Year: 2010

absolutely intercultural 105 +++ Didgeridoo +++ lifelong learning +++ power distance +++

absolutely nominated
Our podcast has been nominated for the European Podcast Award – please help us win the prize by voting for us. Just click on the German and the Danish  flag and vote for Absolutely Intercultural. The address is http://www.european-podcast-award.eu/ and basically all you need to do is to give us a star rating for both content and design and then click the Vote button and that’s it.  Thank you in advance!

absolutely down-under
As I am preparing to leave Australia soon, in my mind I am trying to compile a collection of lasting impressions that I gained during my stay in down-under. Now, for this podcast my challenge was – to capture one specific sound that would be emblematic for Australia. For me, personally, this would probably be the incredible bird sounds that I have already shared with you in previous shows. However, I have a feeling that for others the sound of the didgeridoo captures the Australian spirit best. In a small country town of the Hinterland I was fortunate enough to meet a part-blood Aboriginal and his daughter, both, producers and players of these Yirdakis, which is the real name for these curious wind instruments developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia since at least 1500 years ago. In our first category, I wanted to find out what exactly you have to do to produce this typical sound and where the name “didgeridoo” comes from.

absolutely lifelong
We are still talking about learning – can you imagine going to school again for the rest of your life? And to sit in class and listen to what a teacher tells you? Or maybe there are other forms of learning out there?
Lifelong learning is often promoted by institutions of adult education, so we have interviewed Ulla and Beate, who both work for adult education institutions. Ulla works for the Folkuniversitetet in Sweden and Beate for Volkshochschule Köln, in Germany. I asked them whether there is a recognisable culture of lifelong learning, and what makes people want to carry on learning throughout their lives.

absolutely distant
It is incredibly rewarding to work with people who out of their own free will decide to improve themselves and constantly set themselves new challenges by integrating into new learning situations.
Two of these people are Jakub and Mariusz, two Erasmus students from Poland, who spent a summer semester at RheinAhrCampus in Remagen. In our last category they describe a stark difference between the student-professor-relationships in Poland and in Germany. Geert Hofstede describes the intercultural dimension behind this as “power distance”. It is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions (here the students) expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.
Now, the observation of the two students totally confirms Hofstede’s theory. Power Distance in Poland is much higher than in most other European countries and in particular than in Germany. So it was to be expected that Polish students found the idea of a German Professor as a colleague and a friend very disturbing. However, we started our interview with the Polish students’ observations about Europe. They report that while the European idea is still new and exciting in Poland the Germans do not seem to appreciate or even question it any longer because they simply take Europe for granted.

The next show will be hosted by Anne Fox in Denmark on 02. April.

Until then –
Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann
Editor: Dino Nogarole

absolutely intercultural 104 +++ Anna Lindh Foundation +++ English Out There +++ Real English +++

Follow live coverage of the Anna Lindh Foundation forum 5-7 March at http://annalindh.wordpress.com

In this show we will be finding out about a rather different way of learning a language, in this case English. How about just going out on the street and talking to people? In today’s show we’re going to be exploring whether you could learn a language mainly by speaking it with other people.

If you like what you hear in these shows then why not go along to the European Podcast Award website where we have been nominated for the EPA. Just click on either the Danish or the German flag and vote for Absolutely Intercultural. The address is http://www.european-podcast-award.eu/ and basically all you need to do is to give us a star rating for both content and design and then click the Vote button and that’s it.

absolutely real
The difference between textbook English and real English is often very wide. Michael Marzio an American based in the South of France recognised this and started recording street interviews for language learners back in 1992. These interviews are freely available on real-english.com where they have been edited into a series of lessons to make it easier for non-natives to understand English as she is spoken. So what, for example, do the Great British or American Public have to say about what the Italians are like? What I like about this is that it gives you the opportunity to study all sorts of adjectives and it also shows you stereotypes in action. Michael Marzio makes all the material available free of charge on his Real English website so if you want to brush up on your pronunciation for example, it’s well worth a visit.

absolutely out there
Jason West in the UK has taken the concept one step further with his approach, called Languages Out There in which it is the students who go out on the streets and do the interviews directly with the public, having first practiced the target language in the classroom. Where did the idea come from and how does it work? We will also find out what one of his students thinks. Eri is from Japan and has just completed two weeks with English Out There. Now you may be thinking this is a wonderful idea but if you don’t live in an English speaking country then not for you. I asked Lize Odendal originally from South Africa but now working in Shanghai China for EF what she thought about the idea for her students. Well Jason has been giving that problem some attention and has come up with an online version of English Out There which involves using social networking sites such as Facebook. We’ll be finding out more about that option in a later show. But the online option is one reason that Jason has started making many of the lesson ideas freely available on the Languages Out There website. So if you’re curious then go along to the website and take a look

