It's Your World
From AFSWiki
Contents |
Overview
It's Your World (often abbreviated IYW) is an important part of Recruiting Sending Leads, as well as generating interest in Hosting an AFS student.
It’s Your World introduces participants to basic concepts of intercultural communication and the ways that values, assumptions, and expectations can vary across cultures. It’s Your World gives participants the opportunity to meet students who have been a part of the AFS experience and hear their observations about what life is like in other countries, families, and schools. The presentation is designed to be delivered in a class period lasting 45 minutes to 1 hour, but it can be adapted for use within other time frames. It is illustrated by video clips, Power Point presentations, and overheads. Students will have a chance to analyze this information in relation to the skills being taught. Class participation is also used to demonstrate various cultural traits. It’s Your World is designed as a means to gain an educational experience and broaden students’ knowledge and readiness for college and future work in a global milieu.
Not every student will have the opportunity to become an exchange student. Therefore, the purpose of this presentation is to give all students the chance to view themselves as cultural beings, and to help them expand their worldview. More importantly, it is our hope that each student will have a better understanding of U.S. cultures and their relationship not only to cultures outside our own, but also to those within our country.
Activities:
- Global Quiz: a fun tool to gauge student’s knowledge of the world outside of the U.S.
- Exploring Cultural Differences: an interactive cultural role playing and discussion of international experiences.
- Playing “Cultural Detective”: learning to go beyond appearances. (video clips)
Best Practices for It's Your World
Presentations
Over the years, staff and volunteers have adapted the IYW presentation based on what works best for them as presenters.
Here is an example by Julia Freed that she uses when she is presenting alone (without a Returnee or Hosted Student):
- Here is a PDF of the PowerPoint that she uses.
- Here are her notes on what she does during each slide:
- Title Slide: I introduce myself, and tell the class my experience with living/traveling abroad. I ask the class “How many of you have traveled to a different country?” “How many of you have lived in a different country?” (for the second question I ask them to share where they have lived). I then speak to the class in a different language. I ask the class if they can guess what I am saying. The class guesses (usually they get much of it right). I ask how they know what I just said (They answer: hand motions, nonverbal cues, associating the words that they recognized – ex. My name – in the context of the sentence)…. Cue next slide.
- Communication Slide: I point out that although the class doesn’t understand the language that I just spoke, they could guess what I was saying because of non-verbal cues, tone of voice, etc. I tell the class that many AFS Students do not speak a word of the host country’s language before they travel abroad with AFS, but they quickly pick it up due to non-verbal cues, tone of voice, etc. and then eventually are able to pick up words and converse with others. Culture also gives meaning to words – just think of greetings around the world. Some cultures say “hello” by respectfully averting the eyes and bowing, others by kissing each other’s cheeks, still others by waving and smiling. Likewise, people in some cultures may speak in monotone voices even when they are upset, while other cultures may show emotion more freely.
- Classroom of 30 Students Slide: I ask the students: “How many people are there in the world?” And they respond 6.5 billion. I ask them “what continent has the largest population?” (they answer Asia) I tell them “If the entire world were proportionately shrunk down into a classroom around this size – of 30 people, how many of us would be from Asia?” They guess – I do this for the other areas. I ask the students “What is the most common religion in the world?” (Answer: Christian). Then, I ask them how many people in this class – which represents the world – would be Christian? Atheist? Muslim? Etc. I ask them what Atheism and Animism is, and tell them if they don’t know. Finally, I show them the final statistics to show the students how fortunate many of us are, living in the US.
- Global Quiz Slide: I tell the students that now we are going to have a quick quiz to see how much they know about the world. For each question, I have people raise their hands to tell me the answer (Ex. “Which country has the largest Muslim population? Raise your hands if you think the answer is Saudi Arabia. Raise your hands if you think it is the US….etc.”). This way the entire class is involved with the questions. For the third question I actually write on the board (Erick has a son named John. What would John’s last name be? “Erickson.” If John has a son Lars, what would Lars’ last name be? “Johnson.” etc.)
