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How Exchange Students Change

Re-entry: The Rebound Experience Program presented by Dr. Dennis White dkwhite@itol.com When viewed on line, the underlined hyperlinks will open documents on www.yeoresources.org. How Exchange Students Change.

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How Exchange Students Change

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  1. Re-entry: The Rebound ExperienceProgram presented by Dr. Dennis Whitedkwhite@itol.com When viewed on line, the underlined hyperlinks will open documents on www.yeoresources.org

  2. How Exchange Students Change

  3. In the early 1980s, The AFS Exchange Program attempted to analyze exactly what changes, if any, students experienced as a result of a year-long exchange. The results were published in an article entitled, International Exchange Programs - Are the Educational Benefits Real?, by Bettina Hansel and Neal Grove. Some of the results are summarized here. The original article is posted at www.yeoresources.org click on International Student Exchange Programs.doc

  4. An American Field Service Study • All students applying to AFS exchanges were given a self-rating survey. (Pre-test) • Those who did not go abroad (for a variety of reasons) became the control group. • Those who went on one year exchanges were the experimental group. • Both groups were re-measured on the same traits four months after the year-long exchange.

  5. Culture An integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of any given society. It refers to the total way of life, including how people think, feel and behave.

  6. CultureShock The profound sense of disorientation and discomfort that comes with extended travel or living in a foreign culture markedly different from one’s own.

  7. And you thought they wouldn’t like Americans. Why their faces just lit up when I told them we were Virginians!

  8. Can you pick out the American Exchange Student?

  9. Ethnocentrism: The universal tendency for any culture to see its own values and practices as natural and correct.

  10. Ethnocentrism: All cultures are ethnocentric - and must be to impart their values to their members.

  11. Ethnorelativism: The acquired ability to see many values and behaviors as cultural rather than universal.

  12. Ethnorelativism: This approach attempts to understand values and behaviors from the point of view of that culture, rather than as right or wrong.

  13. Stages of Culture Shock: • Initial enthusiasm and euphoria • Irritability and negativism • Gradual adjustment and adaptation • Integration and bi-culturalism

  14. Rotary Youth Exchange Culture Shock Cycle Months Pre-Departure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Return …... Normal Level of Feelings Adapted from a model by Robert Kohls

  15. Developing Intercultural Sensitivity The Experience of Difference Acceptance AdaptationIntegration Denial Defense Minimization Ethnocentric Stages Ethnorelative Stages

  16. Therefore, culture shock is not a one-time phenomenon. Rather, it is a repetitive process of increasingly subtle immersion into a culture. It often involves taking two steps forward and one step back.

  17. Developing Intercultural Sensitivity The Experience of Difference Acceptance AdaptationIntegration Denial Defense Minimization Ethnocentric Stages Ethnorelative Stages

  18. Developing Intercultural Sensitivity The Experience of Difference Acceptance AdaptationIntegration Denial Defense Minimization Ethnocentric Stages Ethnorelative Stages Successive cycles of awareness

  19. Being an exchange student is hard. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

  20. 1. Unconscious Incompetence. • Conscious Incompetence. • Conscious Competence. • Unconscious Competence.

  21. Normal Distribution of Any Cultural Trait A typical student Frequency Amount of Trait Example: Individualism vs. Group Orientation

  22. Comparing Two Cultures (on any given trait) In this example, there is some overlap, but the two cultures are mostly different

  23. Comparing Two Cultures Pre-Exchange

  24. After Adaptation

  25. Culture Shock After Adaptation

  26. Returning To Home Culture

  27. Reverse Culture Shock Returning To Home Culture

  28. Reverse Culture Shock(Re-entry Shock) The often unexpected and difficult period of disorientation and readjustment experienced after returning to one’s own culture after an extended period of living abroad.

  29. Most people anticipate some degree of culture shock. Very few people believe they will experience reverse culture shock.

  30. The Stages of Reverse Culture Shock are almost the same as those of Culture Shock • Initial Euphoria (may be very brief or not happen at all) • Irritability and Negativism ( may be very lengthy) • Gradual Adaptation • True Bi-Culturalism

  31. Culture Shock and Reverse Culture Shock are not just unpleasant side effects of international living. They are the necessary ingredients that bring about quality exchanges.

  32. We can prepare for re-entry by: • Anticipating CS and RCS. • “Normalizing” these phenomena. • Remembering that “compost happens”. • Discouraging the phrase “The best year of my life”. And instead considering that:

  33. For many exchange students the year abroad is: • The most exciting year of their lives. • The most challenging year of their lives. • The most growth-producing year of their lives. • The most broadening year of their lives. • The most memorable year of their lives.

  34. How I Have Changed?(may be found at ww.yeoresources.org) An exercise using 44 statements that have often been identified by exchange students as significant changes from the experience.

  35. How I Have Changed One student’s response My youth exchange year was one of incredible change and growth for me. In addition to see so much of the rest of the world, and making such wonderful friends, I changed in ways I never knew were possible.

  36. How I Have Changed One student’s response I am more confident and positive when meeting new people. I have a greater ability to empathize with others and to put myself in their place when making judgments. I have greater willingness to take on new roles and tasks.

  37. How I Have Changed One student’s response I have more ability to see myself objectively, in a more realistic context. I understand more fully my own strengths and weaknesses. I am more tolerant of ambiguous situations and more open to differing interpretations of them. I feel greater respect and appreciation for my family.

  38. How I Have Changed One student’s response And most of all, I feel more surely that common bonds unite all human beings. Thank you, Rotary for the best year of my life.

  39. Related Articles on yeoresources.org: • Rebound Training.doc  • Rebound Debriefings.doc • How Have I Changed.doc • So You Think You're Home Now.doc • So You Think They're Home.doc

  40. For more information on Rotary Youth Exchange, visit: www.yeoresources.org

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