From Infographic to Interview to Performance: A Three-Part Culture Project

Bach Linh Trang, HCMC University of Education, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Context:

I use this lesson in my Intercultural Communication course for third-year English-majored students (class size approximately 50) at HCMC University of Education. It follows a unit on foundational concepts — what intercultural communication is, the three levels of culture, cultural value dimensions, a staircase model of intercultural competence, communication styles, and culture shock (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2021). Students apply this knowledge in a three-part group project on a chosen culture, then present it to classmates after two weeks. The interview stage often surprises students, since host and sojourner accounts rarely fully agree.

Lesson general aim:

This lesson moves students from theory to lived experience. They combine what they have learned about culture with real interviews, then turn their findings into practical recommendations for reducing culture shock, capped with a hands-on performance.

Learning objectives:

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• Represent a culture’s surface, intermediate, and deep levels visually and coherently in an infographic.
• Compare host-member and sojourner perspectives on the same culture and judge whether they match.
• Propose specific, actionable recommendations for reducing culture shock, grounded in their interview findings.
• Engage respectfully with an element of the chosen culture’s tradition, such as a folk dance or song.

Target audience:

Third-year, English-majored university students who have completed introductory theory on intercultural communication; suitable for large classes (this version was run with approximately 50 students in 7–8 groups).

Setting:

Students conduct interviews earlier in the two-week period, online or offline depending on their access to interviewees, and design their infographic and prepare their performance outside class. On presentation day, they share their findings, in front of classmates in the regular classroom. I give each group approximately 30 minutes total — infographic walkthrough, interview findings, recommendations, performance, and Q&A — spread across two 135-minute sessions (three 45-minute periods each), about four groups per session.

Materials:

• Handout summarizing the three levels of culture, cultural value dimensions, the staircase model, communication styles, and culture shock
• Free infographic design tool (e.g., Canva) and a handout of thematic prompts for students to build their own interview questions from
• Presentation slides and, where relevant, costumes/props for the performance segment (student-prepared)

Pre-tasks (in-class, prior session):

I first review the concepts covered so far, then lead a discussion on interview technique and ethics — obtaining consent, avoiding leading questions, and being respectful when asking about adjustment difficulties. (~30 minutes)

Tasks (group project, two weeks):

• Part 1 — Infographic: Groups of 6–7 students choose a target culture and design an infographic that introduces it across its surface, intermediate, and deep levels.
• Part 2 — Interviews and comparison: Each group interviews a host-community member and a sojourner to gain insight into the culture from both sides — for example, whether it matches portrayals from other sources (media, books, TV), what each interviewee finds most interesting about the culture, the biggest challenges they face communicating across cultures, and how they cope with those challenges — then compares the two accounts for any mismatch between host self-perception and sojourner perception.
• Recommendations: Based on their findings, groups suggest concrete recommendations for reducing culture shock for future sojourners in that culture.
• Part 3 — Performance: Groups close their presentation to classmates with a short folk dance, folk song, or comparable performance representing the chosen culture.

Post-tasks:

Each group presents their findings to classmates — infographic, interview insights, recommendations, and performance — with Q&A in their allotted time. I then lead a whole-class discussion comparing mismatch patterns and recommendations, and we compile a shared list of practical advice.

Final comments:

The main challenge is access to sojourner interviewees; student associations, expatriate groups, and alumni networks help, with video calls as a substitute. For the performance, I remind groups the goal is respectful representation, not caricature. This combination keeps a large class engaged and produces more memorable presentations than slides alone.

References

Byram, M. (2009). Intercultural competence in foreign languages: The intercultural speaker and the pedagogy of foreign language education. In D. K. Deardorff (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of intercultural competence (pp. 321–332). SAGE.

Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and assessment of intercultural competence as a student outcome of internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(3), 241–266. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315306287002

Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014

Ting-Toomey, S., & Chung, L. C. (2021). Understanding intercultural communication (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Bach Linh Trang is a lecturer at HCMC University of Education in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where she teaches Intercultural Communication to English-majored students.