One of the main themes I encountered during my service project was the importance of nonverbal codes and usage in communication.  Starting with the special needs kids, nonverbal codes were important from day one.  A whole lot of information was conveyed in this class with just the expression on people’s faces.  I believe that the special needs students are better than most normal-minded people with conveying messages through facial expressions.  Other key aspects of nonverbal communication in the special needs class was gestures.  Pointing, waving the hands, and other motions helped the students explain whatever they were trying to talk about.  I formed interpersonal relationships with these students mainly through nonverbal communication, since this was many of theirs main way of communicating, and figuratively, could be considered their primary language.  Nonverbal communication was used with the ELL students as well.  They did not use facial expressions as much, but when they did it was often to show irritation that they could not understand an assignment or excitement after finally understanding a problem.  I used nonverbal communication with them through tone of voice mainly, encouraging them or giving them praise for understanding an assignment.  In this service learning project, effective communication would not have been possible without nonverbal communication.

 

            I have learned that culture is not limited to a group of people from the same ethnic group.  Culture is a group of people with shared norms, values, beliefs, and social practices.  Therefore, the Africans were did not just share a culture with the other Africans, and the Asians did not just share culture with the other Asians, but also the Africans and Asians shared the ELL learning community as a culture.  Likewise the special needs students were all in a culture of their own.  The differences in all of the cultures was apparent, though.  The Africans were more social and casual when it came to schoolwork and class time.  The Asian students tried to work hard and kept to themselves, not speaking much.  The special needs students valued friendship.  They were very friendly to everyone, respected each other, and many were social too. 

            Communication is more than just words that are spoken.  Nonverbal communication is a bigger part of communicating than verbal, and through this experience I have learned the effectiveness of it.  Perceptions are often wrong and can lead to misunderstandings in communication.  These misunderstandings can hurt an interpersonal relationship, but understanding and accepting them will help maintain and build the relationship.  This project has opened my eyes to the difficulty of communicating across cultures and languages.  I now know the importance of perceptions and nonverbal codes in communication, and will use these to help develop and maintain future interpersonal relationships that I will form.  As I work to a future career as a physical therapist, I know these experiences will help me in communication in the various encounters with patients of different cultures.