9780130499974

Via personalized exercises, this self-directed workbook guides users to fully capitalize on their study abroad experience. It offers a purposeful agenda to help travelers move from being the conventional tourist to an explorer who truly acquires an authentic view of another culture.Twenty-eight exercises invite learners to take an active role not only in their own preparation for the study abroad experience, but for their personal, academic, and professional growthand demands from them a critical exploration of their beliefs, goals, and behaviors. The book covers personal development, learning about one's own culture, learning about another culture, professional development, and learning a language. Each strand of development is addressed at the three crucial phases of the experience: before, during and after the sojourn.For any student who has chosen to study abroad.

TERM	PRICE	DUE
SEMESTER	$13.85	Aug 02
QUARTER	$13.16	Jul 19
SHORT TERM	$12.46	Jun 21

Preface

vii

PREDEPARTURE

Unit 1: Personal Development

1

(10)

The Choice to Study Abroad

2

(5)

Establishing Personal Goals for Study Abroad

7

(4)

Unit 2: Learning About Your Own Culture

11

(14)

What Does It Mean to Be an American?

12

(13)

Unit 3: Learning About Another Culture

25

(12)

Researching Political, Historical, and Cultural Information About Your Host Site

26

(9)

Understanding the Difference between Fact and Opinion in the Context of Other Cultures

35

(1)

Introduction to On-Site Journaling

36

(1)

Unit 4: Professional Development

37

(8)

Establishing Professional Goals for Study Abroad

38

(1)

The Resume and Job Interview

38

(2)

The Professional Interest Project

40

(5)

Unit 5: Learning Another Language

45

(10)

Establishing Language-Learning Goals for Study Abroad

46

(1)

Identifying Possible Roadblocks to Achieving Language-Learning Goals

47

(2)

Jump-Starting Your Language-Learning Experience

49

(6)

ON-SITE

Unit 6: Personal Development

55

(18)

Being a Foreigner

57

(4)

Working through Culture Shock

61

(5)

Fitting in while Pursuing Personal Goals

66

(7)

Unit 7: Learning About Your Own Culture

73

(8)

Proud to Be an American?

74

(7)

Unit 8: Learning About Another Culture

81

(6)

Updating Political, Historical, and Cultural Information About Your Host Site

82

(1)

Cross-Cultural Observations through Journal Writing

82

(1)

Cross-Cultural Activities

83

(4)

Unit 9: Professional Development

87

(6)

Professional Interest Project: Successes and Challenges

88

(2)

Professional Adaptation and Problem-Solving Skills

90

(3)

Unit 10: Learning Another Language

93

(6)

Language Journal

94

(5)

RE-ENTRY

Unit 11: Personal Development

99

(12)

Fitting your New Self into an Old Environment: Coping with Re-entry Shock

100

(9)

Maintaining Traditions from Your Experience

109

(2)

Unit 12: Learning About Your Own Culture

111

(6)

Reminiscing, Sharing, and Educating Others

112

(5)

Unit 13: Learning About Another Culture

117

(10)

A Final Look at Political, Historical, and Cultural Information About Your Host Site

118

(2)

A Private Journal Critique---What Did You Study?

120

(2)

A Private Journal Critique---Where Did Problems Arise?

122

(1)

A Private Journal Critique---Contexts of Communication

123

(2)

Staying Internationalized and Sharing Your Experiences with Others

125

(2)

Unit 14: Professional Development

127

(6)

Professional Goals Attainment

128

(1)

Critically Examining Your Professional Interest Project

128

(3)

Epilogue to Exercise 32

130

(1)

Using Your Professional Interest Project within a Professional Network

131

(2)

Unit 15: Learning Another Language

133

(43)

Creating a Language Resource

134

(1)

Maintaining and Further Developing Your Language Skills

135

(1)

Sharing Your Language Learning with Others

135

(41)

APPENDICES

1. Implementation Tips for the Study Abroad Administrator/Faculty Director

139

(3)

2. My Contact Information Abroad

142

(3)

3. Address Book

145

(16)

4. Packing List

161

(4)

5. Money Matters

165

(3)

6. Taking Care of Personal Business

168

(3)

7. Extracurricular Travel Plans

171

(5)

