Reader Response - Draft 1

Picardo(2012) proposes that the significance of "fostering global awareness and international collaboration" among high school students is getting clearer in this modern era to nurture open-minded, informative and creative students. It is undeniable that this goal can be easily achieved as students nowadays are bombarded with information through travelling and internet access. However, the effectiveness of such means is impugned and it is regarded that guidance is needed through this process of discovery.

Thus, Picardo elucidates that various "contextualized learning" methods, which can be generally distinguished into traditional and modern one, have been introduced in schools. Exchange programs and foreign languages studies are the examples of the former while social networks such as Twitter, Skype and Google Maps denote the latter.

In my opinion, both traditional and modern "contextualized learning" methods have helped me in broadening my horizons about the world besides understanding one's culture well. The memorable experience of welcoming students from Japan as a student ambassador of my high school two years ago has deepened my insight of Japanese culture as well as my homeland's. Before their arrival, besides contacting my Japanese friends via Facebook Messenger, much time and effort was spent on useful websites such as YouTube and travelers’ blogs in order to learn some basic Japanese language and understand their culture so that I could communicate with them with no offence. These preparations has equipped me well with knowledge of Japan from various aspects and also removed the language barrier among us. Indeed, these modern contextualized learning allow me to "experience foreign cultures with unprecedented ease" (Picardo, 2012).

During their 2 weeks stay in Malaysia, we did various activities like trying out local spicy dishes, "batik" painting and historical sites visits to increase their cultural and historical knowledge of Malaysia. However, as the host, I benefited as much as them through our daily conversations and sharing. I was astonished to know how great the impact of China's culture is on Japan when I was invited to join the mini Japanese Tea Ceremony conducted by them. Despite the fact that my legs were numb, kneeling down on the tatami in the seiza-style for hours, I was impressed by their attention to details and their compliance with meticulous rules throughout this ceremony. I realised that it is the disciplined and polite personalities of Japanese that contributes to the formation of a better and more competitive nation in the international arena. This contextualized learning was said to be effective as I honed my soft skills, for instance, the consciousness of world issues, communication skills, adaptability to new culture, problem-solving skills and so on that will help me to perform better throughout my university life and my future career.

In a nutshell, I strongly agree that “global awareness and international collaboration during the formative years results in more rounded individuals” (Picardo, 2012) who have both hard skills and soft skills to compete with others in their future. I believed that a graduation certificate of university is the key to own a better job, but without these useful “tools”, an individual can easily be eliminated very soon due to the intense competition in nowadays careers.

Reference:

Jose Picardo (2012, September 25). Why students need a global awareness and understanding of other cultures. Retrieved from The Guardian database at

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/sep/25/students-global-awareness-other-cultures