On May 13th, a themed lecture "Communication across Borders" was hosted by the Center for Language Education at Teaching Building 1, Room 302. The lecturer was the CLE instructor Jenny Hirst who has worked and studied in a range of fields including Applied Linguistics, English Language Teaching, interpreting, construction, and entertainment.
Following the previous workshop given by Beatrice Daisy Clegg on intercultural communication, this session aimed to inspire students to explore two questions: What can go wrong when communicating with people from other backgrounds who do not share a culture and a language, and what strategies can we employ to communicate better with others with a different background to us. Jenny explored the questions with examples of how factors such as history, time, food, collective/ individual responsibility, domestic rules and classroom rules.
Those attending the lecture showed great interest in the topic. They interacted actively throughout the talk and shared their own thoughts on why they think misunderstandings occur in cross-cultural contexts. Students increased the knowledge and deepened their understanding of some issues related to communication across borders. This lecture provided a great chance for them to improve their competence to appreciate cultures and build a foundation for their lifelong learning.
The CLE@ Residential Colleges Workshops cover a variety of topics co-hosted by the CLE and residential colleges this semester. Please stay tuned for our upcoming activities!