- Definition of Culture Slide: I tell the students that culture is shaped by all of these factors. When we travel from one country to the next, what are some main cultural differences that we see right away? (students answer: food, transportation, buildings, clothing, festivals/celebrations, laws, family structure, music, etc.) I share a funny experience that I have had living abroad related to dress or food. I ask the students who have traveled/lived in different countries to share any stories that they have about their own cultural experiences.
- Iceberg Slide: I say to students “So… now that we have talked a little bit about culture, can you answer this question – How is culture like an iceberg?” They all guess. Correct answer is that only a small piece of the iceberg is visible or obvious, the rest is hidden. I tell them that It takes a while for someone to start to understand everything that makes up a culture. This is why it is important for students to do AFS – because they are able to become immersed in a culture and find out what is underneath the surface, unlike the experience of a tourist.
- Stereotype Slide: I ask the students “What does the word ‘Stereotype’ mean?” and they give me several answers. I agree and ask them “are stereotypes always true?” They all say “No!” … I bring up the point that even though stereotypes are not always true, they are all around us, even within the cultures in the United States. I ask them “For an example, what stereotypes have you heard about people who live in Hollywood?” They all answer back (famous, rich, etc.). I ask them “what stereotypes do you think people have about people from your state?” Class answers back. I tell them “It is very important to be aware of stereotypes that you have of other cultures, but it is also important to be aware that people may have stereotypes about us. Remember, stereotypes are not always true. What stereotypes might we encounter coming from America?” (Students get excited, give answers).
- Final Slide: At this point, I tell the students that I am going to give them more information about AFS programs. I hand out postcards/catalogs and tell them about all of our sending opportunities and also hosting opportunities. I encourage them to fill out sending/hosting interest forms (hand out ten minutes before class is over only to students who raise hand) so that we can send them more information about AFS. Then, I answer any final questions that the students or teachers have about the AFS experience. Before everyone leaves, I collect the interest forms.
Here is an example by Julia Freed that she uses when she is presenting with a Returnee or Hosted Student:
- Here is a PDF of the PowerPoint that she uses.
- Here are her notes on what she does during each slide:
- Title Slide: I introduce myself, and ask AFS hosted/returnee students to introduce themselves (name, home/AFS country). I ask the class “How many of you have traveled to a different country?” “How many of you have lived in a different country?” (for the second question I ask them to share where they have lived). I then speak to the class in a different language, and invite the AFS students to speak to the class in their languages. I ask the class if they can guess what we are saying. The class guesses (usually they get much of it right). I ask how they know what we just said (They answer: hand motions, nonverbal cues, associating the words that they recognized – ex. Our names – in the context of the sentence)…. Cue next slide.
- Communication Slide: I point out that although the class doesn’t understand the languages that we just spoke, they could guess what we were saying because of non-verbal cues, tone of voice, etc. I tell the class that many AFS Students do not speak a word of the host country’s language before they travel abroad with AFS, but they quickly pick it up due to non-verbal cues, tone of voice, etc. and then eventually are able to pick up words and converse with others. Culture also gives meaning to words – just think of greetings around the world. Some cultures say “hello” by respectfully averting the eyes and bowing, others by kissing each other’s cheeks, still others by waving and smiling. (at this point I ask the AFS student to share with the class some of the experiences that they had with communication during their AFS experience).
- Definition of Culture Slide: I tell the students that culture is shaped by all of these factors. When we travel from one country to the next, what are some main cultural differences that we see right away? (students answer: food, transportation, buildings, clothing, festivals/celebrations, laws, family structure, music, etc.) I share a funny experience that I have had living abroad related to dress or food, and ask the AFS student to talk about cultural differences between their home country and their AFS country. I ask the students who have traveled/lived in different countries to share any stories that they have about their own cultural experiences.
