Developing intercultural competence as a teacher by Teacher Academy

AFischer- Reflections

2016-09-12 11:21:36 UTC

Some of the most important areas that Alicia and Erika outline are having an open mind to all students. I also think it is important to show students that we are all unique and that it is 'ok' to be who you are.
I probably need to work the most on listening to my students more instead of always 'teaching' them. I also need to learn about what I do not understand in regards to other cultures and backgrounds. One of the biggest challenges I face is re-inventing my teaching to fit to the culture of today as opposed to what it was 10 years ago when I started teaching. Also, getting parents involved is another challenge I face

I think that language is the most important thing because it is the key of understand other people and so the key of communication. If the migrant child and the italian child can speak to each other, understanding what they are both saying, the way of important intecultural exchanges can be opened more easily. In this, parental support is very relevant and also parents have to improve their language and force themselves to speak not only their mother language.

2016-09-12 11:44:04 UTC

Gordon Cassar, Malta

2016-09-12 12:52:07 UTC

The blend of ethnicities andsystems often places teachers in a "cultural minefield" where they must navigate a careful path of trying to respect the sensibilities of many different groups.

antonio principe italia,the areas they outline are all important but in my opinion some of them can be more important then others. I think about social identity, community relationship and parental involvement. In other words we build our social identity reflecting on our religious, linguistic and more generally on our cultural values. Reflecting on our values is the base to reflect on our student different values in order to accept them and make the entire group accepts each student. To establish community relationship is another important area to focus on to create an interactive group. To involve parents is a way to show them that their children with all their background are accepted and important for us. I think that I could travel on these aspects in a multicultural class to become a more competent teacher

2016-09-12 13:11:33 UTC

antonio principe , italia

I think all these competences are very important and we have to consider all of them.

2016-09-12 13:25:49 UTC

How

bettabulli — 2016-09-12 13:27:18 UTC

Reflection on myself

bettabulli — 2016-09-12 13:27:20 UTC

To be an intercultural teacher we need to have an open mind. We should accomodate people from other culture (with other religions, other foods, other clothings...) with passion and curiosity. I
I will work on pedagogist methods to improve my teaching action.

B.B.
Italy

Area

pintastra — 2016-09-12 13:33:29 UTC

The most important area should be to create a community relationship where to share all experiences and to turn differences in resources. An interculturally competent teacher should be an exellent open-minded listener.

Laura Pinto

Cornelia Melcu

corneliamelcu — 2016-09-12 13:56:23 UTC

I think being very open and to accept other culture, religion, language, habits, tradition etc.

Rosa Di Lonardo

rosadilonardo — 2016-09-12 13:58:47 UTC

Rosa Di Lonardo

rosadilonardo — 2016-09-12 13:58:50 UTC

I think that an intercultural teacher should be an exellent open-minded listener. To be an intercultural teacher we need to have an open mind. We should accomodate people from other culture (with other religions, other foods, other clothings...) with passion and curiosity. I
I will work on pedagogist methods to improve my teaching action.

Cinzia, Italy

2016-09-12 14:14:49 UTC

It is very difficult for me to deal with intercultural topics in my classes because my students live in a very small village in the north of Italy and they are part of a 'closed' community.

Challenges... - Elsa Escobar

2016-09-12 14:26:13 UTC

I do believe I am intercultural competent, so I deem that my biggest challenge is to work in the sense of helping my students and some colleagues to become more intercultural competent...

Daniela Nicoletti, Italy

2016-09-12 14:31:13 UTC

I’m inclined to believe that developing intercultural competence as a teacher implies, first of all, having in mind a clear anthropological reference point, that is: what kind of people do we expect to educate? Do we want to spend our didactic efforts to shape people who one day will be uncapable to relate themselves to an ever changing world, characterized by globalization, migration processes, a variety of cultures, religions, habits, ideas, languages….Or do we want to give them the intellectual tools to deal with such a complex and rich world which can give a lot in terms of personal human development but also requie a lot and represents a challenge for anybody’s identity and, especially nowadays, for anybody’s sense of security? Once this is clear in our mind, we are halfway.

Sonia Galderisi, Italy

sonia_galderisi — 2016-09-12 14:34:12 UTC

I think that all the outlined areas are equally challenging. Maybe, when we face to a lot of students with different backgrounds, this can require more competences and knowledge about the country the students come from. So the teacher need to improve his/her competence in pedagogy, knowledge of different cultureshabits and traditions, but ,first of all, a great respect for these students and their culture. At last, the teacher must be open minded.

Ivana, Italia

ivanalocicero80 — 2016-09-12 14:41:29 UTC

I followed the video very carefully and many of the questions raised have disturbed me deeply as they are questions and situations that I have always asked but to which I have never been able to answer. I want to find an answer with you and improve myself as a teacher and as a human person. I think that achieving peace of mind is a fundamental objective at any age. An unhappy and sad boy is never open to the teachings of others. We have to ensure a peaceful, positive, listening, understanding and support is a fundamental step. Dialogue and understanding are the basis of a civilization worthy of the name. I think a second, crucial step is to move and stimulate the curiosity of the kids ... an open mind, healthy and curious can really make integration possible.

Annalisa- Italy

isaese77 — 2016-09-12 15:29:26 UTC

Maria Paola

2016-09-12 15:37:24 UTC

I believe that all the underlined areas are fundamental to be an interculturally competent teacher. It is important to remember that everyone has his own identity, his historical, family and cultural background. According to this I can define who I am. As my identity is important for me, every identity is special and fundamental; for this reason we have to respect it and we have to be open to the others. We have to teach to our students that is ok to be different, we have to encourage them to get out to the comfort zone and learn what they don't know. We have to be open and a positive example because It's important that the students understand that every culture is equally important. I also appreciated the advice about the importance to create materials and resources that reflects diversity, integrating cultural diversity as a cross curricular theme.

Lorenzo

lorenzoaresi — 2016-09-12 16:07:26 UTC

Lorenzo from Italy

lorenzoaresi — 2016-09-12 16:07:28 UTC

Lorenzo from Italy

lorenzoaresi — 2016-09-12 16:07:31 UTC

As a Spanish teacher I've had students from Spanish speaking countries. Cultural diversity is quite relevant to my job and so is developing intercultural competences.
I often reflect about my cultural values and I see their connection to my actions in the classroom: I also try to show my students that cultural diversity is a positive thing, which is not to difficult as a teacher of foreign languages.
What I find more difficult is to integrate diverse resources and engage with the local community

Cinzia

nicomd — 2016-09-12 16:17:11 UTC

Cinzia

nicomd — 2016-09-12 16:17:11 UTC

Cinzia F. , Italy

nicomd — 2016-09-12 16:17:13 UTC

I think teachers need to work on their own identity first and on their cultural background to be able to better understant diversity and to be open minded in order to be ready to try new things in multicultural classes . Diversity has to become a positive challange through which we integrate our curriculum with new experiences taken from our students, different backgrounds as a form of enrichment. Parental involvement and community relationship are two other important values in a multicultural class. We need to work together to overcome prejudices and to accept diversity.

Donatello_Italy

2016-09-12 16:19:28 UTC

I think the 5 areas, all important to me, can be summarized with the word "understanding" which is not only linguistic, but the way of thinking, the background of each person's culture. it is easier to work in a multicultural environment when students are younger because even without superstructures. I noticed, in my experience, curiosity, acceptance and respect among younger students. The problems are mainly determined by the prejudice of adults. There needs to be a lot of work for us teachers and parents.

AngelaP.,Italy

2016-09-12 16:23:24 UTC

I think that language is the most important element for the integration of foreign students .In addition to that, it is necessary, then, that the teacher has an open mind, free from prejudice, which is open to dialogue and discussion so diversity becomes richness for everyone, pupils and teachers .It 'also important, interact and involve the families of foreign students such as to be an additional resource for the school.

Chiara - Italy

chiara_silva12 — 2016-09-12 16:34:41 UTC

I agree with what Alicia, Erika and Tomislav outline: even though intercultural competence doesn't come easy, due to its importance every adult, and teacher in particular, should work hard on it. First of all, as Erika underlines, a teacher must be aware of, conscious of, proud of and also critical about his/her culture (values, customs, beliefs...), in order to represent it and dialogue with other cultures. Secondly, as Alicia says, acceptance, openmindness and curiosity let us welcome other cultures without dissmissing ours. Trying to understand, to learn and to value other cultures will enrich us and bring us closer to our students. Thirdly, as Tomislav highlights, reflecting on diversity and its problems helps the students dealing with it and bring out the best.

Camelia, Romania

2016-09-12 16:57:33 UTC

All the areas that I have watched are important to me and I think the biggest challenge for me is Parental involvment.

Drazena, Croatia

drazena_potocki — 2016-09-12 17:04:18 UTC

I think it is primarily important to work on the language

Simona, Italy

2016-09-12 17:09:11 UTC

I think it's very important and fundamental to work on the language.

Pavel, Lithuania

2016-09-12 17:21:21 UTC

In my opinion all five areas are important and goes together. Of course the first and main area is a language. If there is a communication difficulties, it will be hard to teach a students. The pedagogy area influence the less from all, because anyway it mostly belongs on the country education system and the teacher creativity have some bounds.

Cristina Popescu, Romania

cristina82ro — 2016-09-12 17:41:53 UTC

I think the most important thing is understanding the diversity of the interculturality in our classroom.
The biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher is ADAPTING to new cultures, new methods and new materials so that they reflect diversity not singularity as Alicia said.

Elisa, Italy

2016-09-12 17:45:53 UTC

I think that in a multicultural context the most important area is linguaggio: If there is not

Elisa, Italy

2016-09-12 18:04:13 UTC

I think that in a multicultural context the most important area is language: If there is no understending there is not communication.

Olga

2016-09-12 18:13:40 UTC

I think the most important are two things language and community relationships

Merve from Turkey

merve_etwinning — 2016-09-12 18:17:28 UTC

I think most important things is not having prejuidice against the people.Prejudice prevents you communicate , make friendship and understand others.

Kristina Kaučić

2016-09-12 18:18:01 UTC

All five areas are important, but the most important is not having prejudice and be open-minded. The biggest challenge would be parental involvement.

Enza

2016-09-12 18:33:36 UTC

I agree whith Alicia,Erika e Tomislav outline. I think that open mind, curiosity, understanding, comunication are keys for inclusion.

I agree with all the main ideas expressed in the videos. It is important to focus on the idea of language, cultural identity and multiculturalism. Parental involvement seems to be one the greatest issues. Education is some important but sometimes parents do not have the "tools" to enter the community. It is always hard to start building relationships within a community but the school is the first place where we should start it. I am aware of what expectations we might have but it is part of our job as teachers and educators.

Tizianateacher — 2016-09-12 18:33:47 UTC

Mariana, Greece

2016-09-12 18:39:40 UTC

I think the most important step towards intercultural competence is to define who we are, as Alicia mentions. This is not easy to achieve though; it requires some self-reflection and self-awareness in order to build a culturally competent teacher.

Ekaterine N /Georgia/

pedagogi_eka_history — 2016-09-12 18:41:11 UTC

All five areas are important . I agree with Chiara /Italy/- ,,Let us welcome other cultures without dismissing ours’’

Alicia - Spain

2016-09-12 18:43:18 UTC

In my opinion, all the areas they have been talking about are very important. I would like to highlight the importance of BEING OPEN, not just to try new thinks. We have to be open and respectful with the diversity that is present in our society and believe on it. We have to teach our students according to our believes and behaviours,not just talking aout theory.

nstankova68 — 2016-09-12 19:10:46 UTC

Nadya, Bulgaria
I agree with the ideas in the videos. It is really important to focus on the cultural identity and multiculturalism. Trying to understand, to learn and to value other cultures will enrich us and bring us closer to our students is our classaim.

i think all the areas are very important. Teachers have to focus on cultural identity and multiculturalism.

2016-09-12 19:39:40 UTC

We have to teach our students according to our believes and behaviours,not just talking aout theory.
Anna, Italy

Elisa Italy

mec972 — 2016-09-12 19:50:36 UTC

Language itself expresses cultural identity.
Intercultural competence promotes inclusion and integration, basic for our multicultural society.

Domenico Gaeta, Italy

domenico_gaeta — 2016-09-12 19:52:27 UTC

1.2 Developing intercultural competence as a teacher
I maintain that all the areas that have been highlighted are essential to become an interculturally competent teacher. It is important to reflect on one's own cultural values and define one's own identity, in terms of historical, family and cultural background. It is very useful for teachers to reflect on their own crises of engagement in an attempt to better understand and serve their students from different cultures We have to teach to our students that differences are ok encouraging them to face the new things and learn what they don't know. Teachers have to be open and a positive and integrate cultural diversity as a cross curricular theme. . To mediate any of cultural mismatch teachers need professional development to help facilitate a better understanding with parents.

Kristina - Vienna

k_gugerbauer — 2016-09-12 20:37:22 UTC

I totally agree that it is the mixture of areas that is important. I personally think that appreciation is one of the most important aspects. One challenge that I face is how to encourage students to reflect on traditions, behaviour or customs of their cultures. Often students take over rituals and traditions because of their parents without thinking about it - which is human - but I'd like to learn more how I can spark critical thinking without a negative note.

It is important to reflect on one's own cultural values and define one's own identity, in terms of historical, family and cultural background.

2016-09-12 20:41:01 UTC

Maria-Portugal

Leo

2016-09-12 20:46:08 UTC

Leo, Italy

2016-09-12 20:46:08 UTC

It's important to focus on the diversity

Manuela Teixeira, Portugal

mariamanuela_valentim — 2016-09-12 20:59:29 UTC

Developing intercultural awareness is important as a human being, but for a teacher that functions as a role model followed by hundreds of studenst, that is crucial.
All identities, cultures, historical and family heritage should be respected and seen as important as our owns.
Tolerance and mutual respect are the foundations of a tolerant and fair society

Lucia - Italy

2016-09-12 21:02:25 UTC

I think it’s important to reflect on diversity, enhance diversity, not to hide it, fearing to offend, as it was a shame to have a different skin colour, a different food tradition, a different way of clothe, and explain the reason and the importance of diversity. The colour of our skin it’s different? Let’s study man adaptation to different habitats. Your mother cooks meats and grains we don’t use in Italy, in a different way? Let’s study habitats

Doina Andrei, Romania

2016-09-12 21:02:52 UTC

I think that all the outlined areas are important and equally challenging. The intercultural competent teacher must be able to understand, evaluate and relate to ambiguous and uncertain intercultural situations, realizing the relative validity of the own frame of reference and able to select and use communication styles and behavior that fit a specific local and intercultural context.

The key idea is that we should promote the acceptation of the other. No assimilation, no omologation, but integration. First of all we should try to "walk in other people's shoes", then make our sts do that...trying to make our class as a wonderful and tasty recipe, where all the ingredients have their own taste but, staying together, they become more and more delicious....yes, let me pass this metaphor... I hope my classes will be like a wonderful paella and not like boiled rice!

loredanabatelli — 2016-09-12 21:09:53 UTC

Maria Nikolova

maria_n_ss — 2016-09-12 21:20:10 UTC

I teach my student to be opened and tolerance to different people and culture. They are roma children. I respect their culture and traditions. In response I receive the same from them. Our school participate in two Erasmus + projects. They meet students from lot of European countries. They know that different historical heritage, traditions, languages can to be this that connect all people and give them new friends, knowledge, experience and fun time.

Kasia, Poland

katerinaki62 — 2016-09-12 22:01:00 UTC

It is impossible not to agree with all ideas from the videos, but giving students space to express themselves in ANY way seems the most important to me. Different cultures in the small bodies of our students are like puzzles - each different, yet together creating the picture as solid and consistent as our globe. I am one of these puzzles, too. I want to show them, they are the same. They have to have the confidence of being equally needed in order to create this puzzle picture.

The biggest challenge for me will be patience. It takes time, imagination, anticipation, organization, and other skills to fit all the puzzles into one structure and allowing each of them to remain distinct. It takes time to convince all the others that this is the only way and hope for the warless world.

Eleftheria, Greece

2016-09-12 22:22:16 UTC

It was difficult for me to teach my students to respect different people and culture. In my country there are many options in wich each student is in favor of such as that somebody who came from another coutry is less important person than those who are Greek. I could not understand how this view occur and was looking for ways in wich i were able to convience them that the origin is just a characteristic not a personallity at all. So, in there videos i undrestand some ways in order to introduce my children in cultural deversity and i think that Alicia is more close to my ideas because she seems to use the pedagogy core in which im in favor of.

Sara, Italy

valy_80_ — 2016-09-12 22:28:50 UTC

I agree that the teacher must lead the students to reflect on these issues primarily through his example and his daily act

Rosa Gaspar / Portugal

luisasgaspar67 — 2016-09-12 22:53:41 UTC

Alex_PT

teacheralex_dua — 2016-09-12 23:35:28 UTC

As an EFL teacher I would say that language is the most important, or better, the starting point, once without language there is no communication. Second, understanding, respecting and dealing with diversity on a daily basis within my classroom and among my students so that we can help ourselves and become interculturally competent – these are truly the biggest challenges for me to develop intercultural competence.

Louise, Malta

chircoplouise — 2016-09-12 23:39:56 UTC

I agree that language competence is of fundamental importance and thus students need to have language support. As teachers, we must understand, first and foremost, that migrant students have been uprooted from the safety of their familiar environment to a place they might know nothing about. Thus, we need to create classrooms that encourage students to belong and to feel safe again. In order to do this, we have to learn of our prejudices and address them. We also have to be aware of any pathologising practices we might be engaging in when encountering students from migrant background. I think that the best way to become culturally competent is to learn from each other. We are all different in our own ways and what might seem strange to one, might be very normal to someone else. It is by learning to understand and accept these differences that we can foster a sense of belonging which, in turn would create an environment that encourages learning about and from each other.

Vasiliki Psaridou/Greece

psaridou — 2016-09-13 06:03:41 UTC

Being a teacher in Minority school in Greece I found really difficult at the beginning to teach them greek, since some of them didn't hear greek at all before entering school. So, I diverse my teaching method, I learn some words and phrases in turkish for the beginning, I learnt about their culture and tried to find the common things between greek and turkish culture. I feel that I have to learn a lot about diversity and how we handle difficult situations.

NS

noella_st_maria — 2016-09-13 06:23:44 UTC

I think that language competence is the most fundamental aspect in which teachers need to work on as without it, there will be no communication. Thus, it is important that the students are given the appropriate language support, and appropriate stable and safe environment where the students feel confident. Moreover, we need to address these issues as it is by learning about and understanding cultural differences, that we can in fact help and accept such students.

