Intercultural YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERCULTURAL LEARNING IN THE AFS NETWORK
The State of Intercultural Learning (ICL) in the AFS Network & Update on Priorities MELISSA LILES, DIRECTOR OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION & PROGRAM SERVICES, AFS INTERNATIONAL 2010 is off and running and we are committed to making this not only a year but a decade that highlights Intercultural Learning in AFS. You will recall that last year, with your help, we identified four AFS Network-wide ICL Priorities 2010-2013: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Core ICL knowledge/skills/competency development Knowledge & materials and materials sharing Improving and/or creating materials Significantly enhanced visibility of ICL
Since that time, along with the ICL Work Group, we have been defining several concrete initiatives that correspond to the priorities above. These projects should serve the Network’s needs, leverage market opportunities, and help
IN THIS ISSUE The State of Intercultural Learning (ICL) in the AFS Network & Update on Priorities by Melissa Liles Page 1 Did You Know? The Five Frameworks of Culture by Giulia Fleishman Page 3 Concepts & Theories: Intercultural Communication Competence Assessment Tools Overview by Annette Gisevius Page 3 News You Can Use: Technology and Cultural Adjustment by Lisa Cohen Page 5
VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 3 - FEBRUARY / MARCH 2010
Call to Attention AFS RECEIVES 20 INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS Thanks to AFS returnee Janet Bennett, Executive Director of the Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI) in Portland, Oregon, USA, the AFS Network is the lucky recipient of 20 scholarships for the 2010 Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication (SIIC), run by the ICI. Through these scholarships Bennett, a former AFS USA Board Member, will enable a number of AFS staff and volunteers from around the world to attend one of the July sessions on AFS-relevant topics like Teaching Intercultural Issues Online, Managing Intercultural Conflict Adaptively, and Cross-Cultural Training. A committee of Network ICL Work Group will make at least a dozen of these scholarships available to the AFS Network via an open call application process. Stay tuned for the next issue of Intercultural Link to learn more about application criteria and deadlines. For more information on the Institute, please visit SIIC online at http://www.intercultural.org/siic_schedule.php
Educational Relations at the Institutional Level: Establishing Good School Relations: Intercultural & Global Education Seminars for Teachers by Hana Krejsova Page 7 Educational Relations at the Grassroots Level: The Story of Entreculturas Magazine Shared by Rosario Gutierrez Page 7 Training Session Outline: Bruce La Brack’s Different Days, Different Ways Shared by Bruce La Brack Page 8 “Summer Academy on Intercultural Experience” Launch by Annette Gisevius Page 9
ICL Field Conferences & Event Updates (Feb-Apr 2010) Page 9 Current Network & Partner Initiatives: Discovering the Diversity of the World Through AFS Russia’s Culture Club by Anna Collier (with N. Zakharova) Page 11 Review of the Forum on Intercultural Learning and Exchange, October 2009, Colle di Val d’Elsa, Italy Shared by Dr. Roberto Ruffino Page 10 Beyond-AFS ICL News: Interview with Bruce La Brack Bruce La Brack has published on cultural adjustment issues and has created a website titled What’s Up With Culture? for intercultural orientation materials. He is also a member of the AFS Educational Advisory Council. He was interviewed by Anna Collier. Page 12
2 realize AFS’s Vision 2020, including the strategic goal of educational recognition for our school programs in 65% of AFS Partner countries by 2013. I am excited to share with you our latest thinking about these initiatives that emphasizes the concept of “ensuring our ICL expertise for the future.” Our 2009 situation assessment found that our own competence needs to be significantly fortified in order to retain and strengthen our leadership role in the rapidly maturing intercultural education field. Accordingly, much of our work in 2010 will focus on the planning and execution of key baseline or ‘shoringup’ actions aimed at strengthening our (volunteer and staff) proficiency as ICL service providers. We will initiate two major interrelated projects this year: 1. AFS Core ICL Competence Development Program: Intended for all staff and board members worldwide, this will be an ongoing multi-level ICL competence assessment and training/education program. Objectives include measurably improving ICL competence (awareness, skills, knowledge and attitudes); establishing common conceptual frameworks, standards and vocabulary; enhancing inter-organization communication and working relationships; and creating subject-matter champions and multipliers within the Network. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to enable us to offer more meaningful, structured ICL opportunities for our external audiences including participants and schools. Program design and Network coordination is in the very early stages and will continue through mid-year with initial program roll-out in the second half of 2010. We expect that the involvement of prominent individuals and institutions such as the Intercultural Communications Institute will be a key part of this ambitious but essential effort. 2. AFS Digital ICL Library: A current missed opportunity is that much (if not most) local or Partner-level ICL activity happens in isolation from the greater AFS Network. Similarly, materials are typically shared only on an occasional basis. As we work towards ICL Priority #2 above, the Library will serve as a repository for relevant ICL materials, projects and ideas from across the AFS Network—whether at the inter-Partner, regional or international level. External resources will also be identified
and linked. As previously shared, this knowledge sharing and collaboration platform is likely to be associated with the AFS World Café online initiative, which will allow for interactivity of the content and among the creators, and for further enhancing overall awareness of the topic. Additionally, the Library will support the Core Competence Development Program. Ongoing and active promotion of the ICL Library project will be integral to its adoption and success. In addition to these two undertakings, we will continue planning for 2011 and beyond, developing the mid-term projects associated with ICL Priorities # 3 and 4 above. Efforts related to materials development will evaluate Culture Trek, the existing online orientation and reflection tool used by AFS USA, and will also examine online tools in general for future enhancement of the AFS educational content delivery. Work related to visibility will leverage a re-engaged AFS Educational Advisory Council and will consider developing strategic research alliances with select universities and institutions. The main focus of these efforts will be on the greater educational sector and on demonstrating how intercultural competence serves human resource development and policy goals. Last but not least, this year we will be working to maintain and enhance ongoing ICL efforts, many of which are both interrelated and self-reinforcing, including: • re-activation of the AFS Educational Advisory Council; • championship and promotion of ICL at all training and leadership venues; • ongoing field and industry participation including initiatives sponsored by AFS organizations; • increased integration of ICL throughout AFS; • the Kaleidoscope Research Project across 51 countries; and • this Intercultural Link newsletter, including new content areas and the future launching of an external-facing version. Thanks in advance for your support in making 2010 a year that we will proudly look back on as the start of not only a new decade but also an exciting new era for AFS as an intercultural learning leader.
