[?] Click to link to this site

Best Selling Ebooks

Teaching Opportunities

Standards and Subjects

Strategies & Interventions

Running a Classrom

Teachers' Lounge

Rude Hand Gestures to Avoid
in the Multi-Cultural Classroom

Never use rude hand gestures in the classroom, even by accident! Here's the obscene hand gestures and non-verbal gestures you need to avoid with your multi-cultural students.

Hand gestures in other countries may mean very different things than what common American gestures mean.

In fact, many non-verbal gestures are considered quite rude.

Knowing the meaning of hand gestures around the world is critical for today's educators.

The slightest mishap can lead to misunderstandings that can have a lasting impact.

Let's say you don't want to interrupt the class while they are working so diligently, but a student signals to you that he or she has to go to the bathroom. You sign "Okay." No problem, right?

Oops - you just gave the finger to that nice little boy from Brazil. And your student from Germany? You just made a very embarrassing reference to a very private area of a girl!

What are other cultural gestures teachers need to be aware of? The list below breaks them down by country and what these nonverbal communication gestures mean.

Obscene Hand Gestures
in Other Countries

Mexico	Putting hands on hips signals hostility
Argentina	Slapping the inside of the thigh is one of the obscene hand gestures
Chile	Palm up with fingers spread is a finger gesture that indicates that a person is stupid
Spain and Greece	The American "O.K." sign is one of the rude hand gestures
France	A rude gesture is to snap the fingers of both hands
Australia	Not necessarily one of the offensive gestures, turning a glass upside down at a bar indicates you think you can win in a fight with anyone there
Egypt	Tapping the two index fingers together is asking someone to sleep with you
Iran and Saudi Arabia	Middle East culture indicates that a thumbs up sign is an offensive finger gesture
Lebanon	Licking a finger then brushing your eyebrow is saying that someone is homosexual
Singapore and Japan	Beckoning with the finger indicates death

Knowing what other cultures consider to be rude or obscene hand gestures will certainly help educators to avoid potentially embarrassing situations.

Return to Top: Rude Hand Gestures

...or click a button and go to:

Rude Hand Gestures to Avoid in the Multi-Cultural Classroom

Obscene Hand Gestures in Other Countries

Rude Hand Gestures to Avoid
in the Multi-Cultural Classroom

Obscene Hand Gestures
in Other Countries