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Interview with Danielle Sleeper, Melibee Global Intern

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Danielle Sleeper, Melibee Intern

I am grateful for having a dynamic and dedicated team of virtual interns here at Melibee Global and MelibeeU.  Today you will meet my senior intern, Danielle Sleeper.  She is a gem and you’ll quickly see why! Danielle will be at the Forum on Education Abroad conference if you’d like to learn more about her and/or Melibee.

Melibee:    Danielle, introduce yourself in 3 sentences or less!

DS:  My name is Danielle Sleeper and I am a professional student, now pursuing a Masters in International Communication at American University in Washington, DC. My personal experience studying, working and traveling throughout East Asia changed my way of thinking, and I returned to the U.S. committed to all things related to global education and study abroad. In my spare time, I am an obsessive yogini, cruciverbalist and Jeopardy! enthusiast.

Melibee: What inspired you to reply to the Melibee call for interns?

DS:  At the time, I had been looking for ways to volunteer and meet more people involved with international education. After searching through the Melibee website, I quickly determined that this was an organization I would like to intern for. I suppose I was drawn to it because it is a new organization and I am a sucker for social entrepreneurship. I admired the innovation and the way Melibee was clearly doing things differently—but mostly I liked the idea that I could directly make a difference and not be that intern shuffling files around.  I have not been disappointed.

Melibee: What have you enjoyed learning most from this experience?

DS: Too many things to choose a “most”!

It sounds kind of Sesame Street, but through interning with Melibee I have witnessed what can happen when you put your mind to it. Enterprises do not develop overnight—you need to be relentless, you need to be passionate, and you need to be optimistic. And sure, people can tell you that it isn’t going to be easy all they want, but I would have never truly understood the realities of managing a start-up had it not been for this internship. Truly, it is empowering to see what can be done to bridge social entrepreneurship with my passion– international education.  I am happy to say that I have contributed to a small part of it.

Also, I should mention that it has also been a joy to learn about and explore different career opportunities in the field. As an intern, I have conducted research for the Speaker Series and for workshop resource packets.  Consequently, I have learned a ton about job prospects in the field, networking, conferences, university programs, and global education organizations. I am positive this will only be of benefit to me once I kick my impending job search into high-gear.

Finally, one event that really struck me as a learning experience was meeting with one of the Melibee speaker series professionals.  I had the pleasure of having dinner with Nury Turkel and learned more about China and the situation with Uyghur population out west in three hours than I ever had living in China for over year. The conversation opened my eyes to an extreme social injustice in the world, and I have since been inspired to explore similar issues in my studies at school. Book him for your next keynote event and you will not be disappointed (shameless plug).

Melibee: What are your future plans in international education?

DS: After the completion of my master’s degree this summer,  I hope to secure a job designing, managing, and facilitating exchange programs. Ideally, I will have the opportunity to interact with students and travel. In the long term, I will one day be president of an international education organization.

Melibee: What advice would you give to others who are interested in entering the field?

DS: Intern with Melibee! Haha—but seriously, if don’t at least volunteer with Missy, make sure to connect with her. She has been an incredible mentor and role model to me, and is always willing to lend her wisdom and guidance. One of the informational interviews she set up for me and another intern has also led to a string of other opportunities. And if you don’t connect with Missy, go out there and find a mentor in the field!

Finally, I would also recommend participating in one of the MelibeeU workshops. You will be able to gain skills and knowledge, as well as explore further whether international education is right for you.

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You can connect with Danielle via LinkedIn at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellesleeper




Update on Colby College China Issue

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In my original post about the alleged incident in Colby’s faculty led program to China, I had mentioned that would report back once I had a reply to my message to Colby College’s President’s office.  Yesterday, after calling again, I received a call back from Sally Baker, Vice President and Secretary of the College, who is handling press requests regarding the alleged incident in China.

I thanked her for the school’s professionalism in writing to their campus community about the alleged incident.  It shows how seriously they are taking it, and as an international educator, I appreciate that they did not attempt to sweep the alleged issue under the rug.

VP Baker was gracious, but explained that it was unlikely that she was going to be able to answer any questions because their priority is to focus on students’ privacy, first and foremost.

Understood.

I did ask the following questions:

1) Was there training, prior to departure, for faculty who lead courses abroad?

and

2) I understood (from other press reports) that Professor Brown may have been placed on leave while he and the students were still in China.  Therefore, WHO was in charge of the students at that time?

While VP Baker was able to say that she did have information, she was not able to share it.  I didn’t necessarily expect her to be able to and told her that I understood.

While many schools don’t have a formal training for faculty leading courses abroad (which is always a concern!), I was particularly interested in the second question. If Professor Brown was placed on leave while in China and the students were still in the hotel with him, this would be of concern. While I understand that Colby’s position is that they cannot  about this, it serves as a reminder of the importance of having a clear, defined and practiced emergency process in place prior to a group departing for a course abroad.

