Comments on: Language Education as Intercultural Practice

By: Chris Roland

Chris Roland — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:10:43 +0000

Before this course I always referred to myself as a ‘TEFL teacher’ – for no particular reason, I had picked this acronym arbitrarily. I now feel I really understand all the various abbreviations (TESOL, TEIC etc) and their respective implications.

I thought the material on Holliday was fantastic, kicking off with a DVD seminar he delivered, and have been using some of those ideas since to re-evaluate the ‘small culture’ of some of my own classes.

I also plan to work with adapted ‘Critical Incidents’ scenarios and use them in my own conference sessions – so I feel I taken plenty away from this course. Very rewarding indeed.

By: Barish Golland

Barish Golland — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:56:12 +0000

I enjoyed this course very much as I particularly found very revealing the self-reflection on enculturation/acculturation and dividing these into primary, secondary and tertiary socialisation. This helped awaken my own understanding as to how I approach intercultural communication, and how my past has shaped my own approach to teaching in a multicultural environment. New paradigm possibilities such as TEIC, TEIL, TELF, and TEMA/MATE opened my eyes to how I may need to have a paradigm shift in my own teaching practice.

By: Richard Fay

Richard Fay — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:47:23 +0000

So, what do participants think of the course? Some selected comments will appear here occasionally as and when they crop up.

To start the ball rolling, an onsite participant from Semester 1 2009-2010 writes:

“I particularly enjoyed the supportive learning process and the fact everyone could identify with different aspects of the content. I’m sure that the course will have a positive impact on my professional development but also on my personal experiences of intercultural communication.”