On the day this show comes out I shall be in Barcelona attending the Anna Lindh Foundation forum from which I’ll be blogging and recording material for future shows. The aim of the forum is to bring people from Europe and the mediteranean area together in an effort to promote mutual understanding and collaboration. The forum is organised around an Agora, an exchange of ideas, and a Medina, a market place for building project partnerships. I’m very curious and looking forward to it. You can follow the event at the forum blog and I will also be blogging about the event at my blog.

Don’t forget to vote for us in the European Podcast Award! The next show will be brought to you by Laurent Borgmann on March 19th and to be honest I’m not sure whether that will be from Australia or Germany so stay tuned!

The next show will be coming to you on 19 March from Dr. Laurent Borgmann.

So long…stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox
Editor: Dino Nogarole

absolutely intercultural 103 +++ down-under +++ John Kaethler +++ image construction +++

Our show is getting more and more international. My English co-host Anne Fox has been doing her shows from Denmark where she lives with her family, our half-German half Italian and half Swiss editor Dino Nogarole is currently doing his semester abroad in León and so is editing the sound files from Spain – and I am still in Queensland, Australia where I am teaching and doing some research for one semester. However, thanks to the new media – email, virtual drives, and digital platforms – such international cooperation is feasible which means that we can bring fresh, new and I hope  interesting reports from around the world directly into your ears. Our interviewees today are from Spain, Canada, and from Hungary.

absolutely down-under
Some people who listened to my absolutely down-under reports asked me whether, apart from a “Tropical Christmas by the Pool”  or a “National Australia Day” which I described both in previous shows –  a very normal, regular day in Australia would also be different for a European. So, I followed myself with the microphone one morning and recorded my intercultural impressions from getting up at 7 o’ clock until I arrived at the University of the Sunshine Coast at 9. You will notice from my comments how much I like it here – except for the first minutes after waking up – I admit, I am not a morning person.

absolutely confused
In our second category we go to an unusual language classroom in Canada where the Chinese teacher encourages the students to interrupt the teaching if they are thirsty. In different cultures some gestures mean different things. Symbols are not universal. But what do you do when a good friend from abroad uses a gesture that offends you? Do you choose to ignore it and pretend nothing happened? Or do you talk to your friend and explain that the gesture is not acceptable in your culture? Listen to what John Kaethler from Brock University in Kanada did, maybe we can learn some general strategies about how to react constructively to these intercultural incidents.

absolutely tiny
Have you ever needed to construct an image of yourself, because otherwise people won’t take you seriously? When you start a new job or move to another city you could plan to try out something new. So, quite some time ago we asked Marlen from Spain and Anita from Hungary how they have worked on their personal image projection when they first started their new jobs, teaching at a university. Marlén describes how she wanted to prove to the students that she was the teacher and perhaps went a little over the top to the point that one of her students was frightened.

To vote for us at the “European Podcast-Award”, just click here and you will find a list with several podcast. We are very thankfull for every vote we get.

Our next show will be coming to you from Anne Fox in Denmark on 05.03.

Until then – Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann

Editor: Dino Nogarole

absolutely intercultural 102 +++ Mark Pegrum +++ From Blogs to Bombs +++ Second Life +++ Nergiz Kern +++ Mecca +++ Evonline +++ TESOL +++

Tour of Virtual “Makkah” in Second Life from NergizK on Vimeo.

In this show you’ll be going on a guided tour of Mecca; we’ll be hearing from Mark Pegrum, author of the book ‘From Blogs to Bombs’ about the impact of digital technologies and we’ll be finding out how international a team of online moderators can be.

What I want to concentrate on in this show is a phenomenon which started about 10 years ago as an event leading up to the TESOL convention which usually happens in March. TESOL is an organisation of teachers of English and 10 years ago a couple of TESOL members had the idea of offering free online development sessions of interest to English teachers in the run-up to the face to face convention in March. The idea was such a success that it has become an annual feature and the current sessions are going on right now.

