Journal Instructions

 

Throughout the course, students will submit 4 journal entries which guide them to reflect on their cultural intelligence (CQ) scores, set measurable goals and action steps for improving their CQ, and participate in activities and experiences which will help to practice effective intercultural communication. (Please note that journal entries should be submitted in the module/week listed below, but students will receive one grade for their whole journal in Module/Week 8 of the course). Your journal entry should be at least 400 words, but some of the prompts will require much more to answer the questions thoroughly. While journals are not formal academic papers, you still should take great care to make sure you always write in complete sentences with proper spelling and grammar.

 

Submit Journals 1–3 by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of the assigned module/weeks. Submit Journal 4 by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday of Module/Week 8. Please type your journal entry directly into the blackboard textbox (do not upload a file). Instructions for submitting a journal entry to Blackboard can be found at the bottom of this document.

Journal 1 (Module/ Week 1)

Please use the following prompt as a guide to write your journal entry. Your journal entry should include an answer to each of the major sections/headings of this prompt (in bold). The bullet points under each heading are suggestions for topics to consider. For Journal 1, we will discuss our framework for intercultural communication: God’s story, our personal story, and the global story.

 

Share a bit of your personal story: 

• Where is your family from? Where did you grow up? Where do you live now?
• Describe your home culture: (Geography, Religion, Ethnicity, Language, Family, Food, History, Etc.)
• Feel free to describe any significant experiences that have shaped you or given you perspective.

 

How have you seen your story intersect with God’s story? 

• Share a bit of your faith journey (beliefs, understanding of God, salvation experience, significant spiritual markers, etc).
• What would you want someone from another culture to know about your faith?
• Why is it important to understand the whole story of God (the Grand Narrative)?

 

How have you interacted with or engaged in the global story? 

• What kinds of cross-cultural experiences have you had?
• How would you describe your level of comfort, knowledge, or understanding when interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds than your own?
• What are some challenges you have experienced when interacting across cultural boundaries?

 

Why is it important to have an understanding of God’s story, your own story, and the global story in order to effectively cross cultures with the gospel?

Journal 2 (Module/ Week 2)

This CQ Journal entry will focus on your CQ assessment report. You should take the assessment and download and save the report from the CQ center before completing this journal. Review your CQ report and then use the following prompt as a guide to write your journal entry. Your journal entry should include an answer to each of the major sections/headings of this prompt (in bold). The bullet points under each heading are suggestions for topics to consider.

Discuss why and how the concept of CQ is relevant to you and your future personal and career goals.

Discuss the results of your Cultural Intelligence Assessment. 

• Discuss your strengths and growth areas in each of the four CQ dimensions (Drive, Knowledge, Action, and Strategy).
• Do you agree with your scores?
• What surprises you about your scores.
• What experiences, background, or present challenges might be impacting those scores?

Discuss the ways you will seek to increase your CQ in the next 4 weeks as we finish this course? What about over the next year?

How does Cultural Intelligence relate to God’s story, your story, and the global story?

• How can you use your CQ to understand the story of others?
• How could your CQ impact your ability to share God’s story across cultural boundaries?

Journal 3 (Module/ Week 4)

For this journal, each student will need to seek to have a cross-cultural experience and engage with people from a different ethno-linguistic background than your own. The purpose of this assignment is to have a new experience with a culture that is unfamiliar, practice developing their CQ capabilities, and take note of similarities and differences in cultural values.

