Intercultural competence: the YOGA form

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Hi!

This week there's no skype exchange because we're on Easter break. So we're supposed to do a different activity. We should reflect on our intercultural competence. In order to do that, we were supposed to fill out a test, called YOGA (Your Objectives, Guidelines and Assessment Form).

Let's speak about this form. Obviously I never heard about it before. It's a sort of self-evaluation guide which could help you to assess your intercultural objectives. It's divided into 4 level regarding different kinds of competences. I just filled out the first one, called "Educational Traveler". This was the only one that applied directly to my experience. I went to England in 2002 and stayed there a month, living in a family. It was my first time abroad and it was a great experience. Then to fill out the test I considered my experience as a foreign languages' student as well. I thought of my language competence in general but with an eye on English culture, which is the one I experienced directly.

In my opinion, the first benefit of using YOGA form is that it let me stop and reflect on my intercultural competence. We rarely have the opportunity to critically reflect on our competences and this form is a useful starting point to assess them. Aswering the questions, I found out some interesting things. I demonstrate awareness of differences across languages and cultures and my attitude towards other cultures is open and positive. I think I demonstrate flexibility in the interaction with people from other countries and I'm willing to learn from them.

I've always been an outgoing girl and I've never had problems in relating with people. It's a natural thing for me. This is the reason why I decided to study foreign languages...I wanted to relate with as much people as possible. At the time, I still had no idea of how complex was studying a foreign language. I mean, learning the grammar is only the bulk of the iceberg. During these years at university I gradually learned that if you REALLY want to LEARN a language, you NEED to "control" its culture. And this is a very long and complicated task. Even studying at university isn't enough. Filling out the test, I realized that I have a low competence in the knowledge of the essential norms and taboos of the host culture. This is a great difficulty for me...I'd really like to become a Cultural Mediator (and this is the work I'm studying for), but my question is: how could I be a good Mediator if I haven't a complete mastery of the foreign culture?! At university we study a lot of theoric concepts about the language, but nobody teached us the culture. I really believe that there should be Foreign Culture's courses as well. It's fundamental!

I really don't know what could I do now to fill this deficiency...Any idea?

Thanks! :-)

Martina

Padova-Dickinson: 2nd week

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Hi, everybody!

How are you? And what about your Easter break? Mine was very relaxing! I spent the last few days pigging myself and staying with my family. I ate sooooo much dark chocolate! ;-)

The classes are going to begin on Thursday, so I still should be on holiday but in fact I am not! I have so many things to do for university that I have to work hard in the next few days! :-( Well, it doesn't matter...In the end, university is my work, isn't it?

Let's speak about our exchange with Dickinson's students. Last Wednesday we talked with them once again; it was our second conversation. Fortunately, I was supposed to speak with the same girl I had during our first exchange. She's Marigny, a very kind girl. We were supposed to discuss about terrorism both in Italy and in America. We prepared for that topic on Monday. I had to search for pieces of information about Italian years of lead because I wasn't prepared to discuss about it. I'm a little ashamed about it, but that part of Italian history is very contemporary and we rarely study it at school. For this reason, I had to read up on years of lead.

Anyway, Marigny and I didn't speak about terrorism at all. During the first 30 minutes we chatted typing because there was another lesson in our class and we couldn't speak all together. We chatted of this and that, I asked her how was her spring break. I knew that she went on a journey with her bestfriend so I asked her about that. I'm happy because she wrote me that my written English is good! All these posts on my blog bore their fruits!

However, speaking is always more difficult than writing. Marigny and I both agreed about that! She finds more difficulties in speaking Italian. I think its obvious because she has been studying Italian only for two years. The first time we spoke in Italian we had some difficulties so this time Marigny prepared some questions to ask me in Italian. She asked me about my spare time, music, films, actors. So we didn't speak about terrorism!

Anyway, I'm very happy about this exchange and above all about my American peer. She's so kind! Yesterday she sent me an email in Italian. She even sent me the link to subscribe to Facebook. During our conversation, she mentioned it but I had no idea of what it was! Now I'd like to ask her how to use it. I really hope that this is the begin of a new "international friendship"!

See you soon!

Martina

Happy Easter!

Here comes Peter Cottontail

"Here comes Peter Cottontail/Hoppin' down the bunny trail,/Hippity hoppity, Easter's on its way/Bringin' ev'ry girl and boy/A basketful of Easter joy/Things to make your Easter Bright and gay/He's got jelly beans for Tommy/Colored eggs for sister Sue/There's an orchid for your mommy/And an Easter bonnet too./Oh! Here comes Peter Cottontail/Hoppin' down the bunny trail/Hippity hoppity Happy Easter Day/Here comes Peter Cottontail/Hoppin' down the bunny trail/Look at him hop and listen to him say,"Try to do the things you should"/Maybe if you're extra good/He'll roll lots of Easter eggs your way/You'll wake up on Easter morning/And you'll know that he was there/When you find those choc'late bunnies/That he's hiding ev'rywhere,/Oh! Here comes Peter Cottontail/Hoppin' down the bunny trail/Hippity hoppity/Happy Easter Day!"


Easter Bunny Boogie

Weekly discussion on the wiki: how hard!

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Hi, my peers!

