NUR IZZAH BT ZAHARI (0818444)
I do not agree with the statement that teaching cross cultural counseling to trainee counselors is a waste of time and we should focus on equipping them with the skills and competencies for being good counselors. But I do agree if teaching cross cultural counseling and provide with skills and competencies should interconnected in producing a good counselor. The reason for that statement are because they think that trainee counselors just only deal with people in Malaysia not to go to abroad without realized that we have multiracial population in Malaysia. Other than that, to give training to counselor, we must have ample time to produce a good counselor. But then, if we are too focusing on teaching cross cultural, others time that need to teach skills for counselor will not be enough. Last but not least, they think that cultural is not something that we need to learn. Cultural knowledge is just an acquired knowledge and we learn through observation and experiences not in wider educational scope.
To against that, as we know population in Malaysia grows more pluralistic and multiracial. By hook or by crook, counselors will be called to provide intervention and counseling to the client with different background. After the counselor can understand their client, then he will lead to start questioning and interviewing his client based on skill they have.
Beside that, teaching cross cultural counseling to trainee counselor is to help them to understand better their clients better although we can learn through observation because supposedly we have different cultures with our clients and sometime their cultures are not easy to understand. More than that, learn this can avoid us from become judgmental to our clients and have a bad impression toward them because it will lead to unsuccessful treatment in that session. When clients know that we is respecting to their race and cultures, they will not hesitate to share everything. Normally, more time needed to establish rapport or deep personal relationships. Some clients have a tendency not to disclose their personal information to an unfamiliar person. To add it, in my understanding, some cultures may consider traditional counseling to violate their basic philosophy of life. Then we can use our counseling skilled to help them. Every client needs different approaches based on their cultures. For sure, skills and learn about cross cultural counseling are must come in one package and both are needed.
If counselors do not know to give their services to other cultural background, problem may arise because of differing value orientations, differing expectations and attitudes, ineffective verbal and nonverbal communication. There are will be a barrier between counselor and client if counselor does not know how to address the barriers. The other important of being aware about class and culture bound value is counselor will not misunderstanding those client values. Counselors are not consider as skilled counselors if they do not know how to working with client with culturally different population. The term like culturally skilled counselors can be used to prove that learn cross cultural and being skilled counselor cannot be separated and it will not waste our time by learning that.
In a conclusion, to be effective counselors, they need to have an appreciation for cultural diversity, an understanding of the individual culture and a sense of empathy for client. Beside that, counselors need appropriate beliefs or attitudes toward clients, skill to intervene effectively in cross cultural situations and abide by ethical standards established by the counseling profession. To stress that, teaching cross cultural is not waste of time but it can improve the skills that the counselor already have.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Assignment Position Paper No. 1
Siti Hajar Bt Che Nik (0724714)
Counselor is a person that is qualified which they have skills that being train well from a trusted government, have a valid certificate from the counselor’s organization and follow the code of ethic in counseling. Counselor’s jobs are not just stay in the room and wait for the client to come but they have to take care about the client’s need and the environment around them. They should be a person that is sensitive to everything including the cultures that exist around them. I am totally not agree to the statement that said about teaching cross-cultural counseling to trainee counselors is a waste of time. Instead, we should focus on equipping the counselor with the skills and competencies for being good counselors and got nothing to do with the culture because as a counselor they should respect and understand other’s culture, two way communication become more effective and help them to avoid stereotyping the clients.
Firstly, as a counselor they should respect and understand other’s culture. A counselor that only has a good skills and competencies is not enough to handle a client with different type background of cultures. For example, there is one situation whereby a counselor held a party and invite all the students from different type of culture and the meals for that afternoon is only beef meat. That counselor must understand and know that the Indian people cannot eat the beef meat because for them the cow is their God. That’s why a counselor should respect and understand other’s culture very well before they hurt anyone. They should not be selfish and only think about their job without taking care of their surroundings because these are very important in order to build a counselor with wide knowledge and as an open minded person.
Secondly, as a counselor it is very important for them to have knowledge about other’s culture because this will create an effective two way communication which when we understand their culture, they will feel that we are taking care of them and they will feel more comfortable to share any problems with us at anytime without feeling shy or have any gap between the counselor and the client and we can take this chance in order to approach them more and easy to get any unclear information from them. Communication in counseling session is very important because if the clients do not want to talk to us, as a counselor we will feel that the counseling session had failed and we are not able to encourage the client to talk. This situation should not be happen in the counseling session. Asking about their preparation for the festival day could be as a start for the counseling session which will encourage them to talk more.
