David Sperling on cross-cultural communication
From Dave Sperling - Featured Presentation - KOTESOL IC 2003 · · KoreaTESOL
“Gestures can be very dangerous — a Japanese student used a gesture at a stoplight and an American in the other car reacted violently because he misunderstood it.”
On , David Sperling, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer at SMITH MICRO SOFTWARE INC, spoke about cross-cultural communication during Dave Sperling - Featured Presentation - KOTESOL IC 2003 on KoreaTESOL.
About David Sperling
In a 2003 presentation to the KOTESOL International Conference, Dave Sperling discussed strategies for integrating internet-based activities into English language teaching. He advised teachers to "not be afraid of knowing less than your students" and to "take your ego and leave it at the door" when working with high-tech students. Sperling recommended pairing students at computers to make activities "social, not antisocial," and suggested that teachers coordinate pen pal exchanges themselves to avoid the arrangement falling apart. He also cautioned that "gestures can be very dangerous" across cultures and that teachers should "prepare for the worst and hope for the best" because website links can change quickly. Sperling described video conferencing as "powerful" and noted that students become "really, really excited" when they see their pen pals live. He characterized the era as "still the early days for online learning and online education," telling teachers that by using the internet in class they could "consider yourself a pioneer."