USA vs. Italy

Hi everybody!

What do you think if I write:

USA vs Italy?

Probably you will think about a competition or something like that. Actually, I am not going to talk about competitions but about an unique exchange experience between USA and Italy, in particular between Middlebury College in Vermont, U.S.A. and the University of Padua.

This week me and my classmates thanks to Sarah (our English teacher), took part in a wonderful activity. We had to discuss our final presentations by webcast-ing with a group of students from Middlebury College. It was GREAT!

(Photo source )

THE BACKGROUND…

We worked in small groups of two or three people. In our presentations we had to compare an aspect of American and Italian culture, casting light on similarities and differences. I worked with Lucrezia and Annalisa, our presentation dealt with National Celebrations; in particular, we compared three big national celebrations in USA and Italy, and concluded it by summing up the striking features which characterized national feasts in both countries. The presentations of the other groups were about: Eating habits, Fraternities and La Gogliardia, and Immigration.

ON MONDAY: THE GREAT DAY…

On Monday we discussed the presentations by webcast-ing with a group of American students from Vermont. We were all really excited. First of all because we were going to talk with native speakers that we had never seen before; secondly, we didn’t know if they were going to appreciate the subject and comparison of our work. One positive aspect, which helped us to break the ice, was the fact that we didn’t have a visual contact. We only had to talk on the microphone, our American peers could see our power point slides on their computer screen. At the end of our presentations, the American students discussed two of their presentations as well. Although we didn’t see each other, we could send feedback and interact by writing in our wiki chat. In my opinion this was a very interesting aspect of the activity.

American students were really interested in our comparisons and made several questions. This exchange part of the activity made the conversation real and immediate thus stimulating a natural interaction as if the Americans were present in our class.

Even when we were preparing our work, we knew that we would discuss it to a native speaker audience, in this case American students. The idea of a native speaker publicum stimulated us and aroused our interest in the activity. Moreover, we collected a lot of information about American national celebrations, in order to come up with interesting comparisons and show them that we were well informed and prepared thus avoiding the so called “brutta figura”!

On Wednesday some students from Middlebury College university discussed their presentations as well, their subject was related to Italian literature. Their Italian was really good and I enjoyed a lot their work. Me and my classmates sent them feedback and we asked a few questions.

FINAL REFLECTIONS…

Our English course is finishing and I feel a little sad :-( because it gave me the possibility to live such exciting learning experiences.

Firstly, I got more to know with several web genres and exercised a real foreign language by means of many –ing activities such as: blogg-ing, bookmark-ing, wiki-ing, podcast-ing, skype-ing and webcast-ing. Secondly, I took part in such unique learning experiences (and lessons).

This second semester was really exciting; every time I felt enthusiastic to go to the lectures because I knew that I was going to discover and experiment something new. I think that this learning method, based on web technologies, is unique and represents an alternative but effective way to learn and practice a foreign language.

As regard skype-ing and webcast-ing activities, they were my favourite ones!! Thanks to these activities I could feel more involved in the lecture, practice my oral skills, enlarge my dictionary and get more to know with American culture.

The interaction with American students was great, not only because we practiced a foreign language with native speakers, but also because it was a cultural exchange. During this course me and my classmates used an everyday language (and not a literary one), spoke about some problems which characterized modern society such as: recycling, alternative energy, water resources by stressing similarities and differences between USA and Italy. In addition, we talked about feasts, university system, family, exams and travels thus rendering the conversations really interesting.

These types of lectures stimulated my interest towards improving my linguistic and cultural knowledge; moreover, they foster the creation of a collaborative and interactive learning environment that in the second semester has become even wider thanks to the creativity of Sarah (our teacher) and the collaboration of some American students.

See you soon

Take care

Francesca

A unique learning experience

Hi everybody,

I am back on my blog to tell you about another interesting activity in which I took part.

Last week during our English lesson me and my classmates participated in a webcast exchange with video camera with our skype partners from Tulane University in New Orleans. It was really exciting.