Thirdly, by knowing the people’s culture will help the counselor to avoid stereotyping the client and be aware of different in their attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. As a counselor we cannot judge the client with negative perspective without getting to know them first but we should please them with unconditional positive regard. A counselor with positive perspectives will create a positive counseling sessions and it will run smoothly without any barriers. Before we are putting any negative perspectives towards them, at first we should know their culture first by knowing the way they are shaking hands, the way they are celebrating their festival, their appearances, the way they are communicating with their children and many more. We should be alert on all of that attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. We are not losing anything if we learn about their unique and beautiful culture but it will give us lots of information and knowledge that is not easy for us to forget. Actually it is very interesting to get to know them more.
On the other hand, some people may argue that counselor got nothing to do with the culture. These people assert that by learning other’s culture cannot help to solve any problems in the counseling sessions. For example, if there is one client that has an intention to hurt a person with different background of culture, they said that it got nothing to do with culture’s background. They are saying like that without looking on any further effect that could be happen and face by the client and that person. They may have a point in thinking like that. However, it is important to know the real problems first before making any judgment. Maybe the real problem is they are arguing about the different and unique festival that they are celebrating. Maybe they are arguing that their festival is better than any other culture. So, only a counselor with wide knowledge on cultures who can solve it.
In conclusion, a counselor should have a wide knowledge on different type background of cultures in order to respect and understand other’s culture more, create an effective two way communication and help the counselor to avoid stereotyping the client. This will allow the counselor to increase their skills and competencies in their job as a professional counselor. Therefore there is no reason for the counselor not to learn anything about cultures.
siti hazirah
Title: Teaching cross-cultural to trainee counselors is a waste of time. Instead, we
should focus on equipping them with the skills and competencies for being
good counselors.
I agree with this statement that teaching cross-cultural to trainee counselors is a waste of the time. It is because cross-cultural can learned by reading a lot if books about other cultures. Besides that, to get knowledge about other culture, we can make a lot of friends with difference types of cultures. It is more efficient rather than just learn in class.
Lecturer should focus more on equipping trainee counselors with the skills and competencies for making them to be good counselors. To be good counselors she/he has to master all the skills in counseling. It is because not all the skills we learned are accepted by other culture. Difference clients will likely to approach the relationship with a counselor differently as function of their cultural values and beliefs. These differences may surface during counseling in verbal and nonverbal. For example, eye contact. For Western people, eye contact is important skill in counseling. It is to know whether the client telling the truth or not. But for Arabs/ some Muslim country this skill cannot be used because it can lead to other meaning. Other example is, the distance between counselor and client must also be concerned by the counselor. For Western people, sitting near between men and women is permissible in counseling session. But for Muslim, sitting near between men and women is haram whether in counseling session. Even sitting too close between men and men or women and women also sometimes can make the client uncomfortable.
Reading, skills and training is the most important thing. It is because from reading, counselor will get the point what to do with client with different culture. From the skills, counselor will have the idea or ability to do the right thing at the right time in the right way. From the training, counselor will memorize all the things she/he had read and skills he/she had learned. From this point, counselor can change how they think by increasing their awareness, knowledge and skills in working with other cultures. Training can also change how people feel about a situation or a group. It is to avoid counselor from culture shock when he/she has to adapt to an unfamiliar situation. Good training is defined by positive goals and by long-term outcomes.
should focus on equipping them with the skills and competencies for being
good counselors.
I agree with this statement that teaching cross-cultural to trainee counselors is a waste of the time. It is because cross-cultural can learned by reading a lot if books about other cultures. Besides that, to get knowledge about other culture, we can make a lot of friends with difference types of cultures. It is more efficient rather than just learn in class.
Lecturer should focus more on equipping trainee counselors with the skills and competencies for making them to be good counselors. To be good counselors she/he has to master all the skills in counseling. It is because not all the skills we learned are accepted by other culture. Difference clients will likely to approach the relationship with a counselor differently as function of their cultural values and beliefs. These differences may surface during counseling in verbal and nonverbal. For example, eye contact. For Western people, eye contact is important skill in counseling. It is to know whether the client telling the truth or not. But for Arabs/ some Muslim country this skill cannot be used because it can lead to other meaning. Other example is, the distance between counselor and client must also be concerned by the counselor. For Western people, sitting near between men and women is permissible in counseling session. But for Muslim, sitting near between men and women is haram whether in counseling session. Even sitting too close between men and men or women and women also sometimes can make the client uncomfortable.
