Tomorrow and Wednesday are very important days at the International School of Riga. Its our 2 day celebration of International Day.
Its the schools special event where we encourage our pupils to be more Internationally Minded. So I started thinking to myself, 'What is International Mindedness?" Unfortunately it can be a very difficult thing to define.
Above is a picture of the Iceberg model. It suggests that the external part of culture (the things that we can see, eat, hear) clothes, flags, music, food etc are the top of the iceberg and the internal (the things we don’t see) feelings, thoughts and values.
Geert Hofstede, the noted academic speculated that cultural differences between nations and peoples follow six basic rules:
1. How inequality is perceived (a nations distance from power)
2. Dealing with new experiences (uncertainty or avoidance)
3. Dependence on others (Individualism or Collectivism)
4. Gender roles (masculinity vs femininity)
5. Time Perspective (Long or short term orientation)
6. Dealing with natural drives (indulgence vs restraint)
To see how Latvia scores against the Hofstede system, click the link below.
http://geert-hofstede.com/latvia.html
Because cultural differences occur naturally between different peoples and societies, the teaching of international mindedness in a school such as ours where there are over 40 different nationalities can be very difficult as the children have their own cultural values. What a child from Europe perceives as internationalism a child from Asia may see completely differently.
In order to help our children interpret what it means to be internationally minded the staff at our school have come up with a series of statements that help a child recognize when they are being Internationally Minded.
These start with the tag line
"I know I am being internationally minded when...."
1......I listen to the ideas of others.
2......I feel uncomfortable at the actions of others and understand why I feel uncomfortable.
3.....I question whether a viewpoint I have is culturally specific.
4.....I am open to exploring new ways of doing things.
5.....I try to communicate across language barriers.
6.....I accept that people will view my actions differently depending on their cultural backgrounds.
7.....I seek to understand the point of view of others, even though I may ultimately disagree with it.
8....I realize how little I know but I am excited at the thought of all the learning I still have to do.
Hopefully this little blog post will help you discover if you are Internationally Minded.
#internationalmindedness #latvia #geerthofstede
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