The importance of Globalization to engender a greater awareness and understanding of different attitudes, behaviors and perspectives of countries, economies, cultures and people from around the world

Abstract

I will always remember the year the world went on lockdown. When we were told that Education Abroad was being cancelled and we all became online educators in March 2020. Online meant learning Effective and Affective ways to construct our newly moved classes online and when one interacts in another language, one is also interacting with(in) the culture that speaks that particular language. So understanding someone else’s culture without accessing that culture’s language directly, and vice-versa seemed virtually impossible, no pun intended.

I will introduce summarily some successful tips for teaching Italian Language, Life and Culture both on campus and abroad, while stressing the need to motivate the learners and by giving them access to the thoughts behind the words. I believe that culture is not learned by imitation alone, and mostly taught by oral instruction. There could be some imitation, of course, if the learner is still young, but in most cases it is through language that as native speakers we learn about a specific culture: so why not try to duplicate the process in our classes, virtual or not? With language, we can explain methods of social control, products, techniques and skills to the learners. With Language we can access culture to access the target language and the importance of GLOBALIZATION to engender a greater awareness and understanding of different attitudes, behaviors and perspectives of countries, economies, cultures and people from around the world and more. So following the “initial” tips for moving online, this is what I learned.