The Importance of Deeper Cultural Experiences

For many, the chance to go abroad and experience another culture for themselves is one of life’s greatest gifts, but this may be equally daunting for many more. Read about the different ways, and not to mention the countless benefits, of how you can expose your students to this wonderful experience, and how one school’s innovative approach gave this opportunity to more students than usual.

A background in Cultural Sensitivity

To begin, cultural sensitivity and sensibility are two key skills that are afforded to those who become completely immersed in another culture, who study, understand and respect another culture, and who endeavour to broaden their horizons, open their eyes, and experience more of the world around them. Students can do this through learning a language, celebrating the traditions and festivities of the country, studying their history and culture in depth, and spending time with natives to gain a better understanding.

In essence, these skills can gift you with a deeper cultural understanding, the ability to adapt in multiple situations, make you a more understanding person, and finally, provide you with a level of endurance and maturity. (I’m sure you’ll nod your head to the last one if you were ever caught lost and alone in a foreign city as a youngster, attempting to communicate in a language that you don’t speak!)

Send your students packing

So what’s the best way to ensure that our students can experience this as soon as possible? Schools are fantastic environments for coaching students about other cultures, but sometimes it’s the opportunities that they give to go abroad and see this first hand that can make the real difference.

Whether it’s a whole-year school trip, a language course at an academy with your German class, or a full-blown exchange where you really are on your own, schools can gift their students with plenty of meaningful opportunities to expand their students’ horizons.

Bringing the outside in

But it doesn’t have to end there. It’s no secret that these experiences, although hugely beneficial, can be a burden on the purse strings of the school and of the parents. But one school, Twickenham Academy, have taken matters into their own hands to ensure that their students have the chance to learn from another culture, right from the comfort of their own classroom, by inviting Yi-Ting Shen along from Taiwan to deliver lessons in Mandarin.

This initiative put in place by the British Council is one that encourages students to deepen their knowledge of another culture, and we think that this is a skill that is hugely important in any international business.

The British Council continue to offer these experiences throughout our students’ educations, right through to the support and exchanges that they set up abroad giving language students the chance to teach English as a foreign language around the world whilst at University.

With fantastic strategies like this, even from our own towns and cities we can give students the chance to broaden their horizons.

The world is your oyster, so get out there!