Reading, skills and training is the most important thing. It is because from reading, counselor will get the point what to do with client with different culture. From the skills, counselor will have the idea or ability to do the right thing at the right time in the right way. From the training, counselor will memorize all the things she/he had read and skills he/she had learned. From this point, counselor can change how they think by increasing their awareness, knowledge and skills in working with other cultures. Training can also change how people feel about a situation or a group. It is to avoid counselor from culture shock when he/she has to adapt to an unfamiliar situation. Good training is defined by positive goals and by long-term outcomes.
reflection on cross cultural
prepared by :
shuhaida bt mohd azan (0816494)
Most people said that the counseling process should be managed or organized by the person who has the skills and competencies in counseling. The trainee counselor should be exposed with the cross-cultural counseling subject. In view of the fact that we are living in this country, which has diversity of culture and belief, surely we already exposed by the mixture of culture such as Chinese, Malay, and Indian. Since all the races breathing in the same country and hold the same voice at the group level, it is possible for us to discover other’s culture. The essential thing in the counseling process is the empathy. Empathy means we put ourselves into others circumstance. Empathy makes us understanding the client’s culture and creates better understanding so that we can solve their problem by using the theory and fix it so that it is suitable with our culture. As we know, most of the theory that we learn today is the theory that already cope with western culture. Besides, not all the theories are fix to be applied in our culture. Though, it doesn’t mean that our counselor should be expert in our own culture only, but, we should have better understanding for other cultures, so that we can do the counseling process in the proper way. Some counselor assume that the way he treat the client , who has very different culture and belief than him, is the best without knowing that the client has the different assumption of how we understanding her or him through the session. When the client understands with the different way, he may thought that the counselor actually do not understand them and refuse to seek the counselor afterwards he or she face the problem. It is very important to all the trainee counselor to put themselves on the client’s situation and have willingness to learn about their culture so that the counselor get the clear picture of their problem and think the solution which are suitable with their values. The important thing that should be remembered by all counselors is to clear out and have positive thinking about other races. The counselor shouldn’t have race conflict towards another culture which is called “racism”. Racism means the prejudice towards other races. The counseling process should be done without touching cultural sensitivity and increases their awareness about culture. The client probably has this type of assumption towards others culture because of some events or attitude of the other’s culture or probably he or she was surrounded by the conditioning which the society around them have the prejudice towards others culture. In order to understanding the client better, we should give them clear understanding and avoid prejudice thinking by using encouraging intervention which involving them and the community. The main point, do not ever build in racism in their mind and encourage them to have good social interaction with the society and the community. It can be achieve by having professional training and positive thinking. In order to avoid racism phenomenon, we should mingle and try as best as we can to correcting their wrong assumption and lastly to boost their expectation towards the counseling. To facilitate the society towards counseling, the counselor should endorse the positive attitudes and belief so that the counseling will be highly respected by others. Lastly, it is not waste a time to educate the trainee counselor so that they have better knowledge with another culture and willing to be trained and cope with the subject which included within the cross cultural subject.
shuhaida bt mohd azan (0816494)
Most people said that the counseling process should be managed or organized by the person who has the skills and competencies in counseling. The trainee counselor should be exposed with the cross-cultural counseling subject. In view of the fact that we are living in this country, which has diversity of culture and belief, surely we already exposed by the mixture of culture such as Chinese, Malay, and Indian. Since all the races breathing in the same country and hold the same voice at the group level, it is possible for us to discover other’s culture. The essential thing in the counseling process is the empathy. Empathy means we put ourselves into others circumstance. Empathy makes us understanding the client’s culture and creates better understanding so that we can solve their problem by using the theory and fix it so that it is suitable with our culture. As we know, most of the theory that we learn today is the theory that already cope with western culture. Besides, not all the theories are fix to be applied in our culture. Though, it doesn’t mean that our counselor should be expert in our own culture only, but, we should have better understanding for other cultures, so that we can do the counseling process in the proper way. Some counselor assume that the way he treat the client , who has very different culture and belief than him, is the best without knowing that the client has the different assumption of how we understanding her or him through the session. When the client understands with the different way, he may thought that the counselor actually do not understand them and refuse to seek the counselor afterwards he or she face the problem. It is very important to all the trainee counselor to put themselves on the client’s situation and have willingness to learn about their culture so that the counselor get the clear picture of their problem and think the solution which are suitable with their values. The important thing that should be remembered by all counselors is to clear out and have positive thinking about other races. The counselor shouldn’t have race conflict towards another culture which is called “racism”. Racism means the prejudice towards other races. The counseling process should be done without touching cultural sensitivity and increases their awareness about culture. The client probably has this type of assumption towards others culture because of some events or attitude of the other’s culture or probably he or she was surrounded by the conditioning which the society around them have the prejudice towards others culture. In order to understanding the client better, we should give them clear understanding and avoid prejudice thinking by using encouraging intervention which involving them and the community. The main point, do not ever build in racism in their mind and encourage them to have good social interaction with the society and the community. It can be achieve by having professional training and positive thinking. In order to avoid racism phenomenon, we should mingle and try as best as we can to correcting their wrong assumption and lastly to boost their expectation towards the counseling. To facilitate the society towards counseling, the counselor should endorse the positive attitudes and belief so that the counseling will be highly respected by others. Lastly, it is not waste a time to educate the trainee counselor so that they have better knowledge with another culture and willing to be trained and cope with the subject which included within the cross cultural subject.