Christina, Greece

christinaefm — 2016-09-13 06:43:28 UTC

One role of teacher educators may be to facilitate the development of greater intercultural sensitivity among preser- vice teachers. Teachers need to care- fully examine their world view to deter- mine whether or not unintentional and subtle biases are promoted. Therefore, it is vital that teacher educators have an awareness of these stages of per- sonal growth related to intercultural sensitivity.
Personally, I am learning some key words in my students mother tongue whenever they find something difficult to understand or whenever we learn dictation and meaning.

Paola LO. Palermo

pa_locicero — 2016-09-13 06:55:31 UTC

opportunity to enrich our life experince.
To do so we have to plan activities which make us discoverI think it's very important as teachers to create for these students a familiar and welcoming environment where all together both teachers and students manage to overcome racial prejudices. This can be possible learning to know each other, appreciating different cultures,"Diversity" as a value and an diversity, using materials dealing with muliculturalism, create our own, collect pictures, food recipes, legends, comparing and pointing out similarities and differences, celebrate in classroom festivals with songs and games, learn words and involve parents who most of the times don't know Italian. With simple tools we can discover new worlds, andremove barriers.

Uğur TÜRK, TURKEY

ugurogretmen — 2016-09-13 07:20:10 UTC

as a teacher, I'm trying to prepare projects to develop intercultural competence to Erasmus. in this way, catch the chance to go abroad and know new cultures.

Cristina Fantoni, Italy

gamberiniluca — 2016-09-13 07:29:53 UTC

I agree with Erika we first have to know who we are....which is sometimes not that easy!
Then I believe language is still the main issue, because it is often very difficult for new students to be accepted and integrated in a big group of 25 other students, until you don't speak a little the same language. One of my role is to develop intercultural sensitivity in my students and I try to do it everyday

Gaia

gaialombardi69 — 2016-09-13 08:02:19 UTC

All the aspects touched in the video are important , but to me the main condition is to be open-minded. Cultural diversity needs the ability to change point of view and to compare ideas with others.
As teachers, the first thing that we can do is to create a welcoming environment, where new foreign pupils can feel safe, welcome and considered important for the life of the class.
Normally, I try to keep the most of information about their story and their language before they come. If possible, I use English as a linguistic medium, because sometimes foreign pupils know some word of English.
A second step can be to give new pupils the opportunity to express their cultural diversity through games and activities that help all the students to appreciate the richness of different cultures.

Mafalda L. - Italy

2016-09-13 08:25:53 UTC

I think all areas have a great value and present some issues when it's up to introduce an everyday practice at school.

Many collegues are really bound to their own cultural backgrond (they're not xenophobes or close-minded, probably they think "we live and work in Italy, land of Magna Graecia, Roman empire, Renaissance and so on...) and focus on the importance of italian culture (a huge amount of historical, philosophical and artistic events that - sometimes - leaves few space to other cultures, as long as they're not directly connected to cultural mainstream).

Personally, "cultural diversity" means a lot more than "diversity amongst people from different countries", because there's a "cultural diversity" within italian culture, too (gender, North Vs. South, religion, etc).

I'd really love to promote an "intercultural day of the week", presenting foreign habits and food and language (foreign students could produce short video clips about their favourite native country food recipe and teach other students how to cook it and eat it).

And yes, it's really important to call foreign students by their real name. It means we all recognize their individuality and "diversity".
In my experience, some students decided to replace theirs with an italian name to better integrate and feel "equals" and accepted.
As long as I was in the classroom I kept calling them with their real names, asking them to explain to classmates what was the exact pronunciation, how to write it correctly (and, in some case, what was the meaning and origin of the name).

After watching Alicia's, Erika's and Tomislav's videos I thought that the first step to real changes could be introducing "cultural diversity" (topics and issues) to adults (parents and collegues).

Cristina,ITALY

cristina_zobel — 2016-09-13 09:43:13 UTC

An intercultural competent teacher makes different cultures meet and get to know each other, paying attention to their different backgrounds.
The learning environment should also reflect the intercultural society.
I agree that everything should start from the awareness of one's own culture and respect towards other cultures.

Luisa Menza, Italy

2016-09-13 09:46:41 UTC

I think that becoming an interculturally competent teacher involves knowing and discovering about people's habits and culture with interest and curiosity in order to use the material as an aid to develop awarness among students and teachers, too. In addition ìt can help to raise motivation, which is a fundamental aspect in the teaching- learning process.

Sonia, Spain

2016-09-13 10:17:57 UTC

from interculturality all are benefitiaries when learning. It is a competence that help know each other and the different backgrounds: personal, social, cultural, interpersonal, etc. In a classroom we deal with it everyday as Europa and the whole world is changing due to the migration movements of people. It affects in a way to the educational environment and we receive children from different countries due to these migration moves. As teacher we have to work the intercultural competence to enrich education and our students

Silvia Tucci, Italy

silvia_tucci1981 — 2016-09-13 10:18:23 UTC

I think that the biggest challenge for multicultural teachers is integrating without assimilating: as Alicia says in the video, we must allow foreign students space to be who they are. Her idea to introduce "exotic" names during the lessons is very nice. We can't forget that multicultural teaching is an enrichment also for us!

Ida, Italy

2016-09-13 10:19:16 UTC

I think the 5 areas are all fundamental, but in the context I work I want to undeline "Parental involvement" and "Community relationships". I would note that is often difficult to involve parents in school activity. I think that schools with other institutions need to work together creating a possible community that really interact.

Zorica, Sweden

zorica_salijevic — 2016-09-13 10:29:27 UTC

I just teach for a sort time and my students are coming from very different countries. They are not well educate in their own countries and a lot of them are analfabets. So, my job as a teacher is to make a frist contact with them, to make them confident in my classroom and to feel free to be what they are. I am always trying to help them to understand that to be diffrent is a goald mine of different values and we can all have a huge benefit from this. We can all learn a lot from each other and to learn a lot each other. To keep they own culture, religion orientation, language and haritage is great but we have to accept that we now all live in Sweden. How we can learn us a new culture if we do not keep our own? I am trying to show them that I am from the different countrie and I am proud to be what I am, that I will preserve my own culture and my own mother language but I did all I can do to learn Swedish and to learn more about Swedish culture. I am open for difrences, for experiments and to teach each other a new things. There is a space for all and we have to apritiate this possibility that we all are diffrent. This is two way street and we have to meet each other in hte middle. When I was in the School of Swedish as a forigner I started one project "Present your country". Because for all of us was so difficult to learn Swedish. I decidet to find a way to help me and my friends to learn as soon as possible Swedish. I was incourage from my teacher and we started this event every Friday. Everybody was so happy. Because there is one think we are proud of: our country, family background and culture and language. I suggest them to come with two tipical dishes from they own country : sweet and salt and they all accepted. I promiss them and to my self that I will, one day when I will be standing on my own feet, I will publish one Cooking Book with all our recepies. And, now, last year I did it! I published this book and the name of this book is "World on the plate" - Internationall Cooking Book. All of my friends from the School was on the promotion and it was a great succee. This was a great example of successfull integration.

Ljiljana, Croatia

2016-09-13 10:31:30 UTC

My opinion is that first of all we have to work on ourselves and on the acceptance of cultural, personal and social differences and to show acceptance and respect to our students and all others. Mutual respect is the basic step.

Chara Greece

2016-09-13 11:47:29 UTC

"Give them space"
Today, first day in school, a student came from the French class back to his normal class. A student of mine said to me "he knows Romanian". I answered "oh, I know some words. I have been in Romania, I have travelled students and have good friends there". He stayed in the class, missed some time from break (!!), although he didn't know me at all, just to talk with me about the country of origin of his mother. I totally agree, that an intercultural educator should allow space to the students and be willing to try with them new things out and learn from them. After all in a multicultural class he/she become certainly richer!

Paola C.,from Genova, Italy.

profcascone — 2016-09-13 12:27:21 UTC

Well, as Erika said, teachers have got their personal background but,I would add that they should be very careful not to influence students with their way of thinking. Teachers have to hold back and allow students to speak.Another competence is that teachers should have is to be sensitive with some topics, such as religion. So, I would work on competences first, and then on parental involvment

Marianthi Arvanitidou - Greece

1canislupus22 — 2016-09-13 12:48:21 UTC

To create a positive environment where students and teachers are respectful of different backgrounds, schools have to be proactive.

gabriella s. italy

2016-09-13 13:03:43 UTC

I think that areas outlined by them are very important. What touches me very much is one of Alicia’s statement according to which an intercultural competent teacher can be defined by “willness to try things are new” in other words a competent teacher is led by curiosity towards his or her students cultural background. In other terms, curiosity is one of the aspect of the teaching process. In fact, it makes students understand you are interested in their culture. In this sense, the use of material deriving from other cultures is a way to communicate our own interest and to focus on plurality rather than on the singularity and the wrong supremacy of one culture above the others.

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Giada, Italy

giadapantuosco — 2016-09-13 13:06:01 UTC

I think the biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher would be to choose a topic in order not to privilege a culture in particular, but to leave space so that other kids from different cultural backgrounds could intervene. In this way all kids should be able to compare with each other on their own.

Elena- Italu

2016-09-13 13:27:22 UTC

Before I saw the videos, I thought that intercultural competences wound have been difficult to learn and to put in practice...now I think that intercultural competences are not conceptual, every teacher should know himself, his own background and be sincerely interested in the background, culture, identity of every student. Every teacher, even the most expert in his subject, can become a better teacher using creativity in order to make every student feel important, protagonist. In pre-primary school it would be interesting reading stories from different Countries, or inviting children’s parents and ask them to talk or show something about their families’ traditions.

M.ELENA

andrelena — 2016-09-13 13:32:11 UTC

I think that all areas are important, but for me the most important are linguistic and cultural background. Teachers must be able to give their students the right Language support and to do this they can use different resources. It's important to create mixed classrooms where students can share their "linguistic and cultural diversities". This is the first step to understand the importance of "being different" both for students and Teachers. Discover the "diversity" among different cultures is an opportunity to enrich our life and school experience.

Daniela Stefania Pagano - Italy

pagano_daniela — 2016-09-13 13:41:49 UTC

I think all the aspects explained are important.
A teacher who is competent in terms of reflection and development gives regular thought to his/her professional views and competence. The intercultural competent teacher reflects on his knowledge, skills and most of all attitude regarding his intercultural education. He is able to acknowledge his strengths and weaknesses to start his own development. He constantly reflects on both his professional as his personal way of dealing with pupils of his own culture as well as pupils of other cultures. The teacher is researches the intercultural situation of his group systematically and goal oriented. He asks for feedback (also) to people of other cultures. I think the areas where teachers have to work more is parental involvement and social identity, cooperanting with the social institutions and collegues.

antonella77

apetrini1 — 2016-09-13 13:54:47 UTC

I agree with Alicia’s point of view whe she said that the teacher must give their students their space to express their cultural differences feeling “ok” with the local students. Teachers must also consider foreign cultures in the same way they consider the local culture. I also agree with Alicia when she affirms that students don’t have to feel that the Austrian culture is better than their cultures.
According to me, to be a interculturally competent teacher is really a big challange nowadays because it is very hard to make students accept the cultural differences. Some cultures are “locked” and students belonging to those cultures are scared to share their customs and traditions with the local students. On the other side the local students can have a lot of prejudices. Consequently, as Tomislav affirms, to be an interculturally competent teacher means also to be a good psychologist, pedagogist and mediator and so on...

Iliyana, Bulgaria

2016-09-13 14:28:44 UTC

Iliyana, Bulgaria

2016-09-13 14:28:47 UTC

I think all 5 areas are important for developing teachers‘ intercultural competence. And I totally agree with Chara from Greece. Yes, multicultural class should have space to try and share other cultures.

Stefania talvacchia, Italy

Stefania16 — 2016-09-13 14:31:20 UTC

Ba

dotriv — 2016-09-13 14:34:57 UTC

Barbara Trivelli

dotriv — 2016-09-13 14:34:58 UTC

I think the most important step is to live the diversity as a child! My pupils are aged 3.4 and 5 so they accept everybody,

2016-09-13 14:48:54 UTC

Olga, Finland
I think all areas are important in an own way. I consider parental involvement quite important but also difficult. Very often there is no common language between a teacher and a student's parent who is from another country unless he or she speaks English. But English is not necessarily the language of the school of the student. If there's no common language it's hard for the parent to follow what's happening at school and be aware of the progress of own child. The connection with other parents might be also quite complicated. At my school we try to organise a "multicultural cafe"- a meeting for parents from other cultures so they could also participate in school activities.

cristina, ita

cristina_casanova — 2016-09-13 14:49:38 UTC

I definitely agree with the three of them. Open to others, acceptance, try new things, move out from our comfort zone, create materials, involve parents and society are the topics!

cristina, italy

cristina_casanova — 2016-09-13 14:49:41 UTC

Loredana ,

loredanaconte14 — 2016-09-13 14:59:08 UTC

Loredana ,Italy

loredanaconte14 — 2016-09-13 14:59:09 UTC

I agree with Alicia when she says that a competent teacher should be creative and invent other ways to teach. Teaching is not a transmission of knowledge but it's a new job that consists of sharing our points of view, creating new materials to make other students understand a different world.

Edit, Hungary

tothedit0610 — 2016-09-13 15:03:47 UTC

I agree with all the three speakers. First, I share Erica's opinion: you have to know your own values first in order to relate to the others': your strength, but your weaknesses as well. Then as Alicia says you should be open-minded and curious about different cultures and their people. Dealing with intercultural issues during your lessons is again essential, as this way you can be personal, but should pay attention to remaining objective all the time without any prejudices or expressing superiory of any cultures especially your own! Tomislav stresses the importance of parent involvement. and community relations, which are all important in my opinion, too since they are also "part of the game". I think if I had a multicultural classroom, which now I do not have, I would enjoy teaching its students, as I am open-minded and curious about their different views of the world. My weak point is that I have no experience at all in teaching amulticultural class.

Maria Theodoridou, Greece

theod_eled — 2016-09-13 15:22:36 UTC

I agree with all of them. As Erika said, it's wise to look back on our own cultural background. I can't agree more with Alicia about adapting our teaching and our school material to what kind of students do we have and enrich them with multicultural stuff. Finally, Tomislav claimed that languages, pedagogy, social identity , parental involvement and community relationship affairs makes the top5 of fields where can be paid attention, which i agree the most.

Vera, Italy

2016-09-13 15:47:51 UTC

I think there is no area more important than another. I totally agree with Alicia when she sais that we have to move out of our comfort zone and try knew things. Sometimes I met tired teachers, who are stuck on their beliefs and repeat every single year the same things with any single group. I don't think they are bad teachers, but only persons who can't renew themselves for the fear of change. It is very important to know the group we have to work with, to find new solutions and inspiration to go on with our beautiful job of teaching. To me, another important thing is to use pictures and examples to represent all the different situation we have in our classes, not only related with cultural diversity; for example it is not so easy to find disability representation in our medias. I think it would be important to bring positive representations of cultural, physical and any kind of diversity in our classes. We always need to think we are working with people, with our students minds and we have to help them to grow up the more responsible and open-minded we can. The biggest challenge for this new school year is to learn something more about my students cultures and to encourage all the students to be curious about other cultures.

Luisa, Italy

2016-09-13 15:52:08 UTC

I think the most important area is “Reflect on own cultural values”. All the others can be developed only if there has been a personal reflection on one’s own identity, in order to be open to others.
I think I need to work the most on being open to try new things. I agree with Alicia’s view, according to which we as teachers tend to transmit what we are familiar with, with the risk to introduce stereotypes in the class. I need to work on trying things that are unfamiliar to me but can be relevant to different cultures in the class.
As a teacher who is new to the Intercultural Classroom, the biggest challenges for me are Living the Diversity and Working on the students social identity.

Ozgu Ozturk,Istanbul

ozguozturkk — 2016-09-13 16:12:14 UTC

All of them are important I think.

Rosalinda Di Mauro, Italy

2016-09-13 16:14:56 UTC

All the areas outlined by the speakers in the videos are very important. First of all, I think a teacher should emphasize the differences in a positive manner, that is, appreciating and accommodating the similarities and differences among the students' cultures. A second step could be for teachers to build relationship with students and discover what their lives are like outside of school. Developing an understanding of students' lives also enables the teacher to increase the relevance of lessons and make examples more meaningful.

Mary,Italy

mrformichelli — 2016-09-13 16:17:18 UTC

I think that reflecting on our social identity would help us to know ourselves better and this would also help us to understand all our students, not only immigrant ones. We should give them the possibility to talk about their origins, family, interests, traditions. Parents should be involved more in this process. The biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher could be that to be more open-minded, I mean that sometimes I’m afraid to express my students what I really think because of the fear to be misunderstood.

Vicky Archondi, Greece

vicky_archondi — 2016-09-13 16:17:19 UTC

In my opinion, all the aforementioned issues should be seriously taken into account when addressing diverse backgrounds. Abandoning my comfort zone and experimenting on new things seems to be the most difficult thing to do. However, I should do so if I wish to become a successful , multicultural teacher.Still the most challenging would be to create and integrate diverse resources and build up strong community relationships.

Sofia, Greece

sofits1 — 2016-09-13 16:29:46 UTC

I think that a teacher has to combine this whole knowledge referred above, in order to succeed in becoming a multicultural teacher. For me, the most difficult part is that referred to the trial of new things. But i am sure that, as the difficulty level increases the more experience a teacher takes and the more confident he/she feels to give a trial in something totally, for him, new.

Adele Cammarata, Italy

adele_cammarata — 2016-09-13 16:31:48 UTC

I think that all of the areas are important, but it's fundamental that we as teachers and as persons live in first person what we would like to develop in our student. I mean that we always try to have a positive attitude towards different cultures (that is languages, dress codes, way of life, religions) and different ways of thinking and seeing the world.
I think it's particularly important what Alicia was saying in the first video about normally using names or images of "different-than-us" people. And this is just an example, but I think interculture it's something you live before you teach it.

viki doga, greece

2016-09-13 16:51:53 UTC

I think children should learn to accept different people, from different falk stories

Marilena Athanasakou, Greece

becsa1 — 2016-09-13 17:03:20 UTC

I think the most important area is that ourselves as teachers have an open mind, while also teaching by example, by collaborating, using diverse resources, trying new things and exhibiting respect and acceptance of other ways of thinking, other cultures, etc. I especially liked the point made by Alicia Bankhofer , that we “create resources that reflect diversity and not singularity”. I feel that is an area I should definitely work on.

Caterina Fantini, Italy

cate_67 — 2016-09-13 17:09:49 UTC

All the areas are very important.The main thing is that teachers open their mind and transmit to pupils respect and acceptance of other ways of thinking, living, speaking... I think that integrate diverse resources is very difficult, Ishould work on it.

