Intercultural Competence in Action

​Project Summary: 

• ​​In the GLE project, DePaul students worked with students at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Brescia, Italy. They connected via Zoom for weekly video calls during which they spoke both in English and Italian for an equal amount of time. Each week, they discussed topics that were related to the class content with the overarching topic of intercultural competence. The subtopics of the three calls were: the changing family structures and values in Italy and the United States, the historical heritage of Brescia and Chicago and the cultural value of history, stereotypes within Italy and US, and Italy vs US. DePaul students learned about Italian cultural products, practices and perspectives from their Italian partners and shared with them information about their own culture, discovering and discussing cultural differences and similarities. Doing so, they progressively developed a better understanding of their own cultural perspectives through the lenses of their Italian partners. They built meaningful personal relationships that will last longer than the actual project, used the target language in a meaningful context, acquired a stronger internal motivation to learn, and finally, greatly strengthened their conversational skills.
  

Project Length:

• ​​7 weeks​
  

Technology Tools Used:

• Zoom
• VoiceThread
• WhatsApp
• Skype​​

Interaction Mode:

• Synchronous​

Learning Outcomes:​

• Students improved interpersonal communication skills in their second language.
• ​Students improved presentational communication skills in their second language.
• ​Students acquired knowledge of Italian cultural products.
• Students compared aspects of their own culture with the Italian culture to find similarities and differences.
• Students developed cultural self-awareness through the perspectives of their Italian partners.​
  
  

Faculty Feedback:​

• ​​"The students were truly excited every week for their developing friendship with the Italian partner and for the opportunity to discover a new culture".
  ~Anna Maria Fantuzzi​