Journal Reflection
JOURNAL REFLECTION,
CROSS CULTURAL COUNSELING (EDG 4008),
NORDIANA BT MOHD NOR,(0813296),
Next, it is necessary for being good counselor by focusing on having skills and competencies. It is because, as a counselor, they should master with their own field like applying counseling skills that they have learned such as confronting, self disclosing, reflecting feeling and content, interpreting with their own client. Can we imagine, what will go on if there has certain counselor that did not knowing or using the skill that they should? I think, it will harm to sided as counselor also clients.
As my opinion, I am disagreeing with “teaching cross cultural counseling and trainee counselor is a waste of time. It is because for me as a counselor, it is necessary for them to know more about cross cultural counseling and make it as an additional knowledge. Cross cultural is one of the important subjects for student of counseling program to take and learn it. This just because, of the subject have cover a lot information towards other people culture rather than our own culture.
Next, cross cultural is interrelated with trainee counselor. Why I am saying that because of according to Roger D. Hearing with his written book of “Multicultural counseling in schools” have stated that, culturally diverse school populations require the services of school counselors who are open minded, knowledgeable and accepting of diverse worldviews. So that, as a counselor they should know many more things even though the knowledge is not or related with their own field in order to make them become an excellent counselor and make themselves well prepared if there has certain problem in case that is really needs their own ability to handle the problems of diversity client.
Lastly, the idea of focusing future counselor with the skills and competencies for being good counselor only, is good but it is more necessarily if there also include knowing something that is not on their field. It is because, counselor is the most important or responsibility person if there has certain people referring of whenever they get any problem. So that, if there has certain counselor who are only expert with skills and competencies for being good counselor but at the same time, they did not know how to solve client’s heavy problem.
As a conclusion, counselor should have balancing knowledge including knowledge that is related or outside of their profession. It is because, to become a good counselor, they should know many things in order for them to be an excellent and comprehensive counselor. Then, the idea of trainee counselor is good because it has give people who are in charge of counselor to be to develop their skills and competencies by sending them to the seminar or make them having preparation before becoming the truly counselor. Moreover, whenever make a training counselor, why not; the sided that organizes also includes the subject of cross cultural counseling in order to make it not become one of the waste programs.
CROSS CULTURAL COUNSELING (EDG 4008),
NORDIANA BT MOHD NOR,(0813296),
The topic above has stated about teaching cross cultural counseling and trainee counselor is a waste of time. Unless, equipping them with the skills and competencies for being good counselor. It is because, as a counselor in Malaysian country. They should exempt with their own culture rather than learning the other’s culture likes Indonesian and Singaporean. As we know, all trainee counselors will be sent to the local places in our country before they get an opportunity to be as a counselor in other places that I have mention before.
Next, it is necessary for being good counselor by focusing on having skills and competencies. It is because, as a counselor, they should master with their own field like applying counseling skills that they have learned such as confronting, self disclosing, reflecting feeling and content, interpreting with their own client. Can we imagine, what will go on if there has certain counselor that did not knowing or using the skill that they should? I think, it will harm to sided as counselor also clients.
As my opinion, I am disagreeing with “teaching cross cultural counseling and trainee counselor is a waste of time. It is because for me as a counselor, it is necessary for them to know more about cross cultural counseling and make it as an additional knowledge. Cross cultural is one of the important subjects for student of counseling program to take and learn it. This just because, of the subject have cover a lot information towards other people culture rather than our own culture.
Next, cross cultural is interrelated with trainee counselor. Why I am saying that because of according to Roger D. Hearing with his written book of “Multicultural counseling in schools” have stated that, culturally diverse school populations require the services of school counselors who are open minded, knowledgeable and accepting of diverse worldviews. So that, as a counselor they should know many more things even though the knowledge is not or related with their own field in order to make them become an excellent counselor and make themselves well prepared if there has certain problem in case that is really needs their own ability to handle the problems of diversity client.
Lastly, the idea of focusing future counselor with the skills and competencies for being good counselor only, is good but it is more necessarily if there also include knowing something that is not on their field. It is because, counselor is the most important or responsibility person if there has certain people referring of whenever they get any problem. So that, if there has certain counselor who are only expert with skills and competencies for being good counselor but at the same time, they did not know how to solve client’s heavy problem.