Angelina Alberico, Italy

angelina_alberico — 2016-09-13 17:16:10 UTC

I believe that the presence of foreign children in our classrooms is a great wealth for our students, so that they know different cultures, religions and languages. All this will be possible only if the teacher has a mind open to dialogue respecting the uses, customs and beliefs of other peoples, which, however, will have to respect our culture.

Maria Grazia, Itlay

mgstefanelli — 2016-09-13 17:27:44 UTC

I think that being an intercultural teacher needs to be open to diversity and transmit this to her students. All the areas mentioned in the videos are important and all contribute to improve the students' awareness about diversity.

Mariella Gallo,

mgallo271 — 2016-09-13 17:45:19 UTC

Mariella Gallo, Italy

mgallo271 — 2016-09-13 17:45:20 UTC

All the areas mentioned by Alicia, Erika and Tomislav are equally important because each of these elements contribute to make the student happy to share his/her experience. I think that one of the areas to work on is the IDENTITY NORMS, that in these days is more and more part of our dailylife. The biggest challenge is to be ready and open to share and understand the others. It's really difficult!

Angelamaria Galderisi, Italy

2016-09-13 18:13:25 UTC

The biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher could be the oppurtunity to integrate cultural diversity as a cross-curricular theme. In this way I could integrate different resources as well as reflect on the different cultural values of my classrooms in order to live the diversity as a value. I think that also parental involvement and community relationships are important to realize a real integration among students coming from so many cultural backgrounds.

Helen, Ireland

helen_p_english — 2016-09-13 18:24:11 UTC

Alicia is so right to stress the importance of being self-aware and self-critical.We must be reflective about our own value systems and prejudices since these can impede our interaction with students from diverse backgrounds.
I'm also working on building up links with parents. Their involvement and cooperation reaps benefits for the students.

Maria Papavasilopoulou, Greece

user_1412170174 — 2016-09-13 18:30:00 UTC

I think it is very important what Alicia said, that we teachers should be ready to learn new things and adjust to the new multicultural reality

Elisabetta Cazzola, Vicenza, Italy

welcomenew — 2016-09-13 18:48:22 UTC

In my opnion the first thing I need to understand is what I know and what is my attitude about the culture or experience I'm proposing to the students.

Dimitris Zisimopoulos, Greece

dzisimopp2 — 2016-09-13 18:52:23 UTC

All areas are important. However, I think that a great chalenge is to motivate teachers to abandon comfort zone and try, learn new things in order to respond adequately to classrooms cultural -but not only- diversity. It has to be mentioned though that this challenge is not teachers' responsibility alone but a network has to be designed (e.g. social workers, pchycologists) in order to support teachers and encourage them to self-reflect and be more creative incorporating aspects of different cultures in their lessons and everyday life.

Pefkoula Stagia, Greece

2016-09-13 19:06:31 UTC

Our own cultural values ought to be confronted – I agree with Erica on this – as a first step on developing intercultural competence. But this can not be effective by itself unless we are open in other cultures as well as in new and creative ways of teaching. In my opinion, though, the most challenging of all aspects is parenting involvement and community relationships.

Dimitra Arampatzi, Belgium

2016-09-13 19:30:00 UTC

I find that all the aspects mentioned in the videos are of the same importance and should be considered as parts of a whole, as small pieces of a "puzzle" I would say... If something is missing, then it is not complete.
We need to start from our own values, to be aware of aspects of our culture, to show respect for our own cultural heritage. As persons we need to be open to new things. As teachers to experiment, to be innovative, to be creative. Of course, as professionals, we always need to have a good theoretical background on pedagogy and social identity terms, which will give us the advantage to make good use of materials and resources. In addition, to achieve better results we need to build bridges with the parents and cooperate with them, as they can give us precious information about their children and their cultural background.
For me the biggest challenge in becoming an interculturally competent teacher would be to be able to create materials and resources that reflect diversity, as well as to integrate them in my teaching, in a way that can produce good and longlasting results.

Monica - Modena

monicagiansanti — 2016-09-13 19:34:01 UTC

The school where I work is insert in a context of traditional migration from south of Italy. Nowdays processes are changed and I work in classes where the foreign migrants are more than the 30% of students. Some of them are born in Italy, some other are newcomers. If I consider italian migrant and foreign, less than 30% of students are born in Modena, the town where I live and work, but where I arrived from Perugia. Many of colleagues are from other towns, too.
In this context, become an interculturally competent teacher is not only a personal interest, but a fundamental requirement!
With this intent I think the three last areas suggested by Tomislav are overriding: Social identity, Parental involvment, Community relationships. These are also the main areas where I need to work the most, as well as on integrate resources and cultural diversity as a cross-curricular theme.
To think is very difficult . That's why most of the people judges (Carl Gustav Jung).

Ornella Lasaponara, Italy

veraornellasap — 2016-09-13 19:41:15 UTC

It's important not to be afraid of diversity

Paola - Italy

2016-09-13 20:25:24 UTC

All the aspects outlined were important. To become an interculturally competent teacher is a hard task and we should listen more about colleagues who have already faced this situation. However I think that integration has to do with respect, cultural curiosity and openmindedness. I would feel satisfied if could be able to pass this idea to my students and if I could improve my didactic making it more and more inclusive.
I am sure there are many ways to make foreign students feel at ease at school and we should all contribute by making efforts not to make them feel different.

Heidi, Germany

hgi — 2016-09-13 20:55:55 UTC

All of what has been said in the two videos is important. I will do as the lady from Austria suggested to use different names as Mohamed etc, instead of typical German names. I am very curious, married to a european citizen not German, so I already live two cultures at home. It is a great opportunity to learn about cultural diversity from ma students coming from Albania, Syria etc. I hope that we can change our classrooms into little intercultural bases spreading the word also outside and preparing an open minded society, not a xenophobic one .

Despoina Amarantidou, Greece

damarant — 2016-09-13 21:01:50 UTC

Both videos were really interesting and of great importance. Language, pedagogy, social identity norms, parental involvement and community relationships are crucial matters. As teachers we should promote integration and be open-minded. Moreover, we should reflect on our cultral values and live the diversity.

Marco, Italy

pianotti_marco — 2016-09-13 21:59:08 UTC

I believe that the presence of foreign children in our classrooms is a great wealth for our students, so that they know different cultures, religions and languages. All the aspects outlined were important. To become an interculturally competent teacher is a hard task and we should listen more about colleagues who have already faced this situation.

Oriana, Italy

2016-09-13 23:04:21 UTC

The most important area in my opinion that all the speakers underlined is identity: the identity of studentshas to be cared. This could be done considering who they are - their names, their cultures, their gender - and involving their life experience in the teaching materials and subjects. Students have to feel that the school speaks to them, that they are included. A big part of this task is also the parents and communities involvement and this in my experience is the difficult part of our job with foreign families because you need to be open and ask them often to be present, because the school need them.

Evangelia Moula, Greece

2016-09-14 04:07:13 UTC

to address culturally diverse students you have to take into account all the mentioned points, otherwise your effort will be no more than a firework, sparkling for a while, but without permanent Impact. language and pedagogy may be sine qua non, but the social profile of the students, parents' involvement, whole acceptance, use of diverse materials, cross-curricular interventions, a network of social interrelations and so on, all seem to be equally important

Luisa. Italy

luisaceccarelli — 2016-09-14 04:07:40 UTC

I have experienced that the presence of bilingual pupils in the classroom and in the school is a cultural enrichment because it gives the opportunity to face with different cultural aspects. It is a way to look at "out of the box" and open your mind. Both videos share useful imputs to improve your reflection practice on your teaching/Learning strategies.

Roberto, Italy

2016-09-14 05:39:58 UTC

I agree with Ida, Italy: "I think the 5 areas are all fundamental, but in the context I work I want to undeline "Parental involvement" and "Community relationships". I would note that is often difficult to involve parents in school activity. ...."
First step is to involve actively students, in order to make they messengers of the culture of the integration and acceptance outside of the school.

2016-09-14 08:06:56 UTC

I think everything mentioned here is very important: to reflect about your own identity, to use flexible materials that can motivate everybody and the 5 points mentioned from Tomislav. Multilingual students are a wonderful resource because of their flexibility. The same kind of flexibility that I would like to teach to the others. What I would like to improve? My teaching strategies and I would like to work on the "community relationships". I don't live in the city where I teach and I would like to find a way to motivate my students to be in contact with the Italian language and culture also in their free time.

Ilaria, Italy

2016-09-14 08:23:16 UTC

I think all areas and aspects are importants. The biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher is valorize the different aspects of the various foreign cultures (language, religion, uses, traditions…)

Patrizia, Italy

2016-09-14 08:30:26 UTC

I think the most important area is Identity and I agree with Alicia's opinion about the importance of positive attitudes towards different cultures in teaching. Teachers are faced with the challenge of recognizing the richness that comes from different backgrounds to create a positive environment where students work side by side with others who are not of the same culture. I think this is the only effective way to help all students succeed academically as well as learn to function in a multicultural society.

Guner, Turkey

gunerozen — 2016-09-14 09:24:20 UTC

All is important. In schools the teachers have to have an open mind when regarding other cultures. On the other hand I have to be aware of the complexity of my own identity and that of the students. I can handle situations which are unexpected and unusual for me.

Patrícia, Portugal

2016-09-14 09:33:31 UTC

Everyday we see the news of how migrant children are living and being treated here in Europe. Those children will eventually have the chance to go to school and we need to be ready to welcome them. As teachers it is our responsibility to be ready, to have the right tools and the mental and emotional skills to help them

2016-09-14 09:47:22 UTC

Emanuela, ITALY

I agree with Alicia, Erika and Tomislav about the importance of identity and of teacher's cultural background. As teachers we have to look at other cultures in a positive way, trying to find out common and different issues in order to create a dialogue.

Claudia, Italy

claudia_conca81 — 2016-09-14 10:11:16 UTC

I agree with what all three people. I think that we should change our mind about immigration. We live in a multicultural world so it's necessary that every area, especially schools, teaching people to understand diversities and to accept them.
Alicia said an important thing: as teacher we have to find and use resources and materials that reflects different realities. So using topics about immigration or names from other cultures is a great choice.

Donka Slavcheva, Bulgaria

dkirovska — 2016-09-14 10:53:36 UTC

I think the most important things for acceptance of cultural diversity, tolerance and positivism. The clash of cultures is inevitable, but you should always find those complementary points for constructive dialogue. I agree with opinion of three trainers that we need to change our views on migrants, different religions, cultures, policies.

Kelly, Rome(Italy)

2016-09-14 11:33:47 UTC

I think the most important points are: acceptance, going out the teaher "comfort zone" and oper our minds to overcome difficulties in integration, eliminate from our students a possible stereotipical view.
As far as the points that I have to work on, I think I have to pass down that diversity is a normal thing because all of us are different. As Alicia told, we have to create material and resources to make our students think about diversity and we have to do it in each lesson.
Another point is to collaborate with families because they have very important consequence in our students life.

cinzia,Italy

2016-09-14 11:59:50 UTC

Aspects to take into account as an interculturally competent teacher:

-language

- importance of developing resources that acknowledge and reflect the experiences of your students.

-parental involvment

-having an open mind

- create a community relationship

In my opinion all five areas are important and goes together. Of course the first and main area is a language. If there is a communication difficulties, it will be hard to teach a students.

Panayotis, Greece

pdomvros — 2016-09-14 13:30:13 UTC

Food for thought.

Antonio, Italy

ronzoni_scuola — 2016-09-14 13:34:56 UTC

Roberta, Italy

r_gramenzi — 2016-09-14 13:38:18 UTC

I think all areas dealt with by the three trainers are very important, non just for teachers, but for everyone. First of all we should make sure that we open ourselves to the others, that we accept diversity as part of our daily life, then teachers should integrate cultural diversity as a cross-curricular theme to tackle with the participation of the whole school community.

Sabrina Vespier

sabrina_vespier — 2016-09-14 14:08:44 UTC

When we're talking about cultural diversity i really know what it means. Because i live a beautiful example in my family, indeed my daughter's boyfriend is from Tunisia. I love him and all that i can learn from him although i don't know tunisian language and we have different religion and culture. For this reason i think languages and generally a pre-knowledge of different cultures are important but not the most important things i need to work the most on. So i agree with Alicia when she talks about the importance to think with an "open mind", no prejudices, no stereotype. Only in this way you can accept who is different from you.

Giovanna, Italy

2016-09-14 14:14:09 UTC

In my opinion each area outlined by Alicia, Erika and Tomislav is important, but the most significant key word is relationship interpreted as a dimension of all intercultural competences. The areas I need to work the most on are community relationship and developement of material. I think that on the one hand the school should be a medium to build connections with the ‘outside world’ and people who live in the local area involving parents and other social actors in activities and projects. On the other hand the school itself should be a place for students to reflect on themselves and others through different stimolous. To do so it is important for me to start from building strong relationships with students, parents and local actors and than moving on researching continuosly in order to personalize content and material to the context I work in. To me the biggest challenge is parental involvement mainly because it is not easy to find occasions for involvement in order to build community relationship and also to involve who don’t speak very well in italian, have gender segregated roles or suffer from a traumatizing migration experience.

Luigi, Italy

luigi_grifone1 — 2016-09-14 14:17:45 UTC

It's very important to be open try new things: I think this is the most challenging aspect of teaching, the most difficult one because we have to avoid stereotypes. Teachers are not just teaching things they know: they learn together with their students if they're ready and open to create, live a real educational community. So, my biggest challenge is the work on community relationship.

Emanuela Italy

emanuross — 2016-09-14 14:18:25 UTC

All five areas are important. But parental involvment is very difficult. It would be important to know obout other cultures not to judge.

Ana Paula Fonseca, Portugal

2016-09-14 14:37:50 UTC

They outline 5 important areas and for me it’s really important that you have the ability to speak a language migrant students understand, so that we can establish communication to start understanding ourselves. We have to be open-minded and really believe that our cultural and social background is as important as any other on planet earth. Thus, we must be willing to try and learn new things. In our schoolwork we have to try and use resources that include the different realities of our students (this was something I think is very important as this will make students feel valued). Besides, I also think that parent and community involvement is really important to secceed in integrating different realities in and out of the classroom.

Maria Dolores, Italt

marymilioto — 2016-09-14 14:54:06 UTC

In my opinion to develop intercultural competence as teacher each area outlined in the videos is important, in particular pedagogy, using the way to address migrants students, and social identity and social psicology norms. I agree with Erika, live the diversity accepting other ways of thinking is the first step. Be open to try new things. I like what she says: "the challenge for a teacher is not only teach what they know but learn about what they don't know".The areas I need to work the most on are community relationship and the development of materials. Materials and resorses which reflect the diversity and integrate cultural diversity as cross-curricular theme are really important steps. The biggest challenge for me in coming an interculturally competent teacher could be achieve these five areas of knowledge skills.

Despina, Greece

2016-09-14 15:09:14 UTC

I totally agree with Erica that we as teachers should open up, use a different frame of mind and a different approach that includes material and tasks that promote diversity as a blessing and not a curse. And of course we should do what we preach!

Valentina, Italy

valentinabertazzoli77 — 2016-09-14 15:42:02 UTC

The biggest challenge for my is, as Erika says, to learn about what i don't know and to open my mind. All aspects outlined are important, but i think that the key word is relantioship, because the class has to be a community, where the diversity is accepted, respected and understood. I agree with Erika. Alicia gives useful advice for everyday life at school, that i can easily use.

Monica, Ital

m_trinchini — 2016-09-14 15:50:05 UTC

I'm totally agree with Erica, use a different frame of mind and a different approach that includes material and tasks that promote diversity as a blessing and not a curse. Is necessary to learn abaut what i don't know.

Maria, Italia

mariagranatiero — 2016-09-14 16:12:53 UTC

to create a good integration I propose different fun activities.

Chiara - Italy

manganarochiara — 2016-09-14 16:24:06 UTC

I think it's very important to considerate the parental involvement because, like Tomislav Tudjman says, parents are essencial in the career of the students; besides they can be a great resource for the teacher, if there is a good collaboration.

Lina Mosca Italy

didinomosca63 — 2016-09-14 16:30:06 UTC

I think it's very important the teacher has to be open and accept other ways of thinking and other ways of culture , first of all. Second they have to think to be different is ok and this kind of thinking is a great value. they have to teach what they know but also to learn what they don’t know and so they will be very competent in different culture teaching

Eveline Chaves, Austrai

evi_chav — 2016-09-14 16:30:41 UTC

I do agree with with the three statements.
For me teaching in a multicultural class means to be openminded and to not only accept, but to respect other cultures.
Living in a bicultural and bilingual home (my husband is from Latin America) has shown me that there is more than one way to see the world.

Carla-Italy

carlabisogni241 — 2016-09-14 16:54:25 UTC

I watched the videos and I agree with Alicia,Erika,Tomislav. As a matter of fact, we need to work on all the areas. According to me the biggest challege in becoming an interculturally competent teacher is to push through our students diversity as normal fact and we have to accept and respect differences beetween and within culture. We can use resources or to create materials that don't reflect diversity.

IRENE, Italy

2016-09-14 17:03:57 UTC

I really think they are all important and that they are all a challenge for me in different ways. I was particularly inspired by what Alicia said about using names, pictures, stories that are familiar to all cultures so that teaching materials and resources reflect the diversity of our classroom. That is something I'm really going to work on this coming year.

Paweł, Poland

2016-09-14 17:26:44 UTC

I think the most important things in contact with students coming from different cultures are: pedagogical passion, opened mind and simple human empathy. These are basic values of competent intercultural teacher. First of all in my school we need to create an atmosphere of a real friendly interest of a life story, religion, and culture our new students coming from other countries. I teach in music school. Our pupils play instruments, mainly think only how to increase their talent and are very, very busy. Generally they doesn’t think about sad emigrant problems. I think the first question for me and my colleges is to create a truly friendly community relationship in our school. We need a real good will, curiosity and understanding of diversity. We are obliged to teach about these values.

Erica, Italy

2016-09-14 17:37:34 UTC

The most important aspect, according to me, it's the teacher attitude: a teacher must always strive to learn more and exit his/her comfort zone. By achieving that attititude, everything else is subsequential

Nick, Greece

ngkoulou — 2016-09-14 18:02:57 UTC

The crucial factor for me is to retain your objectivity.

Lina, Italy

2016-09-14 18:03:56 UTC

In my opinion all five areas are important and goes together. Of course the first and main area is a language. If there is a communication difficulties, it will be hard to teach a students.

LUIGI, ITALY

2016-09-14 18:05:12 UTC

The aspects outlined in the 3 videos are very important. They show how important is for an intercultural teacher to be familiar with a range of fields such as languages or pedagogy in order to manage students with different backgrounds. He has to be able to build up relationships in order to create a community aiming at reflection through all subjects.

