2.2 Culture and Reentry Shock
Task
Read the following text on culture and reentry shock.
Reflection
Please answer the following questions.
Have you ever experienced a similar culture shock (when you arrived in another country, started a new job, moved, …)? How did you experience the culture shock? On a personal level, who or what helped you to cope with the situation?
„Academic Culture Shock“
Example Ricardo
Take a look at what Ricardo experienced during his studies in Germany and what cultural differences are associated with this. Which learning style do you know or prefer? What do you learn about the German learning culture from the video?
Source: https://videoportal.uni-freiburg.de/video/Critical-Incident-2D-Ricardo-28engl2E29/78f2c2fc820e13791b998fa60b1dd811
Reflection: University Values
Task
Consider the following value scales and place a cross in in order to indicate where you would position the culture at your home university (or in your department). Which behaviour is most likely to be observed or rated as positive? Come up with an example for each scale.
Competition—————————————————————————————————— Cooperation
Learning Spiral „Intercultural Competence“
In order for people to be able to find their way around in an intercultural setting and to deal competently with culture shocks, they need a range of different competencies. Here, these are presented as a spiral.
Source: translated from Hiller, Gundula Gwenn 2016: Eine Frage der Perspektive: Critical Incidents aus Studentenwerken und Hochschulverwaltung. 30 Fallbeispiele aus der Praxis mit 93 interkulturellen Einschätzungen von Studierenden und Mitarbeitenden. Publisher: Deutsches Studentenwerk.
Next module section: 2.3 Analysis of Cultural Differences or Commonalities