HUGO DART Brazil The Rio–Warsaw Connection: Encouraging Interculturalism among Students It all began in Norwich. As they do every year, teachers from different parts of the world went in July 2012 to that beautiful little city in the east of England to take part in one of the two-week professional development courses offered by the Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE). Sponsored by Rio de Janeiro’s Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos (IBEU), I had chosen Advanced Language and Intercultural Awareness. On the second day of the course, I—the only school term (Kramsch 1993). If I were to give Brazilian participant—went with Karolina it a try, I thought, it would be only logical to Isio-Kurpi´nska—the only Polish one—to a work once again with Karolina, who agreed supermarket just outside the campus of the the project could be interesting. We looked University of East Anglia, where our classes forward to finding out what contexts would took place. We had a long talk about our be created in a virtual environment, where respective countries and how similar and participants were to feel free to contribute different our experiences were. During the their own ways of looking at themselves and rest of the course, we became good friends each other. and even did our final project together. What we had gotten from that exchange would This article describes the ensuing ten-week come to matter a lot very soon. project we developed for students from the two countries, and it offers an evaluation of After returning from the trip, I read the results along with suggestions to make Intercultural Language Activities (Corbett 2010), online intercultural projects a productive one of the titles recommended by Uwe Pohl, way to improve the teaching and learning of our main teacher at NILE. The first chapter English. is about setting up an online community where students from different places interact GETTING READY and make discoveries about each other’s culture while practicing their English. The Karolina and I have come to understand idea sounded fascinating; as we know, social culture as more than a body of knowledge networking programs are an effective way about works of art, places, institutions, to get students communicating with each events, symbols, and ways of living—it is other (Harmer 2012), and foreign language also “a framework in which people live their classrooms create new cultural contexts every lives and communicate shared meanings with 22 ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM 2015 americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum each other” (Scarino and Liddicoat 2009, Rubiec-Masalska and Agata Guzowska, were 19). That is why, as essential as reading is, no directly responsible for the participating amount of it can replace actual experience and students). On Sundays, after a brief exchange contact with what seems foreign and distant. on Facebook, either Karolina or I would Our main goal was to give the teenagers post the task(s) for the coming week on the participating in the project something they group page. We would always be in complete cannot get from watching television and agreement about the content and wording. movies and at the same time enable them to see that learning English can be a real I created the Facebook group, and we selected gateway to discovery. Most importantly, we the students who would participate. Although wanted to make sure the cultural information we limited the actual groups from each participants shared with each other would country to ten students, all who wished to be received “in a nonjudgmental fashion, in be involved could participate; we assigned a way that does not place value or judgment students who were not selected to work with on distinctions” between the cultures of the the ones who were, even though only the participants (Peterson and Coltrane 2003, 2). latter would be posting on the group page. By the end of 2012 we had made a few I told all students who were interested that decisions: they had 24 hours to friend me on Facebook and send a private message indicating why • We would offer a ten-week project to a they wanted to be in the project. In the limited number of students at the Common following class, from among those who had European Framework of Reference for sent me the message in time, I randomly drew Languages (CEFR) intermediate level B1 the names of ten students. We also went over (Council of Europe 2001). the main principles for students to observe, including modesty, politeness, sincerity, • The project would take place on an interest in the other party’s answers, and, exclusive Facebook group, the social above all, interaction. network used by most students. THE TEN-WEEK RIO–WARSAW • Participating students would have a new task CONNECTION every week to share what they knew and felt about different aspects of their realities. Our The “first edition” of what we called The view, based on Freire (1996), was that each Rio–Warsaw Connection included students task should stimulate students’ curiosity and from Rio’s IBEU and Warsaw’s General High allow them to independently explore the School 34–Miguel de Cervantes. Following possibilities of dialogue. is a description of the ten-week project in intercultural exchange. • Once we posted the tasks, the students would be the only ones to write. Week One Students were tasked to introduce themselves, We then formulated a ten-week plan; teachers talk about any cultural assumptions they had of both countries