AFS Intercultural Link news magazine, volume 4 issues 2&3 - global edition

E D I T I O N G L O B A L

YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERCULTURAL LEARNING IN THE AFS NETWORK

INTERCULTURAL LEARNING

State of the AFS Network MELISSA LILES, CHIEF EDUCATION OFFICER, AFS INTERNATIONAL

Добро јутро! ¡Buenos días! Magandang umaga! Günaydın!

Good morning!

Starting this August, thousands of families north of the equator will learn this and many other daily phrases in a language other than their own thanks to the exchange student they will host for the next months.

With the arrival of these studens, AFSers will have yet another cycle of hard but rewarding work on host family recruitment in their rear-view mirror. It goes without saying that this is always a task of utmost importance: research demonstrates that the Intercultural Learning (ICL) process of AFS sojourners is strongly influenced by their host families (page 9).

This issue explores topics relevant for host families, especially new ones: Through daily intercultural interactions within the family, our students across the globe learn about the visible and invisible principles of their new cultures, rethink their values in light of these, and, as a consequence, develop personally.

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Intercultural Learning for (New) Host Families Overcome basic obstacles in intercultural communication on page 4.

Explore Intercultural Learning activities on page 6.

continued on page 2

IN THIS ISSUE Intercultural Learning: State of the AFS Network

by Melissa Liles Page 1 Network & Partner Initiatives: InterCOOL Interethnic Camp

by Inge-Jelena Kroker Page 3 Concepts & Theories: Overcoming Obstacles in Intercultural Communication

by Milena Miladinovic Page 4 Learning Session Outline: Introducing Host Families to ICL Anna Collier Page 6

Network & Partner Initiatives: Exploring the Intersection of Places, Cultures and People in Education Hazar Yildirim Page 8 Network & Partner Initiatives: E-ntercultural Learning - Virtual Tools and Their Impact on Youth Exchange Inga Menke Page 9 Impact of Living Abroad: Host Families: Key to Successful Cultural Adaptation Anna Collier Page 10 Beyond ICL News: Interview with Fred Dervin

by Milena Miladinovic Page 12

Meet an ICL Responsible Dunja Zivanovic, AFS Serbia Page 13 Intercultural Link Learning Program Update Page 14 Network & Partner Initiatives: Intercultural Education Forum

by Nathalie Guzman Bencosme Page 15 Meet our Advisors Mick Vande Berg, PhD Page 15 Conference Update: At the Forefront of International Higher Education Page 16 Network & Partner Initiatives: Renewing a Long-Standing Relationship

by Eva Vitkova Page 16

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And, even though they often may not see themselves as such, we in AFS know that host families are also co-learners in intercultural exchanges. Apart from the obvious learning about the tangible culture of their new hosted family member, they will also have the opportunity to discover the hidden aspects of their own and the “exchange” culture.

Of course, not everything on the learning path will go smoothly, which is where the structured experiential learning framework of AFS steps in.

We review the common difficulties in intercultural communication and ways to avoid or cope with them. You can use our adaptation of LaRay M. Barna’s “stumbling blocks of intercultural communications” on page 4 to help host families better understand what layers exist in communication with members of a different culture and how to overcome potential pitfalls.

For even more practical purposes, explore three “mini” Intercultural Learning activities we’ve compiled for host families (page 6). These simple yet effective suggestions can help them—or any of us—sample how it feels to adapt to another culture in order to anticipate

what this “new culture” experience is like for the participant coming to live with them.

Beginning with this issue we are proud to begin profiling members of the AFS Educational Advisory Council, a body that helps guide the research and educational efforts of AFS. Mick Vande Berg is our newest member whose insights have helped thousands of intercultural learners at the high school and university levels throughout his career (page 15).

Another friend of AFS, Fred Dervin, shares his insights into the relationships between intercultural competence and language learning (page 12).

Among his recommendations for AFS is to standardize an understanding of ICL across our network. This advice is encouraging given the enthusiasm AFS organizations around the world have in implementing the Intercultural Link Learning Program (page 14).

And, take inspiration from the many different AFS partner, network and regional projects featured in this issue: the InterCOOLtura Camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina, an EFILled seminar on intercultural

e-learning, the Spectrum of Education conference for teachers in Turkey, Yale University’s Alumni Service Corps program in Ghana, and first-of-its-kind educational symposium in the Dominican Republic.

Finally, if you follow AFS on Facebook or Twitter, you might have noticed that in recent weeks we’ve begun posing more and more reflection questions – both fun and serious – and sharing intercultural insights from our blog in these social media channels. We invite you to share, like and retweet, and keep the learning connections flowing!

Warmly,

GOODBYE ANNA! We wish Anna Collier well as she heads to Paris, then Singapore to pursue MBA studies at INSEAD. Anna will step down from her position as manager of intercultural learning services at AFS International. Since she first joined the International team in 2009, many AFSers around the world have had the pleasure of working with Anna. She has been central to important projects in the education and intercultural learning area including the AFS ICL Responsibles initiative, our digital library, the AFS ICL Organizational Profiles, as well as many contributions to the Intercultural Link Learning Program and this news magazine. We will miss Anna, but count on staying in touch.

Thank you and au revoir, Anna!

Welcome Milena & Margaux!

We are pleased to welcome Milena Miladinovic to the education and Intercultural Learning team in New York. Milena will be a communications fellow supporting our efforts to further AFS’s visibility as an educational organization. She comes to us with the blessing of AFS Serbia and has a background in organizational development, programs sending coordination, training and was the Serbian organization’s ICL Responsible. Her communications background includes working for the Red Cross in South East Europe where she helped organize and activate a regional communications strategy complete with digital and social media outreach.

Also joining us is Margaux Dillon who will be interning with the Learning Program team.

Margaux holds dual French and US citizenship, has a master’s degree in History, Communications, Corporation & International Affairs. She was recently the e-learning project coordinator on an anti-corruption program for the International Chamber of Commerce. Based in New York, Margaux is an active volunteer for various cultural institutions..

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NETWORK & PARTNER INITIATIVES

InterCOOL Interethnic Camp BASED ON INPUT BY INGE-JELENA KROKER, VOLUNTEER, AFS BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

The topic of Intercultural Learning (ICL) is a core part of everyday work in AFS Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dealing with different divisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the years has made us aware that we need to work to help our own youth, especially those from small and isolated towns, overcome national, religious and ethnic questions and cultural misunderstanding in order to begin interacting constructively and cooperatively.

Having seen how ICL positively affects the lives of AFS exchange students – opening them up to possibilities for adopting new ways of living and thinking while working to create a better world – Mirela Hrnjic, President of AFS Bosnia and Herzegovina, and board member Svjetlana Markovic wondered if we might develop a local Intercultural Learning project that would result in some of the same transformative effects.

