Echange de friandises | UNI-Collaboration | Online Intercultural Exchange

Submitted by Teresa MacKinnon on Tue, 31/03/2015 - 1:43pm

Everything

General Information

An exchange of physical gifts, small items between the two centres. Groups bringin items that they consider to be little known to the other culture, items are cheap/free but present an aspect of the home country's culture which may be unfamilar. Reactions are shared through photosharing and thank you notes/messages on a forum. An online classroom is availalbe as is an Instant Messenger tool for connecting synchronously.

Institution reporting the task:

Language Centre, University of Warwick

Language of task instructions:

French

Target Group :

Students of foreign languages

Level:

Any

Task Type:

Comparison & analysis

Estimated Duration:

1 session

Topic:

gifts

Tags:

clavier

Language & Competencies

Language Configuration :

Bilingual - two languages are used

Language(s) that the task can be used in:

Any language

Dominant language production:

Writing/reading asynchronous

Speaking/listening asynchronous

Target Competences:

Language competence

Intercultural skills

Online communication skills

Pedagogy & Instructions

Specific pedagogical objectives:

Development of students interest in cultural similarities and differences

Suggested Communication Tools :

Moodle-like platforms

Social Networks

Instructions:

All students were asked to identify small, free or inexpensive gifts that could be sent to the partner students and would give them a taste of something new. Often these were food gifts (eg. marmite/custard powder/madelaines). Each student was asked to bring in a gift. They prepared clues (devinettes) in their own language to be read out to the group when the parcel arrived so that students could try to identify the gifts from the clue. Photos were shared of the opening of the gifts and thank you messages exchanged on a forum.

Evaluation & Comments

Criteria for Completion:

Photosharing took place across a number of platforms including instagram, facebook and through the Languages@Warwick EWC portal. Some of those images were then harvested into a playlist and reshared back to the portal area inside our VLE. The thank you messages provided an authentic meaningful communication and the time spent discussing and trying out the gifts was very helpful in challenging expectations and creating useful cross cultural comparisons.

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