Cultural Considerations for Malaysian Students in the US
It is fundamental for any student that is studying abroad to be made to feel at home. This is because the United States has several people form different parts of the world who have come to seek quality education. Making them feel at home will help them get used to their new life quickly and they will not suffer from the effects of home sickness. A dominant group of people from abroad that are studying in the US include the Malaysians. They are there in plenty seeking to specialize in a certain field that is probably not offered in their country. It is therefore very important that they feel comfortable and wanted. The question is how can you achieve this? How can you make a person from abroad feel secure and at home in the US? The answer to this is by considering their cultural activities without looking own upon them in anyway.
Cultural considerations of Malaysian students in the US are very important to help them in settling down. One of the considerations that should be really put in place is knowing that the people of Malaysia have different forms of culture within them. Knowing the different cultures will help you to understand them and in this way, you will be able to tell why they practice some things and why they are done in a certain way. The most important thing to understand is that within the Malaysian society there are various cultures and these are the Malay culture, the Chinese culture, the Indian culture, the Eurasian culture and some other indigenous cultures. These include the people from the Peninsula and north Borneo.
When it comes to the issue of cultural considerations, there are many things that as a school you really need to consider and give much thought to. For the Malaysian students studying in the US, culture is very important. From what we have seen above, there are diverse cultures in Malaysia making religion something of the essence. Therefore as an institution of study, you should put into consideration religious affiliations and set up different worship places for the different Malaysian cultures. This will help them a lot during their time of worship.
The other cultural consideration of Malaysian students in the US is their meals. This is a crucial issue because Malaysians have some specific types of meals that they eat. It will only be fair enough if food given to them will be conforming to their culture’s standards. We all know that culture forbids the Malaysian people to put some types of food in their mouths. It is important to respect this religious ideology by not offering them such foods.
The other cultural consideration that is very important are their festivals. Most of their festivals are very religious. Marking these days on their calendars and allowing them to participate in them is actually very helpful to them. Some of the holidays include the following: the Chinese New Year, Diwali and Ramadan. These are just a few of the festivals important to them.
Respecting some of these affiliations will encourage them to feel at home and they will not have the feeling of being alien; instead they will integrate well. Therefore during orientation these are some of the things that should be offered to them.
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