Thomas CP #1

Cultural workshops started this week. I can tell that the cultural workshops will be a fun way for the TEFL and CIES students to meet and learn about each other’s cultures. I enjoy this rather than the International Coffee hour that I used to go often, as people would often gather with people that they already know and this kills the purpose of the event. The cultural workshops have worksheets with ready-to-ask questions for the CIES students as well as a web chart for us to fill out about ourselves. In my particular group, I was with students from Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and China. Although we might have done the activity differently than what was instructed, we got to know each other and my only complaint was the time constraint. I was surprised when I learned from the group members that Saudi Arabia uses the Lunar Calendar. I had already known Vietnam and China used the Lunar Calendar but I didn’t know that a country in the Middle East also used it. Another surprise was that unlike Vietnam and China, Saudi Arabia doesn’t celebrate the New Year. I hope to learn more new things like this from these events.