FAREWELL TO GIULIA We would like to give a big thank-you and a fond farewell to Giulia Fleishman. Giulia, Training Coordinator at AFS International, is leaving her role after two and half years of dedicated and valuable contributions to the training, IT, consulting and intercultural learning areas. Giulia was instrumental in the launch of the Intercultural Link newsletter and we thank her for getting us started off on a good path. She is now headed from New York to Costa Rica for three months of adventures in the jungle, learning about permaculture, natural building, and sea turtles. Giulia, we thank you and wish you well in your next intercultural adventure!
CORRECTION The Did you Know? Article in Intercultural Link Issue 1 contained an incorrect link to AFSpedia. The link should navigate to the AFS Orientation Framework: HTTP://WWW.AFSPEDIA.ORG/INDEX.PHP/ AFS_ORIENTATION_FRAMEWORK
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D YOU KNOW? DID TH THE FIVE FRAMEWORKS OF CULTURE GIULIA FLEISHMAN, TRAINING COORDINATOR, AFS INTERNATIONAL GIU Best kknown for develop developing the Developmental Model of Developme Intercultural Intercultura Sensitivity (DMIS), Milton Bennett also has Ben proposed five fi categories, or frameworks, framework for thinking about how cultures differ from fro one another. This approach is a good basic building block on which to further a beginner’s understanding of intercultural communication. Regardless of where you are, you may not be given a clue about how you should act in a culture that is different from yours. How are you going to learn what to look for? What are the signposts or landmarks? The Five Frameworks are intended as a guide to help you categorize and recognize these clues and to help you The Five Frameworks of Culture: • Language Use and Perception • Non-verbal Behavior • Communication Style • How We Think (Cognitive Style) • Values and Assumptions
think more about the ways in which cultures are different and how these differences may be relevant. The Five Frameworks can help you to seek out the differences you might otherwise ignore or devalue. An awareness of these differences can be useful in your daily life, keeping in mind that there are many types of cultures – not just national or ethnic, but also gender, generational, regional, religious, professional, educational and sexual orientation, to name a few. Once you become familiar with the frameworks and have talked in particular ar about the interesting yet non-threatening g basic cultural differences, such as language use and non-verbal behavior, you will be better able to consider some e of the more challenging types of culturall differences, like values and assumptions.
Throughout the module you help her navigate a number of intercultural communication issues, all within the context of the Five Frameworks. Anyone with access to Global Link (staff and volunteers) can navigate to this link http://afsdw.afsglobal.org/afslearning/ Training/L-center-5fwks/ 5frameworks.htm. Please note that this module can only be accessed using a PC (not a Mac) using Internet Explorer and requires that you download a free Authorware Player, available here http://www.adobe.com/ shockwave/download/
The AFS Learning Center in Global Link features an interactive online module on the Five Frameworks. In this module you follow one woman’s visit with her friend in a foreign country.
Concepts & Theories: Intercultural Communication Competence Assessment Tools Overview (an introduction) ANNETTE GISEVIUS, EXPERT IN INTERCULTURAL LEARNING, AFS GERMANY Measuring Intercultural Competence The field of research and training of intercultural competence is a complex and diversified area. Tools for measuring intercultural competence exist in many variations ranging from self-designed tests to instruments that are applied by thousands of participants. Every test design starts with the question of what is supposed to be tested. Only if the research question is clear, could a test assess an appropriate outcome. For this purpose the definition of Alvino Fantini (Fantini) seems to be very useful:
“Intercultural competence may be defined as complex abilities that are required to perform effectively and appropriately when interacting with others who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself. Whereas effective reflects the view of one’s own performance in the target language-culture […], appropriate reflects how natives perceive such performance.” But what abilities are needed for successful intercultural interaction? According to Fantini a holistic view on intercultural competence includes looking at various attributes, skills, and target
language proficiency. Among the attributes are flexibility, humour, patience, openness, interest, curiosity, empathy, tolerance for ambiguity, and suspending judgement. Furthermore certain abilities are needed like the ability to establish and maintain relationship, the ability to communicate with minimal loss or distortion, and the ability to cooperate to accomplish tasks of mutual interest or needs. And last but not least he describes the four dimensions of intercultural competency: Knowledge, (positive)
4 attitudes (or affect), skills, and awareness.
attitudes or awareness.
Evaluating these dimensions is a big challenge – especially when e it i comes to assessing a
What are the tools that are currently used to assess this broad range of aspects in intercultural competence?
