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"The inter-cultural field, while still relatively new, is at a take-off point. Increasing numbers of people are not only aware of the significance of the inter-cultural dimensions of human affairs, but are also groping for ways to educate and train people to live effectively in a world more and more 'inter-culturally conscious.' This book makes available at last for systematic study and application the Experiment way of approaching this task."

David Hoopes      
INTRODUCTION

 

"I start with the assumption that everything they observe about Nepal is equally an observation about themselves; and that every observation about themselves --- their behaviors, feelings, values --- likewise reflects Nepal. In this way I try to help them see their experiences not as exotic adventures but as integral parts of their lives, a chapter in their own broader evolution."

Gordon Murray
THE INNER SIDE OF CROSS-CULTURAL LEARNING

 

"The local mechanic smiled. 'Who taught you about the green banana?' I named the hamlet. 'Did they show you the rock marking the center of the world?' he asked. I assured him they had. 'My grandfather came from there,' he said. 'The exact center. Everyone around here has always known about it.'

Donald Batchelder
THE GREEN BANANA

CONTENTS PREFACE ABOUT THE EXPERIMENT IN INTERNATIONAL LIVING INTRODUCTION by David S. Hoopes, Executive Secretary of The Society For Inter-Cultural Education, Training and Research BEYOND EXPERIENCE THE EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH TO CROSS-CULTURAL EDUCATION by Anne Janeway   IDEAS SEVEN CONCEPTS IN CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTION A Training Design by Theodore Gochenour and Anne Janeway THE EDUCATIONAL VALUES OF EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION by John A. Wallace IS EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING SOMETHING FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT? by Theodore Gochenour VIEWS ON CROSS-CULTURAL LEARNING by Gordon Murray CROSS-CULTURAL RESOURCES IN AMERICAN STUDIES by Carol Jaenson in collaboration with John A. Christie FOCUS ON PROCESS: AN EXAMINATION OF THE LEARNING AND TEACHING OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE by Alvino E. Fantini A SHORT GUIDE TO DESIGNING AND DOING AN EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE by Claude Pepin PREPARATION FOR CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENCE by Donald Batchelder   EXERCISES SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING FILM DISCUSSIONS by Howard Shapiro LANGUAGE AND ORIENTATION AT THE EXPERIMENT: A Process Approach by Alvino E. Fantini and William P. Dant CULTURAL ORIENTATION IN THE ENGLISH AS A. SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOM by Janet Gaston GLOBAL SENSITIVITY: AN EXPLORATION OF CLASSROOM TACTICS by Joseph D. Ben-Dak THE MOCKING BIRD by Theodore Gochenour THE OSTRICH by Claude Pepin THE DROP-OFF by Donald Batchelder MARTIAN ANTHROPOLOGY EXERCISE by Donald Batchelder THE OWL by Theodore Gochenour THE ALBATROSS by Theodore Gochenour THE GREEN BANANA by Donald Batchelder   ASSESSMENT DEVELOPING CROSS-CULTURAL LEARNING SKILLS by Donald Batchelder ASSESSING EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING OVERSEAS by Bruce Wyatt THE INNER SIDE OF CROSS-CULTURAL LEARNING by Gordon Murray SAMPLE FORMATS FROM EXPERIMENT PROGRAMS WHAT IS BEING LEARNED ON AN EXPERIMENT PROGRAM? EVALUATION by Carol Jaenson • RESPONSIBILITIES by Ronald Richardson and Jana Glenn-Carter • YOUR OBJECTIVES, GUIDELINES AND ASSESSMENT (YOGA.) An Evaluation of Communicative Competence by Alvino E. Fantini, revised by William P. Dant

 

PREFACE

ABOUT THE EXPERIMENT IN INTERNATIONAL LIVING

The Experiment in International Living has been serving the field of international cultural exchange since 1932. For the first quarter century its activity concentrated exclusively on short-term summer exchange programs built around the experience of living as a member of a family in the host country. This was the original live-with-a-family program, since adopted by many other organizations and programs. By the late 1950's The Experiment had become an international federation similar to the United Nations, with autonomous national offices in nearly forty countries and Experimenters crossing international boundaries in all directions.

Late in the 1950's many academic institutions asked The Experiment to assist them in planning and administering academic semester abroad programs for their students and faculties. Through such cooperative programs with institutions of higher education, The Experiment began to provide formal academic experiences and instruction, in addition to the orientation, language, training and evaluation processes already developed for our summer programs.

In the summer of 1961 The Experiment trained thirty Peace Corps Volunteers for service in South Asia, and over the next ten years trained forty-seven other groups for every area of Peace Corps service. It also administered overseas programs for the Peace Corps in East Pakistan (1961-65), Nigeria (1964-66), and Brazil (1963-70).

In 1964 The Experiment created its School for International Training, which has functioned successfully ever since as the formal academic and instructional arm of The Experiment with two graduate programs, an upper-level undergraduate program, English training for international students, and a variety of foreign language programs. In all of these there is a strong emphasis on language learning, cultural awareness, and inter-cultural communications.

