Intercultural Dialog Program

Doctoral students Jason Cha, Patrick Kenny, Bridget Smith, and Chad Doerr are implementing an Intercultural Dialog program with undergraduate students involved in the Madison International learning community and International Study Center. The program development and implementation is supervised by Dr. Elena Savina.

Intercultural Dialog is a conversation-based program designed to develop intercultural competence in JMU students and support the integration of international students into the JMU learning community. Both American and international students are involved in conversational, interactive, and experiential activities that promote successful intercultural interaction skills, cultural and socio-linguistic awareness, respect of cultural diversity, openness to intercultural learning, and intercultural sensitivity.

Here is some feedback the participants gave about the program:

• This class helped me to have a different perspective of people.
• It made me realize that every culture is equal and we should all be respectful to each other.
• I have enjoyed these experiences and have been able to find a good message in them, that we are all more similar than we think. 
• This experience has changed the way I approach new people. I hope I continue to grow in my understanding of people from different parts of the world and push myself to take every opportunity I get to get to know those people better.