【正文】 st understood by scientists. Most are not univer sal, and as we all know, the same gesture can have different meanings in different countries. Here in the U. S. we make a circle with our thumb and first finger and it means OK.. In Japan, however, it means money, and in South America it has a sexual meaning. We have to be very careful about what our bodies are saying. . . especially when in a different culture. Now Let’s move on to eye contact. Eye contact is a very powerful form of nonverbal munication. One thing about eye contact that is generally agreed on is that someone with higher status usually maintains eye contact longer if he39。s static features. Let39。 in others it39。s KINESICSyou should know that there are other types of nonverbal munication. G. . W. Porter, for example, divides nonverbal munication into four categories, which I39。s because we usually judge speakers39。s point of view. If you started a conversation with another person, and you39。t gossip. You run the risk of offending the person you39。m from Miami, you may respond with, Oh, I39。 and third, how to end it. Starting a conversation usually means ing up with an opening line or ice breaker. The best kind of ice breaker is one that39。s positive. The last thing people want to hear from a stranger is how noisy the party is, how awful the food is, or how ugly the people are dressed. A pliment is always a good ice breaker and will usually be appreciated. Any news event is a good ice breaker. I encourage all of you to read the newspaper because it39。ve been to Miami! and continue with, How long have you lived there? Then, I was born there, and I39。re talking to. It also makes you look small. Three, cultivate a wide range of topics. Four, have a sense of humor. Everyone enjoys a humorous story or joke. Sexual and ethnic humor, however, are not worth the effects that the jokes may have on your total im age. People may be offended, which may in turn reflect poor judgment on your part and may encourage them to think less of you. Five, don39。re having difficulty ending it, there are several signals you can send to the other person that will bring the conversa tion to its close without hurting anyone39。 intentions by the nonverbal signals they send us. And that39。d like to look at just briefly. There39。s a reflection of social status。s now look at his dynamic features. These are basically things like facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and uh, body move ments. Facial expressions, then... these continually change during a conversation, and participants constantly watch and respond to each other39。s talking to someone of lower status. In other words, he stares. Anything else you think a direct stare indicates? Student: Determination. . . uh. . . openness. Teacher: Exactly, and it creates a feeling of trust. And looking downward? Student: That shows dishonesty, guilt.. . . uh. . . Teacher: Yes, it does, but also modesty, in some cases. And eyes rolled upwards suggest tiredness. I don39。re desirable to the pany. See? So to finish up. I39。s more difficult with NVC. We can39。s first take a look at time. American culture views time as linearsomething that stretches out like a road, with a beginning and39。 they state their ideas whenever they feel the urge or when they feel it is appropriate. this sort of classroom behavior is especially confusing to students from cultures in which there are no rituals for attracting the teacher’s attention because the student is not expected to participate in the class at all. This brings us to the issue of classroom participation. North American students of European origin are usually more talkative in class and more willing to share their opinions than students of native American heritage or from Asian backgrounds. This brings us to the issue of classroom participation. This difference is directly related to cultural values about learning and education, and classroom behavior. EuroAmerican students’ culture teaches them that learning is shaped and helped by their talk and active participation in exploring or discussing issues. Asian students, however, are generally taught that they will learn best by listening to and absorbing the knowledge being given to them by the teacher. in their article ―Culture and Classroom Communication,‖ Janis Andersen and Robert Powell point out that some cultures do not have a way for students to signal a desire to talk to a teacher: in these cultures, students speak out only after the teacher has spoken to them. Most classroom interaction in Vietnam is tightly controlled by the teacher, according to Andersen and Powell. The esteem in which teachers are held also varies culturally. The Vietnamese have a great deal of respect for their instructors and consider them to be honored members of society, according to researchers Samovar and Porter. They see instructors as symbols of learning and culture. in Germany, students value the personal opinions of their instructors, and it is not customary to disagree with or contradict teachers. Israeli students, on the other hand, can criticize an instructor if they feel that he or she is wrong about some issue or information, according to Samovar and Porter. There are many other ways that culture can affect interaction and munication between teachers and students in the classroom. This lecture has covered differences in only one or two classroom rituals and pointed out the difference in the ways students from different cultures participate or municate with the teacher during class. However, from this brief consideration of classroom munication, you should begin to see that learning a language involves more than studying the vocabulary, idioms, and the g