Mirela and Svjetlana took their ideas to the US Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina whose generous grant resulted in the first InterCOOL Interethnic Camp on Intercultural Learning.

The camp had an ambitious program covering a wide range of topics: • Participants were first introduced to each other through presentations about the history and values of different peoples in Bosnia and Hezegovina and discussions about culture. Self-reflection exercises helped participants find similarities and differences between themselves and others and learn that they are determined by their background, family, and community possibilities.

• Next was an introduction to Intercultural Learning based on What Every AFSer Should Know about Intercultural Learning®, followed by an overview of social entrepreneurship based on Ashoka Youth Venture’s “Dream it. Do it.

Challenge.” model.

• Another feature of the camp was a series of workshops called Intercultural Learning through the Five Senses. These used music, photography, cuisine, new media, and dance to help participants to learn about African, North and Latin American, Asian, and European values and practices without leaving their own country. This exposure also gave participants an opportunity to analyze their own cultural identities.

• Community mapping was used to further define where the campers come from, what possibilities they have, what they like as well as what they want to change about themselves.

gathering another 30 participants from six cities to offer similar workshops. Others designed InterCOOL-like weekend workshops for students from their school whose outcomes were presented in class.

Among the many insights gained during the Camp, participants realized that “culture” and “Intercultural Learning” are complex terms with many possible perspectives and ways to define them: Culture can be thought of as social heritage, traditions, symbols used in everyday communication and life, rules of communication, common values, and more. They concluded that they want to learn more and use this knowledge in their everyday life.

Participants also discussed their shame of stereotypes about We need to work to their peers from other help our own youth communities – those of overcome national, nationalism, jealousy, racism – and how these largely come religious and from the lack of knowledge. ethnic questions They discovered important and cultural common values, too: honesty, misunderstanding gratitude, modesty, and in order to begin respect toward others and family.

interacting constructively.

• Finally, combining passions and problems, participants built a “tree of problems” they used to help identify intercultural projects to implement back in their home communities: In one case, a group of participants from two small towns that have been separated since the civil war 20 years ago organized joint presentations in each of their towns to share what they did during the camp. Another group made a three-day mini version of the InterCOOL camp,

Today, several months after the camp, participants are still in constant contact: some meet privately and many have become AFS volunteers. For us at AFS Bosnia and Herzegovina, the biggest success of the camp has been the ongoing interaction of the participants as well as the opportunity to include more local youth in the AFS world of Intercultural Learning by using methods other than AFS’s exchange programs to help to connect people and share lives – and promote a more just and peaceful existence locally.

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CONCEPTS & THEORIES

Overcoming Obstacles in Intercultural Communication MILENA MILADINOVIC, COMMUNICATIONS FELLOW, AFS INTERNATIONAL

Adapted from “Stumbling Blocks in Intercultural Communication” by LaRay M. Barna, featured in Basic Concepts of

upcoming encounters – and inevitable challenges! – with sojourners from different cultures.

Intercultural Communication, edited by Milton J. Bennett, (1998).

1. ASSUMPTION OF SIMILARITIES

The desire to get to know more about another culture is often stated as a reason to host a foreign exchange student by a family or school. Why travel when another culture can come to you?

While this may be a good motivation for host families and schools, many people

One answer to the question of why misunderstandings occur is that many people naively assume that certain similarities exist among all people of the world; they expect that simply being human makes everyone alike.

Unfortunately, vastly different values, beliefs, and attitudes that vary from

don’t realize the potential for frustration and misunderstandings intercultural encounters may bring if they are not approached with the right attitude and preparation. Good intentions, the use of what one considers to be a friendly approach, and even the possibility of mutual benefits might not be sufficient for successful intercultural communication.

culture to culture are often overlooked.

Saying that “people are people” is a common trap, even when it reduces the discomfort of dealing with difference.

Thankfully, LaRay M. Barna singles out six potential challenges, or stumbling blocks, that may get in the way of a positive exchange experience. Although it is not easy, being aware of these six stumbling blocks is certainly the first step in avoiding them.

or not an emotion will be displayed or suppressed, as well as on which occasion and to what degree. The situations that bring about an emotional feeling also differ from culture to culture, as humans are in many ways dependent on their culture.

AFS staff and volunteers use this knowledge to assist and prepare our host families and schools to develop

Since there seem to be no or very few universals that can be used as a basis for automatic understanding, we need to

proactive coping strategies and take a constructive approach toward their

treat each encounter as an individual case. Only with the assumption of differences can reactions and interpretations be adjusted to fit reality. Without this assumption of differences, one is likely to misread signs and symbols and wrongly judge the scene.

The assumption of similarity does not often extend to the expectation of a common verbal language, but it does interfere with decoding nonverbal symbols, signs and signals. A person's cultural upbringing determines whether

Many people who prepare for intercultural encounters might only gather information about the customs of the other country and learn a bit of the language. Behaviors and

attitudes of its people are sometimes researched, but often from a secondhand source. However, information gained this way is general, rarely sufficient and may or may not be applicable to a specific situation. Also, knowing “what to expect” often blinds the observers to all but what confirms their preconception. Any contradictory evidence that does filter through the screens of preconception is likely to be treated as an exception and thus discounted. A better approach is to form a framework for on-site observations.

Even more important is to develop an investigative, nonjudgmental attitude, along with a high tolerance for ambiguity.

2. LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES Vocabulary, syntax, idioms, slang, and dialects can all cause difficulty in understanding people from other places, but the person struggling with a different language is at least aware of the challenges. A worse language problem is clinging to just one meaning of a word or phrase in a new language, regardless of connotation or context.

Even simple words like “yes” and “no” can cause misunderstandings. In some cultures, it is polite to refuse the first or second offer of a refreshment, and many sojourners have gone to bed hungry because they never got a third offer. Being aware that these differences exist and having an open conversation about them can help overcome these unwanted misunderstandings.

Discussing the differences in connotations and adjusting to the other’s communication style will be useful to get to know each other well.

3. NONVERBAL MISINTERPRETATION People from different cultures inhabit different sensory realities. They see, hear, feel, and smell only that which has some continued on page 5

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meaning or importance for them. They focus on whatever fits into their personal world of recognition and then interpret it through their own culture’s frame of reference. The misinterpretation of observable nonverbal signs and symbols such as gestures, postures, and other body movements is a definite communication barrier. However, it is possible to learn the meanings of these messages, usually in informal rather than formal ways. It is more difficult to understand the unspoken codes of the

culture can help you make sense of complex intercultural situations.