The most important tools It is a complex task to get an overview of the assessment tools that exist. When looking at assessment tools one has to keep in mind that the terminology is very often randomly used by the inventors of the tools – and that a test may be called “inventory” and vice versa. For this reason the section of the full paper (see the attachment) with descriptions of the tools is not organized by test design but by the concepts of intercultural competence. There are at least four subcategories of intercultural assessment tools that can be found. In the full paper some tools in each category are exemplified.
3) Instruments that assess the worldview or the “global perspective” These instruments try to reflect the attitude towards other cultures in general and try to predict the intercultural competence based on these attitudes or world views. • Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) • Global Perspective Inventory (GPI) 4) Instruments that concentrate on the interest and ability to adapt in a new culture These tools are a mixture of different approaches and try to show motivations and expectation in international assignments.
5) Other tools Apart from the categories of tools mentioned above, tools that access language acquisition, personal development or other factors are also used. Below is one sample tool with a description. This particular tool is compared in detail to both the IDI and CCAI in a chart at the end of the full paper, which describes each of the tools mentioned above. Intercultural Effectiveness Scale
Examples are: • Intercultural Awareness Profiler • Cultural Orientation Indicator • Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire 2) Tools that are based on personal traits Another kind of tools profiles the test person’s cultural type and knowledge. • Intercultural Effectiveness Scale • CultureActive • Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory
• The first dimension is Continuous Learning. This dimension assesses our interest in learning and general curiosity as well as our interest in better understanding ourselves. Continuous Learning is comprised of two dimensions: Self-Awareness and Exploration • The second dimension is Interpersonal Engagement. It evaluates our interest in understanding various peoples and places in the world and developing actual relationships with people who are different from us. Interpersonal Engagement is comprised of two dimensions: Global Mindset and Relationship Interest
• Overseas Assignment Inventory
Category listing 1) Tools that are based on the ideas of cultural dimensions These tools use the concepts of interculturalists like Geert Hofstede or Fons Trompenaars to assess how culturally “typical” the test person’s values are compared to people from his own culture. The results can often be contrasted with the target culture this person is going to.
The three dimensions of the IES are summarized below:
The Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES) was developed specifically to evaluate the competencies critical to interacting effectively with people who are from cultures other than our own. The competencies assessed by the IES are equally applicable to evaluating how well people work effectively with people within the same community who are different from them (gender, generation, ethnic group, religious affiliation, and so forth). The IES focuses on three dimensions of intercultural effectiveness. These three dimensions are combined to generate an Overall Intercultural Effectiveness Score, which is reported in a individual feedback report. This report includes analyses of the dimension scores, explanations of scoring profiles, and personal development planning for intercultural effectiveness.
• The final dimension is Hardiness. Interacting with people who differ from us culturally, generationally, religiously and so forth entails psychological effort. This effort, in turn, always produces varying levels of stress, uncertainty, anxiety and sometimes fear. Hardiness is comprised of two dimensions: Positive Regard and Resilience Works cited: Fantini, A.: Assessing Intercultural Competence. Tools & Issues. In: Deardorff: The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence (2004)
The Complete Overview To get the complete overview of this intercultural competence assessment tool review, including some of the tools considered by AFS for the upcoming ICL Competence Project that will be implemented for staff and leadership volunteers in the coming years, please read the attached full paper. Comments and questions are welcome. Please share your thoughts with Annette Gisevisus at AFS Germany: Annette.Gisevius@afs.org
For a comprehensive overview w of assessment tools, please see the he attached PDF.
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News you can use: Technology & Cultural Adjustment LISA COHEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT, AFS INTERNATIONAL "Maria, time for dinner! Please come to the table." "OK, Mom, just as soon as I ďŹ nish playing this internet game with my natural sister back home!" In the old days, when a student left home to participate on an AFS exchange program, the young person made a decision to create new personal connections in her host community and she did not need to review this decision several times per day. A student, like Maria in the dialogue above, would say goodbye to her family, friends, teachers and neighbors and not communicate with them until her return nearly one year later. This old-style model of intercultural exchange had the advantage that the participant was immediately and fully immersed in the host culture and the host community, needing right away to rely on the people in the new environment for support - both practical and personal. Nowadays the exchange experience is different. Some ďŹ nd technological advances an improvement since they allow the exchange participant to easily keep in touch with those back home during the program, even for a program as long as one year, thanks to the development of tools like mobile phones and the internet. However, the downside of these technological advances is that the participant must frequently review her decision to go on an exchange program, sometimes as often as ten or twenty times per day. How is this possible? you may ask. In the old days Maria may have been in her room doing homework when her host mother called her to come for dinner. Maria may have been watching television with her host sister or even writing a letter to her natural family back home, a letter that would take two
weeks to arrive and another two weeks to be answered. Today while Maria's mother calls her for dinner she could be catching up with dozens of friends back home via Facebook, emailing with her natural parents, texting (using sms) with her boyfriend back home via her cell phone or instant messaging on the computer with her natural sister. The many new avenues of communication opened by modern technology have the advantage of allowing people to remain connected despite enormous physical distances. The negative aspect of this advance for an exchange participant is that this can make it hard to live the life of the place in which she actually resides. Cultural adjustment, and acclimation to a new location in general, is largely a function of connecting with local people. There are elements of learning the physical environment, the transportation and monetary systems, absorbing the local language and new types of food. But all of these adjustments are facilitated by contact with local people. It is through building relationships with local people that a newcomer becomes integrated into a community. For an exchange student, regularly sharing daily challenges and achievements with a host family member or new friend is often the mark that they have begun to truly adjust to their new home, to acclimate and acculturate to their new community. If an individual continues to share their daily events, their emotional highs and lows, with people back home, this can severely limit and delay the adjustment process. By having so much technology available the exchange student may be frequently
