education – absolutely intercultural!

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

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

Download

Podcast-Feed

Apple podcasts

Why Denmark? +++ Iceland +++ South Africa +++ Masters +++ PhD +++ Absolutely Intercultural 287 +++

Welcome to Show 287 of Absolutely Intercultural coming to you from Denmark. My name’s Anne Fox and Denmark is where I have lived for almost thirty years. It is a small country of nearly 6 million people which has 8 universities. Compared to Germany’s 380, or the USA’s seemingly too many to count, but let’s settle for over 4000, eight Danish universities seems like a very small pool to choose from. So why would anybody come to Denmark for their university studies? This is what we’re going to find out in this show. We will be talking to Peter from South Africa who has a complex family history that is reflected in the languages spoken at home and Úlfar from Iceland who’s noticed something about Denmark.

absolutely uncertain

In our first segment, “absolutely uncertain”, let’s find out how Peter came to Denmark, to study in Danish, after being brought up in South Africa and having done his schooling in German.

absolutely engineered

In our next segment, “absolutely engineered”, let’s hear from Úlfar, an Icelander who had limited options for his Masters back in Iceland and chose Denmark.

So maybe small is beautiful after all. Family history and colonial ties seem to count greatly in addition to any global ranking that Danish universities may also have. Just for information DTU is number 165 globally or, when we’re talking specifically engineering and technology, 3rd after Stanford and MIT, while Copenhagen is 107 globally. And Iceland has seven universities which is only one less than Denmark, but it’s something to do with size! What about you? Did you ever consider studying in a small country like Denmark? Get in touch, feel free to share your unique story with us here on the podcast.

Write a comment or mail us, we could do a follow-up interview with you in one of our next shows. On our web page, absolutely-intercultural.com, you can get more information about this show and previous episodes, and you can leave comments. 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 3 November from Laurent Borgmann in Germany.

Until then, stay tuned!

The host of this show is: Anne Fox

Download

Podcast-Feed

Apple podcasts

Hidden Cultures +++ Cultures in Management +++ Empathetic Leadership +++ Absolutely Intercultural 251 +++

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_81492-684x1024.jpg Hello and welcome to show 251 of Absolutely Intercultural, Cultures in Management, coming to you from the beautiful Rheinland in Germany. Today’s show is about the culture of management, where we listen to three managers and how they handle some of the more hidden cultures in their workplace to be effective leaders. Culture can be more than just national or geographical identity, it can be about direct/indirect, female/male, formal/informal, old/young or it can unite people who have the same profession but who all grew up in the same country. You will have certainly encountered some of these yourself throughout life.

100%forthe children +++ Signe Møller +++ Kenya +++ Ghana +++ SDGs +++ Absolutely Intercultural 234

Happy New Year! In this show, we are going to go back to shows 70 and 74 in 2008 and 2009 when I talked to Signe Møller here in Denmark about a new charity she had just set up.

This show, 234, is ten years later, so why am I re-visiting Signe’s charity 100% to the children? Because I bumped into a stall for her charity at a local Christmas market last November and I was curious to find out how this one-woman organisation was doing.

Continue reading “100%forthe children +++ Signe Møller +++ Kenya +++ Ghana +++ SDGs +++ Absolutely Intercultural 234”

Open-hearted +++ Boquerones +++ Málaga, Spain +++ Absolutely Intercultural 233 +++

In this show, which could carry the sub-title “absolutely boquerones” we are going to focus on the culture of Málaga in Spain. And Boquerones is the typical fish grilled over open fire on the beaches of Málaga, but it is also the nickname for the inhabitants of Malaga. First, we will listen to Julian talking about his experience in Malaga, Spain, as he is doing a Semester abroad at our partner University, Universidad de Málaga. Juanjo, an Erasmus Student from Spain, who is currently studying a semester at RheinAhrCampus in Germany, will talk about the differences he noticed in the educational systems of Spain and Germany. And finally, we will listen to Trish, who is originally from Ireland but lived in various different countries and now lives in Málaga, will share with us why she decided to live in Spain.

Continue reading “Open-hearted +++ Boquerones +++ Málaga, Spain +++ Absolutely Intercultural 233 +++”

Soliya +++ Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange +++ African Science +++ Absolutely intercultural 232 +++

What is a virtual exchange? Maybe not what you think. We’ll be digging deeper into that in this special edition of Absolutely Intercultural coming to you from Denmark. My name’s Anne Fox and this is show 232. Today’s show is mainly about promoting dialogue between different groups of people. So what is dialogue? And can you tell the difference between dialogue and, for example, debate?

Continue reading “Soliya +++ Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange +++ African Science +++ Absolutely intercultural 232 +++”

Classroom Response Systems +++ Interactive Classroom +++ Learning Culture +++ Auto-Evaluation of Essays +++ Absolutely Intercultural 226 +++

Can technology in the classroom change the culture of teaching and learning? Could this culture be more democratic and give a voice to participants who in regular seminars would not be heard? Let us listen to Hannah Peter an exchange student from Canada who talks about a Classroom Response System she has tried out as a teaching assistant in lectures at RheinAhrCampus. Then we hear from a professor Jalal Kawash, also from Canada who has been using Classroom Response Systems for years. Finally, Tsegaye Misikir Tashu from Hungary talks about a tool for Automated Essay Evaluation where professors can leave the reading and grading of essays to a computer program. Should we be scared by such innovations in the culture of teaching and learning? Continue reading “Classroom Response Systems +++ Interactive Classroom +++ Learning Culture +++ Auto-Evaluation of Essays +++ Absolutely Intercultural 226 +++”

AIESEC +++ AFS +++ The Foreigner Podcast +++ exchanges +++ Absolutely Intercultural 220 +++

On our Absolutely Intercultural Facebook page we recently reached the 700 Likes milestone so thank you for that! Our 700^th liker could have been Cécile Saint-Espès, Laurent Kazimotol or Selsela Arya. Thank you all.

In this show we’re going to look at different types of exchanges both study and work. So what effect does an exchange have on you?

And what’s the best way of preparing yourself to benefit from an exchange?

Continue reading “AIESEC +++ AFS +++ The Foreigner Podcast +++ exchanges +++ Absolutely Intercultural 220 +++”

changing the world +++ DNS College +++ Flat Pack Democracy +++ Restaurant Moment +++ Absolutely Intercultural 219 +++

Off to Africa to learn about the world! DNS College

How do you change the world? As part of the European Capital of Culture for 2017, Aarhus hosted a Rethink Activism festival in September where I met some interesting people, took part in some awareness raising exercises and learned about some innovative ideas. Continue reading “changing the world +++ DNS College +++ Flat Pack Democracy +++ Restaurant Moment +++ Absolutely Intercultural 219 +++”

Russia +++ sanctions +++ Diversophy +++ N Korea +++ Absolutely Intercultural 211 +++

Where in the world can you get one hectare of land for free and retire 5 years earlier than the rest of your countrymen?
What would it be like to do scientific fieldwork in North Korea?
Welcome to Show 211 of Absolutely Intercultural, the podcast about all things intercultural. My name’s Anne Fox and this show is coming to you from Denmark.
Continue reading “Russia +++ sanctions +++ Diversophy +++ N Korea +++ Absolutely Intercultural 211 +++”