Teaching Jobs Overseas International Employment for Teacher

Teaching Jobs Overseas
International Employment for Teachers

Teaching Jobs Overseas Topics: international teaching, teaching overseas, teaching abroad, American and international schools, overseas jobs, international employment, etc.

Teaching Jobs Overseas: International Employment for Teachers

West African Do's and Don'ts

Do's

Greet everyone with a smile and firm handshake with the right hand. It is consid­ered the height of rudeness to speak to someone without greeting them first. If your right hand is dirty or wet, offer your wrist.

Bargain for everything you buy. No one will get offended if you suggest the price they are asking is too high. Bargaining is part of commerce. Exceptions: food items and goods in stores that cater to Westerners.
 

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Don’t stare people in the eyes. West Africans interpret this as a sexual come-on...

Offer small gifts to friends, such as a bag of tea and sugar (for a man), a bar of soap (for women), or 10 kola nuts (for older men). These are traditional gifts of respect and thanks. To show enormous gratitude to someone, buy them a sheep.

Wear loose, non-form-fitting clothes that cover your entire leg. West Africans wear shorts as underwear. A woman’s thighs are never displayed in public.

Offer part of the food you are eating to whomever is near you, even strangers. It is considered very rude to eat in front of people. Even if you barely have enough for yourself, you should nonetheless offer out of politeness. Most people will refuse by saying they are full or take only a small amount to be polite.

Adopt an African name. Western names are hard to pronounce and have no meaning in West Africa. African last names identity a person as a member of a clan, tribe, or other societal group, even if only as a temporary adopted member.

When someone asks you what your name is, say you don’t have one and request that they give you a name. Most often they will give you their own last name and treat you like they would a cousin.

Treat anyone older than you with respect, and treat the elderly as if they are God’s prophets. Anything they say is true and cannot be denied. Give them everything they want, and go out of your way to show them respect. No one will side with you against an old person, and saying, “I am older than you" if it’s true, will always get you your way.

Don’ts:

Don’t  touch money, food, merchandise, or another person’s skin with your left hand. The left hand is used for dirty tasks, such as nose blowing and cleaning oneself.

Don’t  walk on someone’s mat with your shoes. West Africans carry plastic or woven mats with them everywhere they go. Mats are their magic carpets of cleanliness.

Don’t sniff food that someone has given you or merchandise that you are Interested In buying. The action of sniffing in West Africa is always taken as a gesture of disgust.

Don’t  whistle, especially at night. Whistling is considered strange, lewd, and unpleasant.

Don’t stare people in the eyes. West Africans interpret this as a sexual come-on or belligerence. Make brief eye contact while speaking to some­one then glance away.

Don’t  say no. Africans use the word “no” almost exclusively to negate a factually untrue state­ment, never to deny a request.

By Rachel Schneller.

 
 

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