5. TENDENCY TO (QUICKLY) EVALUATE Another obstacle to understanding between persons of differing cultures is the tendency to immediately evaluate and judge someone’s actions – and do so through our own cultural values lenses which we often assume is right, proper and natural – rather than try to comprehend completely the thoughts

other culture that are less obvious, such as the handling of time and spatial relationships and subtle signs of respect or formality. It is useful to know that a student who often sleeps in is not being rude on purpose, but may rather have a different sense of time orientation.

Rather than taking offense or simply giving up, it is good to bring up the

and feelings expressed by the other person or group. It is easy to avoid a communication breakdown by not immediately evaluating a behavior, especially in situations when deep feelings and emotions become involved.

That is just the moment when we most need to pause, listen, and observe nonjudgmentally.

behaviors which seem odd and see what different values stand behind them.

Sharing your cultural norms and learning about those of the sojourner will help you better understand and cope with different nonverbal styles.

6. HIGH ANXIETY

4. PRECONCEPTIONS & STEREOTYPES Stereotypes are overgeneralized, secondhand beliefs that provide conceptual bases from which we "make sense" of what goes on around us, whether or not this is accurate or fits the circumstances.

In an intercultural setting, their use increases our sense of security and is psychologically necessary to the degree that we cannot tolerate ambiguity or the sense of helplessness when we cannot understand or deal with other people and situations. Stereotypes interfere with our objective viewing of the world around us, and they are sustained by the tendency to perceive selectively only those pieces of new information that correspond to the image held, which is not easy to overcome. A simple way of not stereotyping is to avoid qualifying the behavior of one person as being representative for the entire culture, but instead being aware that it only the example you have encountered. Staying flexible and curious about new information about the members of one

Facing new and challenging situations inevitably causes feelings of stress, anxiety, and even possible physical tension. As long as these feelings are moderate and accompanied by positive attitudes, they provide us with the necessary energy to meet these challenges.

messages that overwhelm them. Their own "normal" reactions are perceived as inappropriate. Their self-esteem is often undermined and a bad way to cope with that is to withdraw, overcompensate or become hostile. A more effective approach is to use the existing support structures within AFS, such as in-person meetings with counsellors and other volunteers who are properly trained on intercultural issues.

Being aware of these pitfalls can prevent many misunderstandings and create a productive intercultural environment for the sojourner and the host community.

Achieving effective and appropriate intercultural communications – one of the 16 AFS Educational Goals – means building the internal capabilities to manage the key challenges of intercultural communication, including being comfortable with cultural

differences and unfamiliarity, creating and maintaining relationships, and the overcoming the inevitable Develop an accompanying experiences of stress. investigative,

nonjudgmental attitude, and a high tolerance for ambiguity.

However, too much anxiety requires some form of relief, and this too often comes in the form of a defense mechanism, such as the skewing of perceptions, withdrawal or hostility. High anxiety, unlike the other five stumbling blocks, often underlies and compounds other misunderstandings.

Anxious feelings may exist in both parties involved in an intercultural dialogue. The host national can be uncomfortable when talking with a foreigner because (s)he cannot maintain the normal flow of verbal and nonverbal interaction. On top of language and perception barriers, the other person’s unknown knowledge, experience, and evaluation can feel threatening.

The sojourners often feel more threatened. They can feel strange and vulnerable, helpless to cope with

AFS volunteers and staff working with potential and future host families and schools can use these examples as a tool for

increasing their intercultural competencies and better preparing all participants for an AFS experience. For instance, in the initial recruitment phase, AFS can check for pre-existing knowledge of the possible pitfalls of assuming cross-cultural similarities or using stereotypes as defense mechanisms. These can then be put into a clearer perspective, analyzed and avoided – or recognized and worked through.

Additionally, sharing this information with future host families and school counsellors upfront can be reassuring: greater awareness allows them to better anticipate where the possibilities for a communication breakdown and conflict lie, recognize intercultural miscommunications, and then use coping strategies to either avoid or work through these stumbling blocks for greater intercultural understanding.

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LEARNING SESSION OUTLINE

Introducing Host Families to ICL: Three Short Activities ANNA COLLIER, MANAGER OF INTERCULTURAL LEARNING SERVICES, AFS INTERNATIONAL

This issue is partly related to how Intercultural Learning can aid the recruitment process. For every AFS exchange cycle, volunteers and staff engage in the tremendous task of recruiting host families for all of the incoming program participants. We know that Intercultural Learning will be a significant part of what host families take away from the AFS experience, so why not introduce them to it right from the start? Why not use Intercultural Learning as a way to engage and motivate families to host an AFS participant?

No minimum or maximum number.

NECESSARY MATERIALS

✓ piece of paper ✓ pen STEP-BY-STEP SESSION DESCRIPTIONS Activity 1: One Action, Multiple Perspectives (5 minutes)

This new Learning Session Outline from our Education department presents three short activities that you can utilize with host families, in your classrooms or other settings to give a little sample of how it feels to adapt to another culture, so they can begin to anticipate what the experience will be like for the participant coming to live with them. These activities do not require preparation or many materials, so they can be used during initial meetings with families, no matter where the meeting takes place. They are simple yet inspire profound reflection. While you are facilitating the activities with families, take time to reflect on how these metaphors are relevant to your intercultural experiences, as well.

1. Ask participants to take a pen and, holding it with one end pointing up and the other end pointing down, lift it above their heads.

SESSION GOAL To introduce potential or new host families to Intercultural Learning.

3.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES After this activity, participants will be able to: Enact metaphors for three different challenges to cultural adaptation.

• Express empathy and patience for people who are learning to function in a new culture.

• Understand 1) how two different perspectives of the same situation can both be correct, 2) why cultural adaption is a slow and challenging process, and 3) the importance of guided, structured support during cultural adaption.

•

SPACE REQUIREMENTS No special requirements.

PARTICIPANTS

2. While watching the pen, instruct participants to begin making small, round clock-wise (starting to the right) circles in the air with the hand holding the pen.

The participant should be able to see the full circle that (s)he is drawing in the air.

Still watching the pen and drawing circles in the air in the same direction as before, instruct the participants to slowly lower her/his hand until it is below chest level.

4.

Ask the participants to now observe which direction the circles are going: counter-clock-wise! (starting to the left).

5.

Debrief: Discuss with participants how the action never changed (circling pen in the same direction), but one’s point of view did (first from below and then from above), and this caused the participants to have a completely distinct (in fact opposite) perspective of what was occurring. This can be used as a metaphor for how the host family and the AFS participant can have different perspectives on a single event or issue, yet both be correct from their continued on page 7

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unique (often culturally influenced) points of view.

Activity 2: “It Just Doesn’t Feel Right” (2 minutes)

3.

