CULTURE SHOCK

This video is about cross-cultural adaptation and culture shock. Foreign students share their perceptions of their experiences in the U.S. as each of them (plus one specialist in cross-cultural relations and a few American Students) is interviewed about living and studying in a new culture. The focus is on the arrival and immediate postarrival period and the culture shock which, for most of the interviewees, follows on its heels. It becomes clear that central to the problems encountered are major differences in values and behaviors between the foreign students and the Americans they meet. The documentary covers a range of basic characteristics of American culture: openness/directness, privacy, attitudes toward time, friendship patterns, informality, and competitiveness. Culture Shock is an excellent resource for any program wishing to help its participants better understand the cross-cultural adjustment process and the experience of being a foreigner in the United States. Useful in foreign student, refugee, