Interculture Wiki / Giovanna Foschini_ICC

Cultura questionnaires we did at the beginning of this semester were very useful to see what people think of their own culture and the other. Being anonymous, people could write what they really thought. I was surprised by the adjectives Italian peers used to describe southern people. I expected to find many negative opinions, instead I found that the majority of us highlighted the positive aspects of people from the south. Since the questionnaires were anonymous there was no need to lie. Therefore I found that sometimes our idea of other people's opininon may be false because based upon stereotypes.

Moments in which I felt uncomfortable: (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)

I think that the only moment in which I felt a little uncomfortable occured in one of our first skype exchanges. There were two of us plus our American peer. We were talking about politics and about Berlusconi in particular. I were about to say how much I dislike him when my Italian peer started to praise him. I didn't want to have a political argument, so I tried to change the subject as soon as possible!

Moments when I felt comfortable:(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)

I really liked moments in which we talked to our American peers about our interests and future projects because beside our cultural differences it is always possible to find a common ground where it doesn't matter where you come from. These were the moments in which I felt free to talk about everything and was at ease.

B. Knowledge

The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school.

Developing our wiki page on sports in America made me learn lots of things about this particular aspect of students' life. I knew that sport is considered important in students' education but I had only a vague idea of this. Talking to Ugo and searching the web was useful to learn about the importance of athletic scolarships and all the steps a student has to take in order to consider both his or her education and athletic ambitions.

The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state of the target language.

I learnt that in America as in Italy there are some differences in traditions and ways of thinking and that stereotypes exist everywhere. The important thing is to be ready and able to reconsider what we thought was right and accept new images of the world that come with new experiences.

What I have learnt about customs and conventions of talking with people (topics which interest them, topics to avoid, how to greet people and take leave from them).

There seems to be a sort of correspondance between our and their way of speaking. At the end of a conversation American people seem to be more polite than us because they used sentences like "it was nice to talk to you", but maybe it depends on the circumstances. As regards the contents I noticed that my peer didn't like to speak about the use of guns very much, but maybe he wasn't interested in this topic or he didn't know much about it. As far as other topics are concerned we could talk about everything without particular problems.

C. Actions

Incidents or problems which I resolved by explaining different cultures to people, helping them see the points of view of different cultures and how misunderstandings can happen.

I never come across any particular problems or incidents.

Examples of times when I have had to ask questions and work out my own answers (from ask for clarification to understanding cultural customs and beliefs)

This is something that didn't happen with our American peers but with a Japanese girl who was staying at one of my friend's for some time. We were watching a movie and there was a scene with a marriage. The bride was dressed in white and the Japanese girl was very surprised because in Japan white is the color for funerals! This is a clear example that the things we take for granted often are not.

A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience^{[http://inet.dpb.dpu.dk/infodok/sprogforum/espr18/byram.html$5="" title="Adapted from: Byram, M. (2000). Assesing Intercultural Competence in Language Teaching. Sprogforum. Vol. 6 (18), pp. 8 to 13. Retrieved September 10, 2008 from <a href=$4" href="http://inet.dpb.dpu.dk/infodok/sprogforum/Espr18/byram.html$5">http://inet.dpb.dpu.dk/infodok/sprogforum/Espr18/byram.html A record of my Intercultural Experience" href="http://tulanepadova.pbwiki.com/ICC_Assessment#footnote-3">3]}

A. Interest in other people's way of life

I am interested in other people's experience of daily life, particularly those things not usually presented to outsiders through the media. Example:

I'm very interested in particular and unknown aspects of other people's daily life because this is something that really intrigues me. That's why some people always make me notice that when I know a person from another country I tend to question him or her too much. For example I'm interested in different ways and attitudes used to deal with different matters of daily life: feelings towards public issues, habits, perspectives.

I am also interested in the daily experience of a variety of social groups within a society and not only the dominant culture. Example:

When I come across different social groups it is not always easy to avoid stereotypes. We are surrounded by stereotypes everyday and sometimes it is difficult not to get used to them. I think that it is important to try do experience other cultures as much as possible because nowadays we are no longer in touch with only one culture. The idea of melting pot is becoming more important everyday and we can't and must not ignore it. Talking about my experiences I have had the possibility to get in touch and learn something about muslim culture and what I have seen makes me look at the various groups here in Italy with different eyes and different attitudes. The important thing is to avoid judging and to try to understand.

B. Ability to change perspective

I have realised that I can understand other cultures by seeing things from a different point of view and by looking at my culture from their perspective. Example:

I definitely have realised that you need to look at other cultures changing your perspective. What is natural to me could be not for people from different countries and vice versa. Yesterday a saw an arabian man sitting on a bench without wearing his shoes. I thought of how many people could think of him as a rude person or even something worse. But I went to Egypt a couple of time and there is nothing strange if a man takes off his shoes in front of other people. However, I know that there are certain things that are not acceptable but I think that sometimes you just need to think before judging and try to change perspective.

C. Ability to cope with communicating in a different language with a different culture

I am able to cope with a range of reactions people from different cultures may have to the way I express myself and what I say. Example:

I haven't come across any particular or unexpected reaction from my peers abroad.

D. Knowledge about another country and culture

I know some important facts about the other culture and about the country, state and people that I did not know before. Example:

I learnt some new information about the education system in general and about the relationship students and American people in general have with sports. I also learnt new things about American health care system, which push me to search material on this topic, just out of curiosity. I found the movie "Sicko" very interesting and claryfing.

I know how to engage in conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation. Example:

If at the beginning it could be a little embarassing because we didn't know what to say, it was very useful to have some topics where to start from. After breaking the ice, other topics of conversation came almost naturally. In particular, it was easy to talk about social life, school, and future holidays.

E. Knowledge about intercultural communication

I know how to resolve misunderstandings which arise from people's lack of awareness of the view point of another culture. Example of misunderstanding and solution:

There were not particular problems or misunderstandings during our conversations and I have never come across particular problems of this kind in general.

I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself. Example:

I am able to look for new information on other cultures' traditions, customs and habits, searching through various types of media and tools, such as Wikipedia,Delicious and other people's blogs, which are one of the most useful and creative ways to convey thoughts and feelings.

Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

Please provide specific examples of the following:

words, expressions I learned in English:

Keep up the good work; Overwhelm; Down to the ground; to have a crush on sb.; Actually I think that there are more words and expressions I learnt but I can't remember at the moment

improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation:

Category; Recipe; Insurance.

improvements in my listening:

I think that using skype was very useful to improve my listening skills and It's good to see I can understand language spoken at normal speed. The key to keep this skill trained is to continue doing it also in different ways.

changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers:

I try to speak Italian to non-native speaker at normal pace because nobody likes to listen to someone that talks like a robot. However I try to pronounce every word clearly in order to make my speech understandable

words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project:
improvements in my reading doing the wiki project:

I've been reading lots of different materials this semester, both for academic purposes and for fun. I think my reading has become more fluent and I found I am able to deal with different types of texts. It was a little difficult at the beginning dealing with some kinds of material because of the different layout and organization they have. However, once you get used to it becomes easier. The key to succeed is to practice.

improvements in my writing doing the wiki project:

The work done during these two semesters was useful to improve my writing skills. As pointed out in my mid term paper, trying to write over a wide range of topics is very important because language can improve only if you keep on practicing. You keep your grammar skills awake and you are "forced" to look for new words and expressions.

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