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
Hey Jia Ning!
ReplyDeleteYour post in an interesting read! I love the way you wrote out in detail how you and the Japanese students exchanged on each other's cultures.
Likewise, I agree to a great extent that a degree is not going to take us far, but all the "tools" (actually I am not very sure what this tools mean) could help us go further! And most importantly, our attitudes!
Thanks for sharing!
Love
Joan
Hey Joan!
DeleteThanks for reading and leaving comment for my reader response!
The hard "tools" actually means the knowledge we learnt from the textbooks in university while the soft "tools" refer to communication skill,problem-solving skill and so on! I hope my explanation made you understand more about the "tools" I mentioned!
Cheers,
Jianing