Online learning+++ NILE +++Absolutely Intercultural 292+++

 

Norwich Institute of Learning Education
Norwich Institute for Language Education

Welcome to Absolutely Intercultural show number 292 on World Futures Day. My name’s Anne Fox and this show is coming to you from Denmark, but when you’re online, does it matter where I am? In this show we’ll be looking at some of the issues that can happen in online courses. Yes, believe it or not, online learning existed long before the Covid 19 pandemic and for this show I decided to ask some of my colleagues at NILE in Norwich about some of the things that can happen when you are teaching online.
We’ll hear from Robert about a joke gone wrong, from Eva about how to organise a mixed gender group so that the genders are never mixed and what happened in Neil’s Zoom session that so upset the rest of the group?

absolutely separate

So let’s start with Eva and go absolutely separate about how to organise a mixed gender group so that the genders are never mixed.

absolutely funny

In our next segment we’ll be talking to Robert about something that he experienced when he was facilitating a very diverse group from around the world. Is it absolutely funny?

absolutely real

And in our final segment, we’ll meet Neil who lives in Spain and works for NILE teaching aviation English where we’ll learn how online learning can be absolutely real. But first the dilemma of adjusting meetings to meet other cultural norms.

Neil’s story about his student in Kiev reminds me that this week on several TV stations simultaneously, a new series called “In her Car” tells the story of a Ukrainian woman who volunteers to drive people in Ukraine during the current conflict.

If you have any stories about intercultural challenges with online learning then  let us know here on the blog in a comment.

And if you enjoyed the show, please like us on Facebook too.

By the way, did you know we are also  on Apple Podcasts and now Spotify? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment.

The next show will be coming to you from Germany with Laurent Borgmann on the 5th of April.

Until then – stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox

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Futures Studies +++ Georgia +++ India +++ Absolutely Intercultural 291 +++

 

Image of hiker in misty mountains from Pixabay
Stereotypical image of future

Imagine the future. What do you see? I think I could safely bet a lot of money that what you’re seeing now in your mind involves high tech, humanoid robots, and metallic high-rise cities! Can we be more imaginative about the future? And how do you see your personal future? Welcome to show 291 of Absolutely Intercultural coming to you from Denmark. My name’s Anne Fox and in this show we’re going to talk about the future, or rather, futures. Futures?

absolutely plausible

We’ll start with finding out more about what Futures Studies is, or are, by talking to Thor Svanholm Gustavson of the Copenhagen Futures Studies Institute and no, it’s not about predicting the future but about the possible, the preferred and the absolutely plausible. So what are Futures Studies?

absolutely specific

Thinking about the future is good for societies but let’s explore the personal level. Now let’s be absolutely specific and find out what Viktoria from Georgia told Mariam about her views of her future.

absolutely educational

In our next segment we hear again from Thor in Copenhagen. Let’s go absolutely educational and find out why Futures Studies should be on the school timetable. Thor’s final point makes me want to run a competition to draw a vision of the future that doesn’t include high tech, robots and flying cars. But maybe that’s for the future… 

absolutely predictable

Now we’ll hear from Raj, from India, about the role of parents in writing their children’s future. There’s a clear example of the present influencing the future when Raj goes back to India and aims to promote sustainability.

So who’s writing the story about your future?  You? Your parents? Society? Do you feel limited by the number of futures that are presented to you or do you, on the other hand have too many possible futures and you need to start thinking about your preferred future? What pictures of the future do you have? Are they all high tech? You can let us know here on the blog at absolutely-intercultural.com  where we have links from the organisations mentioned in the show.

And if you enjoyed the show, please like us on Facebook too.

Thanks to Mariam for interviewing our two RheinAhr Campus students.

By the way, did you know we are also  on Apple Podcasts and now Spotify? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment.

And talking about predicting the future it is very likely that the next show will be coming to you from me in Denmark on March 1 which by sheer coincidence is World Futures Day!

Until then – stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox

Co-host: Mariam Bilge

Links mentioned in the show:

UNESCO https://www.unesco.org/en/futures-literacy

Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies https://cifs.dk/

Teach the Future https://www.teachthefuture.org/

Image: Pixabay

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Hidden history +++ Our Story +++ Absolutely Intercultural 289 +++

Fatima Al-Fihri
Fatima Al-Fihri – founder of the first university in the world in Morocco

Welcome to show 289 of Absolutely Intercultural.

Did you know that the richest man who ever lived was an African from Mali in the fourteenth century whose wealth exceeded that of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates put together?

Did you know that the first university in the world was not in Milan, Italy but in Morocco started by a female refugee, Fatima Al-Fihri?

In this show we’re going to find out more about a publishing company called Our Story aimed at young children and their teachers, and why this might help intercultural understanding.

My name’s Anne Fox and I’m based in Denmark and for this show I’m working with Mariam in Germany.

In this show we are going to meet Fahad Siddiqui, a Londoner, living in Brazil, who thinks that we should all know more these people who have faded from history.

absolutely historical

Let’s go absolutely historical and meet Fahad Siddiqui who created the Our Story company to share these stories with children.

absolutely multicultural

As well as being interesting in their own right, one of the aims of the Our Story materials is to introduce children to different cultures so let’s find out more about that and go absolutely multicultural with Mariam.

absolutely charitable

One of the features of the Our Story books is that every time you buy one of the books, the company makes a donation to the charity, CAMFED, which supports the education of girls in a selection of African countries. Let’s go absolutely charitable to find out how and why.

I loved finding out more about the many facets of the Our Story books and I know that our conversation left Mariam thinking hard about her home country of Georgia and whether there would be a candidate for one of the books from her cultural history. And maybe you know of one from your culture too?

