ICIS Newsletter - September 2012 (Plain Text Version)
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EDITORS' LETTER
The New Year has brought about some changes in the editing team. Laura has passed on the demanding task of editing ICIS’s newsletter to a new team, leaving behind a remarkable standard that is the result of her tireless efforts. We feel ourselves privileged though the task seems intimidating. We hope that through our broad and diverse intercultural experience we can continue the great work of previous editors. In this edition we would like to introduce ourselves briefly, say a few words on the articles published, and inform you of the ongoing projects within our ICIS community. My name is Nasima. I always find it difficult to answer the question “Where are you from?” I think many of you might have the same thoughts. In short, I come from the Turkish minority in Iran, learned English in the United Kingdom, studied TESOL and intercultural communication in Iran and Germany, have lived in Germany for the past 20 years, and have worked in the Middle East (Arab countries) for the past 8 years. All this has made me answer the above question as: I’m a citizen of the new mobile world and have learned to learn from the richness of all the cultures I’ve experienced. And, I am Amy, or sometimes 思怡(to think of joy or happiness), my Chinese name, which often comes in handy locally in the southern Chinese province in which I live and teach. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t genuinely interested in other peoples and cultures and what they had to share. At the forefront of my consciousness these days is the oft neglected side of communication, listening. This fall, I will be challenging myself and my students to intentionally reframe our way of thinking about communication; rather than talking to someone, listen to someone. I challenge all of us to seek out people, familiar and unfamiliar, and listen to them. Our newsletter has remained true to its cause. In this edition we have chosen two articles, both reflecting current issues though from diverse perspectives. The first reports on how using students’ technology competence can help bridge intercultural differences and misconceptions. The second article shares the experience of a teacher with intercultural insensitivities in dealing with international students―a theme that is very often talked about but never loses its validity in an ever more flourishing internationalization of mainly Western universities. We would also like to attract your attention to three interesting ongoing projects. First is the exciting initiative organized by Laura Jacob. She has been working on a project collecting intercultural experiences in the form of narratives. More details have been posted on the ICIS community site. Second, we would like to repeat our call for articles for the coming newsletters. Your contributions reflecting your experiences, thoughts, and research are highly appreciated. Third, we would like to add a new feature to our newsletter. We welcome your thoughts and comments on the published articles in each issue. We hope that this will ensure a lively environment for healthy debate and exchanges, which are useful for us all. |
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