Global Literacy: Week 2 / Summary of Ch. 5 of "Educating for Global Competence"

Educating for Global Competence: Preparing Our Youth to Engage the World: Summary and Reflection

Chapter 5: Globally Competent Students Communicate Ideas (p. 39-44)

Summary:

The chapter discusses the requirements necessary for students to communicate their ideas globally.

Globally competent students are able to communicate ideas in the following ways: (p. 39)

• Recognize and express how diverse audiences may perceive different meanings from the same information and how that impacts communication.

• Listen to and communicate effectively with diverse people, using appropriate verbal and nonverbal behavior, languages, and strategies.

• Select and use appropriate technology and media to communicate with diverse audiences.

• Reflect on how effective communication impacts understanding and collaboration in an interdependent world.

Two examples are provided in the chapter. In the first example, a group of eighth graders in Seattle, Washington created a program called “Growing Food for Our Community.” Students shared digital stories with students from India. They discussed the global food crisis, as well as similarities and between their communities. Students also used online tools to study gardening techniques. In communicating their stories, students were sensitive to use of language and images so that their story would be understood by their counterparts in India. In addition to the creating of a digital story, the end result of their project was the creation of two gardens which were used to make donations to a local food bank.

The second example was a project called, “Put your culture in the box and follow me.” Students created an interactive presentation on colonization designed to elicit feelings of “powerlessness and frustration” in the audience as they were being “colonized” (p. 43). The students enabled the audience members to understand the perspectives not only of the conquerors, but of those being colonized. They were able to use verbal and nonverbal methods to get their points across. Being aware of and understanding multiple perspectives is critical to creating globally competent communicators.

Students need multiple opportunities to practice communicating across cultural lines. They not only need to know what, how, and why to communicate, but they need to be sensitive to and respectful of the differences and varied communicating styles which can occur across cultures.

Reflection:

It’s clear that we all need to be able to communicate globally. The most important “take away” from this chapter is that students need to understand the perspectives of others. They must be aware of the varied nuances and norms that exist in other cultures so that they can communicate sensitively and respectfully.