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[Plan B]

I am often required to teach a lesson on cultural differences to company trainees with a high level of English.

I am finding my current lesson a little stale - the usual, in America you are expected to live a tip / arrive late for dinner. I also find that when the topic moves onto what might upset a Westerner, it goes down the spitting / not queuing path, which the trainees find - with good reason I suppose - a little patronizing.

Has anybody taught this topic successfully? What are the main points you should include so that the students find it interesting and relevant?

Thanks.

[james s]

Lazy Susan. Talk about Lazy Susan.

I taught extensively about this topic (food/dining) to my old corporate clients and was far from bored.

[Anda]

Do a search for ideas:

Living with and Learning East-West Culture and Cultural DifferencesIn Asia, differences exist between East and West in terms of culture, ... China's traditional culture can also be at odds with both Buddhism and ...
www.retire-asia.com/culturechange.shtml - 72k - Cached - Similar pages

Cultural Differences Between China and AmericaI found many of the points also applies to China. Cultural Difference between .... China � West Meets East � Cultural Differences Between China and America ...
home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20060226_cultural_differences_between_china_and_america.htm - 31k - Cached - Similar pages

Culture Differences - Part IIcultural differences between china and america � culture difference between east and west � cultural differences between china and the west ...
home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20060226_culture_differences_part_ii.htm - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

China Business Culture GuideChina-Business-Culture-Guide, Google, Page 1. chinese culture lecture free download, Google, Page 1. difference culture between china and west country ...
www.scribd.com/doc/6257/China-Business-Culture-Guide - 236k - Cached - Similar pages

East-West Cultural DifferencesIn China, people often tell me, �Chinese people believe�..�. That kind of sentence is a big cultural difference that I notice. Because of this difference it ...
china232.com/blog/category/east-west-cultural-differences/ - 28k - Cached - Similar pages

Xinhua (新华社) China message�� east meets west �or the small ...With their exhibition� east meets west �in the Foreign Office illustrates Liu by means of pictograms the cultural differences between Germany and China. ...
www.blog.china-guide.de/en/index.php?entry=entry070705-080511 - 33k - Cached - Similar pages

LSU ResearchLSU art historian examining cultural differences from ages and places East to West ... cross-culturally from many time periods in China and the West, ...
www.research.lsu.edu/newsletter/archives/2006winter/cross_culture.htm - 14k - Cached - Similar pages

Cultural Difference and the Eugenics LawIn addition, Mao's argument that social, economic, and cultural differences �most likely will give rise to a disagreement between China and the West, ...
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1288253 - Similar pages

Inspire : Cultural differences between the West and EastCultural differences between the West and East. I wonder what this article from Wired means for digital media in general. For user generated media from ...
yuri.typepad.com/yuri_blog/2005/08/cultural_differ.html - 30k - Cached - Similar pages

How Cultural Differences Really Affect Research in ChinaFollowing are a few examples of how cultural differences can affect research. Although applicable to many Asian cultures, these are more specific to China ...
www.customerinput.com/journal/how_cultural_differences_really_affect_research_in_china.asp - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

[InTime]

Thnx to ANDA for the leg-work

Another suggestion...consider the fundamental pedagogy used. For promoting actual INSIGHT and perhaps CHANGE/E-VOLUTION, consider an alternative to the generic instructivism/didacticism:

[arioch36]

Dear Anda,

Please stop being so helpful and evenhanded. You're giving the rest of us a bad name!

[sheeba]

I've pondered this subject of late.

I'm going to actively try and add a flavour to next terms syllabus that involves consideration of what H.D Brown calls 'Field independence'

He contrasts this with 'Field dependence'

Authoritarian or Agrarian societies, which are usually highly socialised and utilise strict rearing practices, tend to produce more field dependence.
(dependence on the total field so that the parts embedded within the field are not easily percieved)

Field independence is an ability to percieve a particular, relevant item or factor in a 'field' of distracting items. Field dependent victims are those enduring a democratic, industrialised, competitive society with freer rearing norms.

Us Western males tend towards field-independence. I've certainly been living in a pragmatic world of my own and feel the need for change. So I'm gonna try and make use of the positive tenets of field independence (benefits of pragmacy) and dig deeper to work on the positives of dependence(if of course I find it)

[Plan B]

Many thanks everyone!

Some great links and ideas.

[thirdrockphoto]

If your students are adults, I don't think "role playing" will be a good teaching tool. Adults tend to want an open forum instead. I think your methods are good. As far as perceptions of "patronizing", that must come from the method of presenting this as a one-way street. You should get them to present their ideas of what is aggravating about western culture. When they see this as a give-take situation, I dare say they will not feel any sense of condescension from you. They want to know anything that can help them interact more effectively and smoothly so cultural differences and "pet peeves" are a part of that.

[InTime]

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