How to design an intercultural awareness training course
How to design an intercultural awareness training course
Keywords: cultural mindset; cultural knowledge; cultural awareness; cultural preferences; cultural adaptation; value dimensions
This article presents the cultural business model introduced on the Grundtvig-funded Cultural Trainers Certificate Course organised by International House London in October 2009.1 The training model comprises three stages: introduction of key concepts in intercultural communication, ingredients of cultural training and cultural adaptation. The application part describes the activity “Cultural portrayal of Romania” based on the organisation of the cultural information provided by my students in international relations in their essays entitled “Advice to a foreign friend about to open a business in Romania”. Further, my students’ perception of the Romanian cultural style is compared with R. Lewis’s briefing on Romania included in the third edition of his seminal work When Cultures Collide. The conclusions highlight the guiding methodological tenet of the course, namely that trainees should be provided with skills through an inductive learning cycle and with frameworks, models and formats in which they can integrate their own cultural knowledge and experience.
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