As a conclusion, counselor should have balancing knowledge including knowledge that is related or outside of their profession. It is because, to become a good counselor, they should know many things in order for them to be an excellent and comprehensive counselor. Then, the idea of trainee counselor is good because it has give people who are in charge of counselor to be to develop their skills and competencies by sending them to the seminar or make them having preparation before becoming the truly counselor. Moreover, whenever make a training counselor, why not; the sided that organizes also includes the subject of cross cultural counseling in order to make it not become one of the waste programs.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
JOURNAL REFLECTION
JOURNAL REFLECTION
CROSS-CULTURAL COUNSELING (EDG 4008)
SUZIELAWATI BT OMAR @ ABDUL AZIZ (0816548)
Cross-cultural can be defined as a recognition of a pluralistic society, one in which many different cultures coexist with equal respect and values. Since, we were living in a global linkage; people’s day-to-day lives are affected by interactions with others different from themselves, in terms of culture, beliefs, and religion and spiritual. As we can see of cross-cultural can be found in our daily live, such as in the business world, communication, interaction, as well as in counseling professions whereby a counselor needs to adapt themselves with the clients who come from vary of cultural background.
Since I’m becoming a counselor soon, I totally disagree about teaching cross-cultural counseling to trainee counselor is assume as waste of time. Instead, in my humble opinion, I’m strongly believed that teaching cross-cultural counseling is important as well equipping them with skills and competencies that are needed in order to become a superb counselor. In addition, I assume that having multicultural competencies may reinforce the importance of counselor’s understanding clients’ worldview, which may encompass the daily life of clients. So that, with having multicultural competencies, counselor be able to articulate their beliefs as well as know their limits of tolerance for differences of the clients.
Since, we have various cultures in Malaysia; there are no boundaries that a counselor should not learn about cross-cultures, especially the cultures of their clients. Instead, they need to be aware as well as be able to understand client’s worldview in order to have an effective counseling session with the client. As an evidence as we can see in our Malaysia’s culture that it seems nothing when a counselor cross the hands over the chest, but in some culture, that kind of action are likely to communicate wrong message. They may assume and feel like a counselor not close person that counselor does not want to let their client feel close to them. So, this didn’t lead counselor to have empathy with their client during the session. In fact, what if a counselor didn’t have multicultural competent and how they may know that such action convey a wrong message to the client. Another example is in Middle Eastern culture, setting eye to eye contact is not permitted between man and women. So, in order to respect clients’ culture, a counselor should be train and learn about cross-cultural counseling competent. So that, a counselor be able to adopt themselves with client even they come from different cultures background.
To sum up, I’m strongly disagree that teaching cross-cultural counseling is waste o f time because without having cross-cultural competent, it may lead to be a major barrier between counselor and client in building rapport in the counseling relationship because of cultural differences. In other words, counselor should have knowledge of the culture they work in as part of their expertise and competence, as well as to be open to and accepting their clients as for who they are without having any discrimination and biased, in terms of their cultures, religions, beliefs, social economics status and so on. So that, with the cross-cultural counseling those counselors have, it may provide some very valuable and specific information to keep in mind when initiating and maintaining contact with clients of another culture during the counseling session.
CROSS-CULTURAL COUNSELING (EDG 4008)
SUZIELAWATI BT OMAR @ ABDUL AZIZ (0816548)
Cross-cultural can be defined as a recognition of a pluralistic society, one in which many different cultures coexist with equal respect and values. Since, we were living in a global linkage; people’s day-to-day lives are affected by interactions with others different from themselves, in terms of culture, beliefs, and religion and spiritual. As we can see of cross-cultural can be found in our daily live, such as in the business world, communication, interaction, as well as in counseling professions whereby a counselor needs to adapt themselves with the clients who come from vary of cultural background.
Since I’m becoming a counselor soon, I totally disagree about teaching cross-cultural counseling to trainee counselor is assume as waste of time. Instead, in my humble opinion, I’m strongly believed that teaching cross-cultural counseling is important as well equipping them with skills and competencies that are needed in order to become a superb counselor. In addition, I assume that having multicultural competencies may reinforce the importance of counselor’s understanding clients’ worldview, which may encompass the daily life of clients. So that, with having multicultural competencies, counselor be able to articulate their beliefs as well as know their limits of tolerance for differences of the clients.
Since, we have various cultures in Malaysia; there are no boundaries that a counselor should not learn about cross-cultures, especially the cultures of their clients. Instead, they need to be aware as well as be able to understand client’s worldview in order to have an effective counseling session with the client. As an evidence as we can see in our Malaysia’s culture that it seems nothing when a counselor cross the hands over the chest, but in some culture, that kind of action are likely to communicate wrong message. They may assume and feel like a counselor not close person that counselor does not want to let their client feel close to them. So, this didn’t lead counselor to have empathy with their client during the session. In fact, what if a counselor didn’t have multicultural competent and how they may know that such action convey a wrong message to the client. Another example is in Middle Eastern culture, setting eye to eye contact is not permitted between man and women. So, in order to respect clients’ culture, a counselor should be train and learn about cross-cultural counseling competent. So that, a counselor be able to adopt themselves with client even they come from different cultures background.
