For possible inclusion in a forthcoming book on culture, we are seeking brief stories of experiences that you as teachers have had that involve aspects or dimensions of culture and intercultural communication. These stories could be situations or realizations that you have had personally or could be experiences that you have had with your ESL/EFL students.

Please summarize the incident in a brief paragraph or two—sorry, there isn’t space for stories longer than 200 words.  In your write-up, note the country or culture in which you were teaching or working, and the country or culture of the student(s) involved. Also, be sure to let us know the age group of the students and the educational context in which the story takes place.

We are particularly interested in vignettes that would illustrate cultural challenges or competence in the following areas

1.      Culture and language

2.      Culture and nonverbal communication

3.      Culture and identity

4.      Cultural conflict and adjustment

5.      Culture and education

6.      Culture and social responsibility

Please include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information. Send your contribution to me at the email address at the end of this message. We’re sorry that we can’t include all of the accounts.  If included for publication, your story may be edited for length and style. Contributors whose stories are included will be notified and appropriately credited in the text.

If your story is about your own experience, use the first person. If you are writing about a student, write in the third person and anonymize their name.Many thanks for your help.

Joe McVeigh, Middlebury, Vermont, USA

Ann Wintergerst, St. John’s University, New York, USA

Please send contributions and questions to joe@joemcveigh.org or use the contact form.