This well-regarded and successful undergraduate unit enhances students’ awareness, understanding, sensitivity and ability to deal with people from a range of different cultural backgrounds. Such skills and attitudes are crucial in increasingly globalised work settings. As a member of the teaching team, I am responsible for delivering weekly tutorials to support the content delivered in the unit lectures, as well as grading student assignments and conducting student consultations.
A particular strength of this unit is that it provides theoretical frameworks for interpreting differences in cultural behaviour, as well as skills and strategies to help respond appropriately and effectively in culturally different situations. Students appreciate such tangible take-aways, and frequently comment on how useful and applicable this approach is.
We tend to see three types of students enrolled in this unit: students with an interest in intercultural communication, students who are learning or have learned a second language, and students who are inbound or outbound on international study exchanges. As such, our tutorials are lively and interesting, with high levels of engagement all around.
I’m delighted to be involved with such a successful and important unit.
