Counterpart E-mails and Bulletin Board Postings
E-Mail Partner Exchange
During some semesters of this course you will be paired
up with a student from another country. Your photo and introduction as well as
your counterparts will be placed on a password protected portion of the website
to help you initially get acquainted.
From that starting point you will be expected to e-mail your new friend
and develop a cross-cultural relationship. The content of your e-mails is up to
you, provided they do not include obscene language, harassment, unwanted sexual
advances or other blatantly offensive behaviors or language. You can use the
e-mail as an opportunity to explore what it is like to live in the other
country. For example, you might be curious about the transportation system in
Japan or their major holidays. You will be required to send a minimum of 10
e-mails to your partner. Save your e-mails and responses in a Word Document so
that you can copy them into an E-mail
(Do NOT send the Document
attached) and submit at the end of the semester for credit (See Calendar of Assignments).
Bulletin Board Postings
During some semesters you will participate in a bulletin
board activity. While the e-mail content can be of your choosing, alternate
semesters students will be required to participate in a directed discussion via
the bulletin board on Global Intercultural Connection. The bulletin board topic will be determined
depending on the semester and schedule. “
The following are sample
bulletin board assignments that may be used in subsequent semesters or instead
of another assignment if needed. You will receive directions via e-mail
listserv before you are required to participate.
Reading Synthesis
In this Bulletin Board
posting, you will be asked a question that requires you to synthesize the
readings and reference specific reading material in your answer. A detailed
response is required.
In this Bulletin Board
posting you will write some predictions about your counterparts in the other
country and your counterpart will confirm or deny these predictions. That is to
say, you will make some guesses about the behaviors, attitudes, values and
beliefs of your counterpart and his or her culture. For instance, you might
predict that Japanese have a high value for education and your counterpart may
confirm this. On the other hand, because you read in the newspaper that many
Japanese couples are having fewer children, you might predict that birth
control pills are common in Japan. Your counterpart may disconfirm this
prediction by responding that birth control pills are not available in Japan
and if there are any in the country they are there illegally. You should have
at least 10 cultural predictions. Your counterparts will respond in kind with
predictions of their own about you and your culture, to which you will respond.
In this Bulletin Board
posting you will write a list of helpful interaction hints for people in the
other culture to use when they are communicating with members of your culture.
For example, you might write that your counterpart should not be insulted if
they find Americans looking them directly in the eye for extended periods of
time. While many other cultures do not engage in lengthy eye contact, Americans
hold serious negative connotations about individuals who don’t look you in the
eye when they communicate – disinterest, boredom, lack of respect, something to
hide, low self-esteem and the like. This bulletin board posting comes at the
end of the semester, so you should have no trouble coming up with at least 5
helpful hints.
Be sure to check the
"Calendar of Assignments" for the exact Bulletin Board assignment for
your specific semester as well as the specific due dates. Make sure you have
tried out the bulletin board and are familiar with its operation before the due
dates.
Note: This is a
"Listening Test." There is a "glitch" in Bulletin
Board. When you have posted your
response successfully, you will receive an "error" message indicating
that the page cannot be found. Click the "back" button, the
"refresh" button and then the "Cancel" button to see your
posting. If you miss this "Listening Test" and keep trying to
respond, you will have numerous postings of the same thing. Everyone who has
read the "Listening Test" will know that you missed it!