Share your story with us via comment or email, and you might feature in one of our upcoming shows. For more information and previous episodes, visit our website at absolutely-intercultural.com. And if you enjoyed the show, please like us on Facebook too. 

By the way, did you know we are also on iTunes or Apple Podcasts? You can subscribe to us there for free and give us a rating and a comment.

Our next show will be coming to you on 5th January from Laurent Borgmann in Germany

Until then – stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox

Co-host: Mariam Bilge

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Israel +++ music +++ religion +++ lockdown +++ study abroad +++ Michal Hoter +++ Absolutely Intercultural 258 +++

Since this is New Years Day of 2021, which we all hope will be a better year than 2020, the format is a little different than normal. We will be talking to just one person but about many different things.

We will be talking to Israeli musician, Michal Hoter about her trip to Morocco, about her first impressions of Helsinki in Finland when she went there to study, and about her stay in Denmark which I was surprised she found so different to Finland.

Continue reading “Israel +++ music +++ religion +++ lockdown +++ study abroad +++ Michal Hoter +++ Absolutely Intercultural 258 +++”

Behind the Red Veil +++ Thoms +++ Culturally responsive teaching +++ Corbin +++ Absolutely Intercultural 256 +++

In this show we will be talking to Frank Thoms whose book, Behind the Red Veil, came out just recently. As a young teacher in the US, Frank was very curious about the USSR, the old Soviet Union before it broke up into Russia and the different states again in the 1990s.

I also talked to Kim Corbin in Canada who is a teacher specialising in diversity and inclusion.

Continue reading “Behind the Red Veil +++ Thoms +++ Culturally responsive teaching +++ Corbin +++ Absolutely Intercultural 256 +++”

Mooc Island +++ seals +++ absolutely intercultural 254 +++

Hanko seals

In this show we’ll be looking at an unexpected effect of the pandemic on bureaucracy in Japan and we’ll also be looking at how doing an intercultural course in a virtual world can change your outlook.

Continue reading “Mooc Island +++ seals +++ absolutely intercultural 254 +++”

Colombian coffee +++ Fourth of July +++ Absolutely Intercultural 252 +++

US flag

Welcome to show 252 of Absolutely Intercultural, the show about all things intercultural. My name’s Anne Fox and I’m coming to you from a locked down Denmark. But the Covid 19 pandemic is overshadowed somewhat by the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd. These protests have gone global and with American Independence Day coming up I wondered how Americans were feeling about the meaning of the fourth of July right now.

Do you remember Luis from Colombia who we met in Show 250? He was a wedding photographer in Colombia but could not continue in cold and rainy Denmark so he decided to start a coffee importing business and how easy was that?

In this show we are talking to Elisabeth Hansen from Arizona who is now living and working in Australia. Elisabeth answered our call for Americans wanting to talk about what the fourth of July means to them. So, if you have an intercultural story you want to share then just get in touch either here on our webpage or on our Facebook page.

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Angélique Kidjo +++ UNICEF +++ Covid19 +++ Le Province +++ wedding rituals +++ Absolutely Intercultural 250

Do not hug

This show is coming to you from a partially locked down Denmark. Yes, this show is coming to you right in the middle of the COVID 19 pandemic with schools and businesses shut down and people advised to keep a good distance from each other. Fortunately, all the contributors to the show could be reached digitally. I talked to Elizabeth Anne, a former teacher based in the south of France who told me how the country is divided.

Then, I talked to Luis from Colombia, who recently moved to Denmark. In Colombia Luis was a wedding photographer but in Denmark, he discovered that wedding ceremonies were not so predictable.

Now, do you want to dance? Angelique Kidjo has recorded a special version of a song that was popular during the apartheid years in South Africa in the 1950s. The song Pata Pata means lightly touch but in these Covid 19 times the advice is no touching! So UNICEF, in collaboration with one of their goodwill ambassadors, Angelique Kidjo, has slightly changed the song so that it is about NOT touching and you can be in the video which comes out later this month if you film yourself dancing to it!

Continue reading “Angélique Kidjo +++ UNICEF +++ Covid19 +++ Le Province +++ wedding rituals +++ Absolutely Intercultural 250”

coded English +++ Outside magazine +++ Absolutely Intercultural 248 +++

Outside Online magazine

In this episode we’ll be introducing you to a new online magazine and hearing about some language challenges for non-native English speakers.

But be careful! Learning English could lead to some very strange results when you go back home!

And why talking about mundane everyday things for ages could actually be a sign of something good!

Continue reading “coded English +++ Outside magazine +++ Absolutely Intercultural 248 +++”

effect of accents +++ Brexit +++ Absolutely Intercultural 246

Image: Pixabay

Well I hope that you have recovered from hearing about all those gory details about life on the farm in the last show! This is the first show of 2020 so Happy New Year! In this show we go to the UK because there, finally three and a half years after the referendum on whether to leave the EU, the UK government has managed to pass legislation that takes the UK to the next stage. Anyway all our contributors today are migrants to the UK. But you will probably learn almost nothing about Brexit from this show. So if you are concerned that this will be about arcane constitutional corners of Britain or obscure trade rules then please don’t worry!

So what will we be hearing about? Would our contributors recommend migrating to the UK from the EU right now, for example?

And how is the transition from freedom of movement to getting permission to stay making migrants feel?

Although we talked long and hard about being a migrant in the UK, our third contributor, Konrad, did not even mention Brexit. Instead, he gave what I think is the best description I have heard so far of what an intercultural coach does.

Continue reading “effect of accents +++ Brexit +++ Absolutely Intercultural 246”