Thanks for sharing those experiences, Annette. I bet you have enough material to publish a case study or memoir.
As the number of foreign students continue to grow in US and European countries and as studying and teaching abroad become more widespread across institutions who wish to gain a foothold in other countries, your experiences will be valuable for many in the teaching profession. Miguel -----Original Message----- From: Annette Taylor [mailto:tay...@sandiego.edu] Sent: Friday, November 20, 2015 7:05 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Teaching Abroad Several people have asked me backchannel to post a bit about teaching in India. I have not gotten around to it because basically I am always too overwhelmed by just about everything to get around to posting something. So I thought I'd post a bit about Euro/American-centrism in teaching and textbooks. First of all, all of my students are fluent in English--most consider themselves native English speakers as they spoke English at home growing up and as they tell me, "we think in English!" it is NOT a second language! And they speak with that wonderfully melodic Indian English :) But, of course, they are all equally fluent in Hindi. Because I'm always a bit rushed (I'd like to take a walk in that short window of time each day between dusk and dark, hot and chilly, too smoky/polluted and sort of OK to at least walk in) this will be brief. Two things that stuck out this week in my cognitive class: (1) talking about semantic networks--hierarchical and networks models: my textbook, an American textbook as they are no Indian cognitive psychology textbooks that are quite as comprehensive as the US ones, used a common US example: the robin. A robin is a bird. A robin has a red breast. A robin lays small blue eggs, etc. The students had no clue what a robin is. They had no idea if it was true or false that it has a red breast or lays small blue eggs. We defaulted to crows and pigeons in our discussions. My exam item I just wrote is about crows :) (2) Problem solving: Duncker's candle problem. I have a text-associated image of a box of matches, a box of candles, a box of tacks, scotch tape, a thimble. I put it up and asked "What can we toss aside?" Of course the thimble and the tacks! HUH? you might say? Well, their only experience with modern construction is that the walls are all made of solid concrete. How are you going to stick a tack into solid concrete? The tape will have to do, even if it keeps coming away from the weight of the candle. (Heard among students exiting, "stupid problem these people came with!".....) And that, boys and girls, is but a teensy weensy glimpse into the Euro/American centric world of textbook publishing and teaching :) I am off for my quick walk while I still can catch that narrow window! Oh drat! just got bitten by mosquitoes again! Odomos to the rescue! Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Visiting Professor, Ashoka University, Delhi, India annette.tay...@ashoka.edu.in Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego tay...@sandiego.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: ro...@stjohns.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=1632838.7e62b84813297f170a6fc240dab8c12d&n=T&l=tips&o=47419 or send a blank email to leave-47419-1632838.7e62b84813297f170a6fc240dab8c...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@mail-archive.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=47420 or send a blank email to leave-47420-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