added ideas (in Warsaw, as about the project, and suggest guidelines for Karolina was now involved in other academic the group to follow. At the end of the week, we activities, two of her colleagues, Krystyna summarized the following four netiquette rules: As essential as reading is, no amount of it can replace actual experience and contact with what seems foreign and distant. americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum 2015 ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM 23 1. All participants should post at least one idea. Soon, almost all of them had friended comment a week in each thread, but we one another. encourage you to post more! Week Three 2. You are all students of English, and We had every reason to enter Week Three this project is about fluency and optimistically, and that taught us a lesson. The communication, not language accuracy. topic was national culture. We asked students Mistakes that do not influence meaning to talk about how their countries are viewed by should not, therefore, be corrected. themselves and foreigners and any stereotypes If you have doubts about what the they were aware of; we also asked them to other person means, ask him or her describe some typical dishes, as well as any to clarify! gestures and body language, that might be specific to their country. After the excitement 3. The use of emoticons is allowed and of the first two weeks, this time few students encouraged, and we also suggest you posted. Karolina sent a message encouraging post photos! them to post, which resulted in more contributions towards the end of the week. 4. We are here to learn about each other’s cultures, so the most important This first bump in the road led us to conclude netiquette point is mutual respect! that the lull had most likely been due to some fading of the initial excitement and that On Friday, at the end of the week, we posted a our direct intervention might be necessary pre-task: without doing any kind of research, at certain times to encourage students to students were instructed to tell what they participate. All tasks should be presented as knew about their counterparts’ cities. exciting opportunities to share—and learn— something that matters to them. That is, of Week Two course, provided we had designed the tasks Week Two was a chance for students to talk well enough. about their cities—what they liked and disliked, and what they would recommend Week Four to visitors. As expected, all Brazilians could We were more cautious with our say about Poland is that “it’s cold,” and Polish expectations, but things got back on track. students could think only of beaches, sunny Once again, there were two tasks. The first weather, and the “giant Christ statue.” When was for participants to share the TV shows, students had the chance to share something movies, books, and music they like, a topic about their cities, the teachers were pleasantly they enjoyed talking about. The second task surprised by their enthusiasm. They posted was for them to post pictures of what they pictures of places they liked, commented see from their windows and also pictures of on each other’s posts, and spontaneously their desks at home. The pictures aroused discussed food. One of the best moments in everybody’s curiosity and brought everyone the whole ten weeks happened right then, closer together. when a Brazilian student talked about (and posted pictures of) brigadeiro, a popular local Week Five sweet, and one of the Polish girls went and Week Five was our second low point. When made some. The moment we saw the photo asked to share which news sources they she had proudly taken of the first truly Polish usually turn to, and what the major headlines brigadeiro was definitely a highlight. were at that moment, students found little to say. After some encouragement, a few stories At this point, one of my students asked us were posted, but it became clear to us that, if they could add each other as friends on for our teenagers, knowing what was going on Facebook. We told her that that was a great in the world was not a top priority. 24 ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM 2015 americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum Week Six seem to agree on their favorite male actors, In Week Six, we took a gamble. The previous though, with George Clooney and Daniel Friday, again as a pre-task, we asked students Craig being mentioned most often. to watch the 1994 U.S. movie Forrest Gump and list the various cultural and historical Week Nine references they found. Then, as the week At the beginning of the week, I posted a started, we asked them to imagine what Mr. short message congratulating the Polish on Gump’s journey would have been like had he their National Independence Day. When lived in the students’ respective countries. It my students were encouraged to follow turned out that (1) that movie was too old for suit, a spontaneous conversation began, and most of our students to even know what it participants from both countries posted was about, and (2) they were not willing to do pictures and discussed how they felt about that much research, even if that meant watching kind of celebration. a film that was easy to find. I eventually got a few of my students to post something Also in Week Nine, students discussed how meaningful, but there was no denying it had much of the movie, television, and music been the worst week yet. content they were exposed to was from English-speaking countries and the heavy Week Seven