It all starts with language. Speaking the language of the country where you live (and work) helps you find your place in that country and it also helps you understand the culture. You can see and hear culture. The Dordrecht City Library has a Language Café where you can practice speaking Dutch. The language coaches play an important role in this practice. Language coaches are good at teaching others the Dutch language and often encounter other cultures in the Language Café.
As soon as you have been selected to become a language coach, you are obliged to follow the Taal Aan Zet Training, which focuses on teaching the Dutch language to others; from pronunciation to grammar and technical reading. The content of this training does touch on cultural differences here and there, but this is actually minimal. Fortunately, this is changing in Dordrecht! Heleen Meinster & Janet Brakel, of the Dordrecht City Library, realized that it is important for language coaches to understand the cultural background of their clients. And in addition, to develop cultural skills to use these as a language coach during personal meetings and during activities in the Language Café.
About Education was happy to train the language coaches of Drechtsteden in 'Culture and Cultural Skills'. During the training, the cultural iceberg proved to be a real 'eye-opener'. Once you discover that there is no 'normal' between people from different cultural backgrounds and that deep down we are not 'the same' either, then it really gets fun. The continuation of this training is in June and a whole day is planned for it!