UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE IN ENROLLING INDO-THAI JOINT COURSE
My intercultural experience was when I spent my time in joining the Thai online class. Ubon Ratchathani University (UBU) was the place where I enrolled 4 weeks meeting studying about Digital Literacy in the Bachelor of Arts Programs in English and Communication.
The joint course: Digital Literacy was begun from August 31st - September 28th, 2022. The class was held online on every Wednesday at 8 a.m. – 10 a.m. using Zoom Meeting application. Before the class began, I asked to sign in to Canvas by Instructure, it was like learning web to find the course syllabus, to access the materials for the class discussion, and to submit assignment later. The participants of this joint course were about 50 students, there were 27 students from Indonesia and the rest were from Thailand. We divided into some groups mix Indo - Thai students for producing a podcast as final project.
During my time in this program, I encountered some inter-culture challenge. It was about the communication process. We used English as global language to talk to each other. There is a slight difference in accent and pronunciation of the vocabulary among us, so it made a bit difficult for me at first to understand what they talk about, but this can be overcome after getting used to communicating with them a few times.
For instance, when my group mates and I did brainstorm for creating a podcast as a final project, I was concerned about whether my English would be understood by folks from Thailand and vice versa, especially because the internet network was unstable due to heavy rain at the time. Then it turned out that I didn't understand what my Thai friends were talking about because it was my first time talking with other friends from outside, but once I attempted to be comfortable and calm, I could grasp what was going on and provide my opinions.
Another interesting experience is that there was questions that must be discussed in the breakout room every time the lecturer finishes explaining a sub-topic, then the results of the breakout room are presented in the main room. In the discussion group, all were very active in giving opinions both orally and in text. It made us to being active in the class. This made me a little uncomfortable, but nevertheless made me share my opinion during the discussion.
Overall, this cross-culture experience is a new and noteworthy moment for me. I got so much new understanding about the real cross culture communication. Not only just read the theories and material on the books or lecture’s explanation, but I learned and practised it for almost 1 month. Even though it was not good enough, but I think it was not bad for the first time. It makes me to be more confident to rehearse my English communication skill.
Just click link below to watch our podcast. Happy Watching!
