Last Monday, we reviewed the syllabus and expectations for the course as well as the goals of the course and critical concepts and terms.

One of these terms that is very important is global competency, or intercultural competence, and within intercultural competence there were many categories. There is attitude (being open, curious, tolerant and reflective), knowledge (having facts), interpreting and relating (reading a text and being able to compare it), discovery and interaction (being able to function in real-time) and awareness / political (being aware and engaged in what’s happening in the world). Possessing all of these traits / abilities can result in intercultural competence which is very important now, as the world is incredibly connected.

We discussed the importance of having an ongoing process (throughout this course and beyond) of questioning and re-thinking our beliefs and perceptions of other cultures and our own, as seeing other ways of living can make you question and re-examine the “normal” things in your own culture.

We defined culture, which encompasses a lot of different aspects of societies, countries or groups of people and worked on Can Do statements. The Can Do statements made me eager to learn more about France and experience France to gain a better understanding of French culture.