Written by Li Zhaoting
Photo by Li Zhaoting
The first cohort of international students has arrived at SUSTech. Dr. Kathy O’Sullivan, the director of CLE, gave them a very fun, yet meaningful workshop on intercultural communication, helping them to adapt to this whole new cultural environment. Staff and students volunteered to help and participate. Monica from the library, Bruce from senior grade, Xu and her colleagues from the Global Engagement Office all made a great contribution to this workshop.
One of the most fun parts was Dr. O’Sullivan putting one Cambodian and one Chinese in a group and asking them to do two impossible missions, building the highest tower with the material provided and creating a fashionable outfit for the year 2050. They could only communicate with each other in their mother tongue. During the next few minutes, you could hear Khmer, Mandarin, even Cantonese. They used facial expressions, body gestures and every way they could think of to accomplish the missions. Soon they began to break the language barrier between each other and began to cooperate much better. They were all having fun and learning at the same time.
As Dr. O’Sullivan said, culture is like an iceberg. What we can see is above the surface-the tip of an iceberg,. There is more below the surface. It’s normal for international students to encounter cultural uncertainty when they come to a foreign country, just keep an open mind regarding communication。 Wish all the best to our first cohort of international students!
Here are some pictures.
An enjoyable class is one of the best moments for the student. Watching her student enjoying the class is the most exciting moment for the teacher.
Can you imagine they are speaking a language that their team mate can’t understand? Apparently language is not the only way of communication.
Can you imagine they are speaking a language that their team mate can’t understand? Apparently language is not the only way of communication.