4.

1. In this activity, ask participants to cross their arms.

2. Now, ask them to cross their arms with the other arm on top.

Debrief: Discuss how it felt to cross one’s arms with the opposite arm on top.

5.

• Was it difficult to get one’s arms to cross correctly?

• How did it feel to have one’s arms crossed the opposed way than usual?

Lead a discussion on how this relates to cultural adaptation. Explain that a person learns a pattern for how things in life function – how to dress, what to eat, how to communicate with others, how to act in different social contexts, etc.

AFS participants will be very competent in following thier home culture social rules (just as one is good at crossing one’s arms, in general), but it often takes time, patience, and practice to begin to act according to another culture’s social rules and expectations (like crossing one’s arms the other way).

It is good to remember that, even though an AFS participant does not demonstrate immediate results, this doesn’t mean that they are not trying. Also, once they are able to act in ways that are appropriate for the host culture, it does not necessarily mean that the participant feels completely natural doing so.

regular hand, or if they are using the form that is more effective for the new hand.

For example, generally, both right-handed and lefthanded people pull the pen across the paper ahead of the written words. In order for left handers to do this in languages that write from right to left, though, it requires that they turn their hand and pen into a half-circle.

Did participants adapt their hand position to be able to pull the pen, or are they using the same style they use with their natural hand, which would cause them to push the pen across the paper ahead of their hand? Most often, participants will have been pushing their pen.

Debrief: Ask participants to reflect out loud on how they felt when they tried writing with their nondominant hand. Then, focus their attention on the way they held the pen in that other hand.

Explain that this is an example of how, without direct and explicit guidance, people who are attempting to adapt to another culture can try to mimic local customs and actions, but be approaching these from their home culture understanding of how things work and/or should be done.

Emphasize that this “false” adaptation is one of the reasons why it is important to provide AFS participants with guided, structured support throughout their cultural exchange, so that someone close to the participant - such as a host family - can help them enact new cultural actions in an accurate, effective manner.

Activity 3: “Should This Be Done Differently?”

(7 minutes) This activity, like Activity 2, emphasizes how difficult it is to alter the ways our cultures have taught us to act.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Participants will need a pen and a piece of paper.

Start by asking participants to write a sentence on the piece of paper. Participants can choose their sentence.

Once they have finished, ask them to write it again; however, this time they are to write with the opposite hand. (Everyone should try to write the sentence, but it is not necessary for the activity that they finish.)

While they are writing with their other hand, ask them to notice if they are holding the pen and hand in a position that is similar to how they write with their

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NETWORK & PARTNER INITIATIVES

Exploring the Intersection of Places, Cultures and People in Education HAZAR YILDIRIM, ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR, AFS TURKEY

of Nottingham; UK, Prof. Dr. “Geographies, Cultures and People” Vladimir S.Tiktunov from Moscow was the theme of the second State University, Russia; Prof. Dr. Spectrum of Education Conference David Lambert from London organized by AFS Turkey (Türk University, UK; Prof. Dr. Miktad Kültür Vakfı) and FMV Işık Schools.

Kadıoğlu from Istanbul Technical Almost 400 experts, educators and University, Turkey and students from Turkey many others. and, thanks to the In addition to Intercultural Learning support of AFS member individual-level workshops from organizations around learning, new European Federation the world, 17 other projects coming out for Intercultural countries came together in Istanbul this of the event include Learning (EFIL) trainers, and educator April 24-29 to discuss teacher exchange practices sessions the intersection of programs, a journal best also took place during geography education and a newsletter for the conference. with Intercultural high school teachers Putting geography and Learning. focusing on culture learning into With the goal of geography and practice, participants understanding the learned about each effects of culture in the intercultural other and Istanbul by education systems, education. attending school visits, specifically geography taking part in Turkish education, the fine art workshops, conference featured going on city tours and field trips, speeches from experts such as enjoying Turkish family dinners, and Mary Biddulph from the University

more. (See the full program at AFS Turkey’s website.)

Participants had the opportunity to further their knowledge about the topic while experiencing the cooperation of AFS organizations around the world. In addition to individual-level learning, new projects coming out of the event include teacher exchange programs, a journal and newsletter for high school teachers focusing on geography and intercultural education. Along with news articles on various media outlets, an official declaration of conference proceedings and results have been published. (An online version of the proceedings can be found here.)

National Geographic Turkey, Turkish Geographical Society, Iz TV, EFIL, and the AFS Volunteers Association of Turkey provided support for the event that continues to receive positive evaluations and praise, even months afterward.

Team of staff and volunteers of AFS Turkey who organized the conference

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NETWORK & PARTNER INITIATIVES

E-ntercultural Learning - Virtual Tools and Their Impact on Youth Exchange BASED ON THE INPUT BY INGA MENKE, TRAINING AND PARTNER DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR, EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF INTERCULTURAL LEARNING (EFIL)

How can Intercultural Learning (ICL)

language, but often we do not use it

All of these considerations raise

be addressed online? What is already

consciously. Do we stereotype (The

questions as to whether and what

happening online? What are the opportunities and the challenges?

Germans are like…), or do we approach the topic in a more sensitive

degree it is our responsibility as AFS to prepare participants to be

From April 22-28, AFS volunteers

way (In my host family in Germany,

interculturally sensitive in their virtual

from across Europe came together in

we…)? To discuss aspects of how we

communications. Does AFS want to

the Czech countryside to address these questions during the

report on our intercultural encounters and how this raises certain

be mentioned in blog entries or Facebook postings that generalize

“E-ntercultural learning: Virtual Tools

assumptions, seminar participants

and stereotype?

and their Impact on Youth

analyzed various blog posts as well as

Many ideas about how to address

Exchange” seminar.

a short video clip “From Africa to Norway”.

intercultural sensitivity online for AFSers were discussed. One of the

Federation for Intercultural Learning

Additionally, many authors of

more creative proposals was that

(EFIL), AFS’s regional umbrella

intercultural stories using virtual

sojourners create a separate

organization, the workshop examined ICL linked to the virtual world,

media are not aware of all of the audiences they reach. We want to

Facebook account for the duration of exchange so that they can start the

including social media and e-learning.

share our experiences with our friends

exchange without a “digital history”.

and family, but online there may be

No formal conclusions were reached,

others who also read what we are writing and who lack the personal

except that all participants agreed that further discussion and training is

context to put the written elements

needed and how to do this may be

into perspective.

best determined at the national AFS

provocative sessions was one called “Stop Sending People Abroad” in

Then, there is the impact of images.