tempted to rely on long-held relationships to share the ups and downs of daily life, especially as the transition period can require extra support. In this current scenario, the exchange participant must daily (and often many times per day) actively choose to connect with people physically close to her, even though they are not as well known as the people in her home community. How can we support an exchange participant in coping with this ongoing challenge? Host family members, local volunteers and new friends can make an effort to help hosted participants to become involved in activities like sports, dance classes, language lessons, and social clubs. These groups are an effective way to connect with people in the new (physical) environment with similar interests. These in-person local contacts make it easier for a newcomer to be linked to those in the same location. Another important area of support is for host parents and local volunteers to help participants to limit their time on the computer at home and texting with those back home. Host families need to communicate clearly and early about expectations so that hosted participants know the house rules and what is considered reasonable time to communicate each week with natural family and friends in the home community. Local volunteers can assist by encouraging host parents to communicate directly and soon after
6 arrival so that expectations are known. Volunteers can also share guidelines that have worked for other host and natural families, such as limiting skyping to once per week or only speaking by phone on holidays. Exchange participants themselves should be encouraged to be aware of the need to make this choice and should talk with loved ones back home about how they can best support them during the exchange. Sometimes a rule made by AFS or by a host family can provide a good "excuse" for a participant to, for example, tell her friends back home "I'm only allowed 30 minutes per day on the family computer" or to tell her natural family that "my host family only allows me to skype on weekends." Sometimes part of the challenge is the desire of the natural family members to continue a close communication with the participant. Sending offices can help natural families think about how to establish a schedule for contact with the
participant so as to help the participant better integrate in the host community. Natural families can also be encouraged to remind the participant that the key to solving problems lies in bringing problems to the attention of local people who can help them - host families, AFS volunteers, school teachers or CPO (Community Project Organization) contacts - as opposed to turning to their support system back home. New technologies can also be used to enhance the exchange experience. Participants can use these same tools, like skype and social networking sites, to solidify connections with new friends in the host country. Participants can also use things like skype and a web camera to connect their host and natural families or their close friends in their home and host communities. In addition, new technologies have led to resources like interactive intercultural learning activities (such as La Brack’s What’s up with Culture?) online language learning materials (see a list attached), and
social networks that can help participants to connect to the host culture before the physical exchange begins. What is relevant about advanced communication technologies is that each exchange participant must now constantly manage the expectations of their social networks back home even while seeking to build new social contacts in their host community. This possibility adds an extra layer of expectation on what is already quite an intense transition. Ideally, AFS volunteers and host families can help the participant by being aware of this stress and offering support to efforts to focus on the people who are actually in the next room, inviting you to dinner. Attached please find a PDF of Internet tips from AFS USA, a list ist of online language resources, and this article translated into both French and Spanish. (4 attachments)
TIPS FOR MANAGING YOUR INTERNET USE This is an abridged version of tips from Betsy Hansel’s book, The Exchange Student Survival Kit, © Bettina Hansel, 2007. For a more in-depth list and other useful information please obtain a copy of the book directly from the publisher or through AFS International at a discounted price of $15 for AFS Partners. Please contact Hristo Banov at hristo.banov@afs.org to order 20 or more copies for your organization.
Regardless of how much Internet access you have on your host family’s computer, pretend that you have purchased only 30 minutes of Internet time per day. You can use that time all in one night or save some for another night. Pull up a second chair while you are searching the Internet for news about your home country and invite your host mother, your host brother, or a new friend to search with you. While video chatting with friends and family back home you will want some time for private conversation. However, you can also plan for a group video chat where you can introduce your host family to your family and friends back home. Use chat sparingly. Chat can be used if you need to get a quick answer to a question, but don’t make it your social life. Keep it real! Why not try writing a blog or newsletter to send to all of your friends and family back home? If you must check your email everyday, try to limit yourself to writing only one substantive email per day. Make sure that you never lose an opportunity for a face-to-face conversation to have a virtual one. Without building relationships in your host culture, you are simply living your previous life in another culture.
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Educational Relations at the Grassroots Level: Establishing Good School Relations: Intercultural & Global Education Seminars for Teachers HANA KREJSOVA, PROGRAM DIRECTOR, AFS CZECH REPUBLIC A new initiative from AFS Czech Republic takes advantage of changing classroom demographics to establish AFS as an expert educational resource, gain exposure and attract new supporters and volunteers. If you would like to learn more about this program to pilot in your own country, please contact Hana at hana.kreisova@afs.org.
“We have an obligation to implement intercultural education into the educational curriculum, however, no one has ever told us exactly how to do this. I hope to gain new methods and tips on how to deal with foreign students in the classroom,” says a high school teacher while speaking about her expectations of a one-day intercultural education seminar organized by AFS CZE. She is explaining exactly the reason why we see our “Intercultural & Global Education Seminars” as a successful way to become an organization that is recognized by schools as an expert in intercultural education and a partner who provides related services and knowledge. The teachers who attend our seminars are interested not only in methods of intercultural education, but also in other important, related topics emerging in our schools and in which AFS has expertise, for example how to deal with students in the classroom who do not have Czech language skills.
