Intercultural communication
Introduction
Successful intercultural communication enables students to deal with new and unfamiliar situations and establish positive relationships with new people.
Encounters with cultural ‘difference’ encourage students to develop greater insight into themselves and their own cultural identity.
Intercultural communication does not require us to forsake our own cultural identity or adopt the cultural practices or values of other cultures; rather it encourages us to be curious and respectful.
Intercultural communication is much deeper and broader than developing knowledge of other countries and cultures.
Intercultural communication should focus on building skills which promote an atmosphere in the classroom which allows learners to take risks in how they may think or feel about things, and to develop a sense of empathy towards others. Intercultural communication skills are best developed in a safe and inclusive classroom where students are free to examine and reflect on their own experiences and beliefs.
Incorporation of intercultural communication skills into the curriculum supports students in making connections between their own worlds and the lives and experiences of others.
What skills do we need to be effective intercultural communicators?
Download the intercultural communicator poster to display in your classroom, and use it with students to guide discussions.
Question cards – building the skills
Lesson ideas
If it were my home...
Skills – prepares, observes, compares, reflects, inquires, empathises
Using the If it were my home website, students review and compare statistics on what it would be like if they lived somewhere other than Australia.
Teaching and learning ideas
1. Class discussion – choose a country where the target language is spoken to compare with Australia.
- What may be the advantages and disadvantages of living in that country compared to Australia
- In your view, what are the limitations of the presented data? In what other ways can quality of life be measured?
- What other research will you need to do to find out about day-to-day life in that country?
2. Design a bilingual infographic in [language] with the title "I'd like to live in [country] because...". You can choose any country in the world. Write 5 reasons in [language] about why you'd like to life there, for example I'd like to live in France because...
- I am learning French.
- I like skiing.
- I can drink lots of coffee.
- France is very multicultural.
- The beaches are beautiful.
Greetings around the world
Skills – prepares, observes, compares, reflects
Teaching and learning ideas
- Brainstorm the ways people may greet each other, in your own culture and in other cultures you may be familiar with.
- Watch the video – were there any greetings you missed? Were there any greetings you had written down which weren't included in the video
- Make your own stop-motion animation on how people greet each other in [the target culture], with [language] examples.
What are you saying?
Skills – observes, compares, reflects, inquires
Try this gesture quiz from the Difference Differently website with your students to see how familiar they are with gestures around the world. Read the information, and discuss how misunderstandings can occur.
A day at school in Italy
Skills – observes, compares, reflects, inquires
Teaching and learning ideas
This would be a good opportunity for a flipped classroom with students watching the video at home, for discussion and reflection in class.
Students could complete their own version as a collaborative project, in non face-to-face lessons, introducing their own school to students in Italy.
Sister schools
Skills – observes, compares, respects
This video explores the sister-school relationship between two schools – one in Australia and the other in Indonesia.
Teaching and learning ideas
- Brainstorm the different backgrounds in the class.
- Watch the clip with the class and then discuss:
- What similarities and diffferences exist between the students at the two schools?
- What can you learn by participating in a sister school relationship?
- If you had to present one of your favourite hobbies to the class, which one would you choose?
- Would you choose a different hobby if you were presenting it to a class in another country? Why or why not?
- Create an online presentation (for example video with captions or Google Slides) to show your sister school about your class' favourite hobbies. Each student is to contribute 1 slide, with a self introduction and infromation about 2 hobbies, for example My name is Alex. I play soccer at school every Tuesday and I play Oztag with my friends on Thursdays.
If the world were a village
Skills – prepares, observes, compares, inquires, reflects
This video explores an imaginary village where people embrace cultures, languages, religious practices and values in a way which challenges students to think about differences and understand diversity. It provides a snapshot of issues such as poverty and education.
The video enables students to:
- develop an understanding of the different ways people live, both within their own communities and around the world
- think about the differences and similarities with others
- understand diversity.
Teaching and learning ideas
1. Discuss students’ insights into the different aspects of the village – cultural, traditions, values, age, gender, impact of the environment, and so on.
2. Describe and discuss the differences, similarities and challenges that cultures face:
- What is your favourite aspect of the ‘world village’?
- What do you think life in this village would be like?
- How would life in this village be similar or different from your life?
- What is the importance of having access to clean air and water?
- If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose, and why?
- Which aspects of the ‘world village’ are important to you?
- Has the video changed your view on the world? Why or why not?
- What new information have you learned?
Dinnertime around the world
Skills – observes, compares, inquires, reflects, respects
The slides below explore the different cultural traditions around mealtimes throughout the world.
Teaching and learning ideas
- Read through the poem and discuss with students their own cultures around mealtimes.
- Respectfully compare differences of culture between students .
- Allow students to inquire and learn about different traditions from each other.
- Challenge students to consider the mealtime cultures of other nationalities using the images from the slides.
- Reflect on new information learned.