Extracurricular Reading
＼Text C＼
What Does it Mean to be Culturally Competent？
Cultural competence is about our will and actions to build understanding between people，to be respectful and open to different cultural perspectives，_____1___cultural security and work towards equality in opportunity．Relationship building is fundamental to cultural competence and is____2__on the foundations of understanding each other’s expectations and attitudes，and____3__building on the strength of each other’s knowledge，using a wide range of community members and resources to build on their understandings．
In Canada，we have talked for a long time about the importance of respecting____4__and embracing a range of cultures as part of the social fabric of our society．However the term，cultural competence，is a relatively new concept to many．
Over the past two or three decades we have____5__to challenge and address injustice，racism，exclusion and inequity through legislation，awareness raising，rights education and an anti-bias curriculum．Cultural competence____6__and builds on this work．
So what does cultural competence mean and why is it so important for people to have their culture and cultural backgrounds acknowledged，respected and valued？
Underlying cultural competence are the principles of trust，respect for diversity，equity，fairness，and social justice．Culture is the fundamental building block of identity and the development of a strong cultural identity is____7__to an individual’s healthy sense of who they are and where they belong．
It is more than being respectful of the cultures represented in the service or even the community．It is much more than____8__of cultural differences，more than knowledge of the customs and values of those different from our own．
Cultural competence is the ability to understand，communicate with and effectively____9__with people across cultures．Cultural competence___10___：
•Being aware of one’s own world view．
•Developing positive attitudes towards cultural differences．
•Gaining knowledge of different cultural practices and world views．
•Developing skills for communication and interaction across cultures．
Cultural proficiency“requires more than becoming culturally aware or practising tolerance”．Rather，it is the ability to“identify and challenge one’s own cultural assumptions，values and beliefs，and to make a commitment to communicating at the cultural interface”．Principles relevant to cultural competence include fostering secure，respectful and reciprocal relationships，partnerships，high expectations and equity and respect for diversity．
We are all born belonging to a culture，which is not only influenced by traditional practices，heritage and ancestral knowledge，but also by the experiences，values and beliefs of individual families and communities．Respecting diversity means valuing and reflecting the practices，values and beliefs of families and communities．
Workplace leaders，including employers，supervisors and union representatives who are culturally competent respect multiple cultural ways of knowing，seeing and living，celebrate the benefits of diversity and have an ability to understand and honour differences．In practical terms，it is a never ending journey involving critical reflection of learning to understand how people perceive the world and participate in different systems of shared knowledge．Cultural competence is not static，and our level of cultural competence changes inresponse to new situations，experiences and relationships．The three elements of cultural competence are：(https://www.daowen.com)
•Attitudes
•Skills
•Knowledge
These are important at three levels：
1．Individual level—the knowledge，skills，values，attitudes and behaviors of individuals；
2．Service level—management and operational frameworks and practices，expectations，including policies，procedures，vision statements and the voices of children，families and community；
3．The broader system level—how services relate to and respect the rest of the community，agencies，elders，local community protocols．
（594 Words）
＼Banked Cloze＼
Directions：Read the above passage through carefully and select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in the following word bank．
＼Further Reflection on Reading＼
Directions：Think about and answer the following questions．
1．It is said that a particular thinking pattern predominates in each culture，for instance，American culture is predominantly factual-inductive，while Russian culture is predominantly axiomatic-deductive．Give some specific examples to show the differences of thinking patterns in different cultures．
2．After reading the above passages，can you give definitions to the high-context culture and low-context culture？Can you find out some examples of expressions or proverbs related to time in English and Chinese respectively，and sum up the different attitudes towards time in the two types of culture？