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VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 1

#% INNOVATION ABSTRACTS

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

Bringing Worlds Together: Internationalizing the Curriculum Through Focused Interaction

Internationalizing the curriculum, student-centered learning, values clarification, cross-cultural awareness, writing to learn, and cooperative learning are all important issues in education today. This fairly easy- to-arrange exchange between a high-intermediate English as a second language (ESL) class and a sociol- ogy class incorporates them all; the basic concept can be adapted to a variety of courses/levels.

Internationalizing the curriculum is not a matter of inserting “international” courses into the curriculum, but of integrating an international perspective into all courses. One of the valuable attributes of the method described here is just that: By matching internationals with sociology students in small groups to discuss family customs and issues, cross-cultural awareness becomes an inherent element rather than an isolated curiosity.

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Early in the quarter, a date was arranged for an ESL composition class (17 students) to come to the Sociology of the Family class (20 students) for a 50-minute visit. We (the instructors) hoped to expose both groups to the practices and values of family life in other cultures, to give students practice with writing and thinking through writing, and to give the ESL students greater opportunities to talk with native speakers of English.

We divided each class into four groups, trying to balance each group to include students of different genders, races, personalities, ages, and national back- grounds. In the sociology class, students worked in these small groups to develop a list of 10 questions about such topics as dating, marriage, sex, and child- rearing in other cultures. In the ESL class, it was impor- tant for the students to become familiar with the ideas and vocabulary for the visit; students, therefore, pre- pared by first responding in their small groups to the Americans’ questions, then compiling a list of their own questions concerning customs in the United States. In addition, as a composition class, the ESL students generated five family-related essay topics; each student wrote on one of the subjects as a class assignment.

On the day of the actual exchange, the sociology class brought refreshments for the international guests and arranged the desks into four “tables” to create an informal setting. Maps on the walls aided students in locating the various nations represented. After a cautious start, the international exchanges became so lively that the noise level in the class reached record levels. A number of conversations continued even after the class was formally over.

The following week each instructor evaluated the experience by surveying her class with anonymous questionnaires. In addition, the sociology class wrote about the visit for their journals, and the international students wrote essay-style commentaries on the ex- change. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive; 100% of the students expressed a desire to have addi- tional opportunities to interact.

Some specific comments from international students (English uncorrected):

“I was happy because we were acting as one family.”—Lebanon

“We have had a warm relationship with our student’s group—the idea of small groups was great—the only problem is that the meeting was too short, so we didn’t have time enough to answer all the ques-

tions...” —France

“What I liked best was the sociology class were friendly people. In my group we went on discussing as if we knew each other before.”—Somalia

“I’m surprised to know that American students are talking about these problems seriously. That’s good. In my country people tend to avoid discussing these kinds of problems. I think it should be changed.”—Japan

“I found that meeting interesting because it was the first time that I discussed with American students about my society’s culture and also theirs.”—Iran

EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD) Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin

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