International students encounter many different situations during their first few weeks at Iowa State University. Such events as going to the bank or shopping for groceries can be a struggle as students attempt to understand a new culture and new set of vocabulary. This website is designed to help students understand (and perhaps prevent!) many common "cultural gaps" that are not often discussed in a foreign language classroom.
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Website created by Megan Broberg, Masha Loukianenko, Maja Grgurovic, and Seth Loyd in conjunction with English 510 (Computer Methods in Language Study) under the direction of Dr. Volker Hegelheimer, professor in the Master's program in TESL/Applied Linguistics at Iowa State University.
Readings for the unit are taken from “American English for Everyday and Academic Use: An Upper Intermediate English Course for Classroom Use and Self-Study” (Eds. Tretyakov, U., Boltunova, S., & Tsepisheva, M.) published by Academic Project, St. Petersburg, 1996. Definitions are courtesy of Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
Special thanks to Arby's, First National Bank of Ames, Memorial Union Hotel, and West Hy-Vee for allowing us to video tape at their establishments. We would also like to thank our leading actor Mr. Joe Wu.
Last Updated: December 14, 2002