I thought I would explore some of the intercultural aspects of this event since it draws people from all over the world both as moderators and as participants and is built on the voluntary efforts of a growing band of enthusiasts. So, for 6 weeks starting in mid-January you can sign up to any of a growing list of sessions which this year included using video in class, using images, using the Internet with Young Learners, making the most of your Interactive Whiteboard, using drama, using online games and teaching in Second Life.

absolutely international
After ten years a certain number of traditions have emerged, one of which is the kick-off meeting during which all the sessions on offer are described by their moderators. There is a link to a recording of the full 2 hour event here.  If you have ever taken part in an Evonline session for example perhaps you could tell us about your experience of working with such a mixed international group as a comment to this blog. Not only do the participants come from all over the world but the moderators do too. Teresa Almeida d’Eça talked about the locations of the moderating panel for the session ‘Becoming a Webhead’ which is abbreviated to BAW.


That international mix is also reflected in the participants who sign up for the sessions and means that lively discussion is guaranteed. For example, in this year’s drama session, the moderators planned that participants should develop activities around the theme of tolerance and over the past few days there has been a heated, but respectful discussion about whether tolerance is actually a good thing or not. Does it lead us to condone actions which we disapprove of?

absolutely Mecca
When the Evonline sessions started over ten years ago most sessions were text-based discussions supported by a collection of Internet links. Now technology has moved on to such an extent that live meetings are common across all the sessions and teachers explore the use of all types of communication and storytelling methods. These include the use of virtual worlds such as Second Life where for example you can take your students on a virtual tour. What could that be like? One example is the tour led by Nergiz Kern around virtual Mecca as part of the Evonline session on  teaching languages in a virtual world. You can see the full 30 minute tour on the video above but for now we will eavesdrop on the introduction. The way the tour was organised meant that only Nergiz spoke, while comments and questions were taken through text chat so you’ll hear typing noises when the ‘tourists’ ask questions. You will also hear camera shutters when the tourists take photographs. Is this Absolutely Mecca?

So it’s not just a question of walking round replicas of buildings. With a good guide like Nergiz and an interested mixed group such as these language teachers I think you can learn a great deal from an event like this.

absolutely digital
Another of the Evonline sessions is about exploring the idea of multiliteracies, that it is not enough to be able to read and write but that we also have to be able to read more critically all the different digital channels which have emerged recently. Mark Pegrum in Australia has recently published a book about the topic and he was happy to join the Multiliteracies Evonline session to take questions about it. I let Vance Stevens, one of the Multiliteracies moderators introduce Mark, during one of the live sessions which were organised for this topic.

absolutely real
Now we’ll continue with our tour of Mecca by going into the Grand Mosque. Hey! Don’t forget to take off your shoes!

absolutely the best European podcast?
We’ve been nominated for the European Podcast Award which is being offered for the first time this year. You can go to the European Podcast Award webpage. What we need from you is a rating if you like the podcast. Now for the hard part. The award is divided according to countries and the Award organisers don’t know whether to allocate us to Germany or Denmark. At the moment you will find us listed under both countries but I think in the end we will only appear on the Danish pages. That’s the problem with being intercultural I guess! Anyway well keep you posted about how you can help us. The first deadline is mid-March so there is time to tidy things up.

The next show will be coming to you on 19th Febuary from Dr. Laurent Borgmann in Australia.

So long…stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox
Editor: Dino Nogarole

absolutely intercultural 101 +++ absolutely down-under +++ borrowed identities +++ John Kaethler +++

Laurent hugging a Koala

absolutely down-under
Like my two previous shows, episode 101 also comes to you from Australia. As I get woken up by exotic birds outside my bedroom window every morning I thought I should record my introduction at this time of the day to share this experience with you because this has become my regular Australian alarm clock.  As I live only a couple of hundred metres from the national park I assumed they must have some kind of noisy monkeys in that park but then I discovered, it was birds, such as cockatoos, kookaburras, and some very colourful small parrots that I cannot identify. After a month in the country I finally manage to sleep through this incredible noise, and if I didn’t, I would have to get up at 4:30 every morning when this dubious concert starts.

I only learned this week that my class and tutorial at the University of the Sunshine Coast next week will not take place because of Australia Day, a national public holiday. So I started asking people what this national day is all about and I received many, but sometimes contradictory answers because while this day is meant to promote and celebrate national unity it seems that every year it is accompanied by the criticism that instead of promoting multiculturalism this day commemorates the 26 January 1788 the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove where English settlers put up their flag. So opponents tend to call it “Invasion Day” and propose to change the national public holiday to another date. Let me share with you what some Australians told me about Australia Day. (If you want to find out more about Australian Identity you may want to revisit Anne’s show 76 on “mateship”)

absolutely borrowed
Have you ever thought about your own identity? Or about borrowing another person’s identity to see what it is like to live the life of somebody else? Have you ever marveled about what your life would have been like if you had grown up in another culture? Well, let us talk about a European project which we finished last year together with students in Sweden, Spain, England, Lithuania and Hungary. Before starting the project I went to Brighton to plan this European project which was called “Borrowed Identities”. I got together with Vy, Lili, Jessica and Ross from the School of languages at the University of Brighton. We discussed whether it is possible to borrow an identity or not? And what identity really is? And how Ben Kingsley and Ghandi fit into this picture.