influence of that entertainment on their We went for something completely different. countries. Here there was some interesting The first of two tasks was for students to find sharing. and post pictures of examples of “English around them” in signs, shops, and street art, Week Ten and a few of them did. The second task was for We asked students to talk about what them to list English words frequently used by lay ahead. What were their plans and people in their countries, even if those people expectations? How important did they were not English speakers, indicating whether think English would be in their future lives? the words were cognates or false cognates Students produced a few long responses, and and whether specific groups used them. There again we were happy with the result. were enough contributions for the week to be considered satisfactory. Among the examples Finally, Karolina and I posted our reflections listed by both groups were words related to about the project, saying how happy we were computers and the Internet, along with names with everything students had shared and how of foods (e.g., hot dog and cheeseburger) and they had shared it. We also said the group would the expression “Whatever,” which I presume remain active on Facebook, so they would always students are using to mimic young Americans be able to find each other there. At that point, all they see on TV. the Brazilian students who had participated got a certificate signed by the Polish teachers, and vice Week Eight versa. We also sent each other’s students little In Week Eight, students talked about national souvenirs from our countries. TV shows and movies they liked. They were to post pictures and links to videos and discuss THE SECOND AND THIRD EDITIONS which ones they thought people from other OF THE PROJECT countries would enjoy and which ones were highly culture-specific. This was another good After the ten-week project, Karolina and I week, with less interaction than we would shared our experience on the Facebook group have liked but with interesting examples; for I had created for NILE. Two of our former instance, the Brazilians named a few comedy NILE classmates, along with some of their films and light afternoon TV shows, while the students, joined in to create a second edition Polish students mostly mentioned dramatic, of the project, which was now called The historical movies. The female students did Motril [Spain]–Rio–Warsaw Connection. americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum 2015 ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM 25 We updated the plan based on what we had which participants took turns adding five learned from the first experience. Now, to ten sentences to the same story they instead of discussing the news, our students told collectively); and (3) posting personal were asked to talk about their respective messages to each other (we paired them up schools—what they liked, disliked, and would alphabetically). The undisputed highlight was change if they could. We kept the Forrest Gump when three of my students spontaneously activity, but now with some real preparation made and posted a video on how to make time in the classroom. We watched the trailer brigadeiro. (One might think that sweet and a couple of scenes from the movie and is an obsession of ours … .) Meanwhile, had a discussion about them in preparation for the intermediate students interacted a lot the task. With the support of our respective more than the ones in either of the first two schools, The Motril–Rio–Warsaw Connection editions. Their posts during the Forrest Gump thrived. task were particularly creative. Nevertheless, at the end of the tenth week, In the end, all three projects have enabled our as I reflected on everything we had done, I students to learn things they otherwise would realized that the participation of students not have and to practice their English in a way had been irregular and their interaction less they did not expect. We have been opening impressive than in the original group. Because doors that lead to understanding and, as a of the difficulties in coordinating tasks among consequence, increased tolerance. three groups and communicating among a larger number of teachers, we decided to go After the third edition came to a close, I began back to the Rio–Warsaw format. Krystyna, to imagine a fourth Rio–Warsaw Connection. IBEU teacher Sandra Saito, and I made the Some of the tasks may be rethought a bit, third edition of the project similar to the first but the main improvement we will make is one, with some improvements based on our to follow our students even more closely and accumulated experience. For instance, we ensure they remain motivated and able to would no longer have more than one task per balance their everyday responsibilities with week. Also, now that we had tried “horizontal their participation in the project. expansion” by including more students at the same level, it was time to try “vertical expansion” HOW YOU CAN DO IT by including students of different levels. Just as I have tried to adapt this project for We created a second group, also with students of different levels, I believe that Brazilian and Polish participants at both the fellow teachers from around the world can do CEFR intermediate B1 and advanced C1 something similar with their students, even if levels (Council of Europe 2001). This time, technological resources are limited. we dealt with more challenging tasks, most of which were designed by Krystyna, who