Which photograph do I choose when

organization level.

which participants debated whether

reporting about intercultural

developed project proposals to

e-learning can replace exchange

interactions: The one with the “exotic”

continue their work after the seminar.

experiences. The conclusion was that today virtual exchanges are not a

market where I was once during my exchange? Or the one from the

The proposals include creating an e-learning training course for trainers,

substitute for the physical sojourn,

supermarket around the corner where

offering destination-specific

but that digital access can open

I went daily, but does not look very

information online for future

opportunities for more and different audiences to have intercultural

out of the ordinary? Can we (unintentionally) re-enforce

participants, developing social media strategies, and exploring volunteer

encounters and it can enhance the

stereotypes by choosing one image

management through social media.

experiences of those who are on an

over another?

Organized by the European

During the week-long event, the group reviewed various digital communications tools including a presentation from an expert from OBESSU. Among the more

in-person program.

Another session focused on language

Awareness of our actions is extremely relevant in determining the type of

in an intercultural context, which we

picture we paint with our intercultural

explore further here:

reportage, no matter whether in

Language is a key element of communication online. Whenever we communicate via social media we use

writing or photos. Without this awareness we run the risk of painting a “single story,” as famously explained

On an individual level, participants

Once written, a full event report will be shared in the AFS Digital ICL Library.

For further information contact Inga Menke (inga.menke@afs.org).

by Chimamanda Adichie.

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IMPACT OF LIVING ABROAD UPDATE

Host Families: Key to Successful Cultural Adaptation ANNA COLLIER, INTERCULTURAL LEARNING SERVICES MANAGER, AFS INTERNATIONAL

Researchers at the University of Essex, in collaboration with AFS, recently completed the The Impact of Living Abroad, an 18-month study that involved almost 2,500 sojourners enrolled in a 10-12 month AFS program, as well as 578 control group participants.

The project investigated four central components of intercultural contact: acculturative stress, cultural learning, intergroup contact, and the effect of cultural distance. Throughout the next few issues of this publication, we will share summaries of the study results and how AFS plans to incorporate findings into its educational approach.

This issue looks at how the relationship a sojourner has with her/his host family influences the exchange experience.

We at AFS know that our host families play a critical role in the Intercultural Learning experience.

Families are among the first

members of the host culture that the sojourner meets and are often people with whom (s)he spends the most time. They introduce exchange students to cultural traditions, support the language learning process, serve as “cultural informants” and provide the basis of a new social network to complement the one the traveler left behind in her/his home country.

The Impact of Living Abroad study further confirmed that the sojourner-host family relationship significantly influences a sojourner’s sociocultural and psychological adaptation and overall exchange experience in several ways. Here, the researchers define sociocultural adaptation as adjusting to lifestyle, social norms, language use and other practical considerations in a different culture; psychological adaptation refers to one’s sense of belonging, feelings, and other emotional aspects of being in a new environment.

Here’s how:

Sojourners’ relationship closeness with their host families continues to increase throughout the entire exchange period (t4 = midstay, t6 = return).

Chart image from The Impact of Living Abroad final report (December 2012)

Strong social identification with members of the host culture, most notably the host family, is related to success. The more a sojourner can see her/himself as a part of the host community and feel strong

AFS Host Families significantly impact the cultural adaptation of participants by offering: ✓

An in-depth exposure to the host culture and traditions.

✓

Incentives and support to

✓

learn the host language.

Transmission of cultural knowledge.

✓

A close and caring relationship with members of the host culture.

✓

A social network for challenging times.

attachment to it, the more likely they will be to have a positive adaptation process.

Adopting and/or incorporating traditions of the host culture, which are frequently and deeply learned directly from the host family, has a positive effect on adaptation. Called acculturation orientation in the study, sojourners adapt well when they try to take on local customs and ways of behaving within a new place (even if this orientation also remains high with the home culture, too).

Quality contact or the amount of time where interactions are perceived as good, close, and strong – with host nationals, particularly host family members, is connected to several other positive outcomes in addition to successful adaptation:

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Use the study results to improve your: Recruitment. Let families know that they can truly help create crosscultural competence. In sharing their home and their time, they have the opportunity to become the primary source of knowledge about the host culture. They quite literally hold the key to a successful exchange experience.

Orientations. Knowing in which areas and when host family’s influence is strongest provides AFS volunteers and staff with a framework to strengthen our support for host families. The Impact of Living Abroad study results show that the host family’s greatest impact on the sojourner’s adaptation and satisfaction with life occurs during the first half of the exchange year, implying that pre-arrival through mid-stay are when we need to concentrate our efforts to help families prepare to spend quality time, share traditions, and invite the learner to be a part of the local culture.

Support. Inevitably, sojourners will have set-backs as a normal part of their exchange experience. Whenever possible, AFS volunteers should work with host families – who typically form the foundation of the participant’s new social network – as their direct support allies in helping coach participants through these challenges. In addition, emphasize the importance of spending quality contact time together, where interactions are perceived as good, close, and strong.

Culture learning. Involve host families in language and other culturespecific learning plans so they can play an even more active part in achieving gains for these aspects of AFS exchanges. If using Rosetta Stone or another language program, have families take part in goal-setting and progress reviews even informally around the breakfast or dinner table.

an improvement in crosscultural competence, which, in this study means the ability to adjust appropriately to new cultural environments and interactions with people from different cultural backgrounds high satisfaction with life during the exchange an increase in the level of cultural knowledge of both home and host cultures, and positive evaluation of the exchange.

In other words, host families play a determining role in how interculturally adept, happy, culturally savvy, and satisfied the exchange student is. In sharing the AFS Educational Goals with families and ensuring they are well-prepared to help facilitate sojourner learning – and are open to learning themselves – AFS optimizes our education and mission impact.

For more information about The Impact of Living Abroad study results, contact us at icl@afs.org.

NOT JUST FOR STUDENTS ANYMORE! Did you know you can use these two practical tools for host families , too?

Rosetta Stone™

Cultural Detective®

✓

✓

Help families “see” a situation through their student’s Cultural Lens before a misunderstanding escalates to a support case.

✓

Use the Cultural Detective Method™ worksheet to create typical day-in-the-life exchange scenarios and analyze the cultural perspectives as part of the host family preparation pre-student arrival.

✓

Improve awareness and understanding of underlying values and assumptions that influence actions and behaviors in the family’s day-to-day interactions both locally and with their exchange student.

✓

Family as learners: Offer your families the opportunity to improve their own foreign language skills in one of 15 different language offerings.

Families can volunteer to be AFS-Rosetta Stone tutors, coaching participants as they work on their language learning pre-arrival.

Register today by contacting Eva Vitkova at eva.vitkova@afs.org.

