Year 11 Sociology students sat down with our newly arrived International students from China on Tuesday for a session of intercultural understanding.
This meeting of cultures has become an annual event at BSSC, and one which teacher Steve O’Bree says fits perfectly with the curriculums of both his Sociology students and Dolly Gerges’ EAL Chinese students.
“Unit 1/2 Sociology students have been studying family and culture,” Steve said. “So to be able to sit down with Chinese students and talk first-hand about the differences and similarities of family life, education, social behaviour and other areas of culture is invaluable.”
For the Chinese students it’s a great opportunity to practice their English language skills while making new friends.
“It definitely builds the confidence of students,” Dolly said. “After just a couple of hours the students are more at ease with one another, and realise they have much more in common than they realised.”
The students initially met in small discussion groups before sharing their new-found cultural knowledge with the whole group. Discoveries ranged from differences in education, social media, religious holidays and tastes in food, to the realisation that the TV show “Breaking Bad” was a cultural meeting point J
The session ended with students continuing their conversations over a pizza lunch in the Staff Centre.
