Cultural exchange is a bridge to enhancing mutual understanding and friendships between people of different nation. Despite living in such a globalized world, especially in the virtual online community, people are still shrouded by biases and stereotypes of other races and nations as people tend to generalize more. However, as schools, workplaces and countries are increasingly consist of various cultural and racial groups, cultural diversity is crucial in helping people recognize and respect other way
Prague College is a racially and socioeconomically diverse school, in fact, this cosmopolitan learning environment is a one of the selling point of the college. Students are given the opportunity to be exposed to peers from different background, these interactions leads to cross-cultural dialogue that increased tolerance as students learn to accommodate differences. The workshop aimed to celebrate the diversity of Prague College students and to facilitate students' understanding of different cultures.
The workshop hoped to provide students with alternate perspectives in viewing the world by fostering a safe learning environment for participants to share their cultures through discussions on certain topics viewed from their own cultural perspectives, like traditions, food, customs, social issues and so on. Participants were asked to bring a little something related to their culture that they could share with others. The intention is to encourage student to share their personal experiences and perspectives with each other, thereon develop a better understanding and hopefully throw away preconceived misconceptions of the other.
My culture is my identity and personality, it gives me spiritual, intellectual and emotional distinction from others, and I am proud of it — M.F. Moonzajer
As the first half of the workshop was discussion based, students participation was required for both contributing comments and listening to others. Therefore, while it was initially worrying when there were only two students who signed up for it, they responded well to the discussion prompts prepared in advance. As the mediator I started with my own experience to set the course of discussion while providing time for the participants to come up with a response. In order to keep the conversation going, I would ask follow up questions in hopes of deepening discussions and set expectations at the same time keeping in mind to encourage individuals to actively take part in the discussion. I am also grateful for the participation of two lecturers, adding to the conversations.
Identity Workshop, 2019
The other half of the workshop brought culture and creativity together. Participants were provided customizable postcards and stamps and were instructed to create a visual representation of any aspect of their culture, tradition or country. Once completed, participants will randomly draw an address of whomever they will be sending it to after briefly explaining what they have drawn. During this segment, I attempted to keep casual conversations on cultural related topic going while giving them space for creative creation. On a side note, snacks from different countries were provided in conjunction with the topic of cultural diversity, this little addition received good response as it not only encourages people to try new things but food also opens the door to explore a culture.
While the workshop was going considerably well, there was unfortunately time management miscalculation in the last segment. In order to allow allot more time for creating postcards, I decided to send them online feedback forms instead considering the small number of participants. Based on the feedback collected, there was an above average rating on the overall workshop experience as they enjoyed the progression of conversation over time with one topic leading to another. However, they also felt that the topic was perhaps too complicated and broad to be discussed casually. Furthermore, my poor body language this time due to nervousness may have caused audience to question my professionalism. I appreciate the feedback and would take into consideration in the future in order to create a more engaging experience that would encourage self-thinking and discovery through better and more effective discussion prompts and importantly confidence in managing a participatory environment.
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