To sum up, I’m strongly disagree that teaching cross-cultural counseling is waste o f time because without having cross-cultural competent, it may lead to be a major barrier between counselor and client in building rapport in the counseling relationship because of cultural differences. In other words, counselor should have knowledge of the culture they work in as part of their expertise and competence, as well as to be open to and accepting their clients as for who they are without having any discrimination and biased, in terms of their cultures, religions, beliefs, social economics status and so on. So that, with the cross-cultural counseling those counselors have, it may provide some very valuable and specific information to keep in mind when initiating and maintaining contact with clients of another culture during the counseling session.
POSITION PAPER 1 ( NOR ASLINAWATI NAWAWI - 0726078)
Counselor is someone who is professional and has their own professionalism. It is not easy to be a good counselor if they are not enough training and practical. In order to be professional, it is true that we should focus on equipping them with the skills and competencies. A good counselor not only depends on the theory only but they must be expert in handling the clients by using the right techniques and skills based on the suitable and relevant theories. Some people said that it is wasting time teaching cross-culture counseling to trainee counselor. From their view, there are no relationship between counseling and culture. The counselor only gives guidance to the clients not constructs them with the races or belief and culture.
In my opinion, I’m totally disagreeing with that statement. In order to be a counselor, it is important for trainee counselors to have and learn cross-cultural counseling effectively. Before I proceed, let me explain first what cross-culture counseling is all about. This course introduces major issues of cross-culture counseling and the impact of diversity either within or between group differences and discusses the influence of ethnicity and cultural diversity on the helping relationship especially in Malaysia. As we know, there are three main races in our country which are Malay, Indian and Chinese. So, it is important for trainee counselor to understand this cross-culture counseling concept for the purpose of increasing their self awareness towards client’s cultural.
The objectives of this course are to introduce students to the relationship between cultural identity and counseling. Counseling is for everyone who wants guidance from the counselor to solve the problems. As I mention above, Malaysia have variety of culture, so counseling is not focus on the certain races only. Being a good counselor, we must have high self-awareness and sensitivity toward others culture heritage. There are many types of clients that will come to see the counselor. Some of them are belief in God and some of them are not belief in God. As a counselor, we cannot judge our clients. We must accept them and give respect toward their principle and belief. By understanding the culture values, counselor will be able to become aware of how clients’ cultural background and experiences have influenced their attitudes, values and behavior. When we don’t have that information, there will be misunderstanding and miscommunication between the counselor and clients. The counselor may have bad perception towards clients and may be biases and from that situation the counseling process will be not run smoothly.
By learning this course also trainee counselor can study strategies for counseling children and adults whose cultural background is different from them. As we know, some of the trainee counselor will be a school counselor who works with the school environment. Usually, their clients are students who come from variety of cultural background. This course will give the opportunity to the trainee to be exposed before they are working as a counselor. In handling this variety of students, it requires knowledge of the diverse cultural backgrounds from which their students originate and willingness on their part to do what it takes to help individuals with different values, needs, and interests feel comfortable. Trainee counselor who already learned the importance of multicultural sensitivity will have advantages to apply this concept in order to working with parents too. In school, they are not only working with the students but they also working with the parents. Trainee counselor need to learn about the attitudes and customs of the cultures from which students come in order to understand the behavior patterns of the children and their parents and avoid problems of miscommunication.
Others than that, cross-culture counseling relates to the attitudes of counselors and beliefs concerning race, culture, ethnic groups, gender and sexual orientations where there is a need to assess prejudices and stereotypes and to develop counseling that is positive towards multiculturalism, and the way in which the values and thoughts of counselors can affect the counseling and therapy. Besides, it is refer to the capacity of the counselor to know his or her own approach to the world and to become an expert on different cultures and that is why I said counselor is a professional person. It is because, the counselor should not only possess knowledge and specific information on the cultures of the people receiving counseling but should also understand socio-political influences. Lastly, I believe when trainee counselor learn this course, they will know, develop, build, and prepare themselves specific skills, ability and capacities (techniques for intervention and strategies) that are needed for working with groups in different cultures. This is because, it is not too easy to face with this variety of different background if we don’t know their own worldview.
As a conclusion, I believe that there are many advantages of teaching cross-culture counseling to the trainee counselor in order for them to be prepared before they are being a real counselor. Either we believe or not actually, counseling is a part of culture because in counseling session we will not only meet with them who are same culture and worldview like us. There are too many people in this world who have problems and need our guidance. Once again I strongly agree that trainee counselor should and must learn cross-culture counseling for their needed in order to be a good counselor.