How the Seminars Work The teachers come together for one full day of interactive activities such as practical methods trainings, plus thematic discussions: an explanation of the DMIS, how to evaluate the intercultural sensitivity of high school students and how to improve intercultural communication skills. A follow-up meeting then happens after the teachers have returned to the classroom so that they can evaluate the methods learned. Benefits The teachers and schools benefit by learning new theories and practical information; for us the event provides a possibility to explain the role and goals of AFS and to identify motivated teachers who can help us with our work through AFS program promotion or active volunteering on the local level. It is also a good volunteer development tool for us with a second audience: To make the concept sustainable and to help our young volunteers (returnees) lose their fear of getting involved with school relations, we invite them to the seminars as “experts” who share their knowledge of how hosted or foreign students can feel and what they need from the school, teachers and classmates while trying to adapt to a new environment. This strategy will also help us to recruit appropriate local school coordinator volunteers. Expansion Plans Following our first experiences with the seminars we have decided to broaden the
concept a bit further and link the events to the AFS cycle. We will offer it especially to hosting schools, to class teachers or contact teachers of the hosted students, but also to other interested schools. Intercultural topics and the integration of foreigners is still a brand new topic for all Czech schools making this cooperation especially useful for both sides. We have also started cooperation with educational bodies at the local district level: The district office promotes our seminars among all the corresponding high schools and we are responsible for the quality of the seminars. Funding & The Future Recently we were very happy to apply for and receive financial support of USD 150,000 from the European Social Fund to conduct our workshops on intercultural learning at schools and to employ a national school coordinator in our small office who will help us further develop these and other programs. This will ensure continued enhancement of the relationship between AFS and schools in the Czech Republic.
EDUCATIONAL RELATIONS AT THE INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL: THE STORY OF ENTRECULTURAS MAGAZINE ROSARIO GUTIERREZ, PARTNER DIRECTOR, AFS COLOMBIA TRANSLATED AND EDITED IN ENGLISH BY LISA COHEN More than simply providing international exchange programs, AFS provides an opportunity for guided experiential intercultural learning, a concept that is both more comprehensive and more global than that of only an “international exchange organization.” However, to think of AFS as an intercultural learning organization brings with it great responsibilities, not only in terms of the educational content that must be present throughout all of our
activities with participants, volunteers and staff, but also in the relations that we establish at the institutional and corporate level: It requires us to reconsider how we present ourselves in front of other institutions. AFS has been recognized for its traditional "exchange" programs, particularly having met with great success in the region in the 1960s-80s. Although particularly difficult in Latin
America, we aspire to more: We want to be known as an organization of intercultural learning that studies, reflects, and learns both from our successes and from external events at home and abroad in order to find ways to connect them to our experiences and realities. For this reason, beginning in 2002 after the Network Meeting in Baltimore, a group of AFS organizations in the
8 Americas decided to create a publication, a magazine to be exact, with contents that would be related to all things intercultural in order to approach institutions and businesses in a way that not only talked about our program offerings, but also presented us in a more academic light.
The idea was to unite the efforts of various Spanish-speaking countries in creating a presentation tool about serious academic reflections that could be used with embassies, ministries, universities, high schools, and other institutions related to learning. Our goal was to demonstrate that AFS is much more than an international travel and logistics organization: It is one of reflection; one that has educational goals and structures opportunities for academic achievements; and that works with others in the educational field of intercultural communications and understanding. Since that time, Entreculturas has become the intercultural learning magazine of AFS in Latin America. The nine founding countries of the project: BRA, CHI, COL CRC, DOM, GUA, PAN, PAR, and PER have published five editions of Enterculturas focusing on themes such as globalization, conflict, displacement, what “interculturalism” means, and, most recently, the many ways that AFS is an intercultural learning organization—the
latter with the goal of celebrating AFS's 60th anniversary. We celebrate with the support of AFS International and the current Partners (ARG, BRA, COL, CRC, DOM, GUA, MEX, and PER) our first five editions. The magazine has allowed Partners in the region to confidently approach Ministries of Education, embassies, universities, high schools, etc., as an educational organization that focuses not only on participation, but also reflection. Today, to ensure that this view of AFS is reinforced and that we reach more and new audiences with it, we are considering various innovation projects. It is with this in mind that our Entreculturas magazine soon will be renovated, using more virtual media that will allow us to impact a greater number of people and through which we hope to inspire our volunteers and staff to find event greater motivation to fulfill the AFS mission and our Vision 2020.
Attached please find a PDF off the original article in Spanish.
TRAINING SESSION OUTLINE: BRUCE LA BRACK’S DIFFERENT DAYS, DIFFERENT WAYS EXERCISE AFS Educational Advisory Council member and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of the Pacific in California, Bruce La Brack, shares this exercise for anticipating, adapting to, learning from, and returning from an overseas sojourn by reflecting on daily living patterns. The objectives of this exercise are to assist study abroad students to anticipate or reflect on the impact of entering another culture in terms of the differences between their “typical home schedule” and “a typical day abroad.” By directly addressing this, participants can: 1) gain a more accurate assessment of the similarities and differences they will face in their daily lives after entering a new cultural context; 2) consider the mental and behavioral alterations it might be necessary for them to make as they seek to adjust to the new realities; and
3) think about how cultural and social values of both the host society and home society are reflected in these historical patterns and preferences. This exercise may be used at various stages of the international sojourn/study abroad cycle including predeparture, initial entry into the host culture, pre-reentry before coming home, and during the reentry process.