For example, did another faculty member accompany this group abroad or did they have a local partner on the ground who was there to support the students during this time? Was there a relationship with the local embassy? Did the State Department get a call to assist these students?  Was a local alum in China available to provide support? Were the students registered with the State Department prior to departure and informed to call them in an emergency?  Did someone from Colby fly to China upon reports of accusations by students?  Were there language and cultural barriersd when dealing with this alleged incident?

The media has not commented on any of this and unfortunately, neither can Colby at this time.

Nevertheless, I hope that this alleged incident has shaken all of us up.  Had it been YOUR program or YOUR student, how would you have expected this to be handled?  Would your school have had measures in place to ensure that the students’ safety was the priority?

Again, I do not write this to imply blame or point the finger at Colby College – for all I know they may have had a master emergency process in place and it may have been handled as smoothly as possible.  Yet this story reaching the major media outlets does force us to re-evaluate our faculty selection process and emergency planning processes.

What are your thoughts about this case? Are you meeting with your emergency planning committee to discuss this new scenario?  Or are you forming a committee as a result of it?  Please share your comments! (You do not need to register to comment on Melibee Global.)




“Vlog” Video Blog 1: Feedback on Colby College in China

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This past week, I received several emails about the Colby College incident in China and therefore want to share the dialogue that took place ‘behind the scenes’ at Melibee.

This is the first time I’m “vlogging,” so please let me know if this format should be used periodically. Apologizes for the “extreme close up” also! When I filmed it, there was a lot more space around my head. (Ah, technology – I am learning, slowly but surely!)

UPDATE/CORRECTION (February 17, 2011):  Per Brian Whalen, the Forum’s Incident Database Project would capture incidents of significance of this type, but none have been reported so far. The Forum will issue an annual report at the end of the summer, but they are in the process of collecting monthly data and continue to sign up institutions and programs that are reporting.  The report will be issued on an annual basis.




5 Tips on Chinese Language and Culture for Rush Limbaugh

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The President of China, Hu Jintao, visited the US this past week.  Rush Limbaugh, one of talk radio’s well known characters,  mocked the Chinese language, complaining that it wasn’t being simultaneously translated.  Here is the video:

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I think the last time I saw that type of response to another language, I was in 3rd grade. However, it was an 8 year old who delivered that brand of mocking, which is neither funny or appropriate.

Clearly, Mr. Limbaugh needs a full blown cross-cultural training on the Chinese language and culture.  That would be too much to deliver here.  However, here are 5 tips for Mr. Limbaugh, should he run into the Chinese President:

1) Approximately one-fifth of the world speaks some form of Chinese as its native language, making it the language with the most native speakers. Mandarin Chinese is the official language of the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China and Singapore. It is spoken by 867.2 million people worldwide and ranks first as the most widely spoken language in the world.

2) The various dialects of spoken Chinese use tones. Some areas of China (in the North) will only use as many as 3 tones, while in Southern China, they can use between 6 or 10 tones as they speak.

3) Chinese is the oldest written language in the world with roughly 6,000 years of history. There are over 20,000 Chinese characters, though only approximately 3,000-4,000 are necessary to read a newspaper.

4) The Chinese language has no verb conjugations. Verbs are not modified as a result of tense. Adverbs such as “before, yesterday, previously” are used to denote the past tense, and “in the future, tomorrow” are used to denote the future tense.

5) Here is a well done, short video that will teach you (and hopefully Mr. Limbaugh) a few words in Mandarin:

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Please Vote for Me: An Experiment in Democracy by 8 year olds in China

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“A Free Life” by Chinese Born Author Ha Jin

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Chinese born author Ha Jin.

I am a big fan of books written by those who are not born in the United States.  Not only is it a wonderful way to explore another culture, but it is a useful tool when examining your “home” through your own cultural lens.

I have recently discovered the writing of  Ha Jin, an immigrant from China.  His personal story is very moving- he was studying at Brandeis University when the Tiananmen Square broke out in 1989.  After seeing footage of the situation in China, he opted to immigrate to the United States.  He eventually went on to earn a PhD here and taught for many years at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). He is now a Professor at Boston University in Massachusetts.

While I just finished his short book, “In the Pond”, written in 1998, I am going to focus on his novel entitled “A Free Life.” This is his first book written about Chinese immigrants in the United States.  He tales the tale of a family that gets “stuck” in the US as a result of activities related to Tiananmen Square.  This is not autobiographical – but rather a book idea that sprung as a result of meeting the owner of a Chinese restaurant in the US many years ago.

Ha Jin’s main character, Nan, leaves university to work and focus on his dream of being a poet.  His tales of living the American dream are filled with the routine and mundane tasks of bill paying and going to work each day, yet each step in his journey is a lesson in cultural understanding.  The book is filled with reflection and humor. I read this several weeks ago and it still is resonating with me. Ha Jin’s writing leaves me with a better understanding of Chinese culture, but also of the human condition.  We all struggle on our paths, trying to live our dreams and deal in our realities. Something about his writing reminds me of one of my favorite authors, Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart.

