Culture, Symbols, Language

Learning Objectives:

• Students begin to understand the differences in language, cultural symbols and practices across the world.
• Students are introduced to the impact of different cultural practices on international business
• Students continue to improve their ability to locate countries on the world map

Core Student Success Skills: Critical thinking, collaboration, communication, self-assessment, and Organization


Context within the Course: This learning activity introduces one of the aspects that influence international business practices. Following weeks cover the topics of religious practices, political and legal frameworks, stage of economic development etc.

Materials: Reading in manual (readings are available from Professor Dexter-Smith*), list of key terms, question worksheet, “post-its” with languages


Instructions

1. During the first session of week students are asked to read the week’s materials prior to coming to class.
2. Instructor covers the key terms asking individual students for their feedback.
3. Activity using the “post-its” –students have to locate countries where specific languages are spoken; this will then illustrate how languages have been spread with migration etc.
4. During the second session of week the Instructor discusses the worksheet questions and indicates to the students how to find the answers in the reading. In further weeks, students will be expected to complete these worksheets on their own.
5. Students work in small groups to read and answer the question on the two cases.
6. During the third session of week the students visit the library to learn how to research topics on countries so that they can start work on their country portfolio projects.

Assessment Criteria: Students are required to pass in the completed Week 2 key terms and worksheet questions so that the instructor can assess their note taking skills.

Big Rocks/Little Rocks: A Learning Parable

Learning Objectives: Students will be able to:

• Evaluate whether they are devoting enough time to the top priorities in their lives or getting distracted by the less important
• Organize more efficiently their time

Core Student Success Skills: Organization Critical Thinking

Materials: One clear container, three rocks, sand enough to fill the container, picture of water. (Rice can be used to replace sand, but it will absorb the water).

Context within the Course: This exercise is helpful near the beginning of the course, perhaps about three weeks in. By this time students may be struggling with making their course work a priority and may even be beginning to fall behind in their work. This demonstration can be a strong visual image to help them sort out their priorities.

Instructions:

1. First, have students write down their top three priorities in their lives at the moment. 
2. Next show students the clear container. Tell them that this container represents their life. There is lots of room, and they can choose what to fill it up with. 
3. Next, show the sand/rice. These represent some of the many ways in which they spend their time. Ask students for some activities they spend time on. Perhaps ask how they spent their last day off. Poor a little sand into the container each time a student mentions something. Then, show students the three big rocks. Explain that some priorities take a lot more of our time than others if we are going to be successful in that area. 
4.  Ask the class for suggestions for what some of these important/time consuming activities might be. For each suggestion that fits this criteria, place a rock in the container. Be sure there is enough sand/rice in the container so that all three rocks do not fit. Explain that sometimes we spend too much time on activities that are not really all that important which doesn’t leave us enough time for the important. Too much time watching sports on TV, shopping, partying, facebook, etc. may mean that we don’t have time to meet our family obligations or complete our college assignments. 
5. Remove the rocks and sand and start over. This time place the big rocks in first, next add the sand/rice. The funny thing is, it all fits this way. 
6. Now pour in some water to show that there is even room for more. This demonstration is designed to emphasize that when we make time for our most important priorities, there is still time for the other parts of our life. There is still time for watching sports on TV, shopping, partying, facebook, etc. We just need to put first things first. Now ask how many had their college education as one of the top three priorities. Ask these students why this made it into the top three. For those who did not include college, ask them why not. A story about a student who had changed their priorities to include college works well at this point. Often students are unwilling to loose work hours in order to complete assignments. A story of a student who did so and was successful can be helpful for auditory learners.

Anticipating Exam Questions

Learning Objectives: Students will be able to do:

• Review course material
• Discuss course material with an in‐class study group
• Anticipate possible exam questions as an aid to studying
• Answer anticipated exam questions

Core Student Success Skills: Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Self-Assessment

Materials: Class notes, paper and pencils/pens


Context within the Course: In preparation for a major exam, students need to review and study course content that have been introduced through readings, power point presentations, lectures, class activities and discussion. Many students are unpracticed in study techniques such as organizing and outlining notes, taking notes during reading, making flash cards, etc. But one other important step that students may be unfamiliar with is determining what material to work on reviewing, understanding and remembering. The exercise of anticipating test questions, whether for an objective or essay style exam, can help students begin to understand the clues to possible test questions that occur throughout a course. If students do not think about the exam itself, they are less likely to take the time to work on reviewing/learning material; and if they do take the time, their efforts may not be as successful. This exercise will also serve as a review of course material and give students an experience of working in a study group.


Procedure: Begin by asking the class if they can identify any clues they have been given as to what might be asked of them on the upcoming exam? The emphasis here should be on the clues themselves, rather than the content. For instance, what information has been repeated during the course. Repetition usually is a clue to the importance of the information. If information appears in a reading, is discussed in class and then written on the board or mentioned in the discussion summary or a subsequent class, it is usually information that is important to the course.

Next, divide the class into groups of at least three or four. Each group is given the task of writing ten possible exam questions for the upcoming test. Next each group exchanges their questions with those of another group and proceeds to answer together the questions of the other group. When the group finishes answering the questions, they return their answers to the group from which the questions originated which checks their answers for correctness and completeness.




Finally, after all groups have completed this exercise, ask the class if there were questions that both groups had in common. Ask why they think this question appeared on both lists; what had been the clues that this question might be asked on their exam. Also ask if they found this exercise beneficial and
why or why not. Suggest that this can be a great exercise for a study group to work through together. At study done at the University of California, Berkeley found that the use of study groups was key to college success among their undergraduates.


Next Steps: Discussion could follow as to how to make use of these anticipated questions. How might students continue to review and reinforce this information? Study techniques related to learning styles could be introduced or reintroduced at this point. Inform students that they will be asked to discuss what study techniques they used to prepare for the exam as a part of the test. A reminder that repetition and time on task are key to remembering information could be given. Using the knowledge that they are gaining is important to long term memory.

After the exam, have students share what techniques they used to help them prepare for the exam, especially any that they found helpful. For the next exam, help students to set up study groups that will meet before or after class to work together to anticipate exam questions for the upcoming test. Students could be given a class assignment to create possible exam questions with answers that each group member would sign. But the key here is that the groups meet outside of class time so that students can begin to experience that such a practice is possible, desirable, and helpful.