Course: Events
- General
- Upcoming Events
- Topic 2
My ICLE Share #2: "Becoming a Better Intercultural Observer"
Presenter: Stephen M. Ryan
Saturday, July 2nd, 2022 (10:30am - 12:00pm)
This session is based on a series of activities designed to help students improve their observational skills. It is motivated by the thought that preparing students to encounter the cultural Other entails far more than giving them information about cultural differences and theories based on them. There are skills to be learned (observation is just one example) and attitudes to be formed.
The activities are designed to increase students’ awareness of the importance of being careful observers of their cultural context and to give them practical experience developing and using observation skills within the context in which they now live. By doing so, the students will (hopefully) learn to approach their intercultural experiences in a spirit of open enquiry, basing their interpretation of events around them on observational evidence rather than preconceived notions.
While originally designed to help students prepare to study abroad, these activities are in fact of value to anybody who takes an interest in the world around them and seeks to learn from it. Isn’t that we all want for our students?
In 2021, JALT ICLE started the Activity Initiative where we invite members to submit and share activities they use to promote intercultural communication and understanding with their students. In 2022, we invite you to join us to discuss some of these activities. These events will include two basic sections: a short discussion by the event submitter on how to use the event followed by a discussion time for all participants to talk about how the theme and how they could modify the activity for their students. In the first event of this style, we welcome Javier Salazar to talk about stereotypes and nationalities.
When: Saturday April 23, 2022 | 10:30am - 12:00
Where: Zoom → To receive the Zoom link, please pre-register here.
Topic: Stereotypes vs. Nationalities
Presenter: Javier Salazar
Discussant: Michael BoyceClassroom activity overview: Stereotypes are part of human nature ... and this in spite of the fact that they are among the many root causes of social problems such as racism, discrimination, xenophobia and even wars. There is a vast body of research in social psychology that suggests that “cognitive biases” determine how we perceive others that are labeled as the “Other” due to their preferences, interests, affiliations, gender/sexual orientation, ethnicity or nationality. In this sense, although cognitive biases constitute an important mechanism for humans to make sense of their environment (and the people that inhabit it) they inevitably lead to the formation of stereotypes. Even more, these stereotypes tend to be largely unconscious; in the sense that humans are usually unaware of how their own biases shape their perceptions of the “Other”. When it comes to learning a foreign language (and ultimately communicating with the “Other” through it) stereotype awareness becomes an essential element of true intercultural communication. In this activity, students will be “tricked” into making explicit the stereotypes they may (or may not) have of people from other nationalities, as a means to eliciting stereotype awareness.