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BEYOND AFS ICL NEWS

Interview with Fred Dervin BASED ON AN INTERVIEW WITH MILENA MILADINOVIC, COMMUNICATIONS FELLOW, AFS INTERNATIONAL

Fred Dervin is a professor of multicultural education at the Department of Teacher Education at the University of Helsinki in Finland, who has a strong background in Intercultural Learning and communication. Dr. Dervin will be a special guest trainer at the AFS Academy in Florence, Italy this November.

How did you get involved in the intercultural field?

I was born in Paris, France in a multicultural family, and my parents argued all the time, throwing culture on the table, making cultural excuses to explain their behavior.

Then, I moved to Finland when I was 20 years old and there I faced the questions like Who are you?, Where do you come from?,What is your first language?. It was difficult for people to understand there is no simple answer because of my family background.

One’s national identity is a scary question and at 25 I wanted to find answers to these questions, and I didn’t want to be boxed in just one category. That is when I decided to do a doctorate in Paris on Intercultural Learning.

What academic field was your entry into intercultural studies? How do you see this link?

At the beginning, it was very confusing because within the intercultural are many different fields, plus theories and

methodologies vary across countries and languages. Moreover, the materials can be contradictory.

Over 15 years of involvement in the field, I have been able to construct a way of thinking about the intercultural research and practice which is very different from the mainstream understanding. I have been inspired by anthropology after the functionalist era, by the crisis of representation in 1970s and 1980s, and the questioning of the concepts of culture and the idea of a nation state.

My first scientific identity was in applied linguistics, and then I moved on to education, language education and the sociology of multiculturalism, which gives me several scientific identities. I also have two PhDs – in language and intercultural education. In Finland, this is accepted, you are never boxed, but in other cultures it would be more difficult to be accepted with such an interdisciplinary approach.

Chinese students, scholars and teachers in Europe, the implicit negative representations on them and how researchers contribute to these negative representations.

But even studies are full of stereotypes: I have done a lot of work on intercultural couples who communicate via a lingua franca, rather than either one of their mother tongues, and the impact of the lingua franca on relationships. I am also doing a research on identity and intercultural competences in different types of contexts in Europe and Asia.

Please share some of your research findings related to the relationship between intercultural competence and language learning.

The notion of the ‘native’ has been questioned so much, especially in English, but language has not been found to be directly related to intercultural competencies. Research has shown that people have very negative impressions of speaking a lingua franca – they don’t think it is as beautiful as speaking with a skills ‘native’ speaker.

There are international conferences coming up, under the title, Intercultural v. multicultural education: Having the The end of rivalries? in to analyze the However, an exchange student Helsinki in August notion of power stays temporarily in a country 28-29 in the Department of teacher should be the core and learning the language isn’t of intercultural as pressing as it is for Education, with James immigrants or refugees. So Banks and Michael competences. when we provide training on Barrem, then in ICL, we need to contextualize. The Canada in November 2013 and in experience is not the same for Malaysia in 2014. Each of these places has a very different take on the international exchange students, the so-called liquid strangers, as it is for meaning of multiculturalism. refugees, the solid strangers.

Which aspect of Intercultural Learning or communication has your work focused on?

The first one is language education and intercultural competencies, and how to relate the two. Furthermore, I focus on student mobility and the mobility of scholars. At the moment I am focusing on the mobility of

In the main field of intercultural communication there is a lot of focus on culture but the language element is not there. When I am training students, I give them tools to analyze how they talk about themselves and each other. They analyze how people continued on page 17

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put others into boxes, how people talk about themselves as representatives of their own culture, and how they view others. They perform a critical discourse analysis and find that there is often judgment behind these representations.

And my research is very much about the ethics of the intercultural. I don’t believe that much in the ‘knowledge’ about other cultures. We are moving away from what many researchers call methodological nationalization.

What do you wish more people would understand about intercultural work?

The notion of power is very important in ICL. I feel that in many cases, power is ignored when, actually, having the skills to analyze it should be the core of intercultural competences in 2020.

the 1950s in anthropology. A vast majority of anthropologists don’t use the concept of culture anymore because it has been deconstructed. For this reason, we need to be reflexive and critical of our own positions as researchers.

MEET AN ICL RESPONSIBLE

If people know other languages, they should read and refer to writing in these. There are things that are written in other languages that one can only access by knowing that language. Not everyone publishes in English.

The authors I recommend are Adrian Holliday, Ingrid Piller and Martine Abdallah-Pretceille.

Dunja became involved in AFS Serbia at its beginning in 2008, and after several years of volunteering and a hosting experience, she is now a staff member working with training, hosting, and support.

What are the hot topics in ICL these days?

One of them is the idea of social justice: What we should strive for is securing more equality and chances Diversity means so Hot topics in ICL for everybody, related to the much more than the critiques to concepts of “immigrant”. In our today are the idea of culture and deconstructing societies, people are all social justice, old topics. different and similar at intercultural the same time and not Another aspect is competences and the everybody has the intercultural competences, impact of digital same power. I use the or what they call them in technologies. phrase “diverse Australia, intercultural diversities” to refer to capabilities. In Europe, this this phenomenon. is probably exemplified by the work of the EU. What would you suggest for

people new to the ICL field to read or do as they get started?

I wish that someone had given me an answer to this question when I was a student. It depends on how much time someone has. First, they should become aware that the intercultural is in so many fields – anthropology, linguistics, literature, etc. – and also be aware of the history of the field.

Start with the 1950s with Edward T. Hall then up to 2012 look at who has been quoted the most. However, the world is changing, and for example, even though Hall’s theory was fascinating, I content that his dichotomy monochronic versus polychronic concept is not valid today – we have the internet. Humans are inevitably polychronic; it is a part of humanness.

Definitely read the latest critical pieces in the field, preferably the original articles. It is very dangerous to stick to

Finally, a hot topic is the impact of digital technologies, since outdated methodologies do not fit in current research.

AFS

Academy All AFSers worldwide are welcome to join us at the AFS Academy, 15-27 November in Florence, Italy.

Meet Fred Dervin at the AFS Academy on Friday, November 22!

Dunja Zivanovic, AFS Serbia

A postgraduate student of culture studies and linguistics at Belgrade University, Dunja also teaches an undergraduate course there.

Coming from a small and still developing AFS organization, one of her key roles has been organizational development through raising awareness and building competencies related to Intercultural Learning among different target groups, including students, teachers, host families and volunteers.

She has worked on developing the organization as a recognizable Intercultural Learning institution, through various trainings and projects and everyday activities.

She is in charge of transforming intercultural theory into training units related to various aspects of AFS exchange programs, and adapting them to cater to the needs of different stakeholders. As the national hosting coordinator, she has provided support for host families, students, and contact persons, introducing them to the relevant ICL concepts and practices.