absolutely diplomatic
Have you ever been to a foreign country and criticized the system or the people of that country? Well, if you have not made the mistake yourself, I am sure you have seen your compatriots fall into this trap? I discussed with John Kaethler how we would react if a guest from a foreign country would criticize our home country and our habits. In our category “absolutely diplomatic” John suggests, that if someone asks you your opinion about politics, sometimes it may be better to keep your mouth shut, instead of sharing negative impressions about the host country.

Our next show will be coming to you from Anne Fox in Denmark on 05.02.

Until then –
Bleiben Sie absolut interkulturell!

The host of this show is: Dr. Laurent Borgmann
Editor: Dino Nogarole

absolutely intercultural 100 +++ annniversary +++ Wedding Nouveau +++ Fri Bailey +++ European Podcast Award +++

wn_headerWelcome to show number 100 of Absolutely Intercultural. Yes, it’s true we have reached three figures since March 2006 when we first started.  In most cultures anniversaries are celebrated, birthdays being the most common. But even in that case there are huge differences in emphasis. For most, birthdays are an occasion for gifts and special foods but in some cultures a birthday can only be celebrated as a humble thanksgiving for the blessings you have enjoyed to date. So in that spirit I would like to say thank you to everyone who has taken part in the show so far. We couldn’t have done it without you. Certainly for me it’s been a wonderful excuse to get in touch with people from all over the world and to collate a wonderful collection of ideas, perspectives and experiences along the way. 

 Fri Bailey sent us an email and is the main topic of our anniversary show because she arranges celebrations which give rise to that other important anniversary, the wedding anniversary. Now we’ve covered weddings before in show number 41 when we heard about two intercultural weddings and how they were organised by the bride and groom. But this time we’re going to hear from someone who arranges intercultural weddings for a living. So what’s the answer to the question about whose traditions should be adopted for the wedding?

absolutely inspired
When I started this anniversary show I thought that celebrating anniversaries must be one of those universals of culture on a par with gender roles, kin groups and marriage but a closer look revealed that while anniversaries may be implicit in some of the universals they are by no means common across the world. However in my everyday life I have the feeling that I am overwhelmed by anniversaries but all I could find for 2010 was that it will be the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the 100th anniversary of Scouting in the USA. Where wedding anniversaries are concerned then there has to be a wedding to trigger the anniversary so I asked Fri Bailey, who is originally from Cameroon in Africa, where she got the idea of arranging inter-cultural weddings for a living.

absolutely silver
As regular listeners may know I am a Briton living in Denmark and when you come to live in a different culture there are many new things to learn, new days to celebrate and new ways to celebrate. When we had lived in Denmark about 6 years we received an invitation to a 25th wedding anniversary celebration. I have to say that joy turned to consternation when we realised that this meant arriving at the happy couple’s house at 7.30… in the morning. Guests have to go through the pretence of waking the couple up by singing in the garden under their window. They then wake up and invite you in for an impromptu breakfast. Well I was the only one in our household who was prepared to accept the invitation as everyone else had to go to work or school. And when we woke the happy couple up with our singing, they seemed remarkably awake and miraculously dressed. Thankfully the wedding anniversary was in spring and the rain held off and when we trouped into the house there was rather more than just a quick coffee and lightly toasted slice of bread to eat. I must say that an early morning party left me with many questions such as How long was it polite or expected that I should stay? Perhaps I needed an inter-cultural advisor like Fri Bailey? 

absolutely matrimonial
Having discovered where she got her idea for the Wedding Nouveau service I was then interested to hear about some specific examples of weddings she had been asked to assist with. I would recommend a visit to the Wedding Nouveau website at  where you will see some of the inspired and creative suggestions that Fri has come up with for different couiples, definitely a feast for the eye.

Well I hope that you have liked our 100th show. In fact we are planning to enter the podcast for the European Podcast Award. You will be able to register your support for the Absolutely Intercultural podcast at the award website. 

The next show will be coming to you on 22 Jnuary from Dr. Laurent Borgmann in Australia.

So long…stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox
Editor: Dino Nogarole