How to improve your intercultural communication skills?
Communication difficulties and misunderstandings arise from many different causes, such as the inability to express oneself adequately in a foreign language, the incapacity to interpret non-verbal communication correctly, or simply misreading emotional signals—for example, when someone suddenly laughs while speaking.
At the outset, the seminar will focus on the different roles facial expressions and gestures play in communication situations. Through various types of theatrical exercises we will investigate our capacity to express ourselves and to find ways of entering relation through non-verbal contacts or only by using our vocal possibilities. During the seminar we will express ourselves also in verbal ways but only by using a small range of vocabulary in theatre exercises. We will draw heavily on our diverse linguistic backgrounds in order to explore language- and culture-based communication possibilities and pitfalls. On the basis of sharing and analyzing our experiences and insights, we will create improvised theater skits that will, in essence, sum up the entire seminar.
The course requirements will be outlined in the beginning of the semester. ASH students can earn non-graded credits. International students can earn graded credits for both parts of the seminar.
|