Finally, Dunja is also active at an international level as a member of the European Pool of Trainers and EFIL’s Training and Intercultural Learning Advisory Body, ensuring ICL’s key presence on the AFS training agenda of in Europe.

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AFS Intercultural Link LEARNING PROGRAM UPDATE The AFS Intercultural Link Learning Program continues this year to focus on two key areas of intercultural competence development for our volunteers and staff: 1) to support Network-wide delivery of the beginning level of the Program, What Every AFSer Should Know About Intercultural Learning® (also known as Level W) so that it reaches all 44,000+ AFSers worldwide and 2) to offer consulting to Partners wishing to implement official national or local versions of the Learning Program by developing an implementation plan and training a pool of National Qualified Trainers to deliver the program to more volunteers and staff in local chapter meetings, or national assemblies.

The What Every AFSer Should Know About Intercultural Learning® Trainer Kit is available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese (this version is being finalized) with German and French coming soon. The course has been delivered to over 1000 AFSers including at the EFIL General Assembly in Belgrade, the Caribe Regional Meeting in Caracas , the AAI Regional Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, and the AFS Board of Trustees June meeting in New York.

The AFS Network Meeting in October as well as the AFS Academy in November will offer opportunities for the international community of AFS to participate in this important initiative to develop a common Intercultural Learning (ICL) vocabulary. The Academy will include a one-day “how to” workshop to help AFS organizations launch the training locally.

Meanwhile, National Qualified Trainer (NQT) Certification opportunities are underway for 35 members of the 5 Southern Cone Partners (15 from Argentina, 6 from Brazil, 3 from Bolivia, 8 from Chile, 3

from Paraguay) and more are planned for Malaysia, Denmark and Norway later this year. Additionally, an International Qualified Trainer (IQT) Workshop will be offered in collaboration with AFS Germany and InterCultur as part of the Summer Academy on Intercultural Experience in Karlsruhe, Germany and a way to begin the certification process for AFSers wishing to receive joint credit from Karlshochschule International University and AFS International. The AFS Academy in Florence, Italy will also offer an IQT workshop and certification this November.

To plan your organization’s participation in the Learning Program, keep the following profile in mind: Qualified Trainer candidates should be AFS Volunteers and Staff members who have successfully facilitated AFS and/or other trainings (ideally with some ICL content), are familiar with foundational ICL theories and concepts and their use in AFS operations, and have experience as well as strong interest in expanding our collective ICL expertise and knowledge of local organization’s board-approved National (Partner) ICL Strategy. They must have a positive referral from at least one relevant staff member from their AFS office and, to maximize the organization’s investment, willing and able to fulfill all participation conditions jointly determined by both AFS International and the local office including working on their own as well as the organization’s development.

For questions regarding What Every AFSer Should Know About Intercultural Learning® or to create your own official national Learning Program implementation plan contact Laura Kline-Taylor at laura.klinetaylor@afs.org. General Learning Program questions can be directed to LearningProgram@afs.org.

Real life experiential learning, supported by structured reflection, is the core of our programs. We endeavor to link our intercultural learning opportunities to the defining global issues facing humanity. We reach out to past, current and future participants, volunteers, and other stakeholders using the media and technology they use.

Our Mission & Vision AFS Intercultural Programs is an international, voluntary, nongovernmental, non-profit organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world.

We pursue our mission by providing quality intercultural learning opportunities for a growing number of young people, families, other stakeholders and wider audiences, thus developing an inclusive community of global citizens determined to build bridges between cultures.

Volunteers and volunteerism are who we are. Our organization brings about changes in lives through and for our global community of volunteers.

We are recognized as an educational organization by schools and the appropriate authorities. We work to create a regulatory environment that supports our programs.

As a learning organization, we welcome change and critical thinking. We are innovative and entrepreneurial in advancing the strategic directions, working together with others whenever appropriate.

To learn more about our global network and get involved today, visit www.afs.org.

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NETWORK & PARTNER INITIATIVES

Intercultural Education Forum BASED ON INPUT FROM NATHALIE GUZMÁN BENCOSME, INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION COORDINATOR, AFS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

On March 8th of this year, over 70 educators from almost 30 schools throughout the Dominican Republic gathered to discuss the importance of intercultural competence for emerging leaders at the 2013 Intercultural Education Forum.

Organized by AFS Dominican Republic, the event was designed to help educators eager to find strategies, resources, and innovative ideas in order to help their students meet the challenges of today’s globalized world.

Teachers, principals and school psychologists came together to enjoy testimonies of leading Dominican education figures such as Teresita Bencosme (Executive Director of the Government Institute of Telecommunications), Iván Gatón (Ambassador, Professor at National Diplomacy School) Father Héctor Sánchez, (President of the National Council of Catholic Schools), Mercedes Coronado (Vice president of Santiago's Private school association) who reflected on the impact of incorporating Intercultural Learning values in their educational approach.

Among the most interesting discussions were those about relations between the Dominican Republic with neighboring Haiti: Audience members discussed the cultural distance between the countries, the perceived general lack of interest from Dominicans to learn

about Haitian culture (including language), and the need for more government support to sponsor education and intercultural collaboration between the two countries. Limiting factors such as regulatory and visa complications for Haitian teachers were discussed, as were strategies to help overcome these obstacles.

The panel concluded that it is important to continue creating opportunities for discussions, new ideas and projects around youth leadership and intercultural education.

In running this event, AFS was able to demonstrate its interest in facilitating discussions and organizing actions linked to these needs, offering expertise on topics such as promoting diversity, improving knowledge about other cultures, intercultural communication, and integrating changes and innovations to conventional views of cultural interactions.

AFS Dominican Republic will organize the Intercultural Education Forum annually, inviting more schools and educators to join AFS as allies in this intercultural change-making initiative.

Additionally, the organization will offer schools supplementary support in the form of educational materials and teacher exchange programs.

Intercultural Education Forum in the Dominican Republic

MEET OUR ADVISORS

Mick Vande Berg, PhD The AFS Educational Advisory Council was established in 2006 to help guide AFS’s global education and research efforts. Comprised of both distinguished and up-and-coming thought leaders from the wider intercultural realm, Council members represent a diversity of disciplines ranging from communications and cross-cultural psychology, to anthropology and management sciences.

They meet annually to share their insights about developments in the field, provide views from their areas of expertise, and inform AFS’s strategic plans, all in a voluntary capacity.