Attached please find a Word document of Bruce La on Brack’s Different Days, Different Ways Training Session Outline (TSO), both in English and Spanish. You will u also find a time chart to supplement the activity. You are encouraged to translate this document to your local language and use it as needed.
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AFS GERMANY JOINS A COOPERATION TO ORGANIZE THE FIRST “SUMMER ACADEMY ON INTERCULTURAL EXPERIENCE” ANNETTE GISEVIUS, EXPERT IN INTERCULTURAL LEARNING, AFS GERMANY In the summer of 2010, from 16 August to 3 September, the first “Summer Academy on Intercultural Experience” will take place in Karlsruhe, in the south of Germany. It will be cooperatively organized by Karlshochschule – International University and AFS Germany. It approaches relevant topics in the field of intercultural management and communication and is intended to foster the intercultural perspective within the field of management theory as well as to develop applied solutions for the problems in business and society. The Summer Academy will last three weeks (16 August - 3 September 2010) and students can enroll for either two or three weeks. The academy will offer lectures on Intercultural Communication, Intercultural Management, Cultures and Conflicts, European Cultural Studies, Intercultural Training and Coaching as well as Intercultural Teams and Leadership. All courses will include workshop sessions with complementary theoretical and practical content offered by academic staff and AFS trainers which are experts with large experience in international environments.
ICL Field Conferences & Event Updates Feb - Apr 2010
If you are aware of upcoming conferences in the intercultural area, please advise Hristo Banov at hristo.banov@afs.org
For the AFS Network the Summer Academy offers several unique possibilities:
•
• •
AFS volunteers and staff can use this opportunity for their own education. Special “early bird” prices for AFSers are available as well as scholarship options. Those who are undergraduate students can obtain up to 6 European academic credit points for their participation. Experienced AFS Trainers can apply to become a trainer of the Summer Academy. In a team with a faculty member they can teach one of the 5-day classes. AFS’ contribution to the Summer Academy will be part of our ongoing commitment of becoming one of the leaders in intercultural education. For the first time AFS can demonstrate its broad competencies at the university level.
For more information and to read the call for trainers, please note the webpage http://summeracademykarlsruhe.org/
February
March
April
CSIET 2010 National School Conference on International Youth Exchange; 19 - 20 February; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA http://www.csiet.org/meetingsactivities/national-schoolconference.html ***AFS will attend***
1er Congreso Internacional en la red sobre Interculturalidad y Educacion; 1 - 21 March; Online Congress in Spain www.congresointerculturalidad .net/index.php
CAIR – Conference on Applied Interculturality Research; 7-10 April; Graz, Austria http://www.ifacca.org/events/ 2010/04/07/conferenceapplied-interculturalityresearch-cair/
Association of International Education Administrators Annual Conference; 14 -18 February; Washington DC, USA http:// www.educatorsprofessionaldevel opment.com/association-ofinternational-educationadministrators-annualconference
The Families in Global Transition Conference; 4 March; Houston, TX, USA http://www.figt.org/ The Sixth Annual Forum on Education Abroad Conference: “Vision and Value in Education Abroad”; 24 - 26 March; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA http://www.forumea.org/ Charlotte2010.htm
Living and Working in an Intercultural World, Tenth Annual Conference; 14 – 17 April; Spokane, WA, USA http:// www.sietarusaconference.com
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REVIEW OF THE FORUM ON INTERCULTURAL LEARNING AND EXCHANGE, OCTOBER 2009, COLLE DI VAL D’ELSA, ITALY DR. ROBERTO RUFFINO, SECRETARY GENERAL, INTERCULTURA, ITALY 61 researchers, academics and practitioners from eleven countries met in Colle di Val d'Elsa (Italy) from October 3rd to 6th at the first "Forum on Intercultural Learning and Exchange," convened and funded by the Intercultura Foundation. The Forum was organised in cooperation
some general guide questions allowed for ‘an emergent design’ to take place. It served our social and professional needs quite nicely. I can honestly say that this conference was the most enjoyable and intellectually productive I have
with the Intercultural Development Reasearch Institute. Among the participants were Nancy Aalto, Shoko Araki, David Bachner, Milton Bennett, Oyvind Dahl, Lilli Engle, Bruce La Brack, Liisa Salo-Lee, Nan Sussman, the head of the school of education of the University of Milan, the
experienced for many years. Congratulations on providing such a satisfying and useful event.
members of the intercultural task force of Intercultura, Partner Directors of AFS Organisations and other representatives of the AFS Network and EFIL (the European Federation of Intercultural Learning).
"This was truly a ‘working’ situation designed to have maximal interaction, sharing and collegial exchange. Good mix of people and everything supported the process. It was a fine example of how to assemble and facilitate a group to achieve a positive synergy. It was, at least for me, an exciting, useful and ultimately quite successful gathering. Everyone in my discussion groups seemed quite satisfied with the breakout sessions. Of course, ultimately I most enjoyed the opportunity to see old friends and colleagues as well as make some new contacts. I hope you were happy with the results of your endeavors. Everyone I talked to had nothing but praise for the entire place, process and outcomes."
The first part of the Forum debated the issue of defining and measuring intercultural competence. In the second part, the issue of returning to the home country after experiencing a new culture and sharing impressions with friends and family, was discussed. The working structure provided a framework for initial round table discussions (not presentations) among experts on the topic of the day, followed by two rounds of small group discussions (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) where academics and practitioners worked together and exchanged views. Days ended with interactive panel presentations from the group leaders. Bruce La Brack summarized his experiences and impressions from partcipating as follows: "The format worked quite well [...]. The idea of keeping things relatively loosely structured but with a thematic focus and
The next Forum is scheduled for the fall of 2011.
