Intercultural Competence:

Definition
-Involves the preparation of individuals to
interact appropriately and effectively with
those from other cultural backgrounds.
-According to Byram, individuals must
remain open to learning about new beliefs,
values and worldviews in order to participate
in relationships of equality.

Activities
-In which students explore
their identities.
In which teachers guide
students to reflect on their
preconceived
ideas
and
perceptions before entering
into studies of other studies
in the classroom.

-In the pursuit of intercultural competences,

scholars stress the importance of selfawareness and internal transformation.

The teacher
-Assumes the role of facilitator
as she/he guides the learning
process in order to actively
involve learners as they explore,
discover, analyze and evaluate
meaningful information through
primary and authentic texts
audio video and media.
-Must be prepare to create an
environment of curiosity and
inquiry in order to guide
learners toward intercultural
competence.

Assessment
-The teacher and the student
can
work
together
in
documenting learning growth.
-Portfolios work is and
effective form of process
oriented
assessments
by
affording each student the
opportunity
to
interpret
meaning, consider judgments
and defend language/culture.

Intercultural Communicative Competence

Definition: It centers on building relationships and engaging in communication even when the participants involved do not share the same
worldview. Teachers must guide learners in the acquirement of competencies in attitudes, knowledge and skills related to Intercultural competence
while using a foreign language. Thus, teachers should guide students toward using language that structures new discoveries about the other and
about themselves.

Activities
1. Cultura online blog exchange
Students studying French engage in online discussions with French students by
comparing and analyzing texts of a similar nature derived from both cultures.
Participants write in their native language but read in the target one.
2. Attitude exploration with OSEE tool:

Resources
Material to compare: surveys, films, websites,
literature, images and video.
Online forum

Based on a film clip, students follow these actions:

Observe what is happening
State objectively what is happening
Explore different explanations for what is happening
Evaluate which explanation is the most likely one

-Film clip on a topic of interest

-Background knowledge of the culture in
question

3. Documenting transformation collectively:

On the first day of a new cultural unit of study students gather around and share ideas
that quickly come to mind in relation to the topic. At the end of the unit students read
their preconceived ideas and converse about the changes that have taken place in their
attitudes and beliefs. Then they fill a new paper with these new discoveries.
4. Values in proverbs
a. Students research about basic information about proverbs and they use one topic to
research, they research, summarize the information and discuss to later present the
information in a poster.
b. Students match five French proverbs with their English equivalent, they discuss
about the different perspectives of culture. Then in groups students research about one
poem and share with the class the values implicit in it.
Finally students create an avatar in Voki.com and then they listen the other Voki
presentations
5. Artifact exploration:
The teacher states a cultural situation in which objects are involved, then students
inquire about those artifacts and objects making assumptions based on background
knowledge. They share what they think about the objective of the artifacts with the
entire class.
Later, they research about the object and present their findings to the class using
applications for ipad such as StoryKit or a webtool like Glogster.
Finally students participate in activities that instill skills in communication, like how to
shop an appropriate gift for a birthday party in China, how to cook a chinese birthday
cake, etc.

-Pieces of paper

-Basic information about proverbs

-Material to design the poster
-Proverbs
-Voki.com
-Computers and internet

-Computers
-Students cellphones