Culture Shock Blog

Today I received the newsletter from the National Capital Language Resource Center. I clicked on the link to the Culture Shocks Blog and enjoyed a few minutes of reading the stories--some that I have experienced myself and others that were new.

Some of the stories would make a good starting point for a lesson plan on cultural analysis in general or on specific cultural points.

And while these stories seem to concentrate on people experiencing culture shock when they are in a different country, I think it would be a great assignment or reflection prompt to ask students to read some of the entries on this blog first, and then relate any "culture shock" moments they have experienced in during their work in the community.

Culture of course could be defined more broadly than on the blog. It could be two national cultures in conflict. But in Spanish community service learning it could also be defined as:
  • university culture versus professional culture
  • youth culture versus "senior" culture (and I don't mean seniors in college)
  • working class culture versus middle class or upper class cultures
  • able-bodied culture versus people with disabilities culture
  • etc.

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