How do you feel when you live or work together with someone who is very different from you – when this person has different ways of communicating, evaluating things, different ways of enjoying life, a different understanding of “how things are”, and different values guiding him or her through life? Are you curious, anxious, neutral – or does it even make you angry? What thoughts and feelings do you experience?
The set of materials called Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters provides useful tools for you to reflect on your encounters with individuals from different backgrounds. You can ask yourself: what could I have done differently in this situation? How were my actions influenced by an idea I had about the other? What puzzled me? How did I adjust? How did the other person adjust? What did I understand only after reflecting on the experience?
The Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters is a reflective tool you can use by yourself or ask your trainees to use; facilitator’s notes; context, concepts and theories, concepts for discussion, and an Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters for younger learners with respective facilitator’s notes, text cards, and picture cards. Find an overview with links to all of these materials here.
When we learn about intercultural adjustment, communication styles, and the different historical developments that have shaped societies all over the world, we may better be able to connect our experiences to our new knowledge. Having cases and situations in mind that have puzzled us can help bring clarity to theories on intercultural communication – and to link them to our lives! This clarity can help us navigate through daily life in an intercultural environment and to develop strategies to improve our interactions and experiences.
To cooperate successfully in an increasingly globalized world is becoming increasingly important. As an AFSer, you can probably recall many encounters where things didn’t go as you planned. Your experiences may have taught you a lot about cultural differences and about how you react to, process, and learn from them. If you want to deepen your understanding, access the materials here and use them alone or to facilitate the intercultural learning of others. Reflecting on what made the communication difficult, what puzzled or confused you, and how you could overcome these difficulties makes for rich learning opportunities – and best of all: it’s free and available in French and Italian as well!