I watched a show called "Duck Dynasty" without sound. Though I had never watched this show before, I had heard people talking about it. I was curious. Luckily, the subtitles told me the names of the people and how they were related to each other. Even without subtitles, I would have assumed that most of them were related based on their similar appearances. I assumed that they were coworkers since they were sitting at desks in a building. It looked like they were assembling something. When one person talked, they all stopped what they were doing and looked at that person. Facial expressions were either serious or attentive or they were laughing. I noticed this throughout the show. Gestures from Si, who moved his arms constantly throughout the show, only revealed that he was passionate about what he was saying! Even when he was sitting down, his arms still waved in the air when he talked. It really didn't seem like the show had much of a plot. It went back and forth from the men in the workshop to "Phil and Kay's house" where two boys were put to work.
After re-watching this show with the sound on, I found out that they did indeed work together at a warehouse; however, they were not assembling anything. They made duck calls. I think the facial expressions did not tell much because they were men. Not to be stereotypical, but to me, women's facial expressions are more telling than men's. Men seem to have two facial expressions - serious and happy. Women, on the other hand, have many facial expressions - angry, sad, upset, nervous, excited, happy, etc. Had this been a show I was familiar with, I probably wouldn't have chosen it since it was a reality show. A show I am quite familiar with, "The Big Bang Theory", would have been very easy for me to make assumptions as to what was happening because I know the characters and their personalities very well.
What can you tell from their facial expressions?
From this experience, it is extremely clear to me how knowing your children and families helps you to better understand them and their nonverbal communication. It was also a great realization that not knowing your families can cause miscommunication. I really enjoyed this unique learning experience and found it remarkable how it relates to understanding our relationships.
Hi Lynn. There surely were lots of gestures and facial behaviors in this show. It does make a total difference when the sound is ON as compared to when it was OFF. When the sound was on, the dialogues translated the conversations and made it more apparent of what they were talking about. The same happened in my choice. I find it strange that we can ‘assume’ what the conversation is all about or least get a little picture of what they are talking about through body movement, gestures and facial appearance. I enjoyed this exercise also because you never know what others are saying or thinking; with different communication styles and techniques, we are learning some ways on how language can be interpreted…Jay
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post! I especially like the very last point you made about how this experience can teach us an important lesson about context and knowing the children and families we work with. With more knowledge about someone (the characters in the show or the families we work with, for example), we are better able to interpret their communication because we are attuned to their nonverbal communication in a different way. More than just the words they are communicating, we can make somewhat informed observations of what their bodies are communicating as well! Great point! -Katelyn
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