The articles that follow represent a sampling of the approaches and techniques developed by The Experiment and its School for International Training.

DONALD BATCHELDER

 

INTRODUCTION
by David S. Hoopes,
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY FOR INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION, TRAINING AND RESEARCH

The Experiment in International Living has for some time been known as one of the best-kept secrets in international education and crosscultural training. Most people, including many in international education, know little more than that The Experiment exchanges students for family-living experiences and that Sargent Shriver was once an Experimenter. What is not known as widely as it should be is that The School for International Training, which is part of The Experiment, conducts an elaborate program of studies for persons interested in international/intercultural educational and administrative affairs, and that The Experiment itself mounts cross-cultural training programs for the Peace Corps, multi-national corporations, and other organizations.

In the process, The Experiment has developed its own sophisticated set of concepts and methodology in cross-cultural education and training. But that has been somewhat of a secret too --- even from colleagues in the field. While this has resulted no doubt, at least in part, from a justified sense among Experiment staff of primary concern with immediate impact on students and trainees, it has deprived the field of the stimulus of their ideas and has tended to isolate them from the enrichment of collegial interchange.

This volume is a major step in letting the world know what has been going on in Brattleboro. And it is a good beginning --- a book that will be extremely valuable to teachers and trainers.

There is still too little published literature on the principal ideas and process of inter-cultural education. The book is needed. It is systematically organized, moving from concepts to practice to assessment. It contains materials which have been circulated in fugitive fashion for some time --- attesting to their value --- and are now made generally available. It deals with theory and practice and is "usable" by the practitioner; it emerged from the practical experience of an institution and its staff rather than being constructed in a research library. It is thus not "rigorous" and does not cite literature extensively. It also includes some materials which are no doubt considered by their authors as tentative. Yet this will not deter the teacher and trainer. The value lies in the stimulus of the ideas, not their eternal verity. It lies in the clear guidelines for cross-cultural education which are provided and in the specific simulations, exercises, and educational activities described.

It is particularly gratifying to see the simulation 'The Albatross" included. The Albatross, which provides an intense cross-cultural experience for the participants and almost invariably produces high impact, was the exclusive property of The Experiment for a long time, only slowly being disseminated as non-Experiment educators and trainers, impressed by experiencing it in Brattleboro, brought it to their own programs.

The inter-cultural field, while still relatively new, is at a take-off point. Increasing numbers of people are not only aware of the significance of the inter-cultural dimensions of human affairs, but are also groping for ways to educate and train people to live effectively in a world more and more "inter-culturally conscious." This book makes available at last for systematic study and application the Experiment way of approaching this task.

 

BEYOND EXPERIENCE
THE EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH TO CROSS-CULTURAL EDUCATION
by Anne Janeway,
DIRECTOR OF INTERNATIONAL CAREER TRAINING PROGRAM

To provide a context for what follows, it seems necessary to state the obvious: that there is a deep, underlying purpose for the current interest in cross-cultural communications and education. Humanity is moving toward global brotherhood in a world which already recognizes and affirms the interrelatedness of all people who share the planet earth. For many of us who have chosen to work in the field of cross-cultural education there is a deep commitment to this movement, a recognition that forces are moving us inexorably in that direction, and an agreement in the form of creative educational response to cooperate with this opportunity.

The movement of which we are increasingly aware at this time in the late Twentieth Century points to efforts to establish a new world order in which both the unity and the diversity which characterize the reality and richness of our world are recognized and appreciated as a constant challenge to us all. On a mental level it is not difficult to acknowledge that we are one with our fellow human beings around the world; we are also quite obviously different when it comes to the way we live our lives, view the world, plan for the future. To make choices which include the needs of others, especially those with whom we seemingly have little in common, is a great deal more difficult. We see the need for institutions and policies that speak to our essential unity; we also see the need for institutions and policies that speak to and value our diversities. We need at least bi-focal vision, the ability to see the parts as well as the whole, and we need to appreciate the fact of unity in diversity to such an extent that it will be possible to translate that appreciation into action, i.e., decisions for the future.

These Twentieth Century realities affect and challenge us all. It is not surprising, therefore, that new fields of endeavor are developing which address these facts from a theoretical and practical perspective, nor that people who carry a vision of a more harmonious and positively peaceful world have developed a wide variety of approaches to contribute in some small way to becoming what in fact we are. As members of the staff of The Experiment in International Living, we have chosen an educational route which seems significant to us in its practicality and which quite obviously, like all routes one might choose, reflects assumptions we have made in our attempts to answer the following, most difficult questions. -

What leads man from a state of fear, ignorance, distrust (if not hatred) of his fellow man, separated widely from himself by cultural variations on the theme of life, to a state in which he strives to overcome these barriers to communication and to sharing? And once the desire to share with those apparently separate from himself has developed from the tiny spark of aspiration which is necessary if he is to feel and think in new ways that are increasingly inclusive of others, what must he do to convert the desire in his heart and mind to action in his life? And underlying it all, of course, is the ultimate question one must ask and attempt to answer concerning the nature of man himself.

