Class with the participation of “cultural informants”

2.5.2019

The strategy of “cultural informants” is that informants are invited to classes, where they talk about the peculiarities of their language and culture. Informants confirm or deny the ideas and notions of students about other cultures and the information they receive from textbooks.

Classes with the participation of cultural informants were held with second year students who study eastern languages. In advance, students with the teacher of the course Culture and Human Communication Fedicheva N.V. were preparing for this lesson and formulating questions to the informants.

The informants were foreign students of the Poltava University of Economics and Trade from countries such as Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Iran. At the beginning of the class students were asking the guests many questions, for example: Is it okay in your country to ___________? Why do people in your country ___________? What behaviors reflect your culture? How does culture in your country function in a way for humans to live with one another?

Foreign students also asked Ukrainian students about their outlook, value orientations, the culture of communication with parents and teachers, body language, and so on. Answering foreigners’ questions, our students had an opportunity to familiarize them with the peculiarities of Ukrainian culture.

At the lesson, besides foreign students, were present a teacher of English and a scientist from the Turkish University Karabuk Irfan Tosunjoglu and a Chinese LNU magistrate Yaylee Wu. They listened with pleasure to the audience and expressed their own point of view on issues of intercultural communication.