WEEK 6 - PERSONAL SPACE DIFFERENCES
When I read the title of the assignment this week, I immediately
remembered a picture that I saw on social media. I laughed a lot because it was
impossible to be true. Then I did a quick search to find it. Look at it.
Bizarre! Nathan Destro designed and entitled it “The Personal Space Protector”.
The street test took place in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
Don’t worry. It is only a Wits Digital Arts postgrad student testing the “un-useless” invention. Maybe he had the idea by reading what [1]MedRxiv defined as the personal space, “the area surrounding the body “into which others cannot intrude without arousing discomfort”.
Well, after hearing Mr. Ivers telling some experiences of sacred
personal spaces, I concluded that Nathan’s apparatus is not so crazy. All
kidding aside, I know that is a serious issue, and everybody must respect each
other spaces even though in some places there is hardly any personal space. It
is necessary to remember Mr. Ivers’ advice, “when you are in other
countries, watch how they do things. If they are speaking kind of quietly, you
should speak quietly.”
Speaking of which, my husband and I moved from a big city in the state of Santa Catarina to Rio Grande do Sul state, and we chose a lesser city to live – Lajeado – where people have their culture of space – they use their house sidewalks in the evening to sit and drink tea as they talk to each other happily. I started complaining about that because sidewalks are to walk and not sit. Then, my husband told me: “We must respect their space. These people take advantage of their time with their family in the evening, something so necessary these days.” Well, I wondered, they could have this time inside the house, not on the sidewalks 😊. Yes, yes, I know! I was mistaken. Mr. Ivers would say, “If they are sitting on the sidewalks, you should sit with them”. I never did that. However, I stopped complaining.
In Caxias do Sul, where I live now, I have never seen people onto buses like sardines, as Mr. Ivers said that he saw in Mexico, but in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, yes, there will be people hanging out the door onto the bars as it goes down the street. But all over the world, the rules changed a lot due to the pandemic. I read this question as preparing this article: “How close is too close? It depends on where you live.” Exactly! Therefore, ESL teachers must discover where students come from to deal with them wisely. From now on, be careful. Personal space differences can cause awkwardness and even offense in some situations.
If you would like to know more about this topic, watch this video [2]“Cultural Differences – Personal Space”, and you will find an interesting explanation on Mad English Tv.
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