We know
this is not easy to do. There are no simple recipes to face the challenge of
diversity, and even more so when the challenge involves a meeting of
cultures. All kinds of intercultural activity demands some degree of
mediation and negotiation – and classroom learning is, of course, no
exception. We may see learning in intercultural classes as simply a
collection of compromises – but I think there could be a much more
challenging view - to see an intercultural class as an example of a new
culture, a salad bowl which retains the individual flavours but also takes on
a distinctively new taste. As Ruth Spack (1997) once wrote, “students who
crisscross borders are not just products of culture, they are creators of
culture”. And I think this applies to us, teachers, too.
