Cultural adjustment

Task sheet

Here are some difficulties people encounter when living in a new country. Please indicate with a check ( ¯ ) how important each one has been for you.

	Of very great importance	Of great importance	Of some importance	Of no importance
1. Differences in the weather
2. Being away from the family.
3. Differences in the food.
4. Differences in the way people make friends.
5. Transportation problems.
6. Getting used to new ways of learning.
7. Adjusting to new ways of doing things, e.g. shopping.
8. Difficulties in communicating one’s ideas.
9. Different living conditions.
10. Different social customs.
11. Getting newspaper and magazines from home
12. Meeting people from the same country.
13. Knowing what to do in everyday situations.
14. Other (please specify)

Adapted from “NASA Exercise” in the Dynamics of Human Communication (A Laboratory Approach) Gail E. Myers and Michele Tolera Myers. From: A Manual of Structured Experiences for Cross-cultural Learning by Weebs, et al. Sietar-Intercultural Press.

Key to Step 4 - Survival Expert’s Ranking:

box of matches (15); food concentrate (4); 50 ft. nylon rope (6); parachute silk (8); portable heating unit (13); two 45 caliber pistols (11); one case dehydrated milk (12); two 100 lbs. tank of oxygen (1); stellar map (of moon’s constellation (3); life raft (9); magnetic compass (14); 5 gallons of water (2); signal flares (10); first aid kit with injection needles (7); solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter (5).

Celebrating holidays and special events

«Holidays often represent religious or patriotic events that most of the people in a country share in celebrating. In many countries, there is a state religion. The government and the religious leaders may work together to set political policies and decide on government actions.

In the United States, however, people believe in the separation of church and state. This means that the government may not interfere with or support matters relating to religion and religious institutions may not interfere in matters of government.

Because people living in the United States come from all over the world, they have learned to enjoy holidays that are part of other people’s cultures but not their own and to respect people’s right to worship in their own way. For example, most Americans, Christian or not, enjoy attending Christmas parties. They may also wear the customary green on St. Patrick’s Day even though they are not all Irish.»

American holidays

Here is a list of American holidays, when they are celebrated, and some information about how they are celebrated.

Holiday	Time of Year	Type of Celebration
New Year’s Eve	Evening of December 31	People dress up to go out to dinner, movies, theater, or parties. Most parties begin at 9 or 10 p.m.
New Year’ s Day	January 1	People relax from previous evening’s festivities. They may visit with friends. Many watch college football games on television.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday.	January 15	Some schools and businesses close in honor of this civil rights leader.
Valentine’s Day	February 14	Children exchange greeting cards in school. Sweethearts exchange cards. Men give flowers or candy to the women they love (wife, daughter, mother, girlfriend).
Presidents’ Day (Combined celebration of Washington’s Birthday and Lincoln’s Birthday	Third Monday in February	Many schools close for one week vacation. Banks and the post office close for the day.
St. Patrick’s Day	March 17	Irish holiday, celebrated with parades. People wear green.
April Fool’s Day	April 1	A day when people, especially children, like to play tricks on others.
Passover.	Eight days in the spring	Jewish religious holiday celebrating Jews’ escape from slavery in Egypt. On the first two nights, Jewish people have a traditional family meal called a Many schools close seder.
Easter	A Sunday in the spring	Christian religious holiday. Some people stay home from work or school on the preceding Friday (Good Friday). On Easter Sunday, Christian families attend church and gather for traditional meals. (In addition, many Americans enjoy buying chocolate Easter bunnies, candy eggs, and jelly beans. There for one week vacation. Banks are Easter eggs hunts, and children color Easter eggs.)
Mother’s day	First Sunday in May	The extended family gathers; mothers and grandmothers receive cards and gifts.
Memorial Day	Last Monday in May	A day honoring all who have died in war. Schools and all government offices and businesses are closed.
Father’s Day	Third Sunday in June	Families gather; fathers and grandfathers receive cards and gifts.
Independence Day	July 4	The day that the United States declared independence from England is celebrated with parades, picnics, barbecues. and fireworks.
Labor Day	First Monday in September	The final summer vacation day before school begins. People go to picnics and have outdoor parties with family and friends.
Rosh Hashanah	Two days in the fall	Jewish New Year, celebrated by going to synagogue.
Yom Kippur	Tenth day following Rosh Hashanah	Day of Atonement in the Jewish religion; Jews fast and go to synagogue.
Columbus Day	October 12	The day Christopher Columbus discovered America. Schools, banks, and post offices are closed.
Veteran’s Day	Fourth Monday in October	A day honoring all people who have served in the armed forces; people display flags, and there are parades.
Halloween	October 31	Children dress up in costumes and go door to door saying “trick or treat”. They expect people to give them candy.
Thanksgiving	Fourth Thursday in November	Commemorates the Pilgrims’ first harvest in the New World. Celebrated with a large meal, traditionally roast turkey.
Hanukkah	Eight days in late fall	The Jewish Festival of Lights; families light candles and exchange small gifts on each of the eight nights.
Christmas	December 25	Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Families
gather to exchange gifts and eat a traditional meal. Families decorate Christmas trees with ornaments and sing songs. Santa Claus, a fat, jolly man in a white beard, brings gifts to all.

Whom do you invite to dinner party?

You are having the most remarkable dinner party in history! By suspending time (making the past and present the same time) you are able to invite 10 people who are living, or who are dead, to your party. Which 10 people will you choose?

Consider

1. It is unnecessary that the guests be «important», you can choose someone who is interesting for other reasons.

2. Perhaps you might want to establish a theme for the evening; one group of guests might like to have fun; another group might like to discuss interesting philosophical questions.

3. Here is a list of possible quests:

Giacomo Casanova	John Lennon	Madonna
Lady Murasaki	Napoleon	Socrates
Moses	Cleopatra	Julius Caesar
Pélé	Golda Meir	Nicolai Lenin
Albert Einstein	Mao Tse-tung	Marco Polo
Mohammed	Maradona	Karl Marx
Stevie Wonder	William Shakespeare	Gandhi
Jesus	Adolf Hitler	Pablo Picasso
Sigmund Freud	Leonardo da Vinci	Ludwig van Beethoven
Confucius	Michelangelo	Johann Sebastian Bach
Marquis de Sade	Sylvester Stallone	Moammar Gaddafi
Aristotle	Mikhail Gorbachev	Lady Diana
Adam	Anwar Sadat	Martina Navratilova
Eve	Buddha	Yassir Arafat
Fidel Castro	Walt Disney	Alexander the Great
Khomeini	Madame Curie	Julio Iglesias

Decide and write:

Model: Dinner guest 1____________________________________

Reason invited:__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 2:__________________________________________

Reason invited:__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 3:__________________________________________

Reason invited:__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 4:__________________________________________

Reason invited:__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 5:__________________________________________