Antonietta, Italy

2016-09-14 18:19:06 UTC

All the areas are necessary to develop intercultural competence as a teacher because they involve some elements which are very important to build up relationships. A teacher with students from different backgrounds should have a network of skills, knowledge and attitudes such as languages, pedagogy and parental involvment. In order to become an intercultural competent teacher you have to show the ability to integrate all those attitudes in the school curriculum. Across the whole curriculum and school subjects teacher can drive his students to reflect on cultural education.

picco75lina — 2016-09-14 18:50:51 UTC

Developing intercultural competences

Francesca, Italy

francesca_lombardi1973 — 2016-09-14 19:39:03 UTC

I think the involvement of foreign speaking parents in their children’s education is a key factor in increasing children emotional support and self confidence.

Carla Senis, Italy

2016-09-14 19:46:05 UTC

Competences only grow if we want to accept what is different from our culture.
Acceptance and Respect for different cultures, curiosity towards everything that is different, Learn from our cultures.

Francesco, Italy

2016-09-14 19:50:00 UTC

I consider fundamental all five thematic areas, however I believe that language is a key aspect to first overcome communication difficulties. I think that, as a first step, it is important that each person reflect on their own roots, on their culture and identity, his own history; you must start to love and respect. Then he becomes aware that every person has its cultural identity and its history. If we respect ourselves we learn to respect cultural diversity. Each individual is an asset to our social growth.

Olga Keramida/Greece

olkeramida — 2016-09-14 20:09:22 UTC

I think parental involvement and community relationships are very important . It is not easy to know different languages but we know well pedagogy, so this will be the key to inspire respect and acceptance ,not only to our students but to the whole community.

Vlad Eugenia IOANA, Romania

2016-09-14 20:14:40 UTC

I think we can increase student s motivation if we are very good prepared in teaching and developing strategies modern and active in our lessons.

Maria Simou, Greece

msimou — 2016-09-14 20:17:58 UTC

I agree that it is very important trying to make students not only to accept their "difference" but also to maintain and be proud of it. The only way to succeed in this is to move out our "comfort zone", try to study more about different cultures, customs, religion, food e.t.c. Of course it requires a lot of personal effort and critical thought that will eventually leed us to realise and -therefor teach- the greater values that unite the human race. The deep personal undertanding of these values is the only way for teachers to be effective on their effort to transmit them to their students

In my view, it's absolutely important to know who you are. What is your culture and your tradition. And to be open minded. Italy was (and is) a land of massive emigration. One of our poets, Giovanni Pascoli, wrote a multilingual poem about the Italian emigration in the United States. In our most ancient mith of foundation, father Aeneas is a migrant and the founder of the Roman civilization. He came in a boat from Asia requesting asylum after that his city, Troia, was burned, sacked and destroyed. I have relatives in the US and Argentina. Find your roots and you will discover your multi-cultural heritage because in reality there is not such a thing as "cultural purity". Then the question is to be open-minded and take every opportunity to learn. Diversity is basically a possibility. Communication difficulties are an opportunity to learn and to communicate. So: essentially, is a question of attitude.

2016-09-14 21:05:29 UTC

Elena Caruso

mialucrezia — 2016-09-14 21:39:10 UTC

All the aspects outlined in the videos are important, but I think that the fact to be curious, openminded and ready to try new things, comes before. To become an interculturally competent teacher I'd like to get more pedagogical and didactic tools.

Marcella, Italy

marfu7 — 2016-09-14 21:58:05 UTC

All the three aspects are interesting. I think, to develop intercultural competences, it's very important encourage cooperative social skills. Children also can overcome racial barriers interacting in a playful way.

Nickie Liaropoulou, Greece

liaropoulou — 2016-09-15 06:11:39 UTC

What kept coming to my mind while I was studying the material is the word "empathy", that is the ability to understand how other people feel and act accordingly. I find all 5 aspects that a culturally competent teacher needs to take into account equally important, seen through the prism of empathy. What I find most challenging is making (underpriviliged) students open up and overcome their reservations or even hostility towards school and teachers. For, in the case of minorities (or migrants or any other people that have suffered) the injustice they have suffered, either from other people or life itself, has left an indelible mark that takes a lot of effort to wipe out.

Federica, Italy

f_capuzzo — 2016-09-15 07:31:11 UTC

When it comes to diversity, acceptance and identity there are huge emotions involved. It is not just a question of logical thinking, guts feelings are present too. I teach 11-14 years old kids, a delicate phase of personal development. I meet boys and girls who need to find their way out in the society they live, in the family they live, in the class they share. Being different (and possibly not accepted by the group) or similar (popular and accepted), no matter on what level is a serious issue for them. At the same time they strive to become unique person. I feel the real challenge to develop intercultural competences as a teacher lies within the acceptance that pupils are different from you, they are from a different generation, different values and different approach to life matters altogether. l

Ioanna/Greece

2016-09-15 07:44:20 UTC

All the five areas are very important but the biggest challenge for me is the open mind and the empathy.

Spiridoula, Gree

silioga — 2016-09-15 09:45:56 UTC

All the areas outlined seem important. I need to work most on pedagogy.

Songül Kurt/Turkey

songulkurt_80 — 2016-09-15 09:52:35 UTC

Interculturally competent teacher needs to be good at crosscultural communication . We need to be aware of our own biases, we need to practice flexibility,slow down our responses and check our assumptions. we need to assume positive intentions, state our intentions to the people before us, and we really need to listen openly and empathically. We guide our students to learn to put themselves in their shoes, We need to NOT stereotype. In the 21st century teachers, and all the people, actually,must have skills to work collaboratively with other people from a variety of linguistics and cultural background. We must have a high degree of Interculturality. I have not a classroom culturally diversed yet, however I will teach in a new country in a new classroom with learners from diverse backgrounds, and it will be a big challenge for me to be able to create materials and resources that reflect diversity, as well as to integrate them inteaching, in a way that can produce good and longlasting results.

songulkurt_80 — 2016-09-15 10:05:51 UTC

Francesca Pecorella, Sicily, Italy

francesca_pecorella — 2016-09-15 10:15:54 UTC

In my opinion all the five areas explained from Tomislav are important, but for me the most important is "pedagogy". I think that if a teacher has a good method of approach with his students, everything gonna be alright! I know what i'm talking about because i'm graduated in pedagogy.

Natasa,

natixrysf — 2016-09-15 12:29:36 UTC

There's no doubt that all areas described by Tomislav are essential. I can't really choose on of them as the most important.. For me education is a summary of many thinks, of course pedagogy and didactic strategies are important but if you haven't resolved the language issues you won't be able to use these strategies... i think that education is about a combination of all that and many more. I think that the most challenging area is the parental involvement. Many times parents have bias against foreighn people and especially if their children are going to be classmates with children that spea different language or have different religion. Sometimes they think that this is going to undermind their children's education... So I believe it's a tricky situation to persuade a parent that an iintercultural education is positive for everyone... Also I believe that pedagogy is an area that a teacher can never be done with, there are always more and more to find out and improve your skills, so I deffinitely think that i should work most on that.

Antonio Barsottini - Italy I think that cultural and social differences are resources and not problems. In them we can find mankind history track and the contribute of thousands thinking minds. Each of us, with his own point of view, can contribute throwing his photon of light into the darkness of the isolation. The “problem” is to find the better way to merge heterogeneous background...but this is the very challenge of our work!

2016-09-15 12:48:33 UTC

Anna Cavallo, Italy

luica771 — 2016-09-15 12:59:34 UTC

Of course all these themes are important, but maybe improve the concept of social identity could be essential. we might teach to our students that everybody must be free to be and to show who he really is: our society must give soace to everybody, in this way it will grow in the right way. a close society is a place where diversity and foreign cultures don't find an equilibrium, so a dangerous place.

Charoula Michalakopoulou, Greece

charoulamich — 2016-09-15 13:22:12 UTC

The most important areas for me are the language issues and the emotional connection with the students of different cultural backgrounds. The biggest challenge for me is to be able to understand their way of thinking and to find experiential ways in order to connect with them.

Gianni Stival, Italy

gianni_stival — 2016-09-15 14:31:43 UTC

I have some difficulties to imagine how to deal with cultures too different from mine. As an example I am a science teacher and I teach evolution, in some muslim country it is illegal to teach evolution for religious reasons. I don’t know how to deal with students coming from these countries although I haven’t had jet.

Cinzia Ciancetta, Italy

2016-09-15 15:15:34 UTC

I think the first aspect to consider is language; there are many difficulties with students when they don't know it.. But the first isn't the most important, in my opinion: as teachers we have many opportunities to improve it. The most important aspect is the cultural identity; I think so in relation with my experiences with classrooms composed by italian students, balcanic ones, afrincas others.
The diversity of language is overpasseb with music, english and so on, but the different way of thinking can be an ostacle instead of a resourse. I teach to my students that difference in a unique value

Evangelia Chasapi, Greece

Evangelia_Chasapi — 2016-09-15 15:30:41 UTC

I think that the most important aspect when developing intercultural competence as a teacher is trying to persuade students that being different is a matter of our nature. We should have the willingness to be open to new experiences and we should teach our students to be proud of what they really are. This is a big challenge!

Ge, Italy

ma_la1976_gm — 2016-09-15 15:52:38 UTC

I thing that the positive attitude of a teacher who talks about differences with kids is fondamental. We don't have all the answers and we must deal with a lot of problems (languages, habits ..) but we can also starting macking answers and triyng to create our class material . Focusing at the relationship that are created during the learning process can contribute to develpod intercultural competences in very young learners.

Lucilla, Italy

l_raccosta — 2016-09-15 16:12:39 UTC

I think that the area that i need to work the most on is how create different type of resources and materials. in order to reach the objective to be an intercultural teacher is important try to involve our students 's parents and family. If we really want propose something from the others cultures we have to make research, study, find and involve directly our students in this research.

Vasilica Gazdac ,Romania

vasilicagazdac — 2016-09-15 16:23:00 UTC

I think the most important area is that it is necessary to develop materials and resources different from those usual.
Another important aspect is the real support of community and family involvement in this process of cultural diversity, involving all stakeholders interested in this activity.

Laura Mongiò, Torino

2016-09-15 16:38:14 UTC

I agree with Tomislaw and I think that all the five areas are very important for an intercultural teacher but also empathy and emotional connection are founding. The biggest challenge for me is to find, every day, a way to connect their different experiences with school subjects.

Georgia, Greece

georgiavou46 — 2016-09-15 16:39:18 UTC

I think that all the areas are very important.As a teacher you have to deal with every area particularly when you have to teach children from different backrounds.The biggest challenge for me is to find and intergrate diversity resources every day and connect them with the school subjects using every time the most suitable pedagogical method.

Gisella, Italy

gisellamarras — 2016-09-15 16:47:52 UTC

In my opinion Alicia focused on a very important ability that every teacher should have: the capacity to create materials and resources that reflect the cultural background of each student. I want to improve this ability!!!

[I forgot my name: so, forgive me: I can't edit the post, so: the anonymous is mine]

2016-09-15 17:08:45 UTC

Angelo, Italy

Serenella, Italy

serenella_ursitti — 2016-09-15 17:26:14 UTC

Especially in primary school, I think it's important to show interest in the diverse background of the student, appreciate its customs and traditions and show to all pupils as the knowledge of other cultures is an enrichment for our way of being and thinking.

Katerina Boukorou, Greece

kabouk — 2016-09-15 17:44:25 UTC

Every student of the same nation is not the same. Everyone has an own way to speak, react. They choose different clothes and they don’t have the same friends. I thing that a crucial step towards cultural diversity is to have the same opinion about nations, colors, religions. We are all the different and at the same time we are all same. Identities, cultures, traditions are the different perspective of the same thing. We all are human beings. Our differences are beautiful because beauty depends on differences. Being teachers that’ s what we must believe, that’ s what we must teach. And our students won’t forget that being in the same classroom with different nations is the best way to make new friends

Aurelia, Italy

2016-09-15 18:00:43 UTC

I think that all the areas are very important for an intercultural teacher, but the emotional connection and the empathy are founding. The biggest challenge for me is to integrate different experiences and resources, that include the different realities of our students. It’s important to change our views on migrants, because each person reflects on their culture and identity. So it’s necessary to respect cultural diversity and valorize the different aspects of the various foreign cultures.

carmen, italy

prof_ssa_desimone — 2016-09-15 19:20:11 UTC

everything we have listened is important , but I think the main condition is to be open-minded. Different Culture means that everybody has different languages ,habits,values that must be an opportunity for discussion,so Ithink that an teacher must create good community relationships.

For every students s important to be accepted by peer without loose his social identity

Gianliuk, Italia

Gianluca_Marano — 2016-09-15 19:46:56 UTC

https://tackk.com/edit/11996693
is right before reflect on their cultural identity, then the areas to work on are relational and emotional ones, in order to learn more about the experiences of students and ensure that they can know each other better.

Tanja

2016-09-16 06:30:04 UTC

I strongly agree with Carmen from Italy.

Georgina , Greece

2016-09-16 07:03:20 UTC

I found all the areas really important . We don't have to forget that our perceptions and actions ,reflect to our children's personality . There are many ways to develop intercultural competence in your class ,it is associated with every subject . Without doubt as Tomislav said parents play an important role to the adjustment of their children !

Ozan , Turkey

oznozn_08 — 2016-09-16 08:28:30 UTC

Everything said is important. I agree with Alicia, Erika and Tomislav. Additionally I'd like to say it's not the diversity but the people that discriminates between cultures. The truth is people are educatable which means the teachers have many things to do. We should create an environment of "knowing each other" rather than simply "respect". Because I think touching the different cultures brings respect. Since we teachers are the role models for the students, we need to get to know each other as well, as the first step.

Kiky, Italia

kika_pippo — 2016-09-16 09:24:00 UTC

I agree with them on everithing. We all need to be more open-minded but above all we need to be more kind/gentle/polite to other people and to learn to listen. Often it is easier to talk about ourselves and our culture because we know it, we are competent about it and we feel in a sort of confort zone and we listen to different people without really listening. Being good and polite listeners before being good speaker and teacher is the key, according to me.

Eleonora, Italy

eleonora_mauriello19 — 2016-09-16 09:30:34 UTC

Accepting others, despite their differences, is the first important area a teacher should consider, as it implies empathy, mutual understanding and social skills. Then, living diversity is essential, too, for example using the students' foreign names daily, as Erika points out in the video.
Becoming an interculturally competent teacher needs a change in one's perspectives, ad diversity offers a wider range of views.

Carmela, Italy

2016-09-16 13:57:15 UTC

The teacher must have curiosity and openness. Diversity has to be recognized and accepted, because everyone is different. Interest to another with his wealth of experience, language, culture is crucial. Have respect and teach respect is necessary, otherwise the intercultural education is just a farce. It 'also important to teach the love for own roots and traditions. There is not interlcultura if you cancel the differences.

Maria Anna Casoria

goli291174 — 2016-09-16 14:11:16 UTC

When teaching in classrooms with learners from diverse background, teachers should know how to be different respecting the others cultural values, beliefs and traditions

Maria,Italy

maria_sorvillo_rosaria — 2016-09-16 14:57:24 UTC

I think that all areas are fundamental but have intercultural competence means placing as elements of the educational relationship dialogue, listening, joint research and use of active methodologies.

Miriam,Italy

aleemattia — 2016-09-16 15:03:42 UTC

I think that to be a valid multicultural teacher is important to know as much as possible of other cultures. You can get great results by working students and their families. In music and art i have often left freedom of expression and then be able to make a constructive dialogue on cultural differences of the various countries in the class.

Mirko, Ital

m_vignoli3 — 2016-09-16 15:19:33 UTC

The teacher must have a good cross-cultural communicative competence therefore must have motivation, knowledge and ability to teach others. He should know properly interact with all the different cultures he encounters. He must put aside their pregiugiudizi and mindsets that his culture brings with it for generations.

Natalja, Lithuania

2016-09-16 16:04:56 UTC

I think that all areas are important. It is very interesting to speak with students from another countries, you can learn more about theirs cultures and traditions. Teachers can start theirs lesson with the acquaintanceship, dialogue with all students that they will know more about each other.

Maddalena, Italy- Grow together is beautiful!

maddinaweb — 2016-09-16 16:09:09 UTC

I believe that cultural differences are managed in a completely natural way between peers ; I think that the central point is the fear of making mistakes and sense of inadequacy felt by us adults on cultural differences.
It is not an easy task, I can imagine ! I don’t  have much experience in this regard ; I had only three foreign students so far and I've taken advantage! The children , all together , have found a way for me ... for us ... the key was to share emotions , personal life stories and stories of everyday life of each of us .

Simona, Italy

simona_depaola — 2016-09-16 16:28:02 UTC

Simona, Italy

simona_depaola — 2016-09-16 16:29:13 UTC

I think that the Iceberg Model of Cultural awareness is a useful tool for reflecting

Simona, Italy

simona_depaola — 2016-09-16 16:30:09 UTC

I think that the Iceberg Model of Cultural awareness is a useful tool for reflecting about cross cultural links in a multicultural society. At first every teacher should think about his/her limits and strenghts about cultural diveristy, in order to overcome cultural stereotypes. Culture is compared to an iceberg which has both visible and invisible parts. Elements of culture which we can experience (food, habits) are represented by the upper portion of the iceberg. Those elements which are not as obvious such as why someone eats or dresses the way they do are represented by the much larger portion of the iceberg underwater. as teachers we must explore the inner part of the iceberg and teach students to do the same.

Triantafyllia. Greece

sivakatr — 2016-09-16 18:34:26 UTC

I think parental involvement is very important because their influence is essential on the students

Wolfgang, Austria

oelzant — 2016-09-16 18:37:08 UTC

The most important for me is to be open for other cultures and to approach students without prejudices. Adn it is also very importatn to be aware of your own values and to defend them. You must make clear that societies are different and that in your society there are certain rules everyone has to follow.

Stamatia Stamati, Ioannina-Greece

stamatiast — 2016-09-16 18:49:21 UTC

Open mind, kindness, solidarity.

Patrizia V., Italy

vinci_patrizia — 2016-09-16 19:08:11 UTC

It's relevant to break down prejudices, showing diversity as a normal way of living, underlining that different values according to different societies have the same importance and have to be respected a yours own.

Nikos Greece

2016-09-16 20:30:03 UTC

Areas we need to have knowledge on : Language ,Pedagogy , Social Identity ,Parental Involvement, Community Relationships

Valbona Shkembi.Albania

2016-09-16 21:04:49 UTC

Cultures do have distinctive learning style patterns, but the great variation among individuals within groups means that educators must use diverse teaching strategies with all students.

Our ability to give every child a chance to succeed in school depends upon a full understanding of culture and learning styles. After all, effective educational decisions and practices must emanate from an understanding of the ways that individuals learn.

