Multidisciplinary Flipped Learning with ICT

Erasmus+ KA2 project 2015 - 2017

4th project Meeting in Latvia.

What is Cultural Awareness?What is Cultural Awareness?

How do I build it? How do I build it?

“A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it.

Our own culture is like water for the fish. It sustains us.We live and breathe through it.” by Stephanie Quappe and Giovanna Cantatore

Cultural Awareness is the foundation of communication.

It involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs and perceptions.

• Cultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures.

Degrees of Cultural Degrees of Cultural AwarenessAwareness

There are several levels of cultural There are several levels of cultural awareness that reflect how people awareness that reflect how people grow to perceive cultural differences.grow to perceive cultural differences.

1st degree: My way is the only way 

At the first level, people are aware of their way of doing things, and their way is the only way. At this stage, they ignore the impact of cultural differences

2nd : I know their way, but my way is better -At the second level, people are aware of other ways of doing things, but still consider their way as the best one. In this stage, cultural differences are Perceived (recognizesd) as source of

problems.

3rd: My Way and Their Way

At this level people are aware of their own way of doing things and others’ ways of

doing things, and they chose the best way according to the situation.

At this stage people realize that cultural differences can lead both to problems

and benefits.

4th: Our WayThis fourth and final stage brings

people from different cultural background together.

People dialogue with others, create new meanings, new rules to meet

the needs of a particular situation.

Increasing cultural awareness means to see both

the positive and negative aspects of cultural differences

In becoming culturally aware, people realize that:

• We are not all the same• Similarities and differences are

both important• There are multiple ways to reach

the same goal and to live life• The best way depends on the

situation. Each situation is different and may require a different solution.

Thank you for your attention!

Language Diversity

Language Diversity in Numbers

There are up to 7000 language spoken in the world.

And behind each and every one of them lies a rich and diverse

culture.

That’s what the European Day of Languages (EDL) aims to celebrate – by showing people across Europe how important languages are, and what fun can be had learning them.

European Day of Languages is celebrated on 26 September each year.

2,200 of the world’s languages can be found in Asia, while Europe has a mere 280.

• As of 2010 the European Union has 24 official and working languages:

• Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.

The most widely spoken language in the world:

• Mandarin Chinese, English, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, German and French.

• English is the most widely spoken language in the world, but not with the most native speakers; Mandarin is.

• English has over 2 billion speakers, and only about 400 000 000 native speakers.

What percentage of the Internet is in English?

• More than 80% of home pages on the Web are in English, while the next greatest, German, has only 4.5% and Japanese 3.1%.

Why should we learn languages:

• A grasp of a different language improves your abilities to use your first language and explore other cultures more successfully.

• According to research, on average, people who use languages in their jobs earn around 8% more!

• Many scientists also believe that knowledge of another language can boost your brainpower.

• Speaking two languages can help slow down the brain's decline with age.

• And to quote Nelson Mandela, • "If you talk to a man in a language he

understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."