The interesting blog on inercultural issues culturallyteaching.com has moved to another site:
Updates, reflections and developments as we explore the importance of intercultural issues in education at Bangkok Patana School.
The interesting blog on inercultural issues culturallyteaching.com has moved to another site:
Teachers without Borders is an organisation that aims to connects teachrs across the globe, it is free to join and has resources and training that also can be accessed free. Thie mission states:
Teachers Without Borders connects teachers to information and each other to create local change on a global scale.
Thier web address is : http://teacherswithoutborders.org
Build awareness of how cultural differences can profoundly impact people in an organization.
Motivate participants to rethink their behavior and attitude toward others.
Allow participants to examine their own bias and focus on how they perceive differences.
Examine how stereotypes are developed, barriers created, and misunderstandings magnified.
Identify diversity issues within the organization that must be addressed. BaFa'BaFa' initiates immediate, personal change. This simulation makes participants personally aware of the issues around culture differences. Participants feel the alienation and confusion that comes from being different. BaFa'BaFa' shakes participants out of thinking in stereotypes of anyone who is different. They learn the value of all faces in the workplace in a safe, stimulating environment.
Matt Jones (Head of Year 10) writes:
In addition to ‘celebrating diversity’, interculturalism in an international school setting should also allow for opportunities to celebrate similarities.
Patana’s IB Psychology students understand the need to consider both ‘emic’ (culturally-specific) and ‘etic’ (universal, cross-cultural) factors when examining cultural norms, differences and similarities. With this in mind, Year 10 students had the opportunity to share ‘symbols’ - personally meaningful aspects of their own cultural identity – with their classmates. It was an opportunity to learn a little more about each other and to exhibit a bit of pride in their own backgrounds. Symbols ranged from national football shirts to soap opera theme tunes: what would you pick as a meaningful representation of your cultural identity?
All credit to Grant Robertson, Head of Secondary English, for developing this excellent lesson. See the plan below.