Intensive for International TAs Discusses Culture Shock, Teaching Styles, and "Harry Potter"

Katherine Friedrich

International graduate students often find themselves navigating unfamiliar waters when they begin teaching in United States college classrooms. To address this situation, the University of Colorado-Boulder offers a yearly cultural intensive for international TAs. The 2008 intensive, on Aug. 22, used humor and practical advice to prepare TAs for surprises they may encounter.

"The talk on culture shock was one of the best talks," said International Graduate Teacher Service coordinator Vivek Kaila. One of the presenters, Tina Tan, drew a graph of the emotional state of international students during their first six months in the United States. She divided the graph into four phases - the "honeymoon" phase, the "hostility" phase, the "humor" phase, and the "hope" phase. As their culture shock lifts, foreign students feel increasingly at peace with life in the United States and regain their optimism.

"International students may go through this cycle not once, but many times," Kaila explained. "I could relate. That's dead on. That's how a lot of foreign students feel."

In addition to experiencing difficulties adjusting to United States culture, international TAs also encounter surprises when teaching. The intensive addressed this concern in two workshops – one workshop called "Understanding the Background of American College Students" and another called "Handling Surprises during Office Hours." United States students may bring personal concerns up in office hours, debate with their instructors, and vary in their levels of academic preparation. The workshop encouraged international instructors to be flexible in accommodating these cultural differences.

"If an... American student would argue a point, and if the instructor were to say, 'This is the end of the issue,' it might not end there," Kaila said.

United States students also appreciate active learning and a friendly, facilitative teaching style. Graduate Teacher Program director Laura Border used excerpts from the "Harry Potter" movies to dramatize the difference in teaching style between facilitative instructors and those who are "sages on the stage." One video showed Snape, a strict instructor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, intimidating his students. Border described Snape as a "scary, mean, directive teacher." Then, in contrast, Border showed a video of a "facilitative teacher" giving his students the opportunity to apply their magical knowledge.

Although Hogwarts' instructors teach a very different curriculum than what one might find at a United States university, students in this country have similar educational preferences to those that the movie depicts. Their preferences may surprise some international TAs. "In a lot of foreign countries, students stand up at attention when the teachers come in," Border said.

The intensive, which the GTP has offered every year since 1986, has earned positive feedback from many graduate students. Border said a Canadian instructor told her last year, "I wish I had known all of this stuff before I taught. For 30 years, I've been getting mad at Americans for doing the wrong thing."

"Most students were very happy that the university organizes something like this," Kaila said.

10/31/2008

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