David Pinto - 3 step method

It is a fact that immigration and integration totally belong together. You always hear in the news or read in papers that “they” have to integrate. But who should integrate and in what do “they” have to integrate?
Often immigrants are welcomed very warmly in their community/neighbourhood, but some people think very doubtful about foreigners.

In the HLN.BE you can see following data (published in July 22, 2009):

Attitudes towards immigrants/Muslims:
1. Immigrants contribute to prosperity in our country - 26.4%
2. Immigrants can't be trusted, in general - 25.4%
3. Muslim families are in general very hospitable - 44.8%
4. Immigrants come here to profit from our social security - 49.4%
5. Muslims are a threat to our culture and customs - 42.6%
6. The presence of different culture enriches our society - 51.4%
7. If the number of workplaces deceases, immigrants should be sent back to their own country - 33.5%
8. We should warmly welcome foreigners who want to live to Belgium - 25.9%
9. People who belong to ethnic minorities should marry among each other - 18.7%
10. When people would get to know Turks and Moroccan better they turn out to be friendly people, in general - 58.8%
11. Foreigners who live here should adapt to the culture and customs of our country- 87.7%
12. Muslim women and girls should be allowed to wear a headscarf at all times and everywhere - 19%

David Pinto is focused on intercultural communication. Caused by the fact that he was an immigrant on his own, he knows how important intercultural communication is. He says that there are “fine meshed” and “coarse meshed” cultures. In a “fine meshed” culture everything is structured and it is clear how everything works. In a “coarse meshed” culture there is not really structure and everything is very open. On these two statements David Pinto built a 3 step method. With that he focuses on problems in intercultural communication.
Every individual has his own values, norms and perceptions. We tend to see our own values, norms and perceptions as universal and attribute it to others. So in intercultural communication the problem is often a difference of norms and values between different cultures. 

The 3 steps to dealt with difficulties in intercultural communication:

Step 1
look at yourself: what are your own norms and values? What influences your ways of thinking, acting and communicating?

Step 2
look at the others: what are their norms and values? What is the meaning behind their “unusual” behaviour?

Step 3
How will you deal with the observed differences in norms, values and behavioural codes? Tolerance for the other parties is important

Especially as a teacher it is really important to accept the norms and values of other cultures. In this job you have to deal with different cultures every day. Sometimes it complicates your work. For example, if I think about the feast days, people with other cultures often have another religion and so they have different dates to celebrate e.g. Christmas. In some other cultures women have a lower repute than men and so it can be also very difficult for a woman to teach a child, whos parents think like that.

Summing up, I think that David Pinto’s steps for intercultural communication can be very useful and I will use them in future career as a teacher.