How are you? I'm so happy today! In the end, SPRING IS COMING!!! I'm looking forward to see trees in blossom! I love spring, it's definitely my favourite season. When spring comes, I'm full of energy...It's a sort of revival for me!

Well, let's speak about our task three. Last Wednesday we didn't have Skype exchange because our American peers were taking their spring break. So our weekly task was easier. We were supposed to discuss in groups to come up with one question to pose to the Americans. I thought it would be an easy task but actually it was not so easy! First of all, the wiki isn't the simplest way to discuss. I think that a chat would be more effective. It allows you to speak in real time and to have a real discussion. What's more, we all had different questions to pose to the Americans. For example, I was curious to know which are the typical differences between North and South America. However, my peers were curious to know something more about the Americans' view of Italian lifestyle and in particular they wanted to know how many their view is influenced by mass-media. All our questions were equally interesting but my peers were right. The question about the influence of mass-media could be a good starting point for a lively general discussion :-) . So in the end we decided to pose this question.

I must admit that I really enjoy working in groups. It's a way to learn how to interact with people with different points of view. This experience enriches you because allows you to consider other opinions and to enlarge your horizons. ;-)

See you tomorrow!

Bye!

Martina

Online activism: help the world!

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Hi everybody!
I received a very important email by a friend of mine and I want to let you all know what I founded out.

There's a new way to help breast cancer research: an official website exists and just clicking on the pink window in the middle you can give free mammograms to women who can't pay for them. Don't worry, it's free. According to the number of daily visits, the corporate sponsors advertisers pay for a mammogram. I did it. It really takes 2 seconds of your time! So, please go to http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2 and click on the pink window.

Moreover, from the same website you can visit other similar website and do the same thing. Again, you don't have to pay anything because the sponsors pay for it! This's the list of website you can access:

• The Literacy site: you can provide free books to children.
• The Animal Rescue site: you can provide food and care to a rescue animal.
• The Child Health site: you provide health service to poor and unprivileged children.
• The Rainforest site: you help the organizations which work for the preservation of rainforests around the world.
• The Hunger site: you help to feed the world's hungry donating a cup of food.

If you want to know more about these projects, take a look at this video.

Martina

Padova-Dickinson exchange: let's begin!

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Hi everybody!

Here I am after a long break. On January and on February we had exams at university...We had an hard time! We started the second semester two weeks ago. In the next few months, our activity on the blog will be a little different. During the first semester, we learned how to use some Web 2.0 tools for language learning and now we should be able to work by ourselves. I have to admit the activity we had been doing during the first semester turned out to be very stimulating and useful. During our break, we wrote a mid-term paper, in which we were supposed to reflect on our improvements in English language learning. Well, I certainly developed some skills in the past few months and my English is a little better now than in October. But I realized I need to work harder on my oral skills. I have been studying English for 13 years, but I still find difficulties in speaking, above all in speaking spontaneously and fluently. So, since this is my last semester at university, I definitely want to take advantage of our English course. This is the reason why I decided to take part in the Padova-Dickinson exchange. Using Skype, I'll have the opportunity to speak once a week with an American girl, who studies Psichology and Italian at Dickinson University, in Pennsylvania. We started our Skype exchange last Wednesday. I was a little nervous before starting but when we started our conversation I relaxed. She made a good impression on me; she seems to be a nice and kind girl. At first, we spoke about ourselves: where we are from, our families, our hobbies. We were supposed to speak about the educational system in America and in Italy but a little of time to know each other was necessary! Anyway, we spoke about our universities as well. She lives in a campus and said that the life there is just like we see in tv. Great, isn't it? Well, I'm quite satified with my first Skype exchange. I hope she could understand my English well...Sometimes I got lost with what I was saying just because I wanted to say too many things together! Anyway, it was just the first time...Fortunately, I have enough time to better my conversational skills!

Next week we're going to speak about American primaries and Italian elections...I need to read something about that to prepare for my next convesation. I'm not ready to answer my American peer's questions! ;-)

See you next week!

Martina

"Sometimes, a hug is all what we need" (J.Mann)

Hi, everybody!

I was surfing the Net when I run into Chiara's blog. She's a peer of ours who put in her blog a wonderful video from YouTube, entitled "Abrazos gratis". She took that video during her staying as an Erasmus student in Alicante (Spain). When I watched the video, I was touched. It's about a group of young people who offer free hugs to strangers in the streets. It's wonderful seeing how many people stopped to hug one another: women, men, children, old men and women... everybody wanted a hug, maybe they needed it in that moment. Anyway, try to watch the video and judge by yourself.

It's moving, isn't it? I love seeing people smiling and hug one another. In my opinion, a hug is the best way to demonstrate your love to those next of you. I feel closer to other people when I hug them.
At the end of the video a name appears: Juan Mann. I didn't know who he was so I typed his name in Google. I found out that he's the man who first invented this initiative in 2004. Thanks to him, now a Free Hugs Campaign exists: it became a real movement with joiner from all over the world. There is also an official website, you should visit it. Juan Mann writes: "In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal". For him, the hug is the "symbol of human hope" and I agree with him. We all should reflect about it!
As I wrote to Chiara, try to image what would happen in the world if the world's heads of state hugged one another during their meetings...Wouldn't the world be better?

Martina