ABCs

As part of the TRANSABCs project, twelve university professors from the USA (California, Michigan, Oklahoma, Philadelphia, Syracuse NY) and Europe (Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Spain) learned about the possible applications of the ABC's of Cultural Understanding and Communication teaching model developed by Prof. Dr. Patrica R. Schmidt and adapted by Prof. Dr. Claudia Finkbeiner. This model offers the opportunity to prepare people for encounters with others through active engagement with the self. They develop intercultural confidence by questioning ways of thinking and habits in discourse that are taken for granted, safe and reliable, and by learning to renegotiate with others. The resulting change in perspective is intended to contribute to seeing multiculturalism as an opportunity.

The participants in the TRANSABC's project learned to apply the ABC's model practically in seminars in the training and further education of teachers at their home universities with n = 1229 subjects. This procedure has a multiplier effect, since not only the intercultural competence of future and already active teachers is promoted, but also the intercultural communication skills of their students as well as their literacy skills.