Preparing for a Virtual Cross-Cultural Exchange
Source: http://www.global-integration.com/blog/cross-cultural-training-tips
Making meaningful connections requires more than just cross-cultural online communication between students. In Lisa Delpit’s book Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, she said, “We all interpret behaviors, information, and situations through our own cultural lenses; these lenses operate involuntarily, below the level of conscious awareness, making it seem that our own view is simply ‘the way it is’” (151). When students engage in cross-cultural exchanges—whether in-person or online—they need to come to the table with an understanding of how their own experiences, perspectives, and biases can influence their perceptions of “other.”
These guidelines and resources will help teachers prepare their students not just to interact with people from another culture, but to learn about diverse perspectives and understand how cultural perceptions are formed.