Elena, Italy

elesanesi — 2016-09-16 21:12:22 UTC

I teach in a primary school and it is nice to see how children naturally exceed the prejudices that adults have . I think that the involvement of parents of all children is a very important aspect.

Giulio, Italy

giulio_picciolini1 — 2016-09-16 21:23:46 UTC

First of all we must be open. It is not simple nor obvious thing because it is an attitude that must be maintained over time. For this we need to constantly reflect on our cultural values in order to deepen the awareness. Finally, I believe we must act with the other teachers and with the family because cultural diversity is a cross-cutting issue in curricula

Svetlana Gornostaeva

2016-09-17 04:21:58 UTC

From video I liked Erika idea/thing about that teacher should now , who she/he is. Sometie we do not know wh we are. It is true. Some ties after fallen lesson , I feel frustration and i a not sure that I am good teacher. I lied Tomislav idea about xenofobia and family. In Estonia we only just have started working with pople from different culture. For me it difficult. Some ties after lessons I doubt, that i do all for another cultural students.

Georgia Konstantia Karagianni, Greece

jimfayo806 — 2016-09-17 06:51:34 UTC

In my opinion, ''teaching out of our comfort zone'' is a great challenge. Only if we as teachers are willing to change and try different ways will we be able to show the way to our students. We shouldn't forget that we teach through our example, therefore acceptance, care for others, solidarity and respect should be our motto and way of living. Of course, what is also needed is knowledge of pedagogy and didactics and of course psychology.

Monica Iorga , Romania

2016-09-17 06:57:36 UTC

The great challenge for us is to learn our students to love and understand each other because we all are different , fortunately !

Sabrina, Italy

gsabibou — 2016-09-17 09:17:17 UTC

I agree with the opinions in the videos. First of all we must be open, which is sometimes difficult for Teachers, especially for some aged tachers. When you are open-minded you can see and accept cultural diversity and you are able to valorize diversities. Moreover, we may have different cultures and traditions, but we may well have some values in common.
Personally I find it difficult to involve families, because they sometimes do not speak my Language and I fear they feel frustrated about the new situation in a new country.

Xanthi, Greece

xalbanaki — 2016-09-17 09:31:50 UTC

I agree with the opinions on video. Teachers have a signiﬁcant role to play in supporting children and families of cultural and language diverse.

They must welcoming and help to build a sense of belonging and trust for students and their families.

Marco, Italy

marco_saccucci — 2016-09-17 10:27:08 UTC

Teachers are often reluctant to attend classes and courses where they could learn how to deal with these specific issues.

Maria, Greece

mmagga — 2016-09-17 10:32:22 UTC

I totally agree that teachers need to be themselves open to new ideas and shouldn't be afraid to experiment and try new things. Of course, as it was said in the video, if I don't know who I am, how can I accept other ways of thinking?

Krystyna Pasek-Corsar, UK

krysiapasek — 2016-09-17 10:58:04 UTC

All the aspects are equally important. I need to concentrate on students involvement as the type of students I have are very negative towards any type of involvement, very often it is seen by students and parents as picking on their culture rather than presenting and trying to understand their culture.
So many society are almost ashamed that they are not British or they roots are not British, so instead of being proud for having the opportunities of being divers they see it as something negative. on the other hand there are students and parents that do not want to accept the culture of the country they live in causing a lot of negative impression. There is a lot of work done by teachers already trying to explain diversity and the benefits of it but on the other hand there must be the will in arriving migrants to be able to accept our culture too. If both sites will be willing to accept and understand each others' culture then diversity will be a great opportunity and a basket of benefits for all world.
I have the privilege to live in a very diverse family and society. I am Polish working in England, my husband is Scottish that grow up in South Africa, my step son was born in South Africa and now is studying her in England. I have friends from all over the world and I am extremely proud of it. I will loose a lot form my life if the diversity will disappear and this is what I want to pass to my students.

Konstantinos, Greece

2016-09-17 11:00:35 UTC

All the aspects aare equally interesting and look fascinating. I am not sure, though, if it whould be easy to practice them in my school. Of cource nobody knows if we don't try!

Chiara Carbonari, Italy. I think that every area is fundamental to be an interculturally competent teacher, but I think that there is a priority between the skills to achieve. For example is not useful to prepare materials that reflects diversity if we don’t know our students, their backgrounds and their needs. So I think that Alicia outlined different areas in an order of priority: own cultural values, live the diversity, be open, integrate different resources, integrate cultural diversity as a cross-curricular theme.

chiara_carbonari — 2016-09-17 13:13:54 UTC

Elisabetta C., Vicenza, Italy

welcomenew — 2016-09-17 14:22:58 UTC

Language competence is a bit tricky, of course and that also makes parents' involvement difficult. Social identity/psychology norms and pedagogy are the most pertaining areas as far as teachers are concerned, I mean the ones we have the most opportunities to do something. I hope this course will give us some specific tools.

Carmela P. Italy

perri_carmela — 2016-09-17 14:41:05 UTC

Intercultural differences are important because many teachers everyday meet the diversity in the classes.
Intecultural

Ispir Iuliana-Florentina, Romania

ispiriuliana — 2016-09-17 14:59:32 UTC

Acceptance of diversity is particularly important. Usually the child has a tendency to speak in their own language, ignoring the language community where it was. Therefore important is acceptance. Same happens with religion, clothing and artistic activities. As stated Alicia, Erika and Tomislav all are important. A teacher needs to know all these things and promote them among community present. In my part I wish I could know the language minority community in our particular gypsy language. In the majority of the Roma community areas, teachers are specialized training programs to be put us in difficulty.

Clara Abegão, Portugal

claraabegao — 2016-09-17 15:00:17 UTC

I cannot decide which aspect I value more, because I believe that all are equally important. For me, being a interculturally competent teacher means someone provided with all the key skills refered in the videos, who:

• notices the similarities and differences between his own culture and the culture of a society whose language is the subject of study;

• has the ability to analyze new cultural phenomena, including traditions and behaviors of other communities;

• has the ability to perceive other people and their cases through the eyes of the members of other cultures and understand their point of view, which unable to recognize their cultural traditions in contrast to the own community tradition and the knowledge of own historical roots;

• use this knowledge to obtain more objectified image of own culture, customs, traditions and ways of thinking;

• is tolerant and has the ability to have peaceful contact with the representatives of other culture;

• has the ability to deal with the contact with the representatives of other cultures and ethnic groups, including coping cross-cultural misunderstandings.

Alexandra, Greece

alecakarkatsa — 2016-09-17 15:54:53 UTC

Intercultural competence as a teacher is a whole new area in which we still have little experience. My views should be modified, teaching materials must be updated and managing a multicultural class is a challlenge in itself.
Parental involvement is an issue which may be overlooked, but I believe it is essential. Home is where everything begins and eventually ends up, so if the parents see in a positive way the teacher's efforts to integrate her students, this will also show up in the child's attitude, as well.

Maria Filippa - Italy

2016-09-17 16:24:56 UTC

I agree with the idea that if we want to develop intercultural competence in our students we need to reflect on our own intercultural competence in other words we have to think about our cultural values, beliefs, traditions, etc. and how these impact on our use of language and actions in the classroom. We need also to be open to change and to what is new.

Cristina, R

voicuelena18 — 2016-09-17 16:40:16 UTC

Cristina, Romania

voicuelena18 — 2016-09-17 16:40:17 UTC

It is true that you should reflect your own intercultural competences, to know who you are, your values. I really can't choose just one aspect because all are very important.

Lino Milita - Italy

lino_milita — 2016-09-17 16:45:44 UTC

A teacher has to devote time for self-examination about his stereotypes. A group work with other teachers, well-marked on time and organized in thematic areas, could offer a common database to process a typical behavior pattern of their cultural origin towards those of the multicultural class students. The first approach should be to encourage students to talk about their daily lifestyle: the times and the places where you eat and what you eat; friends with whom we spend the afternoon and related activities. The extracurricular interests: music, sports, movies, hobbies.

Rania, Greece

raniasarri68 — 2016-09-17 17:08:03 UTC

Throughout the years of working with culturally diverse children I have changed. I too was raised with stereotypes. I was able to reflect on my views especially when I started studying the issue for my postgraduate studies. It still pains me to find how immigrant children who arrive in my country are almost always mainstreamed into the Greek culture and language with their linguistic and cultural background ignored or even considered an obstacle to learning.

There are also things I still need to work on. I find that there are difficulties with the parents who are often sceptic about the diversity of our classes. There are problems in explaining to parents of immigrant children how important it is to preserve the language of origin at home. I need to improve the way I embed all these values in my lesson. It is a long list… But I will keep trying. ;

Sónia Rocha, Porto, Portugal

soniacmr18 — 2016-09-17 17:14:52 UTC

A first step towards intercultural competence terms as a teacher is necessary above all respect. Respect is the basis for understanding different cultures, know the services, the society different from ours, we do not know. When we respect we are proving that globalization is possible in view of competent and individual citizens but a whole.
Being different is equal because we respect us.

Danuta, Pl

2016-09-17 17:54:27 UTC

To know who I am. To be self-confident with their own family, cultural and religious background is essential for teachers who want to become interculturally competent. That’s the first step. However, it won’t work if the teachers are not willing to try new things, are not open to others, relays only on their traditional sources of knowledge. Personally, I feel I am in my own comfort zone because I haven’t experienced the negative sides of migration in the sense that we don’t have such students in our school. Participation in this course, reading other teachers posts let me gather some knowledge to be prepared in case such students will arrive at our school.
Besides our mentors videos, I like Krystyna’s post who share her expertise on the experience with the negative attitude of her students and /or parents.
Also Ozan’s who says “knowing each other” should be put before “respect”.

Caterina Musmeci, Italy

kmusmeci — 2016-09-17 18:41:07 UTC

Both video suggest very interesting aspects. It is essential regard the multicultural class not a problem but a resource, nay, a great resource.

Markus, Germany

markusklecker — 2016-09-17 19:00:36 UTC

It is very important to be aware of your own values and beliefs. Getting access to someone elses culture seems so much easier if you are getting to know each other. So you will be very happy to find some interesting similarities and remarkable differences.

Maja, Croatia

maja_kutnjak — 2016-09-17 19:25:32 UTC

I found both videos interesting, but I would like to point out two things which were mentioned in video:
1. parental involvement - if we want deeper changes within our student (and schools), we must involve parents. Without their productive contribution and compatibility between school and family environment, children are faced with double standards and contradictory messages.
2. dominant vs. subdominant culture - we all have a tendency to consider our own culture as dominant and more valuable. And, sometimes, even if we do our best, prejudice and stereotypes come to the surface. I think it`s our professional responsibility, duty and obligation to become aware of our hidden attitudes and how they reflect to our teaching practice. "The greatest prejudice is that we don`t have prejudice."
3. support of multiple identities - working with Roma children, I feel very sad realizing how they are often embarrassed of their own culture and Roma identity. They are discouraged and many times they don`t have visions what they could become. They themselves put limits on possibilities what they can achieve.

Daniela, Italy

2016-09-17 19:34:12 UTC

I think that one of the thing we need to work the most on is the pedagogy, which is important also when you teach a foreign language. Through the pedagogy, you teach how to learn and improve social skills and how to deal with cultural norms that are often different in the countries which are not our country of origin.
Plus, the pedagogy is also useful for knowing more about social inclusion, which is very important, not just for the children.

Elisabete, Portugal

informatic — 2016-09-17 19:36:33 UTC

Be open and willing to learn all time, with everybody, and students are what matter not only focus in teaching the curriculum... "difference is ok", inovate and promote it ... "think out the box" , "create time and space for different kind of activities" to think about this, and talk aout this.

Cristina G., Romania

2016-09-17 20:52:57 UTC

I think in XXth century to be a good teacher mean to be open minder, a good speaker and listener.

First is important to remember everyone has his identity, family and cultural background. Second we must stimulate the curiosity of the students and create together resources about cultural diversity. It is important to teach our students is ok to be different .

Getting parent involved is another challenge for me.

Maria Pia - Italy

conte_marp — 2016-09-17 20:58:59 UTC

In my opinion all these areas are important, but Pedagogy is the basis of all teaching
.

Daniela Millini, Ital

2016-09-17 21:08:43 UTC

Daniela Millini, Italy

2016-09-17 21:08:43 UTC

I think that being able to promote "Different is ok" as a motto in our schools, and our communities, will be a big step forward in order to develop both our students' and our own intercultural competences. I'm convinced that serious reflection on and awareness of one's own values, beliefs, background is a very important, necessary moment, if we really want to be able to accept and respect diversity. Going into and beyond stereotypes and generalizations about ourselves and our own idea of our culture can really help us see things from a different point of view and open our minds unexpected knowledge. And this kind of "exercise" should involve teachers of all school subjects, because we sometimes still transmit and strengthen prejudices and stereotyes even when 'teaching' geography, or history :(

Maria Grazia, Italy

giambigia — 2016-09-17 22:59:55 UTC

I think that achieving peace of mind is a fundamental obiective at any age. Maybe, when we face to a lot of student of different backgrounds, this can require more competence and knowledge about the country the students come from.

Anna-Maria Panagiotidou

ann_apana — 2016-09-18 07:28:36 UTC

-Be open for new things
-The set of 5 Knowledge, skills and attitudes

Nancy Papachristou, Greece

nancy_papa — 2016-09-18 07:38:31 UTC

As for me the key word is empathy. Acceptance, openness, kindness folow.

It is so important to walk a mile in someone else's shoes in order to understand his feelings, his experiences, his point of view.

Rossella, Italy

RossellaR — 2016-09-18 08:11:55 UTC

I think all the areas covered by Alicia, Erika and Tomislav are important and essential: cultural values , diversity , open to the new , cultural integration.

The challenges of intercultural education , are different :
1. To strengthen their individual or group identities not in opposition , but in communication with others .
2. Develop a curious personality , attentive , helpful, democratic , sensitive , respectful of others .
3. Become able to reflect on themselves , about others, about stereotypes and prejudices . demonstrating self-critical capacity.
4. Be aware of the complexity , but also the relativity of points of view and then be able to change your own.
5. Be able to accept and constructively coexist with different. recognizing their rights.

Arianna, Italy

ariannasinisi85 — 2016-09-18 08:33:50 UTC

Developing intercultural competence as a teacher. The teacher should know confront diversity without prejudice, be able to develop an intercultural environment and motivate pupils to confront. Learning a language in fact you should not limit to learning to speak correctly, but should help open up the prospects of our children toward a broader vision of the world and therefore to greater intercultural understanding.Although culture is now perceived as an important element in the classroom and the curriculum there is much lack of information on how to approach the culture in teaching. We must provide our students with the skills and cultural sensitivity to deal successfully with other cultures without prejudice, while maintaining their own identity

Valeria, Italy

vally_benatti — 2016-09-18 08:56:01 UTC

According to me, the key aspect of intercultural competence is to develop students' awareness about the similarities and differences among the cultures they are in contact with. It is a double-sided coin, which therefore requires double effort. On the one hand, the teacher must be competent in his/her own culture and teach students to respect and appreciate it. On the other hand, he/she needs to teach students the beauty of difference as something that enriches us and dos not menace our own identity.
Through this learning path, one of the most difficult goal for teachers is to realise that they must be learners too, they will never have everything completely under control, they will constantly need to update their resurces and way of teaching. Even during a class, some intercultural "interference" may arise, and they might have to improvise to overcome it. Maybe, however, the solution to this problem is shifting our own point of vie and start to condider this "interference" an OPPORTUNITY

Ester, Italy

2016-09-18 10:59:59 UTC

I think all the areas outlined are important for an intercultural teacher, although to be open minded and ready to learn new things and change the perspective is surely a key competence.
I think a challenge is to work on the way of verbal and non verbal communication which should be the most intercultural possible. The involvement of the parents and the creation of relationships in the community can also be hard and challenging.

Stavroula, Greece

pde4424 — 2016-09-18 11:31:41 UTC

1) Be open to others

2) Give space to others

3) It's ok to be different

4) Acceptance is important

5) Willness to learn and make others feel comfortable

6) Awareness of similarities and differences
7) Creation of multi-cultural class material

Silvia Giani,Italy

silvia_giani — 2016-09-18 12:12:23 UTC

According to me,the most important factors are:
-to accept and to respect other values and cultures
-to promote the idea that it is ok to be different
-to be open-minded

-to experiment new things and multicultural practices
A hard challenge would be to involve the students' parents and the social community in a multicultural project at school.

Amélia Vilarinho, Belgium

2016-09-18 12:32:30 UTC

Reflecting on our own cultural values helps us to recognize that a person's beliefs and behaviors must also be understood in terms of their own culture.
Speaking different languages became natural way of verbal communication in school.It requires some flexibility and can be fun!
Parents involvement always help us, as teachers, to better understand their children traditions, cultural preferences and family social roots and habits.
Integrate diverse resources in which children can identify themselves in their cultural and linguistic diversity is a fundamental tool for teachers and students to embrace multiculturalism in school.

Alessandra Pavese, Italy

2016-09-18 12:38:38 UTC

I think that know who you are is mandatory for a teacher but the biggest challenge is to have a deep knowledge of other cultures so to be able to integrate them in our teaching material.

Alice Cabrelle, Italy

2016-09-18 14:39:54 UTC

In my opinion, you have to develop also emphaty in order to reach students, understand their fear, emotuions, hopes. I think that I should focus on allow students to be different, try to find spaces and time to value diversity. Moreover, I should try to integrate diverse resource, expecially during literature lessons.

Silvia, Italy. I think that the biggest challenge we have to face as educators is to involve parents and work on community relationships. Children's beliefs towards other cultures closely reflect their parents' as well as racial tensions in the classroom reflect those outside. I also agree with Alicia that it is very important for teachers to be open and willing to explore new experiences and to share their successful activities.

2016-09-18 14:56:57 UTC

Augusto. Italy

augusto_tedesco — 2016-09-18 15:02:32 UTC

I think that only through adequate communication and dialogue we can really develop and increase intercultural competences. That is why it is fundamental to know each other, in order to find the links common to all of us while trying to reduce as much as possible the weight of differences, turning them into an opportunity to learn something new. In fact too often our students seem to be scared of what and who they do not know: our task as teachers is to help them overcome this fear getting them to be better women and men.

Evi Karella-Greece

spevispevi — 2016-09-18 15:32:00 UTC

1. to obtain knowledge for new cultures, to cultivate positive attitude about cultural diversity
2. I need to work the most on parents' worries and concerns.
3. the biggest challenge for me is to overcome denial of cultural differences in my school.

