YOGA form_intercultural competence

Hello guys!!!

Let's speak about intercultural competence!

The reason why I chose to attend “Foreign Languages” at University was not only the will to improve my English skills but also I liked the idea of getting to know other cultures, travelling or working abroad in international contexts. After many courses based basically on the improvement of English linguistic skills, I’m happy to deal with a concrete exercise, that is the exchange with students in the United States, to develop my intercultural competence. Well, I have to say that it is quite hard to become familiar with any culture you did not grow up into. Even if you spend some time abroad, your idea of the country you are living in will always be influenced either positively or negatively by your own culture.
Reading and reflecting on the document “Developing Intercultural Competence” was really interesting. It made me think of the current increasing need to be able to deal effectively and appropriately with diversity, whether ethnic, racial, religious, or cultural. We can simply think about the difficulties of some immigrants to fit in our society: insensitivity and mistrust are the main attitudes towards them. Is it right?
This is why I’d like to focus our attention on some fundamental traits pointed out by this document: respect, empathy, flexibility, patience, interest, curiosity, openness, motivation, a sense of humour, tolerance for ambiguity and a willingness to suspend judgement. I think we should remember all these words when we come into contact with people of different culture.

The YOGA (Your Objectives, Guidelines, and Assessment) form is definitely a useful tool to critically examine the development of our intercultural communicative competence (ICC).
It helped me to consider aspects I hadn’t previously considered such as the importance of ‘awareness’ (especially of my own culture) and the level of willingness to interact with members of the host culture I demonstrate.
The hardest part about it is the fact that it’s a self-assessment and I found it very difficult to rate myself! Anyway, I think that so far my intercultural competence is not very developed but through our exchange and experiences abroad I hope to become a multicultural specialist!

C u in class!

XCHANGE_second meeting

Hello everybody!

I’m here to tell you something about my second Skype meeting. I have to say that I’m a little bit unlucky with technological stuff… Also this time I had problems with the connection: I could hear Allyson and Martina talking but they couldn’t hear my voice.
This is definitely the main reason why for the first half an hour I only practised my listening skill… They spoke about some words we had to discuss on the forum and Allyson wanted to know something more about the meaning of the word ‘raccomandato’… It’s so difficult to explain something that is obvious for you and your culture without finding the right translation for that word, isn’t it?!
Later, when I was able to take part in the conversation, we talked about terrorism, the movie "Buongiorno, notte" and the attack at the Twin Towers in 2001… Allyson told us how she spent that day but I hope to ask her something more, especially about her feelings and fear towards these events.
Reflecting on these two Skype meetings, I want to point out that talking in three is not easy, I mean that it’s difficult to control the turns of the conversation… And moreover, I tend to listen rather than speaking…
Anyway, I’ll try to make it work better next time!

C u soon and Happy Easter to everybody!!!

Terrorism

The discussion on the wiki of this week was really interesting but difficult as we had to talk about subjects such as "Gli anni di Piombo" and terrorism... But it has been useful as I had the opportunity to reflect on an important part of the Italian history and to remember it and its victims. I think it’s necessary to know our recent history in order to make things change and improve.
I haven’t seen the film "Buongiorno, notte" yet but I’ve taken a look at some videos on YouTube and I’m going to watch it soon. Here is a small scene…the soundtrack taken from "The great gig in the sky" by the Pink Floyd is amazing and makes these images even more dramatic.

2nd semester...Padova-Dickinson exchange

Welcome back my dear blogging mates!!!

The second semester has just started and I feel really motivated and curious about all the activities we are going to do… Unfortunately I can’t attend the lessons on Monday because of a course at the Chamber of Commerce but I can take part in the Skype exchange.

Last Tuesday we had the first meeting with the American students and, as usual, I had some technical difficulties… I was able to contact Martina and Allyson after half an hour because my microphone didn’t work! Anyway, in the end we were able to have a general chat about ourselves and about Italian and American educational systems.

I had never used Skype before and in spite of my technical problems I think it’s amazing! By using chats, e-mails or blog posts you can’t realize that the other person really exists while through Skype you can hear the voice, you can see him/her talking to you… It’s so exciting! I’m sure this exchange will be very useful in order to improve both my intercultural competence and my language skills… I’m really optimistic and that’s why I look forward to hearing from Allyson and Martina soon!

Bye!!