A Youth Leader's Guide to Building Cultural Competence 

Appendix 

These questions are offered as guides for you to use in examining your cultural background and life 

experiences. Answering them will help you focus on what has shaped your views and how those views 

might affect your interactions with others.  

It is important to approach each question honestly and with an open mind. There are no right or wrong 

answers. The questions are not intended to judge or categorize, nor to offend. They are merely individual 

tools of exploration designed to help you get to know yourself a little bit better.  

Some of your answers may surprise you, other may inspire a range of emotions from anger to fear. Give 

yourself time to reflect. Talking with a trusted individual may help. Just remember that your discoveries 

are means to an end; providing the best education you can for the young people you serve.  

Consider these questions both in the context of your present life as well as your experience growing up as 

a child and young adult. Reflect on the differences between your current home and the one in which you 

were raised. 

Language 

What language or dialect is spoken in your home? Is it different or similar to the language used in your 

household growing up? Do you understand or speak another language from your ancestral heritage? Do 

members of your family? Is there a generational split among your family members with regard to 

speaking English versus another language?  

What body language do you typically use when speaking? How about members of your family? Are there 

certain non verbal signals that are considered polite or rude, such as eye contact, physical closeness or 

tone of voice?  

Are there different rights or status of speaking in your household or family? Are some members listened 

to more than others?  

Do children or teens in your family have the same rights to speak? What rights to speak did you have 

growing up as a child and then as a teen? Were they similar to other members of your family who were of 

the same generation? Did those rights vary by gender?  

What forms of communication are common in your family experience? How common are joke telling, 

sarcasm, story telling? How freely are emotions expressed? How common or appropriate was/is touching 

or physical forms of affection in your family?  

Health  

How is illness treated in your family? Do certain behaviors or beliefs play a role in illness? What 

behaviors or remedies were used to prevent or cure illness? To whom did you turn inside the family when 

you were sick? To whom outside the family?  

Family Relationships