Does our country match any of the description above? How is it different? Speak with your partner.

5. VIDEO BLOCK “Public Speech: Holly Jones & Craig Saunders”

Description: In this occasion the teacher should select a video segment and ask students to watch it until the end. After that, they should write a paragraph expressing their opinions about what they have seen. The students can support their ideas taking into account the information provided in the video and their personal experiences and knowledge about the topic. After finishing, they should report in class what they have done.

Objectives: The main goals of this activity are to improve the writing and speaking skills, to practice the knowledge acquired before in class and to reinforce the one learnt through the video.

7. WRITING. Make a report on the topic “Why is it important to be culturally competent in the modern world?” (in not less than 600 words)

  8. PROJECT WORK (Intercultural Communication Glog Project).

 

a) Create a multi-media poster on Intercultural Communication using http://edu.glogster.com/register/.

b) Present your poster (Glog) to the class.

Following is a condensed list of tips that are helpful in creating an effective poster and giving the presentation.

· Spend time planning and laying out the format of the poster so that it is organized, focused, and information flows in a logical way. Posters are often divided into sections similar to a research paper. Use headings to help the readers find sections.

· The title is important and will draw the audience in. It should be short, focused and compelling.

· The content of all the sections should be concise. Graphics, data, charts, and other analyses should be the focus and small sections of text should supplement those. The content should tell readers why the work matters, the results, recommendations and implications.

· The text size should be large enough to read from one to two meters.

· Do not overdo color. In general, dark letters on a light back ground are the easiest to read.

· Layout is critical. The flow of information should go from top to bottom and left to right. Readers will lose interest so do not make them jump all over the poster to get the story.

· Prepare a 3-5 minute oral explanation of your poster and your work. Do not read the poster to the audience! Explain the big picture and why the project is important. Then use the graphics to illustrate and support your findings and conclusions.

· Do give the audience some time to absorb the information on your poster.

9. SELF-STUDY MATERIAL

  Here are some stages on recognizing culture shock. Read them and comment upon each of them (adding some facts or changing them, according to your personal experience or the experience of other people).

Recognizing culture shock

 Culture shock is the process of adjustment to an unfamiliar culture. It is a more or less sudden immersion into a state of uncertainty - in which you become unsure about what is expected of you and what you can expect from other people. Culture shock can occur in any situation where you are forced to adjust to an unfamiliar system in which many of your previous ways of doing or understanding things no longer apply.

The five stages

Five stages of culture shock can be identified:

1. Honeymoon

This is where the newly arrived individual experiences the curiosity and excitement of a tourist, but where the person's basic identity is rooted back at home.

 2. Disorientation

This stage involves the disintegration of almost everything familiar. The individual is overwhelmed by the requirements of the new culture and bombarded by stimuli in the new environment.

 3. Shock

 This stage is associated with the experience of anger and resentment towards the new culture. Stress, anxiety, irritation and hostility are common.

4. Adaptation

This involves the integration of new cues and an increased ability to function in the new culture. The individual increasingly sees the bad and the good elements in both the new culture and the home culture.

5. Adjustment

 In this stage, the individual has become comfortable in both the old and the new culture. There is some controversy about whether anyone can really attain this stage.

Exercise

Below you will see a number of comments likely to be made by individuals in one of the five stages of culture shock. Read each comment and write down what stage of culture shock you think the individual concerned is most likely to be in.

Comment

 1. 'We do that too, only in a different way.'

2. 'Why can't they just...?'

3. 'I can't wait to tell... about this.'

 4. 'You don't understand them like I do.'

5. 'Isn't this exciting?'

6. 'These people are so damn...'

7. 'Only...more months before I can go home'

8. 'Aren't they interesting?'

9. 'Actually, I am beginning to like this'

10. 'Everything here is so difficult!'

11. 'We would never do that where I come from'

12. 'On the other hand, why shouldn't they do that?'

 

CHECK YOURSELF” CROSSWORD

Culture Terms

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