Thanks to the webcast and the video camera we had the great opportunity to have a visual contact with our friends from Tulane. I was excited as if it was a long time since I hadn’t seen a friend. I spoke a lot with my partner (Sara) by skype-ing but without seeing her in face. I was really enthusiastic to see her and her classmates on a screen! Although it was not a one to one conversation, but a collaborative talk, it was a great fun. Moreover it was spontaneous and interesting conversation!

We introduced ourselves and then started to talk about what happened at Columbine College in Virginia the week before. We went on to speak a little about young people and guns. Me and my classmates were interested in their opinions and reactions about what happened in Virginia. But, after a few questions we changed topic and started to talk about our skype impressions. Basically, the conversation was based on spontaneous questions and answers; everyone took part in the talk.

This was a great opportunity. First of all me and my classmates had the chance to speak English with native speakers; secondly, it was an intercultural exchange (we talked about American culture). Moreover, it was a collaborative talking, everyone participated and asked questions or told his/her opinion about something.

At the beginning we were all a little ashamed (maybe for the presence of the web camera) but once we broke the ice everything went ok. Roberto, an American gay from Tulane, even sang a little song for us. We all enjoyed ourselves in this intercultural activity.

From a learning point of view, this experience represents something unique. Students have the possibility to interact with people from the other side of the world, to practice a foreign language and test their abilities to participate in a spontaneous talk in English. This represents an innovative teaching method which stimulates students to improve their foreign language skills as well as enlarge their intercultural knowledge.

Finally, this experience made me reflect on how important technologies are in order to enhance teaching purposes; in particular, in the process of collaborative acquisitions and sharing of knowledge.

See you soon,

Take care

Francesca

Easter holidays

Hi everybody!!

I am back again after Easter holidays!! I spent my holidays with my family: relaxing and eating a lot of chocolate. On Easter I went to mess with my family and then I worked in a restaurant near my village: I enjoyed myself a lot because I worked with some of my friends ^_^. As you know I am a dynamic person and I don’t like staying the whole day sat around a table eating lamb and cakes.

(Photo source Flickr)

On the day after: Pasquetta I went to Trento with my friends: it was a great fun! We had a pick nick in a beautiful green area, we ate eggs and grill. Moreover, we ate a lot of chocolate eggs and enjoyed ourselves to compare the little presents inside them. I found a small puppet (a little frog), actually it was one of the best presents among those of my friends! We were around 50 persons, it was really exiting and we had a good time. (Photo source Flickr)
It is a pity that holidays are already finished ‘_’

Let’s talk a little about my university’s activities…

Next Monday I will have my fourth skype exchange, I am pretty sure that it will be really exiting. We are going to talk a little about Easter
and compare how we (me and my American peer) celebrated Easter’s day.

Our English teacher (she is from USA) told me and my classmates that in USA children receive the so called Easter baskets. (Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pengrin/434562452/)

After that we are supposed to turn to the main topic of our conversation which is “water resources in Italy and USA”. Water is really essential to all forms of human life, it covers 71% of Earth’s surface (source: wikipedia). Water represents a precious resource due to its extensive use in agriculture, high-tech manufacturing, and energy production. Consequently water require a better management and sustainable use.

In my opinion this is a quite interesting topic. Recently I surfed the net to find some useful information in order to write an article on the wiki page that me and my classmates are working on and I discovered many new things. I wrote an article about “macro” and “micro” hydroelectric systems in Italy. In particular, micro-hydroelectric systems have many economical and environmental benefits. In my next skype exchange I would like to ask my peers if in Louisiana there are similar hydroelectric systems.

That's all for the moment
Bye
Francesca

Alternative Enrgy Sources

HI EVERYBODY!!

I am going to talk a little more about my skype-exchanges. In my last skype exchange I spoke with another young women from Tulane University: Sarah. We spoke about an interesting topic: renewable sources of energy. It was a really interesting conversation; we talked almost one hour about how our countries face the problem of alternative energy sources. She told me that in the US the government is not investing a lot on renewable sources of energy because of the economic interests of some big oil companies. I replied her that it is quite the same situation in Italy. Unfortunately, the partnership between political and economic power slows down the development of alternative energy sources.

In my opinion it is really important that people start to develop the consciousness of the importance of preserving and protecting the environment since a very young age. For this reason it is advisable that schools develop some courses about environmental problems and alternative sources of energy so that in the futute people will be able to manage environmental policies better that our politicians are doing now.

