Anne Fox ApS

Category: Pedagogy

  • Barrier or Badge?

    Barrier or Badge?

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    What does integration mean? Without a common understanding of this, is it possible to devise a valid and meaningful test? In this panel debate we heard examples of completely inappropriate test items requiring respondents to describe in the target language how things are done “in your own country” even though they have been living in…

  • How much blended learning?

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    Someone asked me an interesting question recently: Why do you think there is so little take up of blended learning in UK  universities? And that the little that there is, is so bad? The short answer is I don’t know. The long answer needs to start by defining blended learning and by asking whether it is…

  • Why residential?

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    Effective teacher development does not just happen in courses. Mentoring, coaching, peer evaluation, observation,  lesson study and personal journaling are all valuable approaches. So why do we propose a residential course for getting to grips with the basics of culturally responsive teaching?

  • Uncovering hidden talents

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    Most of us can do more than we think. Often it is a case of raising awareness and re-framing. In the case of the many people who have spent years running a household,it is about how those skills could easily translate into an entrepreneurial setting. This is what we were attempting in the M-HOUSE project,…

  • CRT & Cooperative learning

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    Cooperative Learning or CL is one strategy that has been adapted for intercultural groups of adults here in Denmark. CL is based on the premise that all of us are better than one of us and that in turn is based on research showing the effectiveness of group learning from the 1930s. CL is based…

  • Go out!

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    One way of widening the cultural lens of your students is to go out and meet new cultures. This need not mean costly and time-consuming travel abroad though that is probably the most valuable intercultural experience. Sometimes this can mean just a focused outing in the local area. Most urban areas these days display elements…

  • Stereotyping: just lazy thinking?

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    Part of the argument in favour of empathy is that we are born empathetic creatures. However there are also other forces acting in the opposite direction. These lead to stereotyping as a sort of default behaviour when we don’t know anything else about the person or people standing in front of us. So stereotyping is…

  • Empathy: the key intercultural skill

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    We have looked at how cultural differences reflect differences in behaviourial norms and how these norms are based on differences in the values that we prioritise. We now need a tool for understanding these differences. Developing empathetic skills is one way of getting to the root of the way in which another person’s different sets of values leads to…

  • Plotting intercultural awareness

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    How do you know that you are becoming more interculturally aware? You can tackle this question from a quantitative or qualitative point of view.

  • Values: The glue of culture

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    Culture is based on shared values. Values are the invisible glue that binds cultures together. You can argue that deep down, most humans share the same values. This is the universalist view of culture and is the strategy often used by teachers to try and find what binds their class together. And while true that we…