By : Nor Aslinawati Nawawi
Matrik : 0726078
Cross-cultural Counseling
“Teaching Cross-cultural Counseling to trainee counselors is a waste of time. Instead, we should focus on equipping them with the skills and competencies for being good counselors. These have nothing to do with culture."
In my opinion about the topic above, as a counselor, we cannot deny that skills and competencies are very important things to being a good counselor. Among the important skills that a counselor needs are to do attending behavior like eye contact, body postures, gestures, verbal statements, vocal qualities, listening, clarifying, paraphrasing, reflection, confrontation, summarizing and self-disclosure.
As a competent counselor, some characteristics that he or she must have are self-aware individual, sensitive to others, comfortable with people, be gentle, not overbearing, aware of his own value system, able to manifest the degree of warmth and humor toward counselee, can give true information and not false information for the question that requires specific information then she have to say so and find the information. Beside that, as a competent counselor, she should know her own limitations if she might require the help of a more experienced counselor or other professional.
Teaching Cross-cultural Counseling to trainee counselors is also important and it is absolutely not waste of time because actually as we know in this world where there are many countries that different in gender, ethnicity, geographical location whether in urban or rural area, religion, age, sexual orientation and relationship status, health/illness or disability and one’s educational experiences. In other words, as a counselor, we are facing with wide range of backgrounds. Many people when they are thinking of meeting with a counselor to discuss their personal concerns would like to speak with someone whose own background and values approximate those of their own for example international students from China might like to meet a persons who speaks Mandarin or who has lived or visited China and understands the values of their community. Another example, gay or lesbian students may wish to meet with a counselor who is very comfortable with her/his own sexual orientation and preferences. Another reason why Cross-cultural Counseling is important to trainee counselors, it is because what is considered as useful and good in one culture may be thought of as stupid and immoral in a another culture. If we as a counselor not learn Cross-cultural Counseling, actually we are in trouble because maybe there are no one will see you as counselor for counseling session because they do not believe in you which have difference culture from them. Beside that, the counseling session between you as counselor with your client will not working smoothly. Therefore, teaching Cross-cultural Counseling would help trainee counselors better serve their clients and improve the lives of many people whose backgrounds and experiences may differ from trainee counselors.
Name : Nur Farahiyah bt Yahaya
Matric No : 0737718
In my opinion about the topic above, as a counselor, we cannot deny that skills and competencies are very important things to being a good counselor. Among the important skills that a counselor needs are to do attending behavior like eye contact, body postures, gestures, verbal statements, vocal qualities, listening, clarifying, paraphrasing, reflection, confrontation, summarizing and self-disclosure.
As a competent counselor, some characteristics that he or she must have are self-aware individual, sensitive to others, comfortable with people, be gentle, not overbearing, aware of his own value system, able to manifest the degree of warmth and humor toward counselee, can give true information and not false information for the question that requires specific information then she have to say so and find the information. Beside that, as a competent counselor, she should know her own limitations if she might require the help of a more experienced counselor or other professional.
Teaching Cross-cultural Counseling to trainee counselors is also important and it is absolutely not waste of time because actually as we know in this world where there are many countries that different in gender, ethnicity, geographical location whether in urban or rural area, religion, age, sexual orientation and relationship status, health/illness or disability and one’s educational experiences. In other words, as a counselor, we are facing with wide range of backgrounds. Many people when they are thinking of meeting with a counselor to discuss their personal concerns would like to speak with someone whose own background and values approximate those of their own for example international students from China might like to meet a persons who speaks Mandarin or who has lived or visited China and understands the values of their community. Another example, gay or lesbian students may wish to meet with a counselor who is very comfortable with her/his own sexual orientation and preferences. Another reason why Cross-cultural Counseling is important to trainee counselors, it is because what is considered as useful and good in one culture may be thought of as stupid and immoral in a another culture. If we as a counselor not learn Cross-cultural Counseling, actually we are in trouble because maybe there are no one will see you as counselor for counseling session because they do not believe in you which have difference culture from them. Beside that, the counseling session between you as counselor with your client will not working smoothly. Therefore, teaching Cross-cultural Counseling would help trainee counselors better serve their clients and improve the lives of many people whose backgrounds and experiences may differ from trainee counselors.
Name : Nur Farahiyah bt Yahaya
Matric No : 0737718
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Website of Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD)
Here is the website of the Association of Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD)
http://www.amcdaca.org/amcd/default.cfm
Please visit it and see what they have.
http://www.amcdaca.org/amcd/default.cfm
Please visit it and see what they have.
POSITION PAPER NO.1
"Teaching Cross-cultural Counselling to trainee counselors is a waste of time. Instead, we should focus on equipping them with the skills and competencies for being good counselors. These have nothing to do with culture."
DISCUSS the above opinion.
DISCUSS the above opinion.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
SCORING FOR POSITION PAPERS
Assalaam alaikum brothers and sisters.