In Italy renewable sources of energy are not exploited as they should be; however, some Italian regions are showing a common interest in starting developing the consciousness towards the potentiality of alternative sources of energy. The following are some examples:

Veneto and Piemonte are promoting the transformation of wooden biomasses into energy;

Lombardia is exploiting manure as an extraordinary energy reserve;

Trentino Alto Adige has the greatest photovoltaic installation.

Undoubtedly, these initiatives represent only little steps but they are really important in order to start developing the consciousness of saving energy and using environmental-friendly energy sources. I think that everyone should develop the consciousness of not wasting energy and use energy sources in a more responsable way.

(Source of the picture: http://www.re-energy.ca/images/reenergyindex_r3_c2.jpg)

That's all for the moment
bye bye
Francesca

INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE

HI everybody,
let's talk about intercultural competence.

According to wikipedia: “Intercultural competence is the ability of successful communication with people of other cultures”. Knowing the culture and therefore the background of the people speaking to you is extremely important in order to have a better comprehension of the interaction. Moreover, it is a social competence because it enables you to better understand why people behave, think and speak in a certain way. Cultures differentiate from each other not only between nations or continents but also within a group of people (such as a family). Intercultural competence helps you not to judge the behaviour of a community as right or wrong according to our own culture and values but to consider it as acceptable. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be happy about it, you are not obliged to share those habits and values but probably you have to accept them.

A deeper intercultural competence means a better relationship with a community of people who has their own values and lifestyles. Intercultural competence helps you to become flexible and open. The comparison among different cultures is positive and in many ways it enriches a person. Furthermore, it is important to discover and understand new point of views, because it can lead you to think about something that you had never considered before as well as to have a better understand of your own culture and values. In order to develop your intercultural awareness you have to get rid of prejudices and to be sensitive towards other cultures. Moreover, you have to understand and also make yourself to be understood, to be clear and flexible and express yourself in a transparent way. According to wikipedia:

it is a balance, situatively adapted, between three parts:

1. knowledge (about other culture, people, nations, behaviours…);

2. empathy (understanding feelings and needs of other people);

3. self confidence (knowing what I want, my strengths and weaknesses, emotional stability).

(Reference: wikipedia)

(Source of the picture: google)

THE IMPORTANCE FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGES LEARNERS TO BECOME INTERCULTURAL COMPETENT

In my opinion it is extremely important that students studying foreign languages develop the awareness of the importance of becoming intercultural competent. It is also important that foreign languages teachers help students to get more familiar with different cultures; especially if teachers are mother tongue they represent cultural referents for their students. The best way to do so is to supply learners with cultural notes which can help students to become more familiar with a culture which has proper ways of thinking, acting and perceiving things. Although the best way to become intercultural competent is probably to live abroad for a certain period of time, it is also very important that teachers at school or university insist on cultural aspects with the same energy that they insist on grammar correctness. On one hand teachers should stimulate students to develop their interests towards foreign cultures; on the other hand it is indispensable that students own some attitudes such as: openness, tolerance, meta-communicative competence, emotional flexibility, cultural empathy.

Finally, in my little experience, the course of English that I am attending at University of Padua is arousing my curiosity and interest towards English and American culture. The teacher, who comes from United States, delivers cultural notes and helps me and my colleagues to reflect upon italian culture as well. Moreover, thanks to some activities such as skype-ing and wiki-ing I am developing my intercultural competence and awareness of the importance of becoming intercultural competent.

What's your opinion about?

Bye bye

Francesca

Stimulating skype-experience

Hi friends!

I’m here again to tell you about my second skype experience. Last Monday I had my second skype exchange, it was really STIMULATING! In this conversation I didn’t speak with Bari but with Lea. We continued talking about the same topic of the previous week which was recycling; Lea asked me some questions (in Italian) about the recycling situation in Italy. It was a little difficult to understand her Italian (and her American too ); moreover, sometimes I couldn’t hear her voice clearly, anyway I really enjoyed myself in this conversation.