I came across this thought provoking video (below) of Ha Jin speaking about “A Free Life.”  He reminds the audience that he did not write about his own experience in this book – for example, he did not drop out of graduate school or work in a Chinese restaurant. But he does talk about the emotion of fear in the immigrant experience.  This is a fear of not being able to return home – or that home is not ever going to be the same, fear of learning a whole new language and having to trust the processes that don’t make sense in one’s own life experience and fear of this new identity in the new homeland.

Ha Jin talks about the challenge of tackling the subject of language in his writing and how to present two languages into his writing.  He says that learning a new language comes with a childlike innocence and that he specifically uses and misuses the language to reflect this.  There is certainly humor in the meaning of many new American idioms and phrases, and he is a master at highlighting these.

He also talk about the importance of the physical land in his writing.  When he first came to the United States, his first impression was how different the actual land was in this country. He speaks about writing a letter home early on and how he expresses how his native country’s land was overused and that “nature was extraordinarily generous to America.” He clearly connects with the land and intended to write about it as part of the characters’ immigration experience in “A Free Life.”

One of the most beautiful pieces of his presentation in this video below is his commentary on the use of the word “homeland.”  Ha Jin says that in other parts of the world, people reference their “mother” or “father” land. But in the US we speak of a homeland, a place that is our land of origin AND a place where home physically is, and how the latter is primarily how the word is used now – even if it means “adopted homeland.” He feels that the word homeland is a very rich word in our language.

Ha Jin also speaks about immigrant authors not being simply “brokers of culture,” but responsible for also creating culture.  He cites the example of using old things to create new – such as how Chinese Americans created the fortune cookie, which is not really common in China, as a new phenomenon and twist for the American culture.

I would strongly encourage anyone interested in a learning about culture to pick up a copy of “A Free Life.” Meanwhile, check out this video of Ha Jin speaking in Boston about his novel:

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Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC)

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Intercultural communication humor!

I am a passionate life long learner. This summer I am taking a graduate level class: The History of the South (that is, the South of the U.S.).  While I already have a Masters from the School for International Training, I am a firm believer that education is not a destination, but rather a life long journey that has ebbs and flows.  This will be my 2nd graduate level class in U.S. History – a subject that I am very curious about and one that directly relates to my work as an intercultural educator because it is important to know where the value structure of a country comes from to understand its culture.

Each summer I make a list of professional training opportunities to consider, and then I make a short list of what is “realistic” in terms of time, funding, and work/life balance. After careful consideration, I opted for the History course and the BEVI training for a variety of reasons.  However, if time and resources permitted, I would have liked to attended training at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC) in Portland, Oregon, US.  In fact, I wish that the SIIC had a virtual training option for those of us who cannot easily get to the west coast!

SIIC has a 34 year history of providing professional development in intercultural communication. It is part of the Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI), a private, nonprofit foundation designed to foster an awareness and appreciation of cultural differences in both the international and domestic arenas.

Their workshops are appropriate for intercultural trainers, human resource and diversity managers, educators, international administrators and those who work across diverse teams.  In fact, it is really an appropriate training program for anyone who wants to learn more about building bridges among cultural differences as well as simply understanding why we are the way we are.

Their summer institute is offering four summer sessions this year including one, three and five day workshops.  Some of particular interest include:

New Narratives in Intercultural Education and Training - facilitated by Milton Bennett. This one excites me because I want to know what new models exist out there instead of recreating the same theories repeatedly. How can we look at the work that we do from a different lens?  And how could we miss an opportunity to learn from Milton Bennett?  He is a guru in our field!

Mapping the Intercultural Self: Using Visual Journaling to Create an Atlas of Experience – facilitated by Patricia (Patti) Digh and David Robinson.  This appeals to me because it is a unique way to explore culture.  Participants are instructed to bring art supplies – which sounds like a fabulous creative outlet when exploring your intercultural self. And I must add that one of the facilitators, Ms. Digh, sounds like an unbelievable woman! Anyone who writes a book about living with intention is a rock star in my humble opinion. Furthering her potential “rock star status” is that she lives in Asheville, North Carolina (US), one of the coolest places on our dear planet.

China: A Critical-Culture Briefing – facilitated by George Renwick. A dedicated training on China by one of the world’s leading experts on East/West cultural dialogue. What else do I need to say?  I simply will add that I met George Renwick years ago during my days at Cartus and learned more in a 20 minute conversation with him about China then I did in 4 years of college. Enough said!

While I won’t be able to attend SIIC this summer, I hope that you’ll consider doing so. And if you can’t get out to the west coast of the US this year, make sure to sit down and assess your professional development opportunities.  Whether it is traveling abroad, attending a conference, drilling down in a country specific training or making a list of books that will help you to grow as an educator and person, make sure to take the time to explore on your educational journey. Life is too short and too precious not to!