles

Melany Niebles 

SPC 1017-2233-10029

Recently in our class, we had the opportunity to present and listen to our classmates do it as well about some very important topics such as intercultural communication, communication in groups, group leadership, and problem-solving.

Group 1 presentation was about intercultural communication and some of the subtopics they talked about were cultural values, cultural differences, sex, gender, sexual orientation, race vs. ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, and age/generation. I really liked the way this group delivered the information, they made it in an entertaining way, including a lot of videos that explained the information given in-depth but in a very easily understandable way. Personally, I learned even more about the importance of being respectful and understanding when communicating with people from a different culture than ours. I especially liked the part where they showed us a video about how cultured differ, I think it was very informative and educational, but presented in a fun and entertaining way which helped everyone to pay attention and be aware of these types of situations. For me, it was amazing to realize how little we know about other people's backgrounds and their cultures, and how much there is to learn out there. Here is the video I am referring to:

                   

I also liked how, in addition to presenting this topic, they provided useful information with tips and strategies on how to develop intercultural communication competence as well as tips to deal with culture shock, which I consider to be extremely important to keep in mind when dealing with people from other different cultures, especially when you live in Miami and there is a lot of people from all around the world here. 

One of the other things I learned was how easily we can make assumptions about other people and their cultures which can lead to a lot of misunderstandings. For example, what may be viewed as an impolite act in one culture, may be seen as a sign of respect in another one. Acknowledging other people's perspectives and knowing how they are going to react to certain actions can help us more effectively to connect with people from different places.  Taking the time to do some research on the beliefs, customs, and values of the people we are communicating with can also help us understand them better and avoid offending them. One of the most enjoyable parts of the presentation was when we played the Kahoot game and answered questions about the topic, I think it was a good way to review and recall what we had learned but in a different and interactive way. 👌

The second presentation was about communication in groups. They talked about identifying different types of groups, the characteristics of healthy groups, the stages through which groups develop, and strategies to manage group conflicts effectively. I liked this topic because I believe that effective group communication plays a hugely important role in our daily lives when we are in any social setting. I took away so much valuable information from this presentation and learned a lot, but I think that we all had also experimented with some of these principles while preparing our own presentations and communicating with each other in our groups. We had to share our ideas, express our opinions, actively listen, and communicate with each other in a conscious and respectful manner. 

I learned that one of the key aspects of group communication, although it does not seem like it is, is active listening. This is a crucial and one of the most important components of effective communication because often, we tend to focus more on what we want to say that we forget to pay attention and listen to what others are saying, and a conversation where people are just talking without no one listening is not considered effective communication. It can be detrimental to the success of a group if proper listening skills are not used.

And the last presentation was from my group. We are group 3 and our presentation was about group leadership and problem-solving, which is also an important topic and something we used and had practical experience with while preparing our presentations. We covered various aspects of group leadership and problem-solving, such as leadership responsibilities, how to ensure that meetings are effective, how important it is to have an agenda and a plan, and the steps for the problem-solving process. All important aspects and I liked that we got to learn more in-depth about the topic and also were able to apply it in our groups during meetings and discussions. I believe that group leadership and problem-solving are closely related and have a lot to do with the other topics I talked about previously, such as effective communication in groups and knowing how to talk to people from diverse backgrounds. This is important for creating a good and positive group environment making it possible to reach an agreement when problems arise. For example, in our group, we had an issue with how to make the slides for the presentation because we didn't want to put all the responsibility on one person, so we all shared ideas and solved the problem by deciding to use Google Slides where we could all contribute. This agreement was only possible because we put into practice the other topics we learned about plus having respect for each other's ideas. 

In general, I liked this valuable and informative experience of the presentations and explaining the chapters ourselves, as this way made it easier for us to learn. Besides that, we also had the opportunity to put what we learned into practice. I also liked the way the groups presented these topics, providing very valuable information through videos, tips, and even making connections between what they were presenting and their personal experiences. I think all the groups did a great job and effort as all of our presentations were very well-structured, informative, and engaging, making it super easy for everyone to understand the key concepts and not feel bored at all! They were all very interactive when presenting and achieved the goal of teaching us all -or at least me- about the importance of effective communication skills, conflict resolution, and creative problem-solving in group leadership, among others.

These topics are all super important skills to learn, and I feel that after the presentations I now have a much better understanding of each of them. I think we all already knew a bit about these topics but still, we learned many more things and, as I said before, we were able to put it into practice which is what actually makes us learn and makes it stay in our minds.