What follows is an excerpt from a longer article: “Time Management, Learning Events, and Culture,” by Jenny Giezendanner, Certified Dialogue Education Practitioner. The article is free and you can download it here to read the rest.
Rubber time in Indonesia, mañana in Latin America, the Pünktlichkeit of the Germanic –each characterizes a particular perception of time in its respective culture. Because many of us regularly interact in more than one cultural context, this variation in time consciousness creates a significant challenge when we teach adults.
Starting and finishing sessions throughout a class day on time – as defined by local perceptions of time – is an important means of acknowledging the value of local cultural norms and thus of demonstrating respect. But how can we do that in appropriate, sensitive, and respectful ways in the variety of cultures in which we work? How can we possibly define guidelines for time management with such a wide diversity confronting us?
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Perhaps the greatest principle guiding Dialogue Education is respect. In any given teaching context we aim to demonstrate respect to all participants. To achieve this, however, requires doing our homework and finding out, ahead of time and then continuing through our sojourn in that culture, what kind of time-consciousness and what kind of time constraints most affect our learners in that context. This is very much part of the standard pre-event practical research or Learning Needs and Resources Assessment that we do about our learners. We ask our contacts about arrangements and expectations regarding the event, study any articles or information written about that cultural context, and, once we’re on-site, we observe how people manage time locally. The opportunity to make such observation is one of the great benefits of arriving at the teaching site several days in advance of the actual event.
Who has stories about facilitating time in cultures other than your own?
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In related news, we’re hosting a brand new, two-day course called The Art of Facilitation in Raleigh, NC on March 8 & 9. If you or a colleague could stand to enhance your facilitation skills, do consider joining us! It’s also a great refresher if it’s been awhile since you studied Dialogue Education, and a great introduction to DE for those who’ve not experienced it before. People are signing up so check it out soon!
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While conducting a Training of Trainers in Northern Haiti we were surprised to see on day one that most participants were early,as had not been the case in Port au Prince. We also noticed a substantial drop off after the afternoon break which didn’t support the context of the highly engaged group.
After some conversation with some of the elders we discovered that during that time of year in that region a massive tropical rain storm hit hard every day at 5:00,the skies opened up for 30 minutes. The Participants all walked to the training so this caused obvious issues,in particular for those who had children they needed to get home to.
We polled the group day two and agreed to start and end an hour earlier-problem solved.
Excellent example,Moira,and an important addition about understanding a region’s climate and how one region of the same country might be different than another and how either may affect the learning event. Another great case of asking the participants (in advance if possible,but like you did in this case,as things arise) about the timing and location of each new learning event.
Thanks so much for sharing your story.