Adult trainings deal with business culture and day-to-day practicalities. Teens talk about music, movies and dating. One of our experts provides some insight.

Intercultural training helps teens deal with transition anxieties.

Sixteen-year-old Chiara* and her 14-year-old sister Sienna* are classic third-culture kids (TCKs). They spent a large part of their developmental years in Japan and Australia – cultures other than that of their Brazilian and Vietnamese parents – before moving to New York City from Melbourne, Australia.

Their state of mind

Several weeks after their arrival in New York City, Chiara and Sienna entered their one-day cross-cultural training programme with hesitation, reluctance, and uncertainty.

Having relocated during the summer, they were upset at having had to leave the comfort and familiarity of their old home, school, and friends. Consequently, when it came time for the training session, they were in no mood to attend what they felt would compare to a school day – a week before it officially started.

Chiara walked into the training room, took off her summer jacket, and started sketching in a journal she had brought along. Sienna strolled in after her sister and sat down, her big eyes gazing at all the books and materials laid out on the conference table.

Breaking the ice

After a warm welcome from the trainer, the girls spent the early morning addressing their expectations and goals for the day and creating a definite agenda with the staff.

The initial icebreaking exercise involved designing a family coat of arms. The sisters separately created a family “shield,” allowing them a vehicle to describe and write about their family members.

Once they finished this task and shared their designs, a clearer picture of the participants and their perceptions emerged, thus encouraging a more open conversation among the girls and the trainer.

An introduction to host culture

The girls participated in a discussion of the history and geography of the United States, its social and political concerns, and the commonalities of the English language in other parts of the world, finally addressing the definition of culture.

In an effort to erase any existing false perceptions and heighten their awareness of US culture, the teenagers viewed a video on American life and spoke about their first day in New York.

Learning from a veteran transferee

Before lunch, the girls met an experienced international assignee. Upon arrival in the office, Susan, age 15, shared her experiences about moving to the United States from the UK two years earlier with her parents and younger sister.

Music, fashion, television, movies, boys, and dating were topics thrown around among the three girls.

While their parents attended their own cross-cultural programme, the girls, along with the trainer, walked around the corner to the local diner that served (to Sienna’s delight) a good American burger and fries.

Conversation included what the girls did during the summer, how Melbourne is similar and different to New York, the school systems in each city, vacations, and parental curfews.

Looking ahead

Back in the training room, once Susan left, the girls discussed friendships, old and new, as well as the upcoming school semester, strategies for making new friends, getting settled in New York, coping with culture shock, the turmoil of the transition process, and identity issues.

They examined differences in cultural attitudes towards time, communication, and relationships through a role-play scenario.

Summarising the day spent together helped them prepare a quiz for their parents, outlining their newly gained knowledge. Afterwards, they put together a series of questions, creating their own evaluation form, thus keeping the girls interested and actively involved in the learning process.

At the end of the day, the sisters received magazine photos and brochures of New York City to create postcards for their home-country friends.

Just as important as the girls’ educational experience, the parents gained information about their children. They learned what the teens accomplished during the day, which included discovery of the challenges and concerns that surfaced more readily through dialogue with a stranger.

This positive experience, which eased the transition anxieties for both parents and teens, set the entire family on the road to a rich and enjoyable experience in New York City.

Resources for teens

Websites

Teens - Expatriate reference desk
www.escapeartist.com

Third Culture Kids
www.tckworld.com; www.tckfamily.com

United Nations Youth Information Network
www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/index.html

Teen Directory of the Web
http://dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/International

Books

Beverly Roman, 'Footsteps Around the World: Relocation Tips for Teens' (BR Anchor Publishing, revised edition 2000)

Sara Mansfield Taber, 'Journal of a Traveling Childhood' (The Foreign Youth Foundation 1997)

David Pollock & Ruth E. Van Reken, 'The Third Culture Kid Experience: Growing Up Among Worlds' (Intercultural Press 1999)

Linda Bell, 'Hidden Immigrants: Legacies of Growing up Abroad' (Cross Cultural Publications/Crossroads 1997)

*Names are fictional.

July 2003 (updated June 2006)

US-born interculturalist Saskia Meckman grew up in France, Germany, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands, with an Ecuadorian mother and a Dutch-Austrian-Danish father. As Director of Intercultural Services at the Interchange Institute, in Boston, she conducts research on families relocating overseas and trains children and teens to deal with transition issues. For more information, go to www.interchangeinstitute.org.

Reprinted with permission from Expatriate Observer, spring 2003