Here are a few suggestions of experiences to have (note: students should choose one option from this list):

• Visit the home of a friend from another country. Ask them to teach you how to make food from that country, or how to play a sport which is unique to that country. Talk together about the differences in your two cultures and challenges of interacting with people who are different. (Note: It’s important that students seek out a new experience. This option is not meant for students to visit a home of a close friend where they have been often or have been around the culture or family for a long time. Perhaps an acquaintance that you’d like to get to know better would provide a new experience).
• Attend a cultural celebration or festival sponsored by a local cultural association. Learn about the various traditions. (Look for Greek Festivals, Indian Cultural Festivals, Chinese New Year celebrations, etc.)
• Visit a local non-Christian place of worship (Mosque, Hindu temple, Buddhist temple, etc.). Respectfully ask for a tour and ask for someone to share a little about their religion, the meanings of certain artifacts or statues you see, and the purpose of the practices you witness.
• Attend a Christian worship gathering where most of the attendees have an ethno-linguistic background that is different than your own. (Many communities have churches who worship in a foreign language.)
• Visit a local ethnic restaurant (note: Taco Bell, Panda Express, Chipotle, Chuy’s, and other American chain restaurants that serve “international food” do not count as ethnic restaurants. Find a place where the chef and most of the staff are from the country from where the food originates, and other people of that same ethnicity go there to get food from home). Talk with the staff about where they are from and ask them about how they make their most iconic dishes. Ask about the role food plays in their culture. **This only counts if you actually engage in conversations other than ordering food!**

After you have completed your cultural experience, use the writing prompt below to complete your journal. Your journal entry should be at least 400 words and should include an answer to each of the major sections/headings of this prompt (in bold). The bullet points under each heading are suggestions for topics to consider.

Describe your cultural experience.

• Where did you go?
• Who did you talk to? 
• What do you see, hear, smell, taste, feel? 
• Did anything surprise you? 
• What did you most enjoy about the experience? 
• What was the most difficult part?

Discuss what you learned about the culture represented through the experience.

• What was similar to your own culture? 
• What was different? 
• What cultural values did you notice?

How can your CQ help you in cross-cultural experiences such as these (be specific)?

How has your awareness of cultures in general or the specific culture represented changed as a result of your experience? 

Alternative Assignment Option for Journal 3

• We know that some students live in places and situations which may prevent them from having such a cross-cultural experience. While we encourage you to do some more research in your community because many students are surprised to find that there is more diversity than they expect, we do understand that there are limitations. If you cannot find a cross-cultural experience like the ones listed above, you may, with the prior permission of your instructor, use a digital experience as a substitute. You may watch a movie that was produced in a foreign country (think Bollywood, Chinese film, French Film, etc.), or watch a movie about a person who crosses cultures. Please contact your professor if you would like to use a digital option for this journal. For your journal entry, you should write a 400-800 word review of the movie. You will discuss the elements of culture you found to be unique in the media (especially focus on cultural value orientations, the cross-cultural challenges experienced by the character, and the ways you would apply cultural intelligence to be able to engage that culture effectively).

Journal 4 (Module/ Week 8)

In your final CQ journal entry, you will reflect back on your CQ journey throughout the course. Answer the following questions in your CQ journal.

• Did you meet the goals or accomplish the action steps you set in Journal 2?
• How has your understanding of Cultural Intelligence and the realities of interacting across cultures changed during this course?
• Discuss the ways you will seek to increase your CQ as you continue on beyond this course.
• What is the most significant thing you have learned about intercultural communication and engagement?
• How can you apply what you have learned about CQ to our global purpose of engaging the nations with the gospel?

 

 

 

Creating Journal Entries for GLST220

Throughout the semester, you will write 4 journals in GLST220. The Journal feature in blackboard allows you to make multiple entries on the same page, so every time you submit a journal, you will follow the same process. Please make sure that you type directly into the submission box for journals (do not upload any files into the journal portal of Blackboard).

 

Click on the Journal link in the assignments folder of the current module you are working in (Module 2, 4, 6, 8).

 

Click on “Create Journal Entry” in the top left-hand corner

 

Add a title and type or copy/paste the text of your journal entry in the box (Type directly into the text box). Click “Post Entry” when you are done.

NOTE: YOU WILL REPEAT THIS SAME PROCESS FOR ALL FOUR JOURNALS (CREATING A NEW JOURNAL ENTRY EACH TIME).