Refugees – absolutely intercultural!

SIETAR +++ Syria +++ Pilbeam +++ diversophy +++ Absolutely Intercultural 239 +++

Last week I was in Belgium in the beautiful city of Leuven for the SIETAR Congress.

SIETAR stands for the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research and their biennial congress is a very friendly affair. Of course a Congress is always very diverse, forgive the pun, and in addition diversity was one of the main themes of the Congress this year so todays show is also very diverse.

If you are listening to this from our website then you will see a beautiful image of the gothic town hall of Leuven. This is where we had the opening reception to the Congress and this is also where we heard the mayor of Leuven, Mohamed Ridouani, give a very inspirational talk about what you can do at local level to make people feel valued and included. Unfortunately I did not ask him to be on the podcast but we do have an interesting variety of people for you in the next 25 minutes or so.

Continue reading “SIETAR +++ Syria +++ Pilbeam +++ diversophy +++ Absolutely Intercultural 239 +++”

Erasmus +++ Student stories +++ Exchange semester impact +++ Learned skills +++ Absolutely Intercultural 222 +++

To what extent does study abroad influence students’ future life both in academic and career perspectives? Well, in this episode, which will be the last of a series on the 30^th Anniversary of the ERASMUS program, we will listen to my colleague from RheinAhrCampus , who works with outgoing students, and helps them find the best partner universities for their stays abroad. She will talk about differences in students’ behaviors and appearance which she notices after they come back from their host country. We will also interview two guest lecturers from Portugal and from our partner university Indian Institution of Technology, Madras. They will talk about staying abroad and an extraordinary campus in India, and how it was first established with German aid in the 1960s. And we will hear some voices of international professionals who were once exchange students in Germany and who will tell us what skills and habits they gained during their studies at RheinAhrCampus. Finally we will listen to my co-host Anne Fox from Denmark who was in Germany and took part in our seminar Managing Cultural Diversity.

Continue reading “Erasmus +++ Student stories +++ Exchange semester impact +++ Learned skills +++ Absolutely Intercultural 222 +++”

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 +++”

Absolutely intercultural 209 +++ Stereotypes +++ Different cultures +++ New in Germany? +++ Refugees +++

javier_web In today’s podcast we hear from Dennis Rayuschkin, a RheinAhrCampus student from Kazakhstan who tells us about his cultural backround and his integration efforts.
Then we listen to to Dr. Wendy Spinks, who will explain some differences she has noticed between the German and Australian cultures.

In our third part, we listen to Javier Chapa Madrid (see photo), a student from Spain. He will explain what intercultural experiences in daily life mean to him and how he connected to the German culture.
In our last part Maher tells about the feelings and experiences he had around the time of his arrival in Germany. Continue reading “Absolutely intercultural 209 +++ Stereotypes +++ Different cultures +++ New in Germany? +++ Refugees +++”

Diversophy +++ George Simons +++ Cultural Infusion +++ Joko’s World +++ Absolutely Intercultural 205 +++

Let’s play and learn. In this show we’ll be playing games and music and I’ll be announcing a new course if you are a teacher of adults in a diverse classroom and there’s news of an additional podcast episode coming in September, off-plan and in Danish.

Thank you to all those of you who have been following us on Facebook where we add links to interesting intercultural stuff and alert you when a new show comes out. Shoutout to Imad Zazi who gave us our 600th page like. Thanks Imad!

In today’s show we’ll be hearing how music can help children learn about global cultures.

We’ll also be talking to George Simons about an exciting new twist to his well-established Diversophy game.
Continue reading “Diversophy +++ George Simons +++ Cultural Infusion +++ Joko’s World +++ Absolutely Intercultural 205 +++”

Kære dansker 3: I am human

I denne podcast har jeg snakket med Nizar fra Syrien på engelsk.

absolutely Danish
Here is the third and last edition of our one-off series of shows that are absolutely Danish exploring more about migrants and refugees in Denmark. This one is in English, by the way. Continue reading “Kære dansker 3: I am human”

Absolutely Intercultural 204 +++ Ramadan Special +++ “Two-way exchange” project +++

"Two way exchange" project In today’s podcast we have special topic: the Muslim Ramadan. The reason for choosing this topic is the great number of refugees in Germany which comes with a great number of intercultural learning opportunities. At RheinAhrCampus we have embraced this opportunity and have reached out to those refugees who are interested in university life, have integrated them in our daily routines and they, in turn, have readily shared their new lives with us.

Recently we organized an international cooking event followed by Iftar (إفطار‎‎ – the joint breaking of the Ramadan fast) together with some international students, German students, ordinary Remagen citizens and our new international friends, the refugees. The success of the event and the incredible Ramadan spirit that reigned in the two kitchens gave us the inspiration for our Ramadan Special today.

Continue reading “Absolutely Intercultural 204 +++ Ramadan Special +++ “Two-way exchange” project +++”

Absolutely Intercultural 197 +++ Cultural Diversity +++ Serious +++ Refugees +++

Absolutely Intercultural Show 197

blog_photo In today’s podcast we discuss aspects of the German culture, involvement of refugees in everyday university life and integration of international students at Brock University. We talk to Sheila Young from Brock University, Canada who was visiting Germany for the first time in her life when we met her at RheinAhrCampus. She told us about how she prepared her visit to Germany from a cultural point of view. We will also hear about the experiences of three students, who took part in the Managing Cultural Diversity seminar. They will explain how refugees were involved in this project and how they benefitted from this experience. Continue reading “Absolutely Intercultural 197 +++ Cultural Diversity +++ Serious +++ Refugees +++”