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Current Network & Partner Initiatives: Discovering the Diversity of the World Through AFS Russia’s Culture Club ANNA COLLIER, SENIOR INTERCULTURAL LEARNING INTERN, AFS INTERNATIONAL (IN COLLABORATION WITH NATALIA ZAKHAROVA, AFS RUSSIA) Diversity is all around us, but do we really understand just how much variance there is in the world? Different religions, different life-styles, different access to resources.
there are no deadlines, so participants can complete the tasks and activities at their own pace. Additionally, the modules are created for distance learning and require only a desire to participate and access to a computer
At the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year, AFS Russia launched an educational project with the goal of increasing awareness of the diversity that exists in this world. Through a series of six or seven modules over the course of a year, participants will begin to understand the way their own culture impacts their perception of the world. The tasks and activities will assist participants in recognizing and learning about new cultures, coping with the stress that arises from interacting with other cultures, reducing the use of prejudice and negative stereotypes, and developing creative approaches to solving difficult and/or controversial cross-cultural situations.
AFS Russia hopes that the Culture Club will continue to spread on a national level, increasing people’s awareness of diversity issues, but also their familiarity with AFS and its intercultural mission. The project’s cultural objective, to help people overcome judgmental, polarized reactions to other cultures, is monitored via participants’ module reports. The second objective, to increase visibility of AFS in Russia, will hopefully engage new volunteers, host families, participants, and schools. For more information on the Culture Club Project, please contact Natalia Zakharova at AFS Russia (natalia.zakharova@afs.org) or visit the AFS Russia homepage: www.afs.ru.
Everyone is invited to participate in the Culture Club project and one can start at any time; there are no restrictions regarding age, gender, or profession. All one needs to do is send an e-mail to Natalia Zakharova at AFS Russia (natalia.zakharova@afs.org) requesting participation. Project information and materials are forwarded via email directly to Culture Club participants and each subsequent module is sent as soon the previous one is completed. To demonstrate completion of a module, participants write a report describing the implementation of the required tasks and activities. Each of the modules has a different topic. The first three focus on the following themes: (1) Picture of the with an Internet connection. The World – Myths and Realities, (2) modules provide all of the necessary Countries of the World and the AFS materials, including a description, World, and (3) World Languages additional content, a list of useful Internet Interesting Facts. The remaining three or links, a blank certificate of participation, four modules will be developed over the presentations, and video and audio files. course of 2010. As of December 2009, there have been 120 requests for participation in the project. Some of the reasons behind the huge success of the project so far are related to the design of the program;
significantly increased. The Culture Club is currently present in 76 cities in Russia, many of which are small towns and villages isolated from regular intercultural contact. People from these rural locations are very enthusiastic about the club’s activities and they are eager to participate in such a big project.
The majority of the current participants in the Culture Club project are school teachers who are using the materials in their classrooms. Thus, the amount of people influenced by the project’s intercultural message is being
Preview of Module 1: Everyone has a mental picture of what the world is like and, often, we suppose that it is the same picture for everyone. But our planet has a population of 6.7 billion people and the realities in which we live are much more complex than that. The objective of Module 1 is to take a closer look at different realities present in this world through the help of games and a quiz. Geographical and statistical information will reveal the diversity of the world and bring the responsibility of the future to our “common home.” This information will help participants see the world from a different perspective and be able to define their place in it. Understanding how everything is interrelated will allow participants to make reasonable and important decisions in the future.
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Beyond-AFS ICL news: Interview with Bruce La Brack Dr. Bruce La Brack is a current faculty member of the Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication (SIIC) and has recently retired from his position of professor of anthropology and international studies in the School of International Studies at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California. La Brack has published extensively on cultural adjustment issues and has created a website titled What’s Up With Culture?, which provides the general public with access to intercultural orientation materials. Bruce La Brack is also a member of the AFS Educational Advisory Council. This month he spoke to Anna Collier, Senior Intercultural Learning Intern at AFS International, about the history of the intercultural field, its core teachings, and where it might be ten years from now. How did you get involved in the intercultural field? Unlike many other people, I can precisely date it to a chance meeting. I was going to a conference in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1977. It was a Peace Corps training session—not to teach in the Peace Corps, but the philosophy and techniques behind Peace Corps training. Sitting out by the pool one night, I met these two people named Milton and Janet Bennett, who themselves were just back from a Peace Corps assignment in Truk (in Micronesia). We sat around half the night with others interested in the topic and talked about the fact that the kind of training that one needed, in order to cross cultural borders, was very different from the sort of traditional fieldwork training that I myself had received as a cultural anthropologist. It just so happens that a year before, I had started the first credit-bearing, integrated orientation and re-entry program in the United States for studyabroad students at the University of the Pacific. There were hardly any materials out there to use. The Intercultural Press was just getting started and few journals were regularly publishing articles related to intercultural research. That chance meeting led to a friendship that eventually resulted in my invitation to join the senior faculty of the Summer Institute in 1989. It also led, in 2000, to moving the Master’s degree in Intercultural Relations (MAIR) from the prior university to the University of the Pacific. By 1989, when I went to teach at the Summer Institute, I had realized that I was becoming more and more interested in intercultural theory and types of training. In the early ‘80s, a lot of the excellent
literature started to appear. That is when people like the Bennetts, Edward T. Hall, Dean Barnlund, Edward Stewart, Jack Condon and Michael Paige, among many others, were all doing research and publishing in this area, and I became more and more attracted to and integrated into the intercultural world, moving from a strict cultural anthropology focus to a more intercultural one.
core role that intercultural communication, or lack of it, plays when people are trying to work together in multicultural settings. Whether it is business or education, nursing, the military, missionaries, or the diplomatic corps, it would be nice if people would recognize and understand the central importance of intercultural communication in achieving successful interaction.
