Communication and Intercultural Society (LS-RO-358)
Teaching online is a great challenge for both teachers and students. Especially, when the lesson is related to communication and multicultural society. A good thing is that no matter how difficult it might be, teachers and students always find ways to work together efficiently.
The importance of communication
Communication and implicitly knowing the person next to us are the ways we can eliminate prejudices. Prejudices lead to stereotypes, these lead to exclusion and discrimination. Communication is the only way to eliminate prejudices. In times like these, when social distancing is recommended, we understand the importance of communication even better. Therefore, despite all the challenges, we conducted an online lesson, using the Zoom platform and European resources. Together, we analyzed, tried to identify the origins of people in the pictures, imagine their feelings.
We are all different yet we are all same
Children’s opinions differed from placing the characters (in the pictures) as belonging to different cultures, talking about their feelings, their superiority and their inferiority. In the end, we found that we share the same emotions, feelings, fears.
We took a virtual tour in the British Museum, where we analyzed artefacts from different periods and cultures. Together, we noticed that some features are also found in our culture. As we perceived various artefacts, we realized that this is a form of human communication. We asked ourselves what the creators wanted to convey. We remembered the concepts of “material” and “spiritual culture” that we learnt in history classes. Therefore, we made a conclusion that creations were made not only in order to survive but also to express beauty.
What is the language of art?
Communication is very important and through the historical artefacts, we receive messages from the past. It is very important to understand them in order to discover what is really valuable in our present. Looking carefully around us, we discover new things, we learn a lot from experiencing other cultures. In this way, we constantly enrich the universal heritage.
What represents us best today?
If we would like to leave an artefact to future generations today, what kind of artefact or message would it be? It was a challenge launched to the children when we finished our class. Their answers were sincere and related to the emotions they felt during the difficult period of the pandemic. Students talked about legacies like dances, family love as inheritance, others created icons. Some students mentioned relaxation as a legacy for future generations. It was an activity that challenged them and led them to overcome the pattern of thought. Their thoughts were without labels, limitless and free from clichés.
In a time when social distancing is required, we felt close to each other, close to other cultures and civilizations. Students like it a lot.
Images captured during lesson by Geanina TurcanuWould you like to know more about this learning scenario? You can download it below:
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CC BY 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and provided by the Wellcome Collection.