How to Understand Cultural Differences in Body Language

       I have always had a passion for learning about other cultures and currently go to a school with over 30 countries represented. I get to meet people from all over the world and learn about their beliefs. When visiting other countries we need to be respectful of people's cultures and be sure not to accidentally offend them in any way. Before visiting places you are not familiar with, it is helpful to do some research on their culture and ways of life. 

Body language differs all around the globe. For example, in almost all of Europe, people will stand right next to you when having a conversation. The idea of "personal space" is not as big in most other countries as it seems to be in United States. If you step backward or move away during a conversation because you think someone is standing too close, that is considered very offensive.

Also, one thing that you should not do when visiting Greece is hold up your palms to anyone. It is a sign of disrespect that goes back to ancient times when criminals would be taunted by smearing their faces with excrement. 

Making a circle with your thumb and forefinger can be a common gesture in the U.S. but in France, the sign is a way of communicating that something or someone is worthless. Therefore if you are communicating "ok"or "sounds good", do not use this general hand signal in France. 

Use these tips and remember to do extra research before traveling. This will make sure nobody is accidentally offended or insulted by body language. Always respect other countries and their cultures, even if it is not what you are used to. I encourage all of you to go out, explore the world and have fun!

http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/10-common-gestures-easily-misunderstood-abroad/

Understand cultural differences in body language draft

When visiting other countries we need to be respectful of other people's cultures and be sure not to accidentally offend them in any way. Before visiting places you are not familiar with, it is helpful to do some research on their culture and ways of life. For example, in generally all of Europe, people will stand right next to you when having a conversation. The idea of "personal space" is not as big in other countries as it seems to be in America. If you step backward or move away during a conversation because you think someone is standing too close, that is considered very offensive. Something you should not do when visiting Greece is hold up your palms to anyone. It is a sign of disrespect that goes back to ancient times when criminals would be taunted by smearing their faces with excrement. Making a circle with your thumb and forefinger is a common gesture in the U.S. but in France, the sign is a way of communicating that something or someone is worthless.
Use these tips remember to research more to make sure that nobody is accidentally offended or insult. Always respect other countries and their cultures even if they are different than what you are used to.

http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/10-common-gestures-easily-misunderstood-abroad/

How-To Speech Draft

How To: understand cultural differences in body language
     This would be a very fun topic to research. I am always very interested in cultures and relations involving other countries. This is an important topic because a person visiting another country would not want to accidentally offend another persons culture by a "normal" body movement. 

How To: give a dog a check up
     When I was little I always wanted to be a vet. In eighth grade I created a project showing how one is able to give a dog a check up like a veterinarian would. If I used this as my topic I would be able to go into great depth about all the steps needed, and everything to look for when giving a dog a check up.

How To: talk to a deaf person
     I have a friend that has been learning sign language for the past couple years and I find it an amazing way of being able to communicate with others. Using this topic as my speech I could explain the importance of learning sign language. Being able to communicate with deaf people is an important life skill. I could explain how the alphabet works and how the language can be taught to other people.

Second Debate and Lightning Rounds

Debate on Social Networking.

Side: Social Networking Has A Negative Affect On Teens

How Did We Do?:

     I believe that our team did a much better job on preparation for this project. We knew what we were doing more then our first debate and knew more of what to expect. Everyone in the team was able to do a great job of adding to the overall debate and making it successful. I believe that some things that we did well were clearly speaking, using our time and preparing our rebuttals. For the most part, everyone in our team was able to clearly speak and get our points across. Everyone's opening was good but towards the end, we seemed to always lose our train of thought. Everyone on our team pretty much used all of their time or was close to the end of their time, which is very good. You need to use all the time you can to make a convincing argument. We prepared much more for this debate then our first. A lot of people wrote out the general stuff they were going to say and then added parts to make good rebuttals against the other team. Overall, even though the debate ended in a tie, our team did much better in this debate than the first one.

    Although we did better in this debate, we still could have done a few things differently. I think our final conclusion could have been prepared a bit more and we could have perhaps gotten our points across a bit clearer. Other than that, our debate seemed very well thought out. 

     I believe that the other team did a much better job this time compared to the first debate. They had a much clearer argument and did not directly accuse people who did not agree with them this time which was very good. No one ending up agreeing with the wrong side and they all seemed to improve even if some of their arguments were short.