An avid history fan who splits his residence between Rouen, France and Maine, USA, Michael (Mick) Vande Berg, has held leadership positions at numerous institutions committed to intercultural and international education including the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), Georgetown University, and the School for International Training (SIT) in Vermont, USA. An incessant researcher, Mick is dedicated to demonstrating the effectiveness of intercultural education: He is a co-author of the Georgetown Consortium Project, a ground-breaking multi-year study that examined not only the impact of study abroad programs, but also the relationship between different program variables to maximize desired learning outcomes. He is also co-editor of the 2012 publication Student Learning Abroad:What Our Students Are Learning,What They're Not, and What We Can Do About It.

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CONFERENCE UPDATE

At the Forefront of International Higher Education On April 5, 2013, AFS attended a symposium at Boston College’s Center for International Higher Education.

The event, honoring the career of Philip G. Altbach, the founder and director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, gathered a number of recognized international experts from the field of comparative and international education, including Darla Deardorff, Hans de Wit and Nian Cai Liu, to discuss the current trends and challenges facing higher education around the world.

These are some of the observations and issues presented by the symposium’s diverse panel of speakers that we found most relevant for AFS:

How to reach quality with quantity?

This challenge seems to be shared across the continents as growing numbers of students are enrolling in higher education institutions worldwide.

Ways of measuring the quality of teaching and learning and the quality of internationalization were mentioned as especially challenging in the context of the diverse realities of today’s national educational systems.

What are the current driving forces in higher education?

As the number of students grows (“massification”) and the private sector emerges, a trend of growing inequalities is being noticed on many levels: financial, program content, and more.

This opens an opportunity for AFS to offer programs that depart from the traditional academic semester abroad in order to meet diverse needs.

How do we internationalize internationalization?

The need to include non-Western perspectives in the internationalization discourse and to refocus on global responsibilities was presented in a speech given by Deardorff, who is also a member of the AFS Educational Council.

AFS’s visibility and educator outreach at these kind of conferences will continue worldwide in order to support our educational focus.

NETWORK & PARTNER UPDATES

Renewing a Long-Standing Relationship: Reconnecting with Yale EVA VÍTKOVÁ, SENIOR SCHOOL RELATIONS INTERN, AFS INTERNATIONAL

AFS Ghana, AFS International, and AFS USA came together this April on the campus of Yale University to help prepare over 60 Yale alumni and their families for Intercultural Learning on the upcoming 2013 Yale Alumni Service Corps (YASC) Ghana program, a community service program initiated last year between the Association of Yale Alumni and AFS Ghana.

During the day-long orientation, AFS representatives delivered two Intercultural Learning focused sessions: one on culture “general” topics, presenting basic concepts of culture and suggesting coping strategies for situations in which one encounters something unusual and/or unexpected in a new environment, and a second on introducing participants specifically to the culture of Ghana and the village of

Yamoransa, where they will be hosted during their program.

Yale organizers and participants who attended the program and orientation last year indicated that both sessions were a highly appreciated new program component.

Beyond the Ghana program and preparation support for it, AFS and Yale are exploring other opportunities for collaboration including different programs, possible educational services and course offerings that might leverage AFS expertise and the Intercultural Link Learning Program, plus best practices sharing in the areas of volunteering and alumni relations.

The two institutions have a deep history: Many of the World War I and II American Field Service ambulance drivers were Yale alumni and one of these, Arthur Howe, Jr. (Yale, BA,

1947), went on to become the AFS President from 1964-1972. Art also served as Dean of Admissions and Student Appointments at Yale in the 1950s, helping diversifying the student body there by changing admissions policies. Today, Arthur is an AFS Life Trustee.

AFS is also in discussions with Yale about 100th Anniversary events scheduled for 2014.

Organizers and learning facilitators for the 2013 YASC Ghana orientation

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ICL Field Conferences & Event Updates

August - September Summer Academy on Intercultural Experience.

5-16 August 2013; Karlsruhe, Germany AFS event Asia-Europe Cross-Cultural Summer Academy.

19-30 August 2013; Bangi, Malaysia AFS event International Conference Intercultural vs. Multicultural Education: The end of rivalries? Department of Teacher Education, University of Helsinki.

29-30 August 2013; Helsinki, Finland

October - December

European Association for International Education (EAIE): The 25th Annual Conference: Weaving the future of global partnerships.

10-13 September 2013; Istanbul, Turkey

19th International Conference of the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies (IAICS).

3-5 October 2013; Vladivostok, Russia

IAIE Conference: Unity and Disunity, Connections and Separations: Intercultural education as a movement for promoting multiple identities, social inclusion and transformation.

17-21 September 2013; Zagreb, Croatia

Intercultural Competence: Key to the new multicultural societies of the globalized world. International Center for Intercultural Exchange, Intercultural Horizons.

7-9 October 2013; Siena, Italy

19th SIETAR Europa Congress: Global reach, local touch.

18-21 September 2013; Tallinn, Estonia AFS attending

3rd Conference of the Americas for International Education (CAIE): Knowledge and Mobility: responsibility and resources.

16-18 October 2013; Monterrey, Mexico

4th Forum on Intercultural Learning and Exchange.

Intercultura Foundation et al.

28-29 September 2013; Colle di Val d'Elsa, Italy AFS event

World Innovation Summit for Education: Reinventing Education for Life.

29-31 October 2013; Doha, Quatar AFS attending

2013 SIETAR USA Conference.

6-9 November 2013; Arlington, VA, USA CIEE Annual Conference: Align. Innovate. Educate.

20-23 November 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA. 10th CAFIC International Conference. Intercultural communication for a harmonious world: challenges and opportunities.

21–24 November 2013; Haikou, China Language and Intercultural Communication in the Workplace: Critical approaches to theory and practice. The 12th Annual Conference of the International Association for Languages and Intercultural Communication (IALIC).

29 November– 1 December 2013; Hong Kong, China

If you are aware of upcoming conferences in the intercultural area, please advise us at icl@afs.org

YOUR SOURCE FOR INTERCULTURAL LEARNING IN THE AFS NETWORK

Intercultural Learning Work Group

Call for Submissions

Johanna Nemeth (Austria) Rosario Gutierrez (Colombia)

AFS members are invited to submit proposals for articles, news items and intercultural activities with accompanying graphics or photos for consideration in future issues of AFS Intercultural Link. Submissions can be AFS-specific or part of the larger Intercultural Learning (ICL) field. Simply send your submissions to us at AFS International: icl@afs.org

Questions or Comments icl@afs.org © 2013 AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sherifa Fayez (Egypt) Annette Gisevius (Germany) Irid Agoes (Indonesia) Melissa Liles, Chair (International) Lucas Welter (International) Roberto Ruffino (Italy) Newsletter Editor: Melissa Liles Newsletter Manager: Milena Miladinovic Design & Graphics: AFS Branding & Marketing Team Writers: Anna Collier, Eva Vitkova, Milena Miladinovic

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