The new L161 course makes use of the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters (Byram et al 2009). It seems to be a useful document in that it provides a framework for the analysis of intercultural encounters. However one aspect slightly puzzles me and that is the use of the question "Who am I?". Thinking about significant intercultural encounters I have had, it appears that they change who I think I am and I would think the relevant question would be "Who was I?".
It seems to make use of the principles of reflection dealing with "what?", "so what?" and "now what?" (Barrett 2001). The first stage after the "Who am I?" section involves describing the encounter (page 6). The section on the importance (page 7) deals with the question "so what?" . The section on "looking back and looking forward" (page 18ff) seems to deal with the issue of "now what?".
Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters
The new L161 course makes use of the Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters (Byram et al 2009). It seems to be a useful document in that it provides a framework for the analysis of intercultural encounters. However one aspect slightly puzzles me and that is the use of the question "Who am I?". Thinking about significant intercultural encounters I have had, it appears that they change who I think I am and I would think the relevant question would be "Who was I?".
It seems to make use of the principles of reflection dealing with "what?", "so what?" and "now what?" (Barrett 2001). The first stage after the "Who am I?" section involves describing the encounter (page 6). The section on the importance (page 7) deals with the question "so what?" . The section on "looking back and looking forward" (page 18ff) seems to deal with the issue of "now what?".
Barrett, H.C. (2001) “Electronic Portfolios: a chapter to be published in Educational Technology: an Encyclopedia [online] Available from http://electronicportfolios.org/portfolios/encycentry.pdf (Accessed 28 October 2007)
Byram M, Barrett M, Ipgrave J, Méndez García M de C, Buchannon- Barrow E, Davcheva L, Krapf P, Leclercq J-M (2009) Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters Council of Europe Available at http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/autobiography/Source/AIE_en/AIE_autobiography_en.pdf [Accessed October 21st 2014]