8. Journal Pages

176

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

PREFACE TO THE PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR As a professional educator involved in a study abroad program, you probably already offer your students an orientation for their experience abroad. But if you are like us, you are often left feeling that you wish you could share so much more with your students. By the time you complete the "required" components of getting students abroad, there is often little time to devote to more advanced discussions about cross-cultural understanding, overseas adjustment, and profound personal growth. Currently, most study abroad programs have expanded orientation sessions to include not only the do''s and don''ts and other specific programmatic information but also extensive question-and-answer sessions--often with past participants being present to give the "student perspective:'' We may even include cross-cultural simulation activities designed to get the students thinking about how they may feel once abroad. But no matter how we structure the predeparture orientation, we are confronted with a set of built-in limitations. First, students are inundated with information in these sessions and often walk away overwhelmed. It''s difficult to avoid the pitfall of information overload as we try to share wisdom about this upcoming event in such a limited amount of time. Second, in an attempt to prepare students for later phases of their experience, we unwittingly ask students to possess a level of understanding that will not be developed until they are in the midst of the experience abroad. And where will we be when students are ready to have these discussions? While most of us attempt to provide opportunities for students to revisit their experience on return to campus, we sense that they need a more extensive follow-up that will allow them to truly process, integrate, and build on their study abroad experience. Unfortunately, we are rarely provided with the necessary resources to do just that. Finally, because of burgeoning participation in our study abroad programs, it is increasingly difficult to personalize the orientation process and to facilitate meaningful discussions that encourage critical thinking and responsibility on the part of the student. This is why we have written Study Abroad: How to Get the Most Out o f Your Experience.The three unique features of this book speak directly to the problems identified previously. First, its workbook format is personalized by its very nature and invites students to take an active role in their own preparation for the study abroad experience. It allows them to digest information at a pace with which they are comfortable and demands from them a critical exploration of their beliefs, goals, and behaviors. Moreover, it requires students to take responsibility for their personal, academic, and professional growth. Second, this book joins students at each of the three crucial moments in their study abroad experience--before leaving home, while on-site, and after returning home--instead of a more traditional front-ended format that would force students to look at all phases of the experience at one time. That is, students complete exercises that are tailored to help them get the most out of the phase they are currently living. Third, integration of this text into your existing orientation program requires little effort on your part. While this book would be ideal for a study abroad class, it can also be handed out to students to complete independently. We hope you will join us in the quest to help students move beyond the cliche of "expanding their horizons" and into a reality of globalizing their education. PREFACE TO THE STUDENT Having had the pleasure of studying abroad ourselves, we can honestly say that you are about to embark on a journey that has the potential to change your life. What we have found over the years is that study abroad is sometimes presented to students as an exotic experience and one that by design will surely lead to the fulfillment of "expanding their horizons.'''' The idea tends to be that you will become more open-minded, independent, and adaptable. But we think it is important for you to know that mere participation in a study abroad program is very often not enough to ensure such outcomes. Have you ever visited a new place but never left the proximity of your hotel? Or, if you left the hotel to attend a concert or visit a museum, did these experiences allow you the opportunity to learn how people there live? Unfortunately, it is very easy not to have a cross-cultural experience even though you are in a foreign country. It takes a purposeful agenda to move from being the conventional tourist to an explorer who truly acquires an authentic view of another culture. This is why we have written Study Abroad: How to Get the Most Out o f Your Experience.As you complete this workbook, we will accompany you on your journey, asking you key questions during crucial phases of your cross-cultural development. There are no right answers--only encouragement for a critical examination of what you want to get out of this experience, what challenges and accomplishments you encounter abroad, what personal growth is taking place, and what you are doing to make all of this happen. This workbook puts you in the driver''s seat of your experience and encourages you to follow the roads less traveled. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEXT HOW THIS BOOK CAME TO BE A few years ago, we (a study abroad coordinator and a faculty director from a foreign language department) got together to share ideas about how to improve the study abroad orientation for students going to Spain. Working closely with students studying abroad and having studied abroad ourselves, we saw great opportunity for improvement. We discovered that both of us were committed to facilitating a more effective cross-cultural experience and creating an instructional medium that other people like us could use for this purpose. The original format was a class we designed and taught. We offered a trio of one-credit-hour courses taken at each phase of the study abroad experience: predeparture, on-site, and re-entry. As a pilot program, it was an optional experience that was in addition to our regular series of orientations for the study abroad experience. To our delight, most students chose to participate, and many of those who had gone through the program before we created the courses later expressed regret that they had not had the opportunity to participate (this after students in the courses told their friends about the kinds of activities and exercises involved). While we were in the process of creating and piloting the courses, we held two truths simultaneously: first, that we believed that all study abroad students, regardless of program type, could benefit from this type of tailored experience and have a richer study abroad experience as a result and, second, that such special courses would be a possibility at some colleges and universities but would be seen as fiscally or otherwise impossible to implement at others. Presenting this course at NAFSA conferences, we confirmed both assumptions. Our colleagues agreed that such instruction would enhance the study abroad experience for students but also agreed that many institutions simply do not have the staff or the time to make this kind of commitment. On the basis of these realities, we changed our format, and this workbook is the result. By integrating the basic ideas of our course into a self-directed workbook format, we saw that we could serve more students and provide a medium of instruction to a wider audience. This workbook can be integrated into study abroad programs that have a formal orientation course, or it can be used as a supplement to existing orientation programs or workshops. Furthermore, because of its wo

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Study Abroad How to Get the Most Out of Your Experience

Study Abroad How to Get the Most Out of Your Experience

0130499978

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