When you come to a new country, you have a target. If you know what you have to do there, it can help you adapt to the new changes. - Radou
Leaving your home to go and study in another country is an exciting prospect. There are many new and positive experiences waiting for you in the UK. There may also be aspects of your life in the UK that present culture challenges. You may need to get used to a different way of doing everyday things and find ways to adapt to aspects of your new life.
In these activities you will listen to some international students and a university tutor talking about culture challenges for students coming to the UK. You will also assess yourself to find out how ready you are for the culture challenge ahead.
Meeting the culture challenge
In this activity you are going to watch a video in which some international students and tutors describe some of the culture challenges faced by students when they first arrive in a new country. They include examples of situations which some of the students experienced soon after moving to live in the UK.
Instruction
Watch the video extract and while you listen move the culture challenge and example mentioned by each speaker into the appropriate places. One has already been done for you as an example. When you have finished moving all the items, check your answers and read the feedback. You can watch the video as many times as you need to.
To watch the video, click the play button once. You can move between parts of the video by dragging the slider left or right.
You can move items from the list into a box by clicking on them and dragging them into a box with your mouse. If you change your mind, you can still move the items from one box to another.
There is a transcript for you to look at if you need help: Video transcript (pdf, 65 kb).
Here are the culture challenges and examples mentioned by each speaker:
Speaker 1: Day to day issues - Where you eat; where you sleep; transportation and getting to class. Speaker 2: Going out by yourself - Going to the city centre alone - and getting lost :-) Speaker 3: Learning by making mistakes - Finding out when and how the rubbish is collected. Speaker 4: After the orientation, managing on your own without support - Shopping in the supermarket and cooking with strange ingredients. Speaker 5: The unfamiliarity of everything - Trying to find fresh vegetables and dealing with different tastes.
How many of these culture challenges could you have predicted? Some of them are typical of the experiences reported by many international students when they arrive and start adapting to a new life in the UK. Situations like these are often the 'adventures' students remember about the time soon after their arrival in the UK. Now is the time that you can start thinking about the experience of living and studying in the UK and the kind of cutural challenges that might lie ahead for you.
Watch the video extract again with the transcript above if you need to check your understanding. The parts of the transcript containing the answers to the listening task are highlighted.
How ready are you?
Think about the differences that there might be for you when you begin your studies in the UK. In this activity you are going to assess yourself to see how ready you are for the culture challenge ahead.
Instruction
Think about each of these statements in relation to yourself and select the tick or the cross before checking your answers and reading the feedback.
To make a selection, click on the tick if the statement is true for you or the cross if it is not true. You can click again if you wish to change your answer.
I expect that I will need to make an effort to make new friends.
I am ready for the challenge of the British diet.
I know what to expect in terms of British people and social life.
I expect to have my English language skills challenged.
I already have an idea of the cost of living in the UK and know how much I will need to budget for my food shopping.
I don't expect to like everything and have thought about how I will cope if I get homesick.
I have checked the seasonal temperatures in the part of the UK where I'm going and know what kind of clothes I need to bring with me.
I have an idea of what my accommodation might be like in the UK.
I am ready for the experience of a little culture shock, especially at the beginning of my stay.
I expect to gain a lot personally from the experience of living and studying in the UK.
How well-prepared are you for adapting to a new life? When you have finished, click below to calculate how many ticks you have and look at your score below to find out what your score shows.
How many boxes were you able to tick? Find your score below and read your profile:
Score: 8 to 10 If you were able to tick 8 or more boxes this suggests that you are already in the process of preparing yourself for life and study in the UK. You have already started to think practically about the experience of living and studying in the UK and know what kind of challenges might lie ahead. You can use this time before you come to the UK very effectively to ensure that you are as prepared as possible so that your stay in the UK becomes one of the best experiences of your life!
Score: 4 to 7 Your score suggests that you are already partly aware of how you may be challenged when you come to live and study in the UK, but perhaps you are still feeling very excited about the prospect and have not properly had time to sit down and think about all of the changes that might be involved. If this is the case, now is the time to think about what might lie ahead and make some practical preparations for it. You have already taken the first step by using the learning materials in 'Prepare for Success' to begin preparing yourself!
Score: 3 and below Your score suggests this may be the first time you have considered some of the practical issues of coming to live and study in the UK. The range of learning materials in 'Prepare for Success' can help you prepare for this big step in your life. If you work through all of these learning materials you should discover some important and useful information that will help you get ready for your future life and study in the UK.
Would you like to review the main points?
Typical challenges for international students coming to study in the UK, which result from the change in culture, relate to the differences in food, social behaviour, the cost of living, climate and language. If you find any of these or other differences a challenge, especially when you first arrive in the UK, you are certainly not alone. After a short time, most international students do get used to their new life fairly quickly. Moving to live in a new country where many aspects of life are unfamiliar to you is likely to be a challenge on one level; however, on another level it is likely to be one of the most exciting and memorable experiences of your life.You can use the time before you come to the UK to investigate some of the culture changes that there might be.
Meeting the culture challenge
once. You can move between parts of the video by dragging the slider left or right.
How ready are you?
