Understanding interculturalism in an immersion room of a public school: students' and international volunteers' insights

Abstract

The new conditions of globalization allow the interaction among diverse cultures including the ones within educational contexts. The project “Linguaventuras” which was implemented through a specialized space named immersion room allowed the students to interact with International volunteers who came to teach English language within some public schools in Bogotá. The aim of this case study was to unveil some characteristics about intercultural phenomena in this special immersion program when analyzing the data emerged from a real cultural contact lived in the immersion room. This qualitative study also described the intercultural elements which are manifested in the participants of the immersion room. Through narrative frames and oral interviews, the study presented students’ and cooperating teachers’ insights regarding the intercultural phenomena and how they flowed when the participants had a real cultural encounter. With some contributions of narrative research and grounded theory approach, findings about views of culture, empathy and brotherhood among different cultures and cultural awareness were discussed.