Welcome to our brand new blog.
First things first. In the class we have talked about a kind of assignment I prefer to call "Position Papers". These are topics I will assign from time to time about which you are expected to express your professional opinion. To give you an idea of the way I will grade these papers, I am going to follow the GRE format outlined below.
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THE GRE ANALYTICAL WRITING MEASURE
The statements that follow describe, for each score level, the overall quality of analytical writing demonstrated across both the Issue and Argument tasks. Because the test assesses critical thinking and analytical writing skills, the ability to reason, assemble evidence to develop a position, and communicate complex ideas weigh more heavily than the writer's control of fine points of grammar or the mechanics of writing (e.g., spelling).
SCORES 6 and 5.5 — Sustains insightful, in-depth analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically compelling reasons and/or highly persuasive examples; is well focused and well organized; skillfully uses sentence variety and precise vocabulary to convey meaning effectively; demonstrates superior facility with sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.
SCORES 5 and 4.5 — Provides generally thoughtful analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically sound reasons and/or well-chosen examples; is generally focused and well organized; uses sentence variety and vocabulary to convey meaning clearly; demonstrates good control of sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.
SCORES 4 and 3.5 — Provides competent analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with relevant reasons and/or examples; is adequately organized; conveys meaning with reasonable clarity; demonstrates satisfactory control of sentence structure and language usage but may have some errors that affect clarity.
SCORES 3 and 2.5 — Displays some competence in analytical writing, although the writing is flawed in at least one of the following ways: limited analysis or development; weak organization; weak control of sentence structure or language usage, with errors that often result in vagueness or lack of clarity.
SCORES 2 and 1.5 — Displays serious weaknesses in analytical writing. The writing is seriously flawed in at least one of the following ways: serious lack of analysis or development; lack of organization; serious and frequent problems in sentence structure or language usage, with errors that obscure meaning.
SCORES 1 and .5 — Displays fundamental deficiencies in analytical writing. The writing is fundamentally flawed in at least one of the following ways: content that is extremely confusing or mostly irrelevant to the assigned tasks; little or no development; severe and pervasive errors that result in incoherence.
SCORE 0 — The examinee's analytical writing skills cannot be evaluated because the responses do not address any part of the assigned tasks, are merely attempts to copy the assignments, are in a foreign language, or display only indecipherable text.
Welcome to our brand new blog.
First things first. In the class we have talked about a kind of assignment I prefer to call "Position Papers". These are topics I will assign from time to time about which you are expected to express your professional opinion. To give you an idea of the way I will grade these papers, I am going to follow the GRE format outlined below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE GRE ANALYTICAL WRITING MEASURE
The statements that follow describe, for each score level, the overall quality of analytical writing demonstrated across both the Issue and Argument tasks. Because the test assesses critical thinking and analytical writing skills, the ability to reason, assemble evidence to develop a position, and communicate complex ideas weigh more heavily than the writer's control of fine points of grammar or the mechanics of writing (e.g., spelling).
SCORES 6 and 5.5 — Sustains insightful, in-depth analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically compelling reasons and/or highly persuasive examples; is well focused and well organized; skillfully uses sentence variety and precise vocabulary to convey meaning effectively; demonstrates superior facility with sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.
SCORES 5 and 4.5 — Provides generally thoughtful analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with logically sound reasons and/or well-chosen examples; is generally focused and well organized; uses sentence variety and vocabulary to convey meaning clearly; demonstrates good control of sentence structure and language usage but may have minor errors that do not interfere with meaning.
SCORES 4 and 3.5 — Provides competent analysis of complex ideas; develops and supports main points with relevant reasons and/or examples; is adequately organized; conveys meaning with reasonable clarity; demonstrates satisfactory control of sentence structure and language usage but may have some errors that affect clarity.
SCORES 3 and 2.5 — Displays some competence in analytical writing, although the writing is flawed in at least one of the following ways: limited analysis or development; weak organization; weak control of sentence structure or language usage, with errors that often result in vagueness or lack of clarity.
SCORES 2 and 1.5 — Displays serious weaknesses in analytical writing. The writing is seriously flawed in at least one of the following ways: serious lack of analysis or development; lack of organization; serious and frequent problems in sentence structure or language usage, with errors that obscure meaning.
SCORES 1 and .5 — Displays fundamental deficiencies in analytical writing. The writing is fundamentally flawed in at least one of the following ways: content that is extremely confusing or mostly irrelevant to the assigned tasks; little or no development; severe and pervasive errors that result in incoherence.
SCORE 0 — The examinee's analytical writing skills cannot be evaluated because the responses do not address any part of the assigned tasks, are merely attempts to copy the assignments, are in a foreign language, or display only indecipherable text.
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