Brian Dennison spoke at Urbana on “The Vocation of Law in God’s Global Mission to Bring Justice and Wholeness.” You can find a summary of his talk here. To introduce you to Brian and “share the blessing,” Brian offers some tips from his own experience teaching cross-culturally. Part 1. Note: Have experience teaching cross-culturally and want to write about it? Whatever your culture of origin and wherever you taught cross-culturally, we’d love to hear. Email us here. [Read more…] about Urbana Preview: Cross-Cultural Teaching—One Story and a Few Tips for North American Scholars
cross-cultural communication
Welcoming internationals to your university
Over half (528,182) of all the international students and scholars in the United States are in graduate programs, optional practical training, or are visiting scholars. Overwhelmingly they come from China and India, but South Korea, Germany, and Saudi Arabia are just a few of the other places sending internationals here.
Welcoming internationals to your university is very straightforward. Everyone wants a friend, and that’s just an easy first step. Make sure you understand that crossing cultures is an aspect to be aware of, though. The InterVarsity International Student Ministry (ISM) website has plenty of resources on crossing cultures effectively, like this comparison of Eastern and Western cultures. [Read more…] about Welcoming internationals to your university
“What, then, is time?”
As some of you know, I’ve been enjoying ESN blogger/mentor Kevin Birth‘s provocative Objects of Time: How Things Shape Temporality (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY: 2012).
Augustine of Hippo wrote, “What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I want to explain it to someone who asks me, I do not know” (1997 [ca. 397-98], 256). The question stumps us for quite different reasons. We surround ourselves with cognitive artifacts to tell us what time is, and the time these artifacts represent is demonstrably confused in accuracy. We have hyper-accurate atomic clocks and a calendar that poorly represents the duration of the earth’s orbit. The nature of time’s existence is confused by cognitive artifacts and by the human invention of the time constructs these artifacts indicate. . . . [Read more…] about “What, then, is time?”
Seeking tips for international students
On Friday, I led an International Discussion Forum on Randy’s Last Lecture at U. of Pennsylvania, sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the Penn Graduate Christian Fellowship, and Intercultural Friends. Note: Discussion questions posted here in PDF.
Afterward, there was an opportunity for participants to offer suggestions for future topics. The international students in my discussion group desired an introduction to the practical elements of navigating American culture, one significant area being the management of money while studying in the U.S.
If you have suggestions of web resources/links on this topic or some helpful tips, please post them here. To get us started below are some excellent resources from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s International Student Ministry: