So I got to Via Sant'Egidio 12 right on time. Our teacher is Mrs Sheila Corwin, who reminded me of someone. The voice, the pitch, the melody...yeah, it is the voice of Ellen DeGeneres. It is like sitting in the audience all day long;) But, that's a little off topic. So, she welcomed us all and we hit it off with an introductory exercise. Biography in seven words. Great one. Definitely gonna use it with my students. But, on with the show. The group consists of thirteen participants from five countries. Joe, Serena, Danni, Olivia and Sarah from Ireland; Chloe, Stratos, Martha, Evi and George from Greece; Dulce from Spain, Laura from Finland and me. The aforementioned presentation is a great way of making people say things they want to say, so this way I learned a lot more that I would have in a more 'go-round-the-class-tell-me-sth-about-yourself' way. Good job there, Sheila;)
Coffee break came next. And here was a surprise. No free coffee. Quite a change from York. There is a coffee machine available, but first of all, you have to pay for it, not a lot, but still. Second, it produces tons of plastic everyday. Hurray for Earth. Let's make it even worse. Reusing the same cup is a no. I do think it needs improving.
The break, as breaks usually have it, was over quicker that I thought, however, going back up those stairs was a pleasant experience as I was sure Sheila would provide us with some cool activities. I couldn't be more...right;)
We worked in pairs or groups of three. I got to work with Dulce and Laura and the topic was Culture and Behavior. We were to discuss different behaviors in our cultures. There was a set of ten behaviors including eye contact, personal space and so on. It appears Poles are much more 'friendly' when it comes to closeness than both Fins and Spaniards. However, were all the same when it comes to smiling to other people. We don't:).
After that we had to come up with our own definitions of culture. And all our definitions were pretty much the same, but then Stavros stole the show saying that it is, and I quote: 'Living a different life in the same world.' I liked it. I thought mine was great, but it actually was just OK, goddammit;)
The next exercise was to understand a certain behavior and try to find the reason for it. Ours was a pair of Russian students who were speaking Russian in a test. Why? Laura said she teaches Russians and they simply don't cheat. Dulce figured they might have misunderstood sth and tried to explain this and that to each other. I thought they might be a bit on the dark side with cheating but it turned out it is common in Russia to be helping your friend out if he/she is in need.
Each pair/group had a different case study and then we had a discussion. Gotta say, we do talk a lot.
We also watched a few videos on YT about culture and behavior in general. We're really close to touching the refugee issue, although everybody is still waiting for the spark, I guess.
So here's the clip we watched that led us to yet another exercise and this time it was to make a list of ten rules we, as a nationality, never break. Here's the link to the video and below are our sheets.
Toward the end we watched another interesting video you can find here. How Culture Drives Behaviors. Culture differences at their best.
The last, but not least. An essay by an Afghan student. A true story. Too good to be true, but it actually is;)
There you go.
Oh, one more thing. I learned what dagging is;) Thank you Serena.
Over and out.
Coffee break came next. And here was a surprise. No free coffee. Quite a change from York. There is a coffee machine available, but first of all, you have to pay for it, not a lot, but still. Second, it produces tons of plastic everyday. Hurray for Earth. Let's make it even worse. Reusing the same cup is a no. I do think it needs improving.
The break, as breaks usually have it, was over quicker that I thought, however, going back up those stairs was a pleasant experience as I was sure Sheila would provide us with some cool activities. I couldn't be more...right;)
We worked in pairs or groups of three. I got to work with Dulce and Laura and the topic was Culture and Behavior. We were to discuss different behaviors in our cultures. There was a set of ten behaviors including eye contact, personal space and so on. It appears Poles are much more 'friendly' when it comes to closeness than both Fins and Spaniards. However, were all the same when it comes to smiling to other people. We don't:).
After that we had to come up with our own definitions of culture. And all our definitions were pretty much the same, but then Stavros stole the show saying that it is, and I quote: 'Living a different life in the same world.' I liked it. I thought mine was great, but it actually was just OK, goddammit;)
The next exercise was to understand a certain behavior and try to find the reason for it. Ours was a pair of Russian students who were speaking Russian in a test. Why? Laura said she teaches Russians and they simply don't cheat. Dulce figured they might have misunderstood sth and tried to explain this and that to each other. I thought they might be a bit on the dark side with cheating but it turned out it is common in Russia to be helping your friend out if he/she is in need.
Each pair/group had a different case study and then we had a discussion. Gotta say, we do talk a lot.
We also watched a few videos on YT about culture and behavior in general. We're really close to touching the refugee issue, although everybody is still waiting for the spark, I guess.
So here's the clip we watched that led us to yet another exercise and this time it was to make a list of ten rules we, as a nationality, never break. Here's the link to the video and below are our sheets.
 | |
| How to be Irish |
 |
| How to be Greek |
 |
| How to be Finnish |
 |
| How to be Spanish |
Toward the end we watched another interesting video you can find here. How Culture Drives Behaviors. Culture differences at their best.
The last, but not least. An essay by an Afghan student. A true story. Too good to be true, but it actually is;)
There you go.
Oh, one more thing. I learned what dagging is;) Thank you Serena.
Over and out.
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