Did you know that the meaning behind the expression “Goodbye” is “God be with you”? It must be one of the most surprising trivia tidbits brought to us in the latest workshop by the English Co-Curricular Activities Committee (ECAC), “American Ways 2”.
Like last year’s workshop, Mr. Ricardo Ribeiro led us into a deeper look at American social norms, traditions and behaviors via fun and engaging activities. The workshop began with a warm-up activity in which participants formed two circles. They were asked to pass a soft ball within their group and the person with the ball would say one thing they know about America. Afterwards, Mr. Ribeiro shared a story about a flock of geese flying in a formation with a little goose straying from the flock and ended up being hunted by a hawk. With this story, Mr. Ribeiro introduced the highlight of the workshop: the characteristics of individualism and collectivism cultures, the two beliefs that characterize the culture of America and China respectively.
Throughout the workshop, Mr. Ribeiro introduced phrases such as “people adhere to tradition” and “people believe that conflict clears the air”. He asked the participants to interpret the phrases and state whether they reflect an individualistic or a collectivistic culture. In between sections, trivia questions about the USA were asked as a game for the participants. A token was given to the team for each correct answer. The winning team collected more than 11 tokens in the entire game!
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After the games, Mr. Ribeiro showed two different versions of a TV commercial of a popular soft drink. The first commercial, which was shown in the US, had an individualist theme. The second commercial, which was shown in China, had a collectivist theme. This highlighted the importance and significance of the individualist and collectivist ideologies, and how they influence the business world.
Before the end of the workshop, Mr. Ribeiro invited the students to think of a new ending for the ‘geese’ story that he shared at the start of the workshop. He removed the hawk from the narrative and asked them to come up with a different ending. The groups presented creative twists and new perspectives to the story, and ended it with happy endings!
The workshop was very interesting, thought-provoking and exciting. It did not only broaden students’ horizons about the US and the American culture, it also helped analyze the contrast between the American and the Chinese cultures in a vivid and engaging way.
Stay tuned for the upcoming announcement about the next ECAC workshop taking place in April. Until then, God be with you!
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(Written by Mr. Alan Chan, ELC Instructor)