What we are doing is all about had been with us since the beginning. These interculturalism, so the starting point is to get tasks included (1) having students share in touch with people from another country— their favorite songs in their native languages or even another city in the same country, (sharing English versions of the lyrics with as we know there is typically wide cultural the group); (2) creating a chain story (in variety within a single nation (that is certainly true of Brazil). Facebook itself is a place to find teachers from around the globe, as are We have been opening doors that some helpful websites from Corbett (2010): lead to understanding and, as a • ePals (www.epals.com) consequence, increased tolerance. • Tandem City (www.tandemcity.info) 26 ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM 2015 americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum • eLanguages (www.elanguages.org) • Let’s talk about your favorite outfits. What do you wear to school? Are uniforms • The British Council (schoolsonline. required? Should they be? What about the britishcouncil.org) times you go out with friends? Post a few pictures, and we’ll see how similar teen As mentioned before, some students who fashion is in your countries. are not selected work with ones who are. This creates opportunities for pairs and trios; • We are having a great time interacting even if a few are entering the posts, all can online, but is that how you normally chat be involved. That has worked well. When with your friends? This week, let’s compare talking about themselves, some students the different ways teenagers interact with would often actively include their partners. classmates and relatives. For example, one student wrote about her favorite band, while another classmate, who • In Week Seven, we talked about how had not been selected, stated her preference English is all around us—in street signs for a different band. Teachers may select and in the vocabulary we use. This week, participants any way they want, provided all let’s see how much each of us is in contact see the process as fair. And it is essential that with the language on a day-by-day basis. no one feels left out. When do you get to practice your English? Chatting online? Playing videogames? What Some teachers may be working with students are the expressions you use the most? who simply do not have Internet access. It might still be possible to collect the group’s Sustaining student motivation is often contributions in class, type them at the school challenging. Actions that might help include: or at some other facility, and later bring printed images of the screen to share and • making sure that tasks for successive weeks discuss with all participants. are not too similar to each other At IBEU In-Service sessions, my colleagues • having the class discuss the weekly task as and I discussed the notion of adapting the group work project for lower-level students, which would entail developing a set of simpler tasks and • praising students’ contributions closer teacher supervision. It may even be necessary for the teacher to review each post • allowing students to propose the task for before it is published. That is not ideal, but a given week. (That is something I plan to it might be advisable in some cases. Another try in the next edition by organizing an in- idea is to conduct the project in a shorter class election of the best proposed task.) time frame, perhaps five or six weeks, if the availability of teachers and students—and There is always the possibility that students their time—is limited. will stop posting for a while—or altogether. That is why it is a good idea to establish a few As far as the lesson plan itself is concerned, ground rules right at the participant selection teachers may choose to talk about any topic stage. Is it acceptable for someone who has they think students will be interested in. Here been selected to quit? Is there a penalty for are a few examples: that? Halfway through the third edition I had to replace a participant for the very first • Bullying is a serious problem in a lot of time—even after being warned and without places. Is it a problem in your school? presenting a reason, he stopped contributing. How do people deal with it? Let’s It is certainly wise to prepare for that compare the approach to this issue in the possibility; in my case, a number of students two countries. had expressed interest in the project but had americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum 2015 ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM 27 not been selected, so finding a replacement • The task in which participants reflect was not difficult. on how much they know about each other’s country and on what stereotypes are commonly associated with their own EXPANDING STUDENT INTERACTIONS country could lead to a role-playing One idea that has come up over and over again exercise. For example, a student from Rio to enhance interaction is to use a program plays the part of a tourist from Warsaw, in like Skype to get participants from different the city for the first time, meeting Brazilians countries to see one another. The reasons from various regions and walks of life. What I have not used it so far are the time-zone would this tourist expect to encounter? difference and Internet connection limitations. How would the people the tourist meets I do think it would be exciting to have behave? What aspects of local culture might students send video messages to each other