- Iceberg Slide: I say to students “So… now that we have talked a little bit about culture, can you answer this question – How is culture like an iceberg?” They all guess. Correct answer is that only a small piece of the iceberg is visible or obvious, the rest is hidden. I tell them that It takes a while for someone to start to understand everything that makes up a culture. This is why it is important for students to do AFS – because they are able to become immersed in a culture and find out what is underneath the surface, unlike the experience of a tourist.
- Stereotype Slide: I ask the students “What does the word ‘Stereotype’ mean?” and they give me several answers. I agree and ask them “are stereotypes always true?” They all say “No!” … I bring up the point that even though stereotypes are not always true, they are all around us, even within the cultures in the United States. I ask them “For an example, what stereotypes have you heard about people who live in Hollywood?” They all answer back (famous, rich, etc.). I ask them “what stereotypes do you think people have about people from your state?” Class answers back. I tell them “It is very important to be aware of stereotypes that you have of other cultures, but it is also important to be aware that people may have stereotypes about us. Remember, stereotypes are not always true. What stereotypes might we encounter coming from America?” (Students get excited, give answers). I ask AFS student if they have feedback about why we should be aware of stereotypes (if AFS student is comfortable, they may share a stereotype that they have experienced or a stereotype that they had for their host country that they discovered was false).
- Exchange Student Slide: Now I let the class ask the AFS student any questions that they may have about his/her AFS experience. I put up this slide to help them think of questions. I allot the rest of the time for questions, up until about 15 minutes before the class lets out.
- Final Slide: At this point, I tell the students that I am going to give them more information about AFS programs. I hand out postcards/catalogs and tell them about all of our sending opportunities and also hosting opportunities. I encourage them to fill out sending/hosting interest forms (hand out ten minutes before class is over only to students who raise hand) so that we can send them more information about AFS. Then, I answer any final questions that the students or teachers have about the AFS experience. Before everyone leaves, I collect the interest forms.
Anecdotes
From AFS Marketing & Communication: Floyd van Weelden (an experienced IYW presenter) was invited to make presentations to all foreign language classes at El Toro High School in Orange County, CA, for the school’s international week. He made 20-minute presentations to 13 sections of students (two to four classes at a time). To whet their appetite, he provided them with a cultural overview and showed a different video clip from IYW each period. This was also to demonstrate to the teachers that he had more to offer than just selling AFS programs. The classes responded enthusiastically to the IYW teaching materials, especially the videos and the overheads. Floyd then focused on the priority countries of Paraguay, Brazil, Panama, etc. and handed out interest cards.
According to Floyd, “One teacher came up and said: ‘This is way too short. We want you to come back in October and do your entire presentation. It is so good.’” Floyd also received a very positive response from the Language Department Chair, who had hosted and sent her kids abroad a few years ago and told him: “You showed the kids in your short time WHY they should do this, which didn’t seem like recruiting but AFS doing something FOR them.”
The results: Floyd has been requested to return in early October, the school wants to participate in AFS Scholarship programs, and it would like to host three to four students! (The school is not currently hosting any students.) In fact, Floyd got 147 leads for studying abroad and about 40 for hosting! To reach out to parents, Floyd also handed out the Southwest letter to take home about hosting (telling the parent that their child had been in an AFS cultural presentation), a brochure, and a mock bio sheet of students from last year.
Notes Floyd, “I realize that adventure is one of the biggest reasons kids go and that is fine, but through good presentations and orientations we need to take them beyond that to reasons that help them as individuals and also help create a better world… I feel schools will let us in if we can ‘stand out’ as not a taker but a giver of something to them.”
IYW, which continues to be updated, is an excellent way to build visibility for AFS, and as Floyd mentioned, to inspire students. Many of you already do IYW presentations. We encourage you to talk to fellow staff and volunteers who currently use IYW and share ideas about how you can make it work in your area’s schools.