Lea asked me some questions about the initiatives which are promoted by Italian ecologists and about the degree of pollution in the north and in the south of Italy. Unfortunately the Italian government is not investing a lot on green projects, anyway I told her about few initiatives which are promoted such as “domeniche a piedi”: when the degree of air pollution becomes too high some regional councils (especially in the north) decide to stop cars (on Sunday) from driving in the city centre. Although this initiative is really important it represents only a little contribution to the improvement of the situation (if the government invested more money on green transportation system maybe the degree of air pollution would be lower!!). When she finished her questions I hadn’t time to ask her further questions about New Orleans because our skype time was finished.

The conversation was really stimulating and has many positive implications ^_^. We both had the opportunity to exercise our foreign language (she spoke in Italian and I in English).


From a linguistic point of view skype conversations made me reflect towards two directions: grammar mistakes and fluency. I make more mistakes when I speak than when I write, this is because an oral speech requires immediacy (there no time to think about grammar correctness). Moreover, I realized that it is difficult to converse on-line but this type of conversation represent a challenge that stimulates me to exercise more and more in order to improve my English. As regards my language fluency I noticed that I am not so fluent as I would like to be, for this reason I need to excercise a lot. I think that reading and repeating are good exercises but what is very important is to think in English as much as possible.

As regards the content my conversations with Bari and Lea helped me to enlarge my intercultural knowledge as well as to find the information that I lacked as regards the Italian recycling situation!


Finally I think that recording the conversations and analysing them from a linguistic and cultural point of view is really helpful for improving your language skills and enlarging your intercultural knowledge.

(The picture is taken from google: http://www.ictblog.it/uploads/skype-settembre.jpg)

That's all for the moment
Bye bye

Francesca ^_^

Skype-ing: a new exiting experience!

HI EVERYBODY!

I’m back (this sentence reminds me of my favourite song played by Oasis “the boys are back in town”) on my blog with a new exiting experience to tell you!

Exam session is finished: this means that I have more time to spend on my blog. The activities of this semester are really exiting since we are collaborating on TulanePadova wiki with some American students from Tulane University of New Orleans. Moreover, we have also the possibility to talk with them by using skype.

(Have a look at Recycling in Italy and Recycling in USA)

Our first conversation was on Monday (5th of March). It was GREAT! I spoke with a woman called Bari; she was really kind and funny. At the very beginning I was a little shy :-( because I didn’t know the person that I was going to talk with, but as we started our conversation my shyness disappeared immediately. It was a little difficult because she was speaking quite fast (American English is not that easy) but very stimulating. Bari didn’t want to speak in Italian she preferred to talk in English and that was ok for me since I could practice my listening and speaking abilities!!

After a brief presentation the subject of our conversation was recycling (our wiki is about the recycling situation in New Orleans and Italy). We asked to each other some questions, I wanted to know something more about the recycling situation in New Orleans after the devastating hurricane Katrina. After the hurricane New Orleans citizens had to face several problems included garbage problems. Bari told me that in New Orleans there are not specific laws about recycling, for this reason not everyone recycles (quite the same in Italy. Unfortunately!) She also told me that at University only a small number of students recycle. Finally she said that after the disasters caused by the hurricane they have many problems to solve (such as: the reconstruction of the city) maybe this is one of the reasons why they don’t invest enough time and energy on recycling

As far as my little skype-ing experience is concerned I think that this activity is very exiting, useful and stimulating for many reasons:

1. From a linguistic point of view:
· it enables us to practice and improve our language skills;
· helps us to exercise our comprehension skills;
· gives the opportunity to exercise our spoken skills together with our writing skills (we collaborate on editing a wiki)

2. From a cultural point of view:
· Thanks to these conversations we get more familiar with a foreign culture (in this case the culture of the language that we are studying).

In my opinion I think that the mix between language and cultural aspects is essential for anyone who is studying a foreign language. The scholastic system in Italy is mainly concerned with language and grammar rather than with cultural aspects. Thanks to this English course, in particular wiki-ing and skype-ing (the activities of our second semester) we have the opportunity to practice a language and exchange cultural notes, which is the best way to learn a foreign language.

Take care!
See you soon
bye bye
Francesca