Although we shall make no attempt to answer these difficult questions in any depth, it is perhaps important to make several points: that our responses to these questions lie, at least implicitly, in the way we design and execute our educational programs, especially in the field of crosscultural education, and that it is not coincidental that The Experiment has chosen the route of experiential education. Like the well-known preamble to the UNESCO Constitution, we believe that "since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must 1e constructed." Unlike UNESCO, however, we have attempted to translate our beliefs into programs in the relatively new field of cross-cultural education, into approaches which we see as practical, as real ways to lead a student to say, "Something has happened to me: I see differently, I understand more deeply. I act in new ways, I am not the same! I am less limited and more able to see the whole."

We certainly do not claim to have satisfied ourselves in the quest to realize our goals; however, we continue the search with the conviction that it is purposeful and of real use. We do believe that people can learn how to develop appreciative, non-exploitative relationships with others if they aspire to do so; we can learn how to develop the attitudes necessary for the creation of a new world order which serves the whole with a deep, abiding respect and recognition of the parts; we can learn how to cooperate with people who represent a different set of values and perspectives on life, those people who are in fact different in many, critical ways; we can learn how to continue learning how to do these challenging things throughout our lives.

On the negative side, we believe that if we do not take responsibility for learning how to live in increasing harmony with diverse peoples, all people including ourselves will suffer unnecessarily. We are compelled to see in ourselves both the cause and the effect of our thoughts which manifest so dramatically in action. This action can be destructive, negative and divisive or it can be constructive, positive and that which leads toward greater unity. We make choices as individuals who live and work in families, in groups, in institutions, in communities, in nations, and our choices have an effect.

All the exercises and articles that follow represent opportunities for people to learn how to build bridges between themselves and others, and all share a common commitment to an expansion of awareness, of consciousness of oneself in relationship to a larger whole, and to taking responsibility in action, thoughts and feelings for what one comes to know. All involve an experiential approach to cross-cultural education.

Central to experiential education, of course, is the learner himself. He inhabits two worlds, the inner world of his own goals, attitudes, memories, ways of perceiving his environment and the outer world of his experience. Some aspects of these worlds are conscious to him; many lie in the realm of the unconscious. In the West we have learned to separate these worlds, the inner and outer; the conscious and the unconscious, the subjective and the objective. Yet there is obviously a close relationship between the two and energy flows between them at all times. Today Western scientists affirm that there is no such thing as total objectivity; they are aware that even in looking through a microscope the observer affects that which he observes. Since the relationship between our inner and outer worlds is of critical importance in all the decisions and choices we make in life, this relationship must be addressed and the learner must have an opportunity to probe deeply into both realms. The combination of experience and reflection which characterizes experiential education provides the opportunity, if the learner is motivated to understand himself and others more clearly and if the teacher can provide the necessary guidance through skillful, astute questions and a receptive, accepting heart and mind.

There is no doubt that personal experience is a vital prerequisite for the expansion of consciousness, be the experience an inner or outer one but experience per is quite obviously nothing more than an initial step. What is of greater importance is the learner's capacity, through reflection, to move beyond an initial reaction to what has happened into the realm of understanding the meaning of that experience. Wisdom does not come from the number of things one does or feels or thinks, but from the depth and quality of one's reflection upon them. And it is this reflection, if pursued in depth, that can lead one from understanding one's personal experience to understanding human experience: it is from this level of understanding that concepts and views which are useful in new situations and to others can arise. Carl Jung once said, "People are traveling around the world all the time; a few are caught by the future."

One might therefore ask, "Why not begin with the concepts themselves."? To some extent, this is a useful approach, and to some extent, it is an approach we use in our teaching. The extent to which conceptual understanding will have meaning to our students, however, depends upon the depth of its links with past experience which had meaning to them, for it has been said that "most people are ignorant in spite of experience." Of critical importance to the learner, therefore, is the opportunity to learn how to penetrate deeply into his own experience and extract from it the essence of what he needs to know. If he is going to help others in this learning process and make good use of his own experience in new situations it is then useful if not essential that he develop for himself a conceptual understanding of the learning processes in which he has been and is continuously involved, and that he take responsibility for action based on what he knows, Thus, he learns to move in a circle from experience to reaction to reflection to conceptual understanding to new experience in which he can test and expand his understanding and effectiveness. He is challenged incessantly, if he is willing, to move from the inner world of understanding to the outer world of life experience and back to increased understanding in the inner world. The extent to which this process represents greater awareness of himself and greater imaginative sympathy to penetrate the inner experience of others, to recognize their needs, is the extent to which he has succeeded. The process, of course, is an endless one for us all and of vital, practical importance if we are to become increasingly empathetic with our fellow man.

Underlying all the above is the faith that an essential humanity exists, that there is indeed at some level of understanding a unity in the diversity we experience in our outer lives. It is this faith, this belief, unconscious as it may be, that urges us onward in an effort to create a more peaceful world and to strive for self-sustaining relationships with people with whom we seemingly have little in common. We must recognize the magnetism of this belief, for it gives energy to our endeavor and links those of us involved in cross-cultural education with each other and to the essence of our chosen task.

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