This week I participated in the 2nd annual International Students Conference. The theme this year was “World Languages. Language and Cultural Identity in the Modern World.” I was to give a presentation in front of both the American and Russian Students. My presentation was on “The Benefits of A Globalized Perspective in the Classroom” I wrote a paper and made a Prezi for the presentation.
I was nervous and excited for this conference. This was especially great because my paper will be published in an international publication, which will loo great on my resume. I was nervous because I thought I was going to have to present in front of a whole bunch of people in one of those big conference halls. We watch Dr. Holley (our GREAT AND FEARLESS LEADER!!) present in “Room 63,” while he was presenting I was getting all pumped up! Then we found out that we would be in a smaller room with only twenty or so people. I was actually a little disappointed but still it was also nice to not feel SO much pressure.
We started and there were some really great presentations. The Russian students seem so thorough in their study of our language. It kind makes me feel bad because they are all so excited for us to be here and speak English, but many of them have a deeper understanding it than I think I do. I know that they just want to hear us speak with our accents and the little things that are harder to learn but come so easy to a native speaker. I am just so impressed with how much English they know and I admire them for that. I wish American students (people in general even) appreciated different cultures like they do. I think the key to understanding people is to understand their culture and a key to understanding culture can be language, because you can get a better understanding of the intimate details of culture when you speak the language. The time and effort put into learning a whole new language give a person the opportunity to learn more details about a different county.
I think all the presentations were great. I especially loved Jamie and Greesha's presentations. I didn't know that the Lumby Tribe was so unique and I love how Greesha used music to illustrate his point. I would love to learn more about the Lumbies. What I loved most about this whole experience was that it gave me a chance to see the products of research assignments. Students were given rough parameters and then they found a topic, did thorough research and then presented their findings. I think I will try to incorporate this into my class I think it is a really great way to involve critical thinking in an educational setting. It gives students an opportunity to do a bit of independent thinking and choose something that interests them.
We started and there were some really great presentations. The Russian students seem so thorough in their study of our language. It kind makes me feel bad because they are all so excited for us to be here and speak English, but many of them have a deeper understanding it than I think I do. I know that they just want to hear us speak with our accents and the little things that are harder to learn but come so easy to a native speaker. I am just so impressed with how much English they know and I admire them for that. I wish American students (people in general even) appreciated different cultures like they do. I think the key to understanding people is to understand their culture and a key to understanding culture can be language, because you can get a better understanding of the intimate details of culture when you speak the language. The time and effort put into learning a whole new language give a person the opportunity to learn more details about a different county.
I think all the presentations were great. I especially loved Jamie and Greesha's presentations. I didn't know that the Lumby Tribe was so unique and I love how Greesha used music to illustrate his point. I would love to learn more about the Lumbies. What I loved most about this whole experience was that it gave me a chance to see the products of research assignments. Students were given rough parameters and then they found a topic, did thorough research and then presented their findings. I think I will try to incorporate this into my class I think it is a really great way to involve critical thinking in an educational setting. It gives students an opportunity to do a bit of independent thinking and choose something that interests them.