Intercultural Skills

HU professors were asked to describe assignments or experiences where students develop intercultural skills. Their responses are provided with course title or catalog number for reference.

Examples may include:

  • Identifying and discussing cultural differences and similarities
  • Developing empathy for others
  • Ability to challenge or support individuals and systems
  • Making appropriate institutional and personal interventions
  • Developing cross-cultural interaction skills

CO331 Public Relations - Students read textbook chapter(s) addressing the different needs and expectations of various publics.

ED 395 Multicultural Practicum for Teaching - Provides a pre-student teaching experience working in a public school. Placements are in multicultural settings in an urban area. Observing, participating and a limited amount of supervised classroom teaching are expected. Required seminars focus on education in multicultural settings. Students are expected to have extended field experiences at all levels of their licensing and this practicum can help fulfill that requirement. Taken during January of the junior or senior year.

NU 315 Health Assessment - Students choose one culture to discuss one of the cultural assessment models that are available for nursing. Students will describe how they might adjust the nursing care and when taking care of a person of this particular culture

TE 233 Foundations of TESOL / ENL -

  • Based on material presented in class, students are asked how English language teachers might address the following factors related to second languge acquisition in ELLs: honoring primary cultures and languages, anxiety, motivation, self-esteem/language ego, parent/family involvement
  • Students discuss the following quote related to the role of empathy in communication with ELLs: “Communication requires a sophisticated degree of empathy. In order to communicate effectively you need to be able to understand the other person’s affective and cognitive states; communication breaks down when false presuppositions or assumptions are made about the other person’s state.” (Conclusion: It is difficult to understand the affective and cognitive states of a person from another culture. Therefore, learning the culture of ELLs is imperative, as is including sociolinguistics in their English education.)
  • Trace Hinesley, Director of Special Programs at HCCSC, speaks to the class about the process an ELL goes through from identification to assessment
  • Students learn TESOL-specific methodologies, including: Communicative Approach, Audiolingual Method, Grammar Translation Method, Total Physical Response, and Suggestopedia. All of these skills are based on a cross-cultural or multicultural learning environment with ELLs.

ED410 BUS, ENG, and SOC - Students discuss issues presented in the cultural awareness sections of each chapter. The primary focus of these discussions is to help future educators identify and discuss differences in the ways culturally diverse students may relate to the teacher and other students in a classroom environment. Once the teacher candidate is aware of possible cultural influences on learning styles, classroom management issues, etc., those dimensions of classroom interaction can be more appropriately addressed.

Community Health Nursing - Students' experiences working with the refugees at the Allen County Board of Health is very educational.

For the students, cultural competence is an ongoing process. According to Caffrey et al. (2005) values and attitudes are the foundation for providing culturally competent care and are developed through experiences with culturally diverse individuals and communities. Caffrey, R., Neander, W., Markle, D., & Stewart, B. (2005). Improving the cultural competence of nursing students: Results of integrating cultural content in the curriculum and an international immersion experience. Journal of Nursing Education, 44(5), 234-40. Retrieved from ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source. (Document ID: 839714981).