Anna, Itlay

pastorino_anna — 2016-09-18 15:40:57 UTC

For five years I taught children with special needs. They have taught me that their disabilities depended on us. A boy in a wheelchair told me that he was able to talk to so many people but not if to do so had to go up on the platform where the microphone was. We are all different from each other, it becomes a problem when we see it as such and we are overwhelmed by fear of the unknown. If we allow ourselves the time we will understand almost immediately that we are not so different: we love our children, we want to be happy, we like that the company recognize our strengths.

Elena FP, Italy

2016-09-18 15:48:19 UTC

I think we as teachers should foster intercultural knowledge and understanding, because different cultures should not just be 'accepted'. We can learn from each other and at the same time, learn more about us. From this point of view, we should involve families and local stakeholders in the process, because intercultural education should not be only a school matter.

Valeria Orazi, Italy

marito31813 — 2016-09-18 15:51:04 UTC

Both videos suggest interesting aspects to improve intercultural competence. However I think the most important aspects are:
1- reflect to our cultural values in order to know ourselves, our beliefs and sometimes, our prejudices.
2-speak different languages is the only way to communicate with people who don't speak our language
3-parent involvement
is important if we want to really change the society and not only school

Nube Purpurea, Italy

2016-09-18 16:02:17 UTC

I've reflected on Erika's statement that often we, as teachers, risk to behave like if our culture should be considered the best ever. We should give more space to each one of our students, and let he try to make us know him better, without judging or assess what we listen to, but simply open our mind to everybody... It should be great!

Paola, Italy

paolagag — 2016-09-18 16:33:47 UTC

I think that "live the diversity" and "be open to try new things" are the most important requirement of an interculturally competent teacher. The biggest challenge for me is to take nothing for granted and to accept the comparison with the willingness to change.

Surely all the areas outlined in the video have their own importance, and a competent intercultural teacher should work to develop all of them, but I think that a teacher must be open to diversity; as Erika says: "come out of the comfort zone". He should acknowledge both individual and cultural differences enthusiastically and identify the dfferences in a positive manner.

rosalba_cerrone01 — 2016-09-18 16:42:00 UTC

Rosalba

Pietra, Italy

pietra_sellaro — 2016-09-18 17:16:44 UTC

According to me al the areas that Alicia, Erika and Tomislav outline are important.However I think that first is important that we teachers have an intercultural thinking and we consider others as a resource and not as an obstacle. We must promote intercultural dialogue through the comparison between the different cultures, dialogue and socializing. Just so everyone will be a part of everything and will learn each according to his ability' and their own learning pace

Zenaida, Romania

zenaida_ieremie — 2016-09-18 17:47:43 UTC

In my opinion, although all areas that were discussed in the videos are important, we should pay special attention to social identity and parent involvement as these are very important in the children's social development. Parent involvement is presented as a
challenge to me.

Ourania Ropi, Greece

raniaropi — 2016-09-18 17:47:44 UTC

I believe that all the aspects presented on these videos are very important. In order to become culturally competent it is important not only to apply the appropriate methods in the classroom but also to examine your beliefs and ideas. That said I would like to point out the parental involvement which is reffered in the third video, because parents' involvement is very important for the integration of the children in school and in the community

Simona C., Italy

simoneva_2000 — 2016-09-18 17:52:03 UTC

I really like the statement: “Live the diversity!”. I think it is a good way to practice the diversity at school. As teachers, we should be able to transmit enthusiasm and curiosity in learning new things, in opening class discussions and making comparisons with positive purposes. All students should be at their ease and be proud of sharing their own habits or traditions to integrate the class resources, together with the teacher. I think the five skills underlined in the second video are very interesting. To become a better interculturally competence teacher I would like to learn more about the parental environment of my students and improve the community relationships within the class or the school, by working with my colleagues.

Annamaria, Italy

2016-09-18 18:07:25 UTC

As teachers we should leave our "comfort zone" and be open to try new things and integrte diverse resources.

Maria Cristina, Italy

2016-09-18 18:11:42 UTC

I agree with them: We should feel and believe that diversity (even "our" diversity) is a source of knowledge and we should concentrate our learning/teaching on curiosity and acceptance.

Giulia Italia

giulia_bernieri — 2016-09-18 18:17:28 UTC

It is very interesting having pupils from other countries. We can learn more. It is a big opportunity for the class. Pupils are all friends. In my classe I have maroccan, albanian, russian pupils not only italian ones. It is difficult when they don't speak a single word, The teacher must help them to learn the new language, the topics and also italian culture, but the teacher mustn't forget that he breath another culture, he speak another language at home. He mustn't think that he is different but that he is a part of the class!

Marialena Christodoulidou, Cyprus

marialenachrist — 2016-09-18 19:06:03 UTC

First a teacher has to examine his/her beliefs and ideas, this is very significant. In addition parents' involvement is very important for the integration of the children in school and in the community. Teachers can learn from their students as pupils from their teachers. they can interact to each other

Apostolia Maladaki

amalad73 — 2016-09-18 19:55:18 UTC

I found all the topics important . I believe that we as teachers must accept at first the diversity as a crucial element of today . we have to open with our colleagues at first and discuss ways of being creative in matters of different culture. Contact with parents is really important in order to make them feel relaxed and gain their trust. This will help our job in classroom too.

Athina Ginoudi

2016-09-18 20:05:32 UTC

I agree that we have a challenge in our classrooms.I agree also that there are different dimensions. I would like to work on social psychology issues.

Keratso Georgiadou

2016-09-18 20:09:20 UTC

I really agree with Errika that the first step is to evaluate our cultural background and values. First we have to see what we are as people in a world rapidly changing, what we believe about other people, if we are open in meeting and cooperating with people with different culture. Secondly we have to face 21st century's reality that our lives will not be as used to be in the years before and we will have to live with people of different culture, religion and language together. That means cooperation, tolerance, respect to difference of the other.

Calcedonio Fabio Seminerio

2016-09-18 20:34:24 UTC

I agree with Erika when she says we have to know who we are, which our roots are in order to be open to different cultures or identities. Furthermore, I believe we have to know each student's social backgrounds and the dynamics of his origin group. Pedagogy and psychology knowledge are important as well

Elena Azzurra, Italy

2016-09-18 20:46:29 UTC

I really like the idea that the teacher creates a space for different cultures in his/her lessons and tries to use resources that embodies themselves the cultural variety. We can simple start by using names from other countries in our examples! I find this a great way to integrate differences naturally in our lesson and, as a result, to make them "normality."

Elisabetta, Italy

EB77 — 2016-09-18 21:06:58 UTC

I agree with Erika when she says that we have to be open to others, however we might as well be still identifying ourselves and discovering our true self in the process, so I think it might be a whole journey towards others and towards ourselves at the same time. I think, as Alicia, that we, being teachers, have to give space to every student coming from a different culture, and use their own names. I always do my best to learn the correct pronounciation right from the start, because I know well how unconfortable it makes you feel when someone mispronounces your name or doesn’t even make an effort to learn it. Besides, being a teacher in my opinion cannot but imply a strong and everlasting willingness to experiment and try new things, integrate different resources, throughout your entire career. That is a big challenge, as well as being skilled on pedagogy, social identity and social psychology norms, as Tomislav outlined in his answer. Getting to know the students’ background and their community relationshisp is also equally important and I do agree with him.

Ana Nojkovska

spasovska_ana — 2016-09-18 21:33:27 UTC

I agree with most of what they said, especially the idea that the teacher creates a space for different cultures. Alicia was totally right when she said that we as teachers should give space to every student. Knowing the right pronounciation of their names is very important, too I also agree with Erica about knowing who we are, the most important thing is to know our roots, our own culture.

Katerina Regouza, Greece

2016-09-19 03:50:29 UTC

Alicia is right in pointing out that the teacher who is willing to accept and experiment with a different reality to him/her plays the most important role in creating positive intercultural atmosphere in the classroom. Erika's point about "moving out of our comfort zone' mentioned by Rosalba as well, is an essential step to the right direction.
Alicia's suggestion that we, teachers, should create materials and resources that reflect diversity in their own classroom situations. We should also have in mind that the feeling of support and togetherness will be enhanced if, as Alicia points out, we create situations for cross-cultural activities regularly and it becomes a classroom routine.
I think that the biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher is dealing with stereotypical beliefs I may have, eg. the idea of dominant vs. subdominant culture, in the case of Roma mentioned by Maja from Croatia as well.

Graziana, Italy

beinatgraziana — 2016-09-19 06:00:45 UTC

I think it is normal to be different outside and inside the school, as Erika says. What stands a challenge for me is “moving out from the comfort zone” and be open to try new things with my students.

Joserra, Spain

joserraj — 2016-09-19 06:39:24 UTC

I agree with the three of them.
The starting point should be to know who we re and which is our cultural background. Once we know it we can open our minds to different cultures,identities and points of view. We must consider other cultures as something that can enrich us.

IDA, ITALY

idadinatale — 2016-09-19 08:26:29 UTC

I think cultural diversity is a multifocal argue and so we need to consider more topics, such as personal identity, language, social identity, parental involvement, pedagogy and community relationship. For me, according to Erika, the first step is exploring yourself, so you can interact with the others in a clearer way.
Becoming an intercultural classroom/society is my big challenge, as cultural teacher, and for achieving this we need to approach the theme with every of topics, mentioned above.

Patrizia, Italy

corapatrizia — 2016-09-19 08:36:13 UTC

Erika is right: w eneed to be aware of the kind of person we are and what's our position. Being "open", as Alicia says, is a prerequisite and it's a process; it' s something we may already have or we learn, sometimes, by making mistakes ourselves. I agree with Alicia when she says that our didactics, even our own materials, need to be reviewed and adapted to different students, cultures and nationalities we have in our class. I enjoy the idea - suggested by Alicia - of having a day dedicated to a particular country or ethnic group and I think I will start from taht.

Barbara, Italy

barbaravg85 — 2016-09-19 09:07:55 UTC

PAOLA, ITALY

2016-09-19 09:34:42 UTC

Nils / Germany

2016-09-19 12:07:30 UTC

The biggest challenge for me is to deal with racism.

Evangelia Triantafyllou, Greece

evatria — 2016-09-19 13:28:08 UTC

I think that what Erika says in the first video about teachers reflecting on their own values and thinking about their own family, social, religious etc. backgrounds is very important. I realise that due to the limitations imposed by the coursebooks used, i do not allow space for new cultures in my teaching situation. Therefore, I should integrate diverse resources - which I do, but not as often as I could- and use materials that affect diversity

Cinzia

2016-09-19 13:54:58 UTC

Cinzia

2016-09-19 13:55:02 UTC

I agree with the three of them. It's true: I must know myself, my values, my background. If I Know myself I can open my mind in order to others cultures. It's a good idea to have a day dedicated to a country; in this way every student has a space to talk about his culture, tradition.... Last year there was in my class a student that came from Egypt. He didn't speak Italian well, but i tried to involve in my lessons thanks to pictures and materials created with his help. He had an interesting lesson about his country (in ppt)....and all the other students were very interested, asked questions and made a comparison with their culture.

Maria Anagnostidou Serres/Greece

2016-09-19 14:26:52 UTC

The biggest challenge for me is to deal with the racial prejudices of the parents.

Angelo, Rivoli, Italy

Angelo — 2016-09-19 14:44:33 UTC

Intercultural approach, my key points, according to videos are:

it's a question of values: diversity is normal
intercultural => willingness to experiment, to have not all the answers
courage to move outside our confort zone
access key = curiosity
no need to reinvent the wheel
the issue is to create spaces, opportunities

Thomas, Germany

2016-09-19 15:35:12 UTC

The biggest deals are to fight racissm and reflecting values and cultural backgrounds

Maria M., Italy

pantalaimon82 — 2016-09-19 15:43:32 UTC

All the areas are very important. I think that each student needs a place where he can be who he is. This is not easy.
I have to work a lot on live the differences and integrate cultural diversity as a cross-curricular theme.
Parent involvement can be my bigger challenge.

I agree with most of the things Alicia, Erika and Tomislav said. Reflecting on who we are, is surely the starting point: we must be aware of what cultural pattern we have, because even those thoughts and words that we think as neutral, could be culturally marked. Obviously, this is not a problem, but detecting these cultural traits can help us to deal with childrens'other traits. I think that be curious and open towards childrens'cultures is very important, as integrating diverse resources. We should move out our confort zone, try to built up continuously links among cultures: even very simple expedients like using foreign names in our examples, can be crucial for our kids. I surely have to work hard in this area and in integreating cultural diversity as a cross curricular them as well. The aspect I consider really challenging is the parental involvement and the community relationships. I understand how important these could be, but I know that is not simple at all.

ladyrandal — 2016-09-19 15:51:11 UTC

Rosa Giuliano- Italy

rosag73 — 2016-09-19 15:51:28 UTC

I think that the main and most important aspects are:

1. Be aware of our personal, social, background. We are what we have experienced and learned during our life and we have to consider how this can influence our teaching to foreign students and how much we are tied to our points of view.

2. Move from our Comfort Zone. The second step is to do something different, to experience what is new, trying to understand it and showing respect of what is different. Four years ago I had seven students coming from different parts of Africa. They were minors and they arrived in Italy without their parents, some of them have lost their families. When I met them for the first time I felt they didn't trust me ( a stranger and a woman!) and I think they felt I was scared, too! I was facing something I wasn't prepared to do. I had to break through the wall! I spent days and nights to understand how to do it. Finally a day I went into the class and I started to greet them in their language! I had spent the previous day to find a FULA dictionary on line and to learn some sentences (at school I had pieces of paper hidden in my pocket but they didn't notice them!). From that moment it was love. I think I showed them respect, they understood I was really interested in them.

3 Parental involvement. As Mr Tomislav Tudjiman says, parents are essential to our students carreer. This could be a problem, I think. Sometimes parents are skeptical and they cause to be useless all your efforts. They don't trust you and that's another WALL to break through!

I think that before teaching what we know we have to create empathy with our students.

Gabriella

gabrita2003 — 2016-09-19 15:54:22 UTC

Gabriella T. - Italy

gabrita2003 — 2016-09-19 15:54:23 UTC

I' m agree with Alicia, Erika and Tomislav.
It's very important:
* to know who we are ,with our story our culture, our fears and our security.
* to understand that who is different for culture, colour, religion, is not an enimy
* to try listening each other without prejudice.
I'd like to be able to do this for my oung students.

Maria Panou/ Kalymnos/Greece

maria_themelis — 2016-09-19 15:59:11 UTC

I agree that it's very important for teacher to know him/herself who he is really as a person. He/her also must know how language, pedagogy, social identity, psychology, parental control and interest can offer to manage teach to a diversity classroom. Here in Kalymnos, we live another way of helping refugees they are very often at our island. We love and care of them as very grateful ones, as people from Syria save our people at 2nd world war, or at other serious cases we've needed their help. So now who need our help we are very pleased to offer them any possible help. We started to have at our schools these children. They are very frightened, poor, hearted in body and mind and heart, but our students love and our teachers understanding have begun to help them to realize that they are part of our lives. My students knitted scarves and caps for these children, this year we've started early too, to keep them warm and happy. Parents give us free wool to make these clothes and any help. Programs we've made as a school entered the new refugees pupils at our society normally, because we Kalymnian see them as persons they have at their faces Jesus Christ's icon, so we invite pleasantly them as our God personalities live with us. So I'm interested very much to do better my job as a teacher at secondary education for helping any more to be a teacher who will know how to bring cultural diversity as a gift to my students. Here is the interactive board with our scarves and caps for our refugees

2016-09-19 16:20:26 UTC

Rosalba, Italy
I agree with the the three of them. A teacher has to be aware of his/her cultural, personal background. It's important that a teacher has willingness to experiment: in this way he/she can develop his/her curiosity and exceed stereotypical beliefs

Camelia, Romania

2016-09-19 16:31:01 UTC

We have to assume who we are, with our traditions, language and specific features.

Blas V., Spain

2016-09-19 16:39:46 UTC

I agree with all of them. It's important for us to well know our own cultural background and at the same time know how to value others. Moving from the comfort zone is the only way to inspire others to accept things from other cultures.

Clara Gulino, Italy

claragulino — 2016-09-19 17:19:50 UTC

I’m curious, I love making research and improve my knowledge and my competence as well. I would love to have a very long day in order to do everything and to have the right energy to face all the problems we have in our schools in the next mornings. We have big classes (27 to 30 students and more) and inside them we have students with special needs and new comers who don’t speak even a word in Italian or in other languages. Although we, as teachers, have great enthusiasm and want to experiment something new, it becomes very difficult. We are in need of SPACE and we have to really create it for ourselves and for each students; we don’t have a comfort zone to operate into. Space and time are two elements we need at school in order to create our intercultural competence as teachers and our students’s intercultural competences

Jasna Šojer/Croatia

jasna_sojer — 2016-09-19 17:30:59 UTC

Reflecting on who we are is starting point to teach cultural diversity. There is so many facts that we do not know about other nationalities, their way of life even when they belong to European surrounding. Sometimes students are even not aware enough of their own national identity and diversities. When they get known with it it will be easier to accept others.

Stathis, Greece

slikidis — 2016-09-19 17:32:19 UTC

In my country we used to say that " in order to know someone else, first we must know ourselves " . So it's important to get knowledge of our cultural background, as to make it easier to value others. In order to become a successful multicultural teacher, it's necessary to move from the comfort zone and experiment with new things, as to built stronger relationships among all the students

Marilia-Portugal

g_marilia_santos — 2016-09-19 18:12:11 UTC

I think all the things mentioned are important. Knowing who we are is important to understand who the others are, we shoud also be open minded and make students from a different culture value their culture as we value ours, We have also to be careful not to hurt them, so we need to have some knowledge of different cultures.

Gina, Hungray

gina_klomer — 2016-09-19 18:53:48 UTC

From all the things they mentioned for me the most important is that "it's okay to be different!" First of all we should communicate this through all our actions towards the kids. The area I need to work on the most is what Erika mentioned: first we must know ourselves! Defining my own values, family and cultural background is the most important.

Giovanna Wiplinger Croce

giovywip — 2016-09-19 19:16:13 UTC

Integration and Migration as topics to experiment and implement a new way of learning with originality and peculiarity because only by being different we may recognize our uniqueness!

Elena, Italy.

elena_mutti — 2016-09-19 19:41:22 UTC

I think that a good teacher in a multicultural class should know her cultural identity, but must have also experience abroad or with other cultures, in order to learn about foreign habits costumes identity. Thus, she/he will be able, as in Alicia video, to realize tutorial, books, lessons that include example, information, knowledge also from other cultures. For example, I work in a vocationa school in the wellness field and recently we have also introduced courses in Arabic and Chinese hairdressing and cosmetology.

