Getting to Know Ourselves and Others Through the ABC's

A volume in Literacy, Language, and LearningSeries Editors Claudia Finkbeiner, University of Kassel;Althier M. Lazar, Saint Joseph's University and Wen Ma, Le Moyne CollegeThis book is a valuable resource for teachers and other professionals who are looking for a proven way toincrease cultural appreciation and awareness. New applications of the ABC's model of CulturalUnderstanding and Communication are presented and discussed in this new volume, based on studies done inthe United States, Canada and Europe. In this ground-breaking project, the authors describe how the ABC'smodel challenged and changed the cultural perceptions of those who participated in it, even those who wereinitially highly resistant to such possibilities. At the heart of the project is the exchange of narratives - lifestories that give insight into the cultural worlds of selves and others. In addition to the narratives, otherinstruments including the Transcultural Competence Scale (TCC), provide further evidence of the positiveimpact of the ABC's on participants' receptivity toward cultural differences.In the TRANSABC's project, researchers from both sides of the Atlantic invited teacher candidates and students will become professionals in otherdisciplines to write an autobiography (A) of themselves from various cultural perspectives, a biography (B) of an individual who is culturally differentfrom themselves along particular dimensions, and to use these documents to conduct cross-cultural comparisons (C) between themselves and theperson they interviewed. Furthermore, candidates developed culturally responsive ideas for the school or the workplace (C). These exchanges andanalyses produced epiphanies and insights that translated into specific actions to improve cultural understanding and communication in classrooms andworkplaces. Educators and professionals can take from these examples to inspire their own personal journey toward greater cultural understanding andsensitivity.