News
Cross-cultural training for ACEM staff in Samoa
Over the past three months cross-cultural awareness training has been made available to APTC – ACEM staff and their families. Fourteen people, including two of the locally engaged staff and five partners of staff, participated in the training.
The facilitator, Ms Karen T’eo, arranged the two-hour sessions to include an interesting range of activities including
- A brief “this week I’ve learned” session
- Basic language overview with a different aspect each week and the opportunity to learn a few basic phrases for courtesy and fun
- A Pacific proverb that demonstrates values for discussion
- Teaching strategies for working with students from a variety of cultures
- Cross cultural awareness raising games and experiential exercises.
The inclusion of locally engaged staff meant that many lively discussions were had about Australians working with Samoans and vice versa. It was an eye opener to learn that simple behaviours (such as standing or sitting in the presence of others) could have very different interpretations. This has led to much laughter as well as further discussion and understanding in the office and classroom environments.
The sessions that discussed teaching and learning strategies have helped trainers to modify their delivery, and to make sure that students really understand what is being discussed. One trainer has introduced an activity where Australian slang words (eg “smoko”) are translated into every language represented by students in the class. This has helped to open up the communication with students and to gain a greater appreciation of each other. Another trainer included a discussion of ways to improve his delivery and communication style in his feedback with students at the end of the face-to-face block. This will now help him to prepare differently for the next group of students
Participants all agreed that this training has been invaluable in making them more sensitive to cultural diversity and its multi-layered impacts. They believe they are now able to work more effectively in a cross-cultural setting and achieve greater outcomes for both students and staff. This training is now to be repeated for new staff and their families in Samoa
Cross cultural awareness trainer KarenT’eo (standing, left)
withparticipants in the training at APTC in Samoa