Lightning Round Debates:

     I really like the lightning round debates. I think that they are a great way for people to individually learn what their strengths and weaknesses are. It is awesome being able to pick topics that we already know about. This really helps us learn to think quickly and argue about a topic even if we don't agree with the side given to us. So far, everyone has been doing very well on these lightning rounds. People seem to be able to clearly prove their points no matter what side they are on. This is a fun and amazing way of being able to practice our skills and quick thinking for debating.

A Website that has some good ideas on how to prepare for a Debate:

http://www.wikihow.com/Prepare-a-Short-Preparation-Debate

Social Networkimg Has A Negative Affect on Teens

Opening statement: Adler
Rebuttal one: Baran
Rebuttal two: Ella
Closing: Hannah

Points:

• Cyber bullying: people can hide behind a different identity which allows them to anonymously hurt others without having to feel bad about it, because nobody knows it was them

• Background check: if someone makes when mistake one time and it ends up on the Internet, everyone is able to see it. If pictures of high school students drinking and smoking is posted on a social media site, collages and corporations are able to see it which could influence their decision on allowing one into a school or receiving a job. 

• Social Media puts more pressure on students because if they are more worried about the amount of likes they get on a picture, the less focused they will be on their schoolwork. 

Rebuttal Points:

"Around half of teens have been the victims of cyber bullying. Cyber bullying victims are more likely to have low self esteem and to consider suicide."

http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html

"Youth victimized by their peers were 2.4 times more likely to report suicidal ideation and 3.3 times more likely to report a suicide attempt than youth who reported not being bullied (Espelage & Holt, 2013)."

http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/suicide-statistics.html

Start off with:
When you think of bullying, you may think of someone getting beat up behind school or laughed at and made fun of at class. But social media allows for bullying to come home. What starts off as hurtful comments towards a neighbor or peer, can turn into almost harassment, ruining their reputation and making them feel completely insignificant. Cyberbullying comes in many forms and includes, but is not limited to, "Sending mean messages or threats to a person’s email account or cell phone, Spreading rumors online or through texts, Pretending to be someone else online to hurt another person." (http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html) Purposefully targeting others to make them feel bad about themselves is easier to do when hidden behind a computer screen. It would be much harder to go up to someone and say mean comments right to their face for no reason whatsoever. People cyber bully for different reasons. It could be because they do not like the person, which is no excuse for bullying, but it could also be the idea of just victimizing others without consequences because of the anonymousness allowed by the Internet.


Summing up rebuttal: As you can see, social media does negatively affect teens due to that fact that it allows cyber bullying to occur and can lead towards higher suicide rates in teens.

Reflection on Debate

I believe that our team did very well for our first debate, although there are many things we can improve on in the future. Everyone contributed and made good points to support our argument. We were the final winners of the debate. The other team did a very good job, but we had more evidence and points that led to our victory.
Our team had a very good start to the debate. We had a very good introduction to all of the topics we would be speaking about, over the course of the conversation. Our rebuttals were ok but needed some work. We could have had more logos in our rebuttals and also should have planned them out slightly more. Our conclusion was pretty decent. When a new person started talking each section, they would start off strong and slowly, the point of them talking generally would start to dwindle. We need to work on clearly concluding with solid points on each section.
The other team did fine. They had a few good points but didn't quite execute their rebuttals convincingly. I find it very offensive that I was accused of my points making no sense when there was no proof given to show this. I found it quite unprofessional and it made the person speaking lose credibility. But I do believe that they had a very good introduction and ending. Although the beginning was a little short, it was concise and clear. In the end, the other team accidentally backed up our point, but besides that it seemed very prepared and conclusive.
In the end, our team ended with winning the debate. I believe this was due to that fact that we were very prepared and able to support and back up our argument better than the other team. And although we won, there are still things we need to work on. We were decently prepared for this debate, but the more preparation, the better. I think we could also all learn to speak a little slower and clearer. I know that I personally messed up many times while speaking. I said the same point a couple times, was stuttering (making me look less convincing) and I left out an important fact I wanted to share. I could in the future be more prepared by writing everything down in the same place rather than brining up a notebook and an iPad. I could also practice more to make sure that I really know the order in which I need to say my points.
Overall, I learned a lot from this debate. I learned about how presenting yourself can make you seem more convincing. Tone of voice is very important and can affect how serially people take you, especially in a disagreement. I also learned that preparation is nessecary but speaking all the fly is also needed. This was a lot of fun and I believe that our team will do even better in the next debate.
Three more words.

https://www.debatingsa.com.au/Schools-Competition/Documents/Debating-An-Introduction-For-Beginners.pdf

Dramatic Monolouge

http://youtu.be/xdhvmNOiTac