be especially difficult for him or her to at some point. One option would be to have understand? This activity could be a lot of students record their own videos, and then fun as well as an invitation for students to their respective teachers could put them all think critically about their own homes. together. • When students learn about their Teachers who find this intercultural project counterparts’ schools, they could be asked interesting might want to investigate different, to write an essay on what it would be like deeper ways to explore the proposed topics. It for them to suddenly find themselves as is my experience that the tasks assigned each newcomers there. If students have time to week lead to lively classroom discussions, do additional research, they could make especially when we turn them into activities a presentation to the class about what life that lead all students to further examine their is like for a student in the other country, own culture and of that of their counterparts. focusing on what they perceive as being Here are a few examples of such activities easier or harder than what they are used to. based on tasks in the ten-week project: Students could also try to imagine what, for them, a perfect school would be like. • When students are asked to think of Then the class is divided into teams, and English words used by people in their each one does the exercise from a different countries, they can begin by carrying perspective—that of teachers, hall out small-group conversations on the monitors, cleaning staff, and so on. differences between the slang and the specific vocabulary that they and their These ideas are potential follow-ups to peers normally use and those that are activities in the project. As the goal is to characteristic of other groups. In Brazil, enable students to expand their horizons as for example, students are very much much as possible, it is a good idea to help aware of vocabulary currently used by them revisit and rethink assumptions under Internet surfers, such as the word brother which they might not even know they operate and variations of it to mean “friend.” every day. How do those differences come about? Do they serve a purpose? This is an CONCLUSION opportunity for students to reflect on why they speak the way they do. In the Not so long ago, we had pen pals and used same task, talking about cognates and actual pens and paper. We would sometimes false cognates is the starting point of find each other through ads in magazines and an activity that could go on for several initiate a kind of correspondence in which classes, in which students investigate the it could take weeks to get a reply to each origins of words and their relationship to message. Now that technology has made history and geography. instant, inexpensive communication between 28 ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM 2015 americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum We are looking at people with whom we could not imagine what we have in common, and we are learning to identify and take apart stereotypes. people on opposite sides of the earth a reality, REFERENCES many of us are still looking only for those who are much like ourselves. Such massive Corbett, J. 2010. Intercultural language activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. underuse of the potential that is in our Council of Europe. 2001. Common European framework students’ hands presents teachers of English of reference for languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. with a golden opportunity to broaden their Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. www.coe. students’ horizons. int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf Freire, P. 1996. Pedagogia da autonomia: Saberes We have departed from the notion of teaching necessários à prática educativa [Pedagogy of autonomy: culture by simply transmitting information. Knowledge necessary for educational practice]. São We are exploring interculturality, which Paulo, Brazil: Paz e Terra. includes a reflection on both cultures, as both Harmer, J. 2012. Essential teacher knowledge: Core concepts are “target cultures” at the same time, in a in English language teaching. Harlow, UK: Pearson. truly interpersonal process (Kramsch 1993). Kramsch, C. 1993. Context and culture in language We are looking at people with whom we teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Peterson, E., and B. Coltrane. 2003. Culture in second could not imagine what we have in common, language teaching. CAL Digests. Washington, DC: and we are learning to identify and take Center for Applied Linguistics. apart stereotypes. Scarino, A., and A. J. Liddicoat. 2009. Teaching and learning languages: A guide. Magill, Australia: Research “Learning to be intercultural involves much Centre for Languages and Cultures, University of more than just knowing about another South Australia. www.tllg.unisa.edu.au/guide.html culture: it involves learning to understand how one’s own culture shapes perceptions of oneself, of the world, and of our relationship Hugo Dart is a teacher at IBEU (Instituto Brasil- with others” (Scarino and Liddicoat 2009, Estados Unidos) in Rio de Janeiro. He holds bachelor’s 21). What we are accomplishing with our degrees in Law and in Portuguese-English and is a connection is just a first step, but it might postgraduate student in English Language. be a rather meaningful one. americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum 2015 ENGLISH TEACHING FORUM 29