You mentioned that you began your career as a cultural anthropologist. What was it exactly about the intercultural field that led you to switch disciplines?
I think that people tend to think of it as a frill, or they think of it as something that could be dealt with peripherally, when, in my opinion, it lies at the heart of the process when people from different cultural backgrounds are interacting with one another. And, if they fundamentally misunderstand each other, the best of intentions won’t make it work right. I always caution study abroad students that unless you know differently, consider that whatever conflicts you are having with someone interculturally are a matter of the differences in values present in the situation, rather than the ‘fault’ of the individuals involved.
Part of the reason is that anthropology, as a discipline, has never taken advantage of intercultural theory and practice, whereas [the] intercultural [area] has always borrowed heavily from anthropology, taking useful things out of fieldwork, theory, language, proxemics, all of that, but it hasn’t been reciprocated in any serious way by anthropology. This was precisely my experience and, in some ways, is emblematic of how much of a gap there is between the two disciplines. The issue for us interculturalists is not the observer looking at the observed, but what examining the interaction and impact between the observer and the observed can tell us. Intercultural has always had the perspective that interaction is a mutual learning situation, that both sides are likely to have to make adjustments. I guess the reality is that, after a certain point, probably in the mid ‘80s, I felt more at home and more comfortable in the intercultural realm than I did in mainstream anthropology. And that has continued to the present. What do you wish more people would understand about intercultural work? It would be nice if people understood the
What are the hot topics in ICL these days? There is probably a series of interrelated things. The first thing is: What are the cultural impacts and perceptions of globalization? It is a world-wide phenomenon that basically touches every country, every population, and yet the impacts are not very well understood. I think that there are lots of unintended consequences that occur, even when things are done for altruistic reasons and with benign motivations. And then there is another part that is related to intra-group tension, and that is immigration. Immigration is seen by many people as essentially a negative thing and there are a lot of misperceptions about immigrants
13 and immigration, as well as widespread racism and pretty negative stereotyping by people who, I think, basically fear difference. The extent to which we define people who are actually very heterogeneous and have widely varying beliefs, and we simply place them in a single category, seems to me not very useful or productive. There is a lot of instinctive resistance that arises which is also largely driven by fear. And that is not just the United States. You’ve got xenophobia worldwide, including Europe, Asia and Africa. It is a global phenomenon. These areas are pretty huge, but the consequences, if we don’t do something more positive about them, will generate or perpetuate problems that could become intractable. From a psychological standpoint, it seems that contesting parties are frequently creating false images and each side is demonizing the other. This is the opposite of the intercultural approach, which is trying to understand. You don’t
have to agree with the other person, but you at least have to try to understand where they are coming from. And why they may hold a particular view and engage in specific behavior. How has the ICL field changed since you entered it? We have had a wonderful, delightful explosion of information and it is really picking up speed through the Internet. We are just at the beginning of using the Internet as [an effective] research tool, to deliver training, exchange information, make contact with other people, blog, and have dialogs. We will not recognize the field in ten years. Ten years ago, would you have imagined where the field is today? No. I think that I would not have imagined that people would be able to get MA’s and PhD’s in the intercultural field, nor that so many corporations and governments and non-profit
Intercultural Learning Work Group Johanna Nemeth Rosario Gutierrez Annette Gisevius Lisa Cohen Melissa Liles, Chair Lucas Welter Roberto Ruffino Robin Weber
(AUT) (COL) (GER) (INT) (INT) (INT) (ITA) (USA)
Call for Submissions Partners are invited to submit articles, news items and intercultural activities with accompanying graphics or photos for consideration in future issues of Intercultural Link. Submissions can be AFS-specific or part of the larger Intercultural Learning (ICL) field. Simply send your inputs to Hristo Banov at AFS International: hristo.banov@afs.org
agencies and educational institutions would become concerned with the topic of cultural competency. The idea of cultural competency, and having to become culturally competent, is seen as very important and not just for liberal arts and social sciences. Competency has become increasingly relevant in engineering, in medicine, in dentistry, and in lots of areas that we might not normally have thought that intercultural might play a key supportive role. Now it is less common for people to ignore issues of cultural competency than for people to attempt to deal with them sensitively and appropriately. Stay tuned for the next issue of the ICLink, when Bruce La Brack will talk about Re-Entry, one of his specialties. The article will be written by Anna Collier, as told to her by La Brack.
Visit Bruce La Brack’s Website, What’s Up With Culture: http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/
Intercultural Newsletter Editor Editorial Consultant Layout & Research Design Consultant & Graphics Contributing Writer
Lisa Cohen Melissa Liles Hristo Banov Raquel Martinez Anna Collier
YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERCULTURAL LEARNING IN THE AFS NETWORK VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 3 - FEBRUARY / MARCH 2010
Questions or Comments to: hristo.banov@afs.org