Cross Cultural Collaboration: Lessons Learned
The role of the Teacher of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) advisor is multifaceted. When people ask what we do, we explain the job responsibilities as facilitating TEFL teaching workshops, observing classes and holding post observation conferences, responding to weekly English Teaching Assistant (ETA) reports, and conducting research. However, we discovered that the key to fulfill all of these duties is our ability to communicate with one another. Throughout the past five months of working together, we have found great value in facilitating discussions that lead to greater understanding of one another’s culture. We believe that through our own interactions, discussions, reflections, and co-constructed knowledge base, we have discovered successful strategies for collaboration. We have gained a deeper understanding of the Fulbright mission through our own joint efforts and now better appreciate the essence of what “a world with a little more knowledge and a little less conflict” means in the context of the Fulbright ETA program. In this essay, we hope to articulate the lessons that we have learned about communication and how they might be applied to the co-teaching relationships which are the cornerstone of the Fulbright ETA program. Compromise Great collaboration does
