gThai Food Fair and Chiang Mai Trip Orientation Meetings
Intercultural Communication Seminar B Project
L146034 KawaleePattamavichai

In the Intercultural Communication seminar, I learned about cultural values, communication styles, stages of intercultural sensitivity, and stages of intercultural prejudice.We had to make a project. So,I decided to do two projects. I did the first project last year in October. The first project was a Thai food fair. The second project was Chiang Mai trip orientation meetings. In this report, I’ll explain my experiences and what I have learned about Thai food fair project, the stages of intercultural sensitivity, the stages of intercultural prejudice, prejudice game, Chiang Mai trip orientation meetings, and conclusion.

Thai food fair
First of all, I decided to cook six kinds of Thai food: First kind is “two different taste of Tom Yum Goong”, which is a spicy shrimp soup, second is “Poo Pad Pong Karee” which is Thai crab curry, third kind is lab Gaiis the kind of spicy and sour dish, fourth kind isKai Jiew Moo Saap which is Thai pork omelet, and the last is gaengsom which is Thai sour curry. I thought that they never tried six menu before. So, I hoped they would surprise and love it. I went to supermarket and bought some ingredients. In Thai food fair day, I went to the university early to prepare for food. It was very impressed to me that everyone helped me prepare all ingredient. They learned Thai food’s name and how to cook Thai food. After I finished cooking all menu, we start eating and talking together. They were surprise because they never ate them before. They love it. Teacher Don and Misato couldn’t stop eating. Everyone said its delicious and I really happy to hear that from them.

Stages of Intercultural Sensitivity In this topic, we studied Milton Bennett’s model of intercultural sensitivity. There are six stages of intercultural sensitivity. The first stage is denial. For example of my denial is when I came to Japan for the first time, I couldn’t speak Japanese language because in Thailand we do not say anything before eating or after finish eating. So I didn’t know how to say Japanese langauge for before eating and after finish eating. Second example is when I tried a sea urchin for first time, I didn’t like the taste. It was very strange and fishy smelling. The second stage is defense. And an example of this stage is when I went to Tokyo, I go to the mall and shopping alone at the night time. And that time, I was thinking that Tokyo is very dangerous place because when I stopped walking it had many strange guys come and talk with me; nevertheless, they said let’s go together. It was not just only one time, it happened many times that I have met that bad situation. So, I hate walking alone and I don’t want to meet strange guys again. The third stage is minimization. An example is when I thought that Thailand and Japan are similar with rice every day; however, the way to eat is different. Thai people use fork and spoon but Japanese people always use chopstick. The fourth stage is acceptance. And in this stage’s example is things that I love about Japan. I like Japanese food, sushi, sashimi, takoyaki and okonomiyaki. Also, I like Japanese movie and anime. The fifth stage is adaptation. The state’s example is knowing how to do cosplay, how to make cosplay costume, cosplay props and make up. The sixth stage is integration. I am stage’s six in Thai culture. I can speak Thai language, know Thai culture, can cook Thai food and I can guide you to travel for all interesting spots in Chiang Mai.

Stages of Intercultural Prejudice
There are six stages of intercultural prejudice. The first stage is categories. For example,man and woman, Japanese and non-Japanese, teacher and student.The second stage is stereotypes. For example, Korean plastic surgery. The third stage is name calling. For example, fatty, chubby, withy, honky.The fourth stage is discrimination. For example, Don can’t vote in Japan.The fifth stage is physical abuse. For example hitting and beating. The sixth stage is genocide. This means killing people because of their different culture. Prejudice Game: Blue Eyes Brown Eyes
I am going to tell you about a prejudice game. In this game, third grade teacher, Jane Elliott. She made the game with 10 year students, she divided them into two groups, one group had brown eyes and one group had blue eyes. She said the children with brown eyes are lazy, rude and more stupid than blue eyes. Blue-eyed children were better than brown-eyed children. Jane Elliott had blue eyes. She said brown-eyed children did not get to use the drinking fountain. They had to use the paper cups. The brown-eyed children should not to play with the blue-eyed children on the playground. The brown-eyed children had to wear collars. The children became angry and fighting. They hated each other. The blue eyed children were happy but the brown eyed children became sad. The next day, the teacher changed the rules. She said the brown-eyed children took off their collars and put their collar on the blue-eyed children. The brown-eyed children got five extra minutes of recess. The blue-eyed children couldn't play on the playground. The blue-eyed children are not to play with the brown-eyed children. Brown-eyed children are better than blue-eyed children. The both of two groups were fighting again. The blue-eyed children became sad. In the afternoon, the blue-eyed children said they understood what brown-eyed children felt yesterday. The teacher asked the blue-eyed children how did the brown-eyed group feel yesterday and one boy said, “I felt like a dog”. After that, the teacher asked them a question about the color of their skin to make sure they really understand. They took the collars off and threw them away. They became happy. The blue-eyed children and the brown-eyed children sat down together and they became friends again. So I thought this game is good game. It made the student learned how the different skin people felt in the past.

Chiang Mai Trip Orientation Meetings
Finally, I going about my second project was Chiang Mai Trip Orientation Meetings. The Orientation has four times, In December, January and February. We will do the communication note book, learn Thai language, presentation about Hokkaido, culture fair group, song, present for host family.I teach basic Thai language to Japanese students. They said it was difficult but they tried to learn it. Some students don’t know about Thailand they are stage one in theintercultural sensitivity.

Conclusion
In this report, I wrote about five points. The first point was a Thai food fair project. I cooked six Thai menus. I learned many Japanese people don’t like Thai rice. The second, third and fourth points were about the stages of intercultural sensitivity, the stages of intercultural prejudice and the prejudice game. The fifth point was Chiang Mai Trip Orientation Meetings. I've learned many things I've never experienced from many cultures, and also learned to adjust myself in various situations, in order to acknowledge and understand these cultures.