Creating Learning Partners: A facilitator’s guide for training effective adult literacy tutors

Introduce the ESL learner or tutor to be interviewed. You may want to tell tutors the guest’s name, first language, country of origin (if appropriate), job, whether or not he has children and so on.
Interview the learner or other guest about the experience of culture shock using the questions you’ve selected. If the learner is confident speaking in English, you may invite tutors to ask questions. Make sure that you obtained the learner’s permission to do this before the session.
Thank the speaker.
Go over the handout Coping with Culture Shock with your tutors. Make sure that they don’t think they have to do all of these things with every learner who is undergoing culture shock.
Ask which of the suggestions in Coping with Culture Shock were used by the interviewee or might have been especially useful for the interviewee.

Option 2 Reflection, use of video and handout, discussion
Why choose this option? Use this if you cannot interview an ESL learner about this topic. Materials and equipment Video clip: Creating Learning Partners – Culture shock Handout 11.5: Coping with Culture Shock TV and VCR Flip chart and markers Preparation Familiarize yourself with culture shock and its implications for learning. Read the explanation of culture shock at the beginning of Activity E. Copy handout. Review the video clip that you will be using. Cue video clip. STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS Tell tutors that this activity will help them learn about culture shock. To engage tutors in thinking about the meaning and significance of culture shock, you could begin by asking them to generate a definition. Track their responses on the flip chart. Compare their ideas with the definition you have or with the following definition: Culture shock is the feeling of disorientation or confusion that happens when people move to a very unfamiliar place. If your tutors are having trouble starting, you could open up the discussion by mentioning experiences like the shock of moving from the city to the country, going to your husband’s home for Christmas for the first time and so on. Show the video and ask tutors to take note of any coping strategies that the learners mention. Go over Coping with Culture Shock with your tutors. Do make sure that they don’t think they have to do all of these things with every learner who is undergoing culture shock. Ask which of the suggestions in Coping with Culture Shock were used by people in the video or might have been especially useful for the people on the videotape.

Option 2 Reflection, use of video and handout, discussion

Why choose this option?

Use this if you cannot interview an ESL learner about this topic.

Materials and equipment

Video clip: Creating Learning Partners – Culture shock
Handout 11.5: Coping with Culture Shock
TV and VCR
Flip chart and markers

Preparation

Familiarize yourself with culture shock and its implications for learning. Read the explanation of culture shock at the beginning of Activity E.
Copy handout.
Review the video clip that you will be using.
Cue video clip.

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS

Tell tutors that this activity will help them learn about culture shock.
To engage tutors in thinking about the meaning and significance of culture shock, you could begin by asking them to generate a definition. Track their responses on the flip chart.
Compare their ideas with the definition you have or with the following definition: Culture shock is the feeling of disorientation or confusion that happens when people move to a very unfamiliar place.
If your tutors are having trouble starting, you could open up the discussion by mentioning experiences like the shock of moving from the city to the country, going to your husband’s home for Christmas for the first time and so on.
Show the video and ask tutors to take note of any coping strategies that the learners mention.
Go over Coping with Culture Shock with your tutors. Do make sure that they don’t think they have to do all of these things with every learner who is undergoing culture shock.
Ask which of the suggestions in Coping with Culture Shock were used by people in the video or might have been especially useful for the people on the videotape.