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Online communication on Under the Same Sky
The communication on the Students’ Forum is one of the most important features of the project. It is within the forum that the students will be able to ask questions and learn from each other. Therefore, it is important that there is a friendly tone on the forum, which is characterized by openness and mutual respect. This way, we can make sure that all students will have a positive experience using the forum. To ensure this, we have put together this short guideline and some general advice on how to act on the forum.
Cross Cultural Communication
The Students’ Forum enables the students to learn about their peers in Denmark – and vice versa. Thereby, the forum also contributes to the development of the students’ intercultural competence. By intercultural competence we are referring to the ability to understand and deal with cultural differences.
In other words:
That you are open towards learning about other cultures, that you are respectful towards people of another cultural background and that you seek to understand their actions, utterances and feelings - even though they may be different from your own.
Dealing with cultural differences
It is interesting to meet people from another part of the world. Through such meetings you not only learn about others – you also become more aware of yourself and your own culture. However, there may also be some challenges associated with such meeting. For example, understanding viewpoints, ways of living and traditions that are different from your own may be challenging.
There are differences between life in Kibera and life in Denmark. These differences may also mean that difficult topics can become part of the online exchange within the Students’ Forum. Examples of such topics could be differences in living conditions, religion or gender roles. It might be challenging for a child to deal with such difficult topics. Therefore, it is crucial that the teachers are ready to step in and help the students understand the difficult topics.
Differences notwithstanding it is important to underline, that the Kenyan and Danish students have a lot in common. They are teenagers, live in families, have friends, go to school and may share interests, dreams and hopes for the future. We have put together some general advice on how to act when using the forum. If the students stick to these, we are sure that everyone will have a positive experience using the forum.
General advice on how to act on the Students’ Forum:
- Do not use inappropriate language
- Be aware of the differences between spoken and written language. Jokes and irony are harder to convey in written than in spoken language.
- Respect each other and keep a friendly tone – even if you disagree.
- Make sure that everyone gets to tell their own story with their own words.
- Be open – both when it comes to learning about others and in relation to telling your own story.
- Be ready to put aside your ideas of what the other are like.
- Always ask a teacher if you are in doubt.
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New teaching material is out
Once again the students from the Teacher's Education i Aarhus have put great effort into putting together an interesting collection of assignments about Kibera for the Danish pupils taking part in Under the Same Sky
Read more »
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