Hunan Cross Cultural Education

This week was the final week of class for those in my “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) “ class.

We covered units 18 & 19 which touched on Australian politics and the phenomenon known as “whistle-blowing”.  Then we did a quick review of the major topics covered this semester (units 1 – 17).

Week 16: Australia, Politics (Unit 18 – 19 + Review)

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This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)“

This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)”

With the mid-term projects and the flu going around, posts to this site have been a bit delayed.  So this post is to catch us up.

Here are the presentation notes from weeks 8 – 12:

Week 8: UK – The Media, Sports, Holidays & Festivals (Units 9&10)

Week 9: UK – Review & Mid-Term Group Work (Units 1-10)

Week 10: Mid-Term Group Presnetations

Week 11: Ireland – Land, People & History, Politics & Economy (Units 11&12)

Week 12: Ireland – Culture, Lifestyle, Language, Literature & Art (Units 13&14)

For those of you in my “Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 )” class, here are the guidelines for your Mid-Term Group Project:

Mid-Term Project Guidelines Fall_09

If you have any questions, let me know!

Cross cultural communication can be a tricky business. These basic tips can go a long way in minimizing misunderstandings and maximizing your cross cultural communication skills….

Here are some simple tips to help you improve your cross cultural communication skills:

Slow Down

Even when English is the common language in a cross cultural situation, this does not mean you should speak at normal speed. Slow down, speak clearly and ensure your pronunciation is intelligible.

Separate Questions

Try not to ask double questions such as, “Do you want to carry on or shall we stop here?” In a cross cultural situation only the first or second question may have been comprehended. Let your listener answer one question at a time.

Avoid Negative Questions

Many cross cultural communication misunderstandings have been caused by the use of negative questions and answers. In English we answer ‘yes’ if the answer is affirmative and ‘no’ if it is negative. In other cultures a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ may only be indicating whether the questioner is right or wrong. For example, the response to “Are you not coming?” may be ‘yes’, meaning ‘Yes, I am not coming.’

Take Turns

Cross cultural communication is enhanced through taking turns to talk, making a point and then listening to the response. (more…)

So, it’s been quiet around here all summer, sorry about that!  It’s not because nothing was happening, in fact, the opposite is true!  We were VERY busy this summer with the end of the Spring ’09 semester and the arrival of 13 cultural exchange students from America!

Now the Fall ’09 Semester has begun and in addition to the class I taught all last year, The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ),I am now also working in the foreign exchange office of the Hunan Institute of Science and Technology ( 湖南理工学院 )!

I have some new and exciting responsibilities that are going to make this next semester a new challenge, but one that I’m really looking forward to!  I’ll be sure to post a story or two here about how things are going!

I was privileged to give a lecture for the Foreign Languages Department and International Exchange Department at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) on Wednesday, May 20th.

My topic was “Cross-Cultural Communication: Communicating Effectively in a Culturally Diverse Environment” ( 跨文化交际 ).

If you’d like to see my powerpoint slides, download them here.

This week in my class, “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ), we had our mid-term group project reports.  Each group came up with a list of stereotypes that Chinese often have about Americans or America in general.  From that list of stereotypes, I chose one and the group chose one and those two stereotypes became the basis for a research project.

The results of the research were put into a written report (500 words) and a 5 minute oral report to the class.

Everyone did a great job.  If you’d like to see the reports, I’m slowly getting them online here.  (They should all be up by next Thursday – that’s my goal anyway!)