Within the Week of Science and Technology in Slovakia, November 6th 2018, the Department of Language Pedagogy and Intercultural Studies (KLIŠ) at PF UKF organized a workshop named “From Otherness to Understanding”. Master’s students of the study programmes “English Language and Literature” and “English Language and Culture” pointed to diverse minority groups in American society during the workshop, which coexist next each other despite their differences. The main aim of the event was to perceive the reality from a different point of view. Students had the opportunity to change their identity and become Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Mexican or Jewish Americans for a while. In addition to a number of customs and traditions related to a particular subculture, the participants of the workshop could also get acquainted with selected culinary specialties such as Arabic hummus, Mexican churros, Indian masala, Japanese sushi, traditional Chinese pudding cakes, delicious Jewish apple tea, the favourite fried doughs of native Americans and many other goodies. By solving the assigned tasks, participants of the workshop discovered less known aspects of a particular culture. The workshop is an outcome of a literary seminar aimed at minority authors in the US, whose goal is to support students’ critical thinking and lead them to the elimination of stereotypes, which mass media and society have enrooted in their thinking about ethnic and religious groups. By reading literary texts of US minority authors, students learnt to perceive reality from a different angle and at the same time developed skills that have recently been increasingly demanded by private companies – in English, known as the 3Cs – cooperation, communication and critical thinking.
Author of the text: PhDr. Zuzana Tabačková, PhD.
English version: doc. PhDr. Božena Horváthová, PhD.