Triantafyllia F., Greece (Athens)

zafplatara — 2016-09-19 19:46:11 UTC

I agree that the most important for the understanding the others is to know yourself. The first step for empathy is to recognize from the personal feelings the feelings of others. And the big bet is " Making schools matter for all"

Melachrini (Chalkidiki)Greece

mpapardeli — 2016-09-19 20:00:54 UTC

The most important for me is what Alicia said in the video that we must understand that being diffent is not bad.We must accept the differences between people and this is the only way to make a better society.Our students can learn from each other and become better.

be open to try new things....it' perfect

antonellacimo — 2016-09-19 21:04:32 UTC

maria cristina baleani

2016-09-19 21:06:17 UTC

I agree that all stakeholder must participate to a process of inclusion and integration in a multicultural society..so at school all students, all parents, all teachers, all people working and attending school, are important members for changement. teachers must be able to create materials and situation for improving dialogues and knowled

Francesco Vinci, Ital

2016-09-19 21:55:10 UTC

For me, the biggest challenge to become an interculturally competent teacher would be to become an expert on the different areas that an intercultural classroom environment needs. As Mr. Tudjman said, it's necessary for the teacher to properly manage skills on foreign languages, social identity, pedagogy and the dynamics of the groups where pupils are living, like their families, groups of peers, the new cities they live in.

Carmen Guidetti, Italy

2016-09-19 22:09:13 UTC

Wow!! it is not very easy answering to these questions, or it isnot easy for me. I completly agree with Tomislav when he says that teacher mas deal with some competences (5) to be able to face the challenge of a multicultural classroom. In the last years, in Italy the goverment has required to teachers to be updated about some of the competences Tomislav mentioned, specially languages and pedagogy (upgrade old theory with new ones). It is a good thing because many teachers don't manage a L2, for example. But, fortunatly many others are very creative and emotionally positive in order to accept and solve integration and intercultural integration.
We can learn a lot from a class where migrants are present. We can enrich ourselves and our students cna do so too. Alicia talked about "children", the first changes must be done in priamry school. children must get used to live in an inter/multicultural environment. In this way, it will be less difficult to create a positive emotional learning enviroment.

Despoina, Greece

despoina_prapa — 2016-09-19 22:28:09 UTC

So much food for thought,thank you! :-)
I believe that all Alicia's,,Erika's and Tomislav's thought areas are very important. I specially noted strong self-knowledge, openness, flexibility,awareness and honesty.I really think that i have to enrich my learning methods and material through study and practice.My biggest challenge is to achieve creative and efficient teaching in a interculturally safe learning environment.

Mónica - Portugal - (Gaia

2016-09-20 00:27:59 UTC

So much has been said… In my opinion looking inside ourselves is very important. I believe that when we know ourselves and we accept who we are we are open to accept others. What do I need to work on? It’s very difficult for me to be “out of the box”, out of my comfort zone. I need to work on that

scagliolarita — 2016-09-20 04:15:26 UTC

Elena S. Ital

esperanzon — 2016-09-20 04:19:25 UTC

I found Tomislav's explanation most interesting and relevant, because it outlines a clear action plan which involves key areas, such as Parental involvement and Community relationships.
Building relations is really key in dealing with these pupils, because only through reciprocal knowledge we will allow a real inclusion. The first three areas mentiond by Tomislav, Language, Pedagogy and Social Identity, were also thoroughly explained by Alicia, who gave several useful examples and that's probably why Tomislav's two last points somehow broadened my perspective on the topic.

Vanessa Ridolfi, Italy

vanessa_ridolfi — 2016-09-20 04:26:40 UTC

I really appreciate the theme of "Integrating cultural diversity as a cross curricular theme": first it is important to know what is different from us, and after that we will be able to understand and appreciate it.

Achilleas Kapartzianis, Cyprus

axilleask — 2016-09-20 07:42:07 UTC

The most important aspect is continouous teacher professional development in order to cope with the changes.

Florin Balotescu, Mihail Sadoveanu Highschool & Olga Gudynn Intl's School

florin_balotescu_ogis — 2016-09-20 09:36:03 UTC

Ideally, a teacher should be able to migrate among culture and try to create a dialogue. However, this should not be an artificial dialogue, that is to force students to access different cultural environments immediately. A good thing to think about is that teaching means a continuous transition from I to `other`, in the sense that, each moment `I am who I am` and I` am the other`.

Laura Tosi, ITAL

laura_tosi75 — 2016-09-20 11:06:37 UTC

I think the first step could be to find out what is important and common in every culture starting from general topics such as food, music, sport, free time and environment, trying to understand which values are universal and share them.. so that it might be easier to approach other aspects that make us different when we are aware of what make us similar and closer to each others.

As a foreign language teacher I'm supposed to encourage cultural diversity so the biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher is the to promote a multicultural vision day-to-day in all aspects of the learning process.

Nuria Martínez, Spain

nuria125 — 2016-09-20 14:28:38 UTC

I have seen on the video the areas that Alicia, Erika and Tomislav have outlined and after reflecting on them I feel that the most important is to live the diversity. I think it's the first step to improving intercultural skills.

In my case, I think I need to work the most on being open to try new things because It's something I'm not used and I have to improve.

The biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher could be integrate diverse resources. I think it is not an easy task. We need to learn step by step how to make this integration.

Isabel G. Spain

2016-09-20 15:12:14 UTC

I find both interventions really interesting. It is important to know your own cultural background in order to understand others background. You must have an open mind and respect your students' point of view.The biggest challenge for me in becoming an interculturally competent teacher is to let my students know that I'm really interested in their culture. I have to transmit knowledege , but I also have to learn from them. It's a continuous feedback.

Jessica Bruini, Italy

bruinijessica — 2016-09-20 16:37:15 UTC

These are the aspects I liked the most and that I picked, while watching the videos:

Live the diversity
Be open to try new things
Not to teach what they know, but to learn about what they don't know
move out from the comfort zone
there's no either/or
be curious
lead by example
look for new ways
build your own material
cultural diverisity as a cross-curricular theme

...well, reading them carefully, I notice that they are all universal pedagocical guidelines that we should stick to, in order to be good teachers.
The aspect I would like to implement more in my teaching is dealing with cultural diversity as a cross curricular theme. I think this is the most important , also because it implies great cooperation among all the teaching staff, which is the best way to teach.
I like the idea of "crossing" something... you can cross roads, borders, knowledge... it is a bit like "building bridges", "creating connections". So why not crossing our disciplines?

Ilaria Speroni, Italy

ilaria_speroni — 2016-09-20 16:47:23 UTC

I think that it's important to know our own culture backgound in ordere to understand the others. If we dont't know the importance of our roots we can't understand that the other cultur are important in the same way.
I think that the first step is to improve ours intercultural skills and than we must job on pupil's skills.
For me the big challenge is to face the racism and the xenophobia. Sometimes pupils present themselves as racist and close tho others. In fact they are slaves of an information system which often leads them to see only the negative side of immigration. So the theacher's target is lea d young people to accept other cultures. Young people must learn to understan that the cultural richness of each country can become a richness for them.

Alice, Italy

2016-09-20 16:52:39 UTC

I really appreciate these aspects outlined by Alicia, Erika, and Tomislav:
- You have to know yourself before opening to others

- Tolerance and acceptance: "Different is OK"

- Willingness to be open and not to have all the answers

- Looking for new ways

- Dealing with cultural diversity as a cross-curricular theme

- Language, Pedagogy, Social Identity, Parental involvement, Community relationships.
I think the biggest challenge for me could be to deal with forms of racism and xenophobia that may arise from the classroom and the community. It's not simple to create understanding and trust between each other. I'll try to be a cultural mediator as best as I can.

Carmen G., Italy

carmen_garau00 — 2016-09-20 17:11:53 UTC

All ideas that Alicia, Erika and Tomislav have talking about in the three videos are very important to develope intercultural competences in our classrooms. But if I have to choose what struck me most, they would be the following points:

Live the diversity! They are different and different is ok. (Alicia)
Be open to learn and to try new things, such as new languages, new names, new traditions, new religions and so on (Erika)
Parental involvement. (Tomislav) In my opinion this is a very important aspect because often our foreign students live a different life in their family environment than in the school one, and I think this is not good for their integration and social identity.

Niculina, Bucharest

2016-09-20 17:33:01 UTC

First of all, you have to deal with languages and I believe this is right, because language,pedagogy, social identity are ways to cope with diversity in a classroom.

Elisabetta, Italy

elysweet — 2016-09-20 19:27:57 UTC

Becoming interculturally competent requires time and effort in getting to know what culture really implies: there is nothing superficial about it, it is something which runs deep and affects so many layers of life of the children and families we meet.

Anna, Italy

materdona — 2016-09-20 19:56:38 UTC

I agree with Alicia when she says that we should define ourselves if we want to be open to others and to accept their way of thinking, but it's also interesting what Tomislav said about the opportunity to know the social psychological norms about ethnic identity and the importance of parental involvement. Erika made me realize that the second step to help people from different cultures to feel integrated, is to give importance to their culture. I'm looking forward to following the advice I've just heard in these videos: when I write new exercises or activities I'm going to use names or pictures of people from all over the world and in particular the region my foreign pupils come from, I'm going to use books with folk stories, I'd like to concentrate my lessons on themes that have to do with integration (food, habits, weather and natural surroundings...) �7��.

Dimitra, Greece

2016-09-20 20:08:20 UTC

I believe that all areas that Alicia, Erika, and Tomislav have mentioned are important. The difficult part is not to exclude any of them. The biggest challenge for me is the resources that i have to found so as to be an intercultural conpetent teacher.

Carmen Telese, Italy

carmen_telese — 2016-09-20 20:59:40 UTC

I agree with Alicia, Erika and Tomslav: all the aspects are important.
Respect, tolerance, open-mindedness are fondamental points.
Teachers should reflect and pratice inclusive multicultural values in all aspects of their life, not just while class is in session. Demonstrate that they respect and value the knowledge, talents and diversity of all people.

Mina, Italy

ponzianomina — 2016-09-20 21:11:51 UTC

According to me knowing your own cultural background helps you to understand different backgrounds. The biggest challenge in becoming an intercultural competent teacher is if my students understand and feel that I'm really interested in their culture.

George, Greece

delibeisg — 2016-09-20 21:40:33 UTC

Intercultural competence engulfs many aspects and it was outlined by Alicia, Erika and Tomislav very well. They made me think of my cultural perspectives and how I am realizing them in everyday school. How am I supposed to behave in a cultural diverse environment? What does it mean for me to live the diversity? Should I accept unquestionably or unconditionally everything from another culture?
I think that I should first understand my own cultural values, then have an open-mind and develop the much needed sensibility towards different cultural values. I liked the practical examples of Alicia on how to make small changes in your everyday interaction with students, such as using familiar pictures or examples. I believe such small changes may have a great impact on students self-esteem.

Sebastiano, Italy

sebastianocuffari — 2016-09-20 23:46:53 UTC

I agree with what was said by the speakers. I think is important the knowledge of the functioning of social groups based on ethnic and religious differences, as well as the knowledge of the area in which the school operates

Noelia Fernandez rull, Italy

noeliafernandez_rull — 2016-09-21 07:32:47 UTC

It’s really difficult to choose just one area because I think a teacher intercultural competence should contemplate all of them. Respect other ways of thinking, other values, other cultures and religions as we do for ourself is the first step to develop an intercultural competence. Once we have accepted and understood our roots and traditions we can be opened to new things. To do this I think a teacher should live experience abroad, among other cultures.

Silvia, Ital

silvia_gradi — 2016-09-21 14:42:12 UTC

I think it is important to know the cultural background of their students to use it as wealth within the class group.

Irina, Romania

druga_irina — 2016-09-21 15:07:04 UTC

I think the most important is the cultural background, is very important to be open to knowledge of other cultures, curious, respectful and tolerant. For me, living in my region, a real cultural and ethnic mosaic is an interesting experience. We must teach lesson of tolerance, and openness to other cultures, the lesson of respect for cultural values of every people.
I agree with Alicia, Erika,especially with
Tomslav.

Aristea, Greece

afpigiaki — 2016-09-21 16:07:15 UTC

I believe that the nowadays situation demands teachers to be open-minded, willing to accept the different and give space for new knowledge in classrooms. It’s all around us. The sooner, the better!

Daniela D'Arrigo , Italy

2016-09-21 18:34:22 UTC

All ideas that Alicia, Erika and Tomislav have talked about in the three videos are very important to develope intercultural competences in our classrooms. It are very important to increase our skills.
It are very important and interesting some points of the videos :
• live the diversity. All person have a different background and we can learning from them;
• Be open to try new things. The teachers should be open to innovation and try new experience
• They should be curious and find innovative solutions the problems that occur in the classroom as a every student is different each other.
In my teaching i should increase the cultural diversity as a cross curricular theme. In my opinion all teachers should work together to appreciate the diversity of the students and it should be no prejudice.

Maria/Greece

110961mp — 2016-09-21 19:41:48 UTC

I believe, we as teachers, should reflect on our own cultural values and beliefs and to be open-minded when it comes to foreign cultures.

Loredana, Romania

loredanamandru — 2016-09-21 19:55:13 UTC

The aspects presented by the speakers are very well structured. As a teacher is very important to be curious and to be open to learn about new cultures, new languages, new traditions. It is important to teach respect and cooperation between the students. The idea of involving parents as partners is great and can be very useful.

Chiara Sabatini/Italy

chisab72 — 2016-09-21 20:06:27 UTC

I think one of the most important aspects, especially at the beginning, is communicating with parents and let them feel comfortable with what we do at school with their children. Sometimes it is very difficult because of the language and of different cultures, but it's worth trying and not to stop trying if they don't come at first.

Samanta, Italy

samac1217 — 2016-09-21 20:13:36 UTC

I think communication is the first element to connect different cultures and to appreciate the diversities. This communication is directed to the students as first, then to the families and to the entire community as last.
Knowing cultural background of foreign countries allow to reduce the distances between cultures and evolves fear into curiosity. So diversity will become richness!

Graziella Sidoti, Italy

tempopienoseconda — 2016-09-21 20:27:59 UTC

To become a competent teacher intercultural first you have to know the language , this is my biggest gripe , the greatest difficulty , since I have never studied English ... but this will never be an obstacle as the desire to transmit skills is superior to the difficulties . It is important , I think , empathy with others , then the respect of all and diversity . The positive relationship with parents helps a lot.

Anna, Italy

annascola — 2016-09-21 22:32:30 UTC

1.2 Developing intercultural competences

To become an interculturally competent teacher is not easy! Teacher has to reflect on his values including family/cultural background. It’s changed the teacher’s role. In the classroom he doesn’t transmit but leads, reflects, encourages and supports students in every moment of their learning process. The teachers have to find a meeting point on neutral ground. “They don’t only teach what they Know but to learn what they don’t know” I agree with this statement. The teacher has to show desire to learn, having eyes full of curiosity, listening skills and he must feel part of a life’s project to share with his students!

Liliya Balanyuk (UK)

Liliya_B — 2016-09-21 23:30:50 UTC

(1) What aspects are most important?

Considering the knowledge, skills and attitudes discussed by Alicia, Erika and Tomslav, I would say that the most important task for a teacher is to lead by example and show learners how theory should be applied in day-to-day situations, make intercultural competence a common practice for the learners.

(2) What do I need to work the most on?

Over the last nine years, I've worked with students from a number of countries and from different paths of life. The more I learn about their background, the more I realise that my knowledge is only the tip of the iceberg. I need to work much more on learning different cultures in order to compile and integrate diverse resources appropriately.

(3) What would be my biggest challenge in becoming an interculturally competent teacher?

I teach newly-arrived adult asylum seekers who usually come to the UK alone, leaving their family and friends behind. In such a context, it's not always logical to talk about parental involvement or family involvement in supporting my students' education. Thus, the biggest challenge for me as a teacher is to help my learners build up a support network.

The image was uploaded from Quotesgram.

Sandra, Northern Germany

2016-09-22 06:39:07 UTC

To be interculturally competent also means not to lose the focus for general aspects such as mobbing and general classroom management. Students have started pointing out that they cannot understand why 'locals' and new 'arrivals' are dealt with with different measures.
Rules can only work if they apply to the entire classroom.

Silvia Palma, Portugal

sppalma — 2016-09-22 09:50:50 UTC

To see the videos which raised my attention was the delivery of the teacher, their desire to be better. A motivated teacher is a teacher awake for multiculturalism in the class room. Learn to see beyond, look for the difference, integrate it without exposing. these will be the biggest challenges in the classroom.

Of course the Tomislav's words are very concise and relevant, he played the key points for me.

Reneta Raicheva, Bulgaria

2016-09-22 13:58:36 UTC

Many thxx for the interesting opinions & great ideas! I agree with you. Teachers should develop their language & digital skills. They should provide & use innovative pedagogical methods in order to be intercultural competent persons. Think that the most important challenge should be language & language diversity . Teachers should motivate sts to learn a lot of languages & to improve their language skills 'cos this is the way they can develop their intercultural competence. Here's our great experience regarding to learning English via creative techniques. Sticks are nice & useful! Enjoy! :)

Mariella, Rome, Italy

fasanelli_mariella — 2016-09-22 15:22:52 UTC

Among the areas outlined by the 3 teachers of the videos, I'd include the idea that teachers themselves have to be aware of their cultural identity. Plus, I like the point Erika makes: teachers don't have to have all the answers , they have to get out of their comfort zone and convey the belief that no culture is superior to another. This can also be done by simple means (e.g. introducing different names in exercises and examples, referring to other countries' folklore). I guess the biggest challenge for me would be getting good intercultural materials.

The videos draw some good points. In order to be accepting and tolerant of others, it is crucial to first know oneself. To understand that all culture was shaped and created by people and their ideas, and that, therefore, neither culture is superior to the other. If we start building such a tolerant and accepting view of the world and other people in the schools, I believe we will also start building a better and a more just world.

evigrin — 2016-09-22 15:24:35 UTC

Luca Calabrese, Taranto,

2016-09-22 19:15:41 UTC

Marika, Italy

2016-09-23 08:49:19 UTC

Videos were very inspiring especially the second one where he puts attention also on language aspects.
Every teacher should believe in intercultural approch to create a positive environment in class. Every teacher should study to emprove intercultural competence, for example learning in training experiences, better in international situation. This approach should be shared with colleahues to creat an intercultural team.

Maria Domenica Calciati

algheroapartments — 2016-09-23 10:08:25 UTC

As a teacher it is very important to be open , curious to other cultures, traditions, languages.
Our students can learn from each others, acceptingdifferences between people and other cultures

Katerina Kostaki, Greece

katkos2003 — 2016-09-23 15:11:37 UTC

The most important skill for me as a teacher in a cultural diversity context is to be flexible so as to cope with this changing environment. Sensitivity and respect are also very important. The biggest challenge though is the teacher's ability to adapt to the new and incorporate it in his/her teaching.

Georgia Alexouda, Greece

alexouda — 2016-09-23 16:51:45 UTC

I agree with Erika’s and Alicia’s opinions. I think that above all, teachers have to provide to students the feeling that they respect their different cultural background. It is very important to have an open heart and an open mind.

Ivana, Italy

Ivana91 — 2016-09-24 05:22:35 UTC

I believe that teachers, including me, have to work hard on themselves in order to change their teaching strategies very often based on the simple transmission of knowledge and prefer instead the active teaching methods, adapting itself to the experience of its students and enhancing the peculiarities of each of them, regardless of the presence or absence of a cultural diversity.

In my view, I think it is important for a teacher to have an intercultural competence and knowledge of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

chiarapastore91 — 2016-09-24 08:43:19 UTC

Manuel Garcia Naples,Italy

2016-09-24 12:28:41 UTC

The main aspects of cultural diversity that I feel are most important are obviously language, as well as parental involvement, social identity, and community relations. Students that don't know the language or have limited knowledge will intrinsically find it more difficult to participate in the classroom, and therefore it is up to the instructor to acknowledge this and take action. Parental involvement plays a large role in cultural diversity as there may be a resistance to assimilation and hanging on to previous cultural norms that may contradict or be different than what is taught or expected in the new culture, this can directly have an effect on the student's social identity and relations with others in the community.

Andrea, Italy

2016-09-24 12:58:52 UTC

In my opinion some competences (and values) are required from teachers facing multiculturalism in their classes and these can be also developed in the students.
One of these is respect. The starting point must be the recognition of the other as equal in rights and needs. Knowledge of pedagogy and special pedagogy could help teachers to recognize needs that pupils have and to educate them on how they can reach their goals. Directly related to this is therefore the ability to transmit content, emotions, needs (we can call this the language competence?). Lastly teacher need to involve families, create a strong link between him and the parents, in order to give the student a constant guidance.

Mariella Brunazzi, Italy

mariella_brunaz — 2016-09-24 13:41:02 UTC

I find very interesting the suggestion that we should consider the theme of cultural diversity and integration as transversal and to be dealt with in different subjects.
As highlighted it is also important that teachers are vehicles of the values they want their pupils to acquire. So if they tell their students they must be open-minded and accept mates from different background, they must show them what they could do giving concrete examples both to native students and foreign ones. Because it's not only local pupils that have to learn how to behave but also those who arrive in a new community.

Susan, Italy

2016-09-24 14:13:27 UTC

I loved Erika's idea about having some materials regarding cultural issues ready for when you have to substitute a colleague! So often teachers feel burdened by covering for other colleagues and just let the students talk or do some busy-work. It can turn into a valuable moment which engages and stimulates - in a cooperative way. Also, Erika's statement about teachers believing that have to provide answers is spot-on... to stimulate our students' mind, we need to ask open ended questions, if we want our students to truly understand themselves and form their own independent thought. Comparing those thoughts can then generate new ideas, perspectives, insights, which in turn create a classroom culture where diversity brings greater depth and experience in a very tangible way.

Maria Rietveld, The Netherlands

2016-09-24 17:34:36 UTC

Being an example for your students appeals to me most. I use "foreign" names often, I refer to cultural festivals in other countries, I take discussions about cultural issues in our community into the classroom, etc. My challenge is that I lack sufficient knowledge of other cultures and that the topics handle are eventually, quite stereotypic. So I force myself to work on unfamiliar grounds by connecting to people from different cultures so I can learn more.

Francesco M. Manno, Perugia, Italy

franzmanno — 2016-09-24 17:39:51 UTC

I think that recognizing and respecting cultural differences and different backgrounds is the first step to make foreign students accepted and included. I noticed that students with foreign parents usually tend to act and behave as fully integrated, even though, as many studies have showed, they have more problems as far as discipline and subjects are concerned. It is a great and exciting challenge to welcome people from other countries and schools play a unique role in that.

chiara, ireland

chiaraliberio1 — 2016-09-24 22:00:52 UTC

I believe teacher beliefs, attitudes and open-mindedness are one of the most important aspects, as they guide pedagogical action. Also, among the things said, to step down from an authority position and let student speak and bring in their experiences as content, it requires a big change vis a vis transmissive models

Susana Landgrebe, Austria

s_landgrebe — 2016-09-25 08:32:23 UTC

I am only convinced, that we can also make the mistake of doing to much in the lessons about interculturality - many of the students are proud of their backround but don't want to talk often about their "other" culture - we have also to learn to be competent to decide about the "quantity" of intercultural lessons!

Maddalena Autiero, Italy

maddalenautiero — 2016-09-25 10:37:41 UTC

the most important skill I think is the pedagogy . definitely it involves a lot of work to rewrite the personalized teaching in a multicultural way . instead one that involves me more effort is to linguistics, in which I feel that I need a lot of strengthening

Gian Luca Alessio, Italy

2016-09-25 11:14:37 UTC

It's not possible anymore to avoid key competencies concerning teaching in a multicultural classroom. Teachers must improve their skill for this new historical challenge.

Sofia Abuter

sofia_abuter — 2016-09-25 12:17:10 UTC

Most important areas of an interculturally competent teacher are in my point of view those 5 named by Tomislav Tudjman from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. 1. Language, 2. Pedagogy, 3. Social Identity, 4. Parent Involvement, 5. Community Relationships.

If a teacher is well trained and informed about those 5 aspects and takes care of reflect the work done day by day, he/she is a interculturally competent teacher.

For me the most challenging would be to ignore all the stereotypes and prejudices towards the students.

Janice. Barcelona

janicegutierrez19 — 2016-09-25 12:21:52 UTC

The most important is to know and let kids know who they are. To research on our beginings and to explain to everbody our thoughts and feel secure on doing it.

Annalisa Ferrari, Italy

dseconda16 — 2016-09-25 16:32:52 UTC

The European Agency denoted four essential values of teaching and learning that lead to a real inclusion. These values are:
1. Evaluate the diversity of pupils - the difference between students is a resource and a wealth;
2. To support the students - teachers must cultivate high expectations on the success
school students;
3. Working with others - collaboration and teamwork are essential approaches
for all teachers;
4. Continuous Professional Training staff - teaching is an activity of learning and teachers are responsible for their own learning permanent throughout the whole of life.

In particular, I believe that every teacher must be convinced that education is based on compliance with the principle of equality, respect for human rights and democratic values; that inclusive education and quality in education can not be regarded as separate issues; and that participation means that all students must be engaged in useful learning activities and important for them.

Teresa, Portugal

teresatabcid7 — 2016-09-25 17:31:07 UTC

I agree with everything that Alicia, Erika and Tomislav said.
I think Tomislav's explanation is really interesting and relevant, because of th 5 topics he outlines.
As a teacher, I try always to value the diversity of my students and to make them proud of it. Sometimes it's not as easy as it seems, because some are a bit ashamed of their cultural background. On these occasions, I have to emphasize that we all have the same importance.

Aida Lumshi -Albania

alumshi — 2016-09-25 19:42:02 UTC

The most important is to create a relation between their cultural with the cultural of the places where they are ,, during made analogical of all memories , which lead them to teach in the future

Cláudia Rolo, Portugal

claudiarolo12 — 2016-09-26 09:41:12 UTC

Cultural diversity is a very current and relevant theme, both in society,
as well as in the school context. The teacher's attitude influence the educational process may favor or hinder both cognitive, social and emotional development of students as the development of skills and capabilities of each. So I agree with Alicia, Erika and Tomislav's testimonials. In summary genre stands out the five areas of Tomislav: 1) Language, 2) Pedagogy, 3) Social Identify, 4) Parent Involvement and 5) Comunit relashionships.

Paola ,Italy

ic3rodariannecchino21 — 2016-09-26 12:41:50 UTC

I think as a society and as teachers we have to teach respect, tolerance and diversity as a richness. The diversity is openness towards the other.

Ang3, Italy

2016-09-26 15:39:23 UTC

In my opinion, the most important thing is to respect the divesity of the pupils. We have to be interested to different culture, not interested to change them, but to valorise these qualities, throught resources ( stories of their countries, realia). It is important also to create a comfortable clasroom environment and classroom mood. To enhance students to explore and exchange different kind of traditions. This will improve good proficency of all the class context

FK, Greece

fkalo53 — 2016-09-26 16:19:58 UTC

In my opinion, the most important is to show respect and interest in all of our students, no matter what their country is, and in their different cultural background.

Priscilla, Italy

2016-09-26 16:32:21 UTC

These days are challenging us to promote differences as an important value. The way to create a cultural melting pot could be to accept different cultures, to know different habits and to create new ones. Sometimes students are faster than us doing this kind of things, but in some circumstances it could be difficult because of racism or prejudice. I hope that this course could help me to work in these situations, suggesting different ways to neutralize these negative behaviours.

Patrizia Manca Italy

2016-09-26 16:52:06 UTC

I found all the videos really interesting and they let me start thinking about the way a teacher should create a relaxing atmosphere in a classroom where there are different cultures. Sometimes it isn't so easy because of prejudices coming from families . For this reason, teachers should work on their students first explaining that diversity is a big value from which each of us can learn a lot!

Merve Berrak, Turke

2016-09-26 18:34:21 UTC

I agree with all the three trainers. Teachers should be open-minded and have positive attitude towards other cultures. We should also develop intercultural sensitivity among our students.

Lorella Schettino, Italy

lorella_schettino — 2016-09-26 21:21:35 UTC

I think that the world is changing. Diversity, tolerance and respect are topic to become a interculturally competent teacher to build a value society.

Carla, Portugal

carlabarroslourenco — 2016-09-26 23:17:36 UTC

The biggest challenge is to promote the sense of belonging to the school and the community both in the newly arrived students such as in the 2nd generation students. Na intercultural approach can help to build connections between the host culture and the culture of origin.

Elena Nita, Romania

ella_uaic — 2016-09-27 13:19:00 UTC

My biggest challenge in becoming an interculturally competent teacher is learning about multicultural habits.

2016-09-27 14:42:01 UTC

Irene, Spain.
Diversity is the key thing not only for the teachers but also for the students themselves. We are all unique and we must be
open to live the diversity in our classroom. I like the idea of integrate this diversity in the cross- curricular themes and also to involve the parents and the community in the whole process of integration.

dzisimopp2 — 2016-09-27 20:37:34 UTC

DIMITRIOS Greece
In my opinion all five areas are important and goes together. I think that what Erika says in the first video about teachers reflecting on their own values and thinking about their own family, social, religious etc. backgrounds is very important. Of course language barrirers as well is a great problem.

Kamelia, Bulgaria

kamiangelova — 2016-09-27 20:49:21 UTC

For me It would I be a challenge I be able to teach classes where there are refugees. I like the view , in the intercultural education to include all public organizations and I think this is a very important condition for successful work with minorities in general.

Clementina/Portugal

clemagui — 2016-09-27 20:54:13 UTC

Some of my students are Portuguese and white. By saying this I am wrong to separate normal students from other students that are different. Although I do not intentionally reveals that I am not correctly handle the students.
It is a strange feeling I had never thought of. And students should feel what I think. How horrible!
I have to consciously review my attitudes and reactions and be open to other ways of being and living.
After realizing where I am wrong I can accept others as they are.
As a teacher I will try to accept differences without the stress and believe they are normal.

mbacita — 2016-09-27 21:56:10 UTC

I live in an area where there are a lot of Chinese people. I think the most challenging thing about working with students with different cultural background is to help, guide the Chinese students integrate because they are really bond to their culture and traditions.

Vincenzo Portone, Italy

77vinz — 2016-09-28 11:07:49 UTC

Thinking about Difference or Diversity, I often ask to myself: What is difference? What does diversity really mean? Is it only the nationalities? Or languages? Or the looks? According to me, this is not real difference, at all. I mean, if I look at the colour of skins, I see a difference of course. But even if I look at a male and at a female guys I can see difference, even between a shy boys and a confident one, and so on. So, what I really think about difference is that we have to define difference at first, find out how many diversities are there among people that is not just nationality, neither birthname neither culture neither skins neither wearings at all. I believe that the difference among people as persons, individualities is most important. Our own thought and identity and vision about life really really matters. There can be more difference between a couple of brothers than two strangers from different continent, sometimes. That’s why I think a teacher has to find out all the differences in the classroom. Knowing them all to be able to respect the big diversities as well as the small ones.

Simona De Paola, Italy

simona_depaola — 2016-09-28 14:03:48 UTC

As teachers in multicultural classes we should invite students to cooperate, to understand others' values and habits. Differences are points of strength and not point of weakness. Our students shouldn't feel worried about diversity. People aren't stranger.

Ionela Lazea, Romania

kameeliah16bis — 2016-09-28 14:19:48 UTC

I think willingness to try is the most important aspect of this topic. We often find it hard to move out of our conform zone, but if we take a step and lead by example the rest will come easy.

Clapou Crina / Romania

clapou_crina — 2016-09-28 16:38:21 UTC

In my opinion it is important to transmit the local culture but with regard to the child’s culture and to use familiar names, images and situations for all the children.

Gabriela Vanda Cortez, Romania

sandofcarbonriver — 2016-09-28 16:40:52 UTC

In the school where I work are students of Romanian, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Polish. This course allows me to relate more accurate with my students.

Antonino, Italy

2016-09-28 17:55:55 UTC

Curiosity, i think, is the most important way to approach the diversity, know ourselves is the first step to recognize what is "not-me", the second step is discover how this "not-me" works and the third is accept the differences that Can be integrated with our life. To reach this purpose is fundamental a cross-curriculum approach, or better a cross-life approach.

Marinela,Romania

2016-09-28 18:41:06 UTC

Diversity is the key of our work.wE have to knew how to Integrate this diversity in the cross- curricular themes.

Sean, Netherlands

2016-09-28 20:11:12 UTC

I feel like especially in geography there has to be room for cultural diversity, and because of that I don't see any troubles content-wise.

Rita, from Italy

RRita10 — 2016-09-29 14:17:09 UTC

The important thing is to enrich their cultural background!!

Maria Rizza/ Sicily

rowri — 2016-09-29 22:26:27 UTC

The biggest challenge is to know ourselves and to reflect on our values, religion family background and then be open to accept the otherness. A teacher interculturally competent means to accept to try new things and activities, and not to be afraid of experimenting even on matters we do not know. We do not have to think that our role is to trasmit knowledge. We are competent if we are willing to learn what we do not know, rather than teach what we know. Comptence of an intercultural teacher covers 5 areas; 1)Language , Pedagogy & didactic, Social Identity,(xenophobia, racism,) Parents involvement,Community relation; Moreover I agree with the necessity for teaching diversity to create my own resources for the target group, instead of resource which reflect only the teacher’s culture, that is using material which can mirror the the other students culture present in her class.

Maria, Italy

dimang_mat13 — 2016-10-01 17:14:11 UTC

Each issue highlighted by Alicia, Erika and Tamislav is important. The idea of Erika to have some materials regarding cultural questions ready for when you have to replace a colleague is fantastic. In this way a substitute can turn into a precious moment, that involves and stimulates students.
I think that being a teacher always entails the ability to express ourselves, our freedom, our knowledge, our own method and to be careful about our students’ background, lifestyles, problems, dreams and expectations. Humanity towards our students is essential in order to convey knowledge.

Rossella, Italy

rossy2305 — 2016-10-02 13:32:40 UTC

I think Alicia, Erika and Tamislav have treated equally important issues and this allowed me to reflect a lot about my teaching practice. I think it is important for a teacher the ability to express themselves, get involved every day , show itself open to new and unexpected. I think a good teacher should be the bearer firsthand of its cultural values and traditions within the 'classroom in order to create an open environment for dialogue where everyone can express himself without fear and prejudice. But as stated by Mr. Tudjman it's necessary for the teacher to properly manage skills on foreign languages, given consider the different social realities , and properly understand and manage the various social dynamics of the groups where pupils are living, trying to communicate with their families without conditionings but rather showing themselves to be open the traditions and ideas they bring.

Agapi, Greece

a_chouzouraki — 2016-10-02 19:58:29 UTC

all competences described by Alicia, Erika, Tomislav and colleagues here are absolutely essential! If I had to highlight something, I would choose the aspect of parental involvement, as in this context one can have a clearer idea of issues of social identity raised within the spectrum of student's environment. Not a competence, but a technique that came to my mind is that maybe the involvement of "important others" (e.g. actors, footballers, singers etc.) sharing stories of their lives as children/teenagers in the class could also contribute to strengthen our intercultural teaching :)

angela de vito, from naples

2016-10-09 17:28:47 UTC

when we talk about interculture we think inclusion sharing tradition language, and culture too. it's very important that teacher parents and institution work togethe to garantee a good education.

Iuliana/Romania Currently I am teaching in a foreign country and my biggest challenge is the relationship with my students' parents.

2016-11-06 08:18:51 UTC

mihaela minca, Romania

coman_mihaela — 2016-11-21 17:35:47 UTC

I believe that every teacher Treu take into account the particularities group of students. Floss is more challenging in becoming a good teacher that as you know how to accommodate the needs of the group and that group to make the cell become important in school. Cohesion of the group of students lead to mutual understanding and to the favorable settlement of problem situations.

Lena Rossiou, Greece

etwinambassadorsthess — 2016-11-28 15:51:44 UTC

The most important challenge that I face up during teaching to migrants teenagers is to keep their interest high and manage to attract their interest up to the end of the lesson
Students stay in hot spot and many of them are without parents... Few of them are interested to learn..but the most no... and the only one language speaking (arabic) does not support their learning process

Martha Iordanidou,Greece

2016-12-11 08:41:00 UTC

I think the most important areas for a teacher, and for me as well, in order to be intercultural competent are in a few words the ones below:
1) define who he/she is, understand and accept his/her own culture
2) be open to try out new things and welcome the challenge to learn about what he/she doesn't know till then
3)develop himself/herself as a person but also as a teacher attending seminars on related subjects and exchanging experiences and knowledge with other colleagues.

Daniela,Romania

danielamioarachisalita — 2017-02-21 14:49:01 UTC

   Hi, I'm Daniela and I am kindergarten teacher, a town in northern Romania. Here we have enrolled 200 children aged between 2 and 6 years.  I don have experience in teaching migrants but want to be prepared

Graziella, Italy

2017-02-21 19:44:37 UTC

In my opinion is very useful to invite all students to cooperate, to know and understand other values and habits. I agree to use migrants material in class that reflect their culture to enrich our culture and knowledge.

Nicoleta, Romania

nnicco67 — 2017-02-22 21:25:50 UTC

It is important to learn the local culture.Is very useful to invite all children to study intercultural education.My biggest challenge is the relationship with my children and their parents.

Adela Gabriela Muresan, Romania

muresan_gabriela_adela — 2017-10-29 10:35:42 UTC

In my opinion, every person is important, so it is a citizen duty to respect each culture.