As we look forward to the 2024-2025 school year starting in just a few short weeks, let's take a few minutes to look into the HubICL Toolbox to see what it contains that could help students to get to know one another through storytelling.

First, an introduction

I love honey, but I’ve always been afraid of bees. Movies like My Girl and a close relative almost dying from a bee sting can intensify the fear; however, reading a novel entitled The History of Bees has enabled me to  look at bees in a more mindful way, observing them close up as they work, marveling at their ingenuity, being grateful for their part in the ecosystem, and, as always, relishing the honey they provide.

I have endeavored to not engender my childhood—cum adult—fears in my grandchild. We go out each morning and watch two fat bees and a little white moth do their work on my lavender plant. We stand inches from them, and I talk quietly to Micah, pointing out their gathering of nectar and pollen. I was telling my son about the enjoyment I receive from this ritual, and he made the astute comment that, in talking to Micah in this way, I am re-writing my own narrative.

The stories we tell ourselves are so important; aren’t they? And so related to culture. If we Google culture and storytelling, the results go on and on—why stories are important to build cultural connections, to preserve old cultures and to build new ones, to pass down history, to share customs and traditions, to build empathy, to engage in perspective taking… and perhaps in the case of the bees, to remind myself and to teach our little one, that bees are our friends and not our enemies.

The Intercultural Learning Hub is replete with activities to stimulate storytelling in hopes of building openness, curiosity, and empathy across cultures while also prompting self-awareness and the understanding of others’ worldviews.

As you think about how you will embed intercultural learning into your curriculum or study abroad experience this coming school year, the following storytelling activities. along with a few notes, might be of interest to you:

Storytelling as a community builder or ice breaker

• Name Story, aka The Name Game—Tell who named you, why your name was chosen, what your name means to you, and what your name means to other people.
• Voices from the Past (Name Tags)—Among other things, share on your name tag a key message that you heard from someone influential in your life.

Storytelling through photos

• And Then...--Look at a photo. What happens next? How is your story different than the story others tell?
• Familiar and Unfamiliar—Choose 2 photos—one familiar and one not. Tell others about the one and ask questions about the other.
• Optimist/Pessimist—Look at a photo. Give it both a negative and a positive interpretation.
• Pick-a-Postcard—Tell others why a photo is significant to you in the context of a workshop, class, professional development opportunity, etc.
• Picture Storytelling—Gain access to a set of VisualsSpeak photos and implement one of the many lessons suggested by the creators.

Storytelling through anthropomorphism (The titles pretty well say it all.)

• Flower's Point of View
• Lemons
• Potato Activity
• Street Dog's Life—Similar to “Danger of a Single Story” but from a dog’s perspective, created especially for VetMed students

Storytelling through the medium of games

• Story Cubes—Throw the dice and tell your story using the illustrations on the faces of the dice.
• Story Stitch—Play the guided card activity that connects and builds empathy between people of different cultural backgrounds through the art of storytelling.

Storytelling through literature

• Perspective Taking and Microfiction—See how many interpretations you can come up for a one-sentence story
• Sentry—See how many different endings your group will create for one short story.

Storytelling through writing

• Cultural Autobiography—Tell your life story but from a cultural perspective
• Five Minute Poem—Follow the prompts to write a poem about where you have come from (a K-12 template)
• I Am From Poems—Follow the prompts to write a poem about where you have come from (the original version)
• I Am Poems—Similar to the two poem projects above but dwells more on culture rather than location

Storytelling through oral communication

• Are You Listening? —Try to tell someone else’s story in a meaningful way
• Counter-Storytelling-- Push back against dominant narratives that often privilege certain voices over others
• Danger of a Single Story—The classic video with an easy-to-use lesson plan
• Listening Deeply for Values—Discuss the values (rather than the events) that you detect in a person’s story

Keep an eye on Collections this school year

Many of you have heard about the AAC&U-CILMAR Global Learning Webinar Series beginning next week and continuing through June 2025. Each webinar in the series will have an associated Collection full of resources covered during the session, as well as bonus material.

New development in the HubICL

The ability for the HubICL to offer LinkedIn micro-credentials and badges is coming closer to reality. As a sponsor of the AAC&U-CILMAR Global Learning Webinar Series, HubICL staff will be doing alpha and beta testing to provide those who complete webinars the first of these LinkedIn credentials in 2025.

Stay in touch

You'll find HubICL staff talking about new offerings in the HubICL at various conferences in October 2024, including:

• Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT) international convention in Kansas City, MO
• Regional conferences for NAFSA Regions IV, V, and VI in Schaumburg, IL and Cincinnati, OH
• Frontiers in Education (FIE) conference in Washington, DC

Of course, we always welcome your questions and comments at cilmar@purdue.edu. Also, stay up to date on everything HubICL at:

• facebook.com/purduecilmar
• linkedin.com/company/cilmar

 

 

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