Improving the

Intercultural Competence
Oscar Javier Lopez
Nstor J. Jaramillo A.

Using videos in Intercultural

Education

Moving pictures (films, videos and television)

are known to have particular powers to reveal,
shape, and impact experience (Condon, 1986)
if we experience intercultural contact with
our eyes and ears, we begin to understand it.
Although not the same as real life intercultural
interaction, viewing the film allows us to
enter into this world and feel its conflicts; we
can almost believe we have lived certain
events ourselves (Summerfield1993, p. 1)

Bennetts model
1.

DENIAL OF DIFFERENCE

2.

DEFENSE AGAINST DIFFERENCE

3.

MINIMIZATION OF DIFFERENCE

Objectives

To improve students intercultural

competence
To make students aware about the
negative impact of stereotypes
To make students aware about the
perception people have about their
culture.
To show students differences in the
behavior people have according to their
culture.

Students are asked to answer two

questions:

What is a stereotype?
2. Enumerate the positive and
negative stereotypes that define
people from Medellin and Cali
1.

While watching the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKvgIj_OGB8&feature=y
outu.be
ask students the following questions. Students work in
small groups.

Where do you think they are from? Write complete

sentences
1.
(Phil
Dunphy)_____________________________

2.
(Claire
Dunphy)____________________________________

3.

(Jay Pritchett)
_____________________________

What differences did you find in the way people from

different nationalities behave during the soccer match
scene?

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

According to the video, what stereotype does Jay Pritchett

have about Colombian people?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________

List other stereotypes people from The United States have

about Colombian people.
1.________________________
2. _________________________
3. _______________________
4. _______________________

How do you feel when people stereotype you?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
________________________

What factors do you think have influenced the way foreign

people see Colombian people?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
__________________________

Prepare a short conversation in small groups where you

show a stereotype people have about people from other
country or city.

How to assess

Students can write a reflective

paragraph about the topic
The Intercultural Development
Inventory (Hammer, Bennett, &
Wiseman, 2003)
the Test of Intercultural Sensitivity
(Weldon, Carston, Rissman, Slobodin, &
Triandis, 1975)

References

Bennett, M. J. (1993). Towards ethnorelativism:

A developmental model of intercultural
sensitivity. In R. M. Paige (Ed.), Education for
the intercultural experience (pp. 2171).
Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, Inc.
Bennett, M. J. (1998a). Intercultural
communication: A current perspective. In M. J.
Bennett (Ed.), Basic concepts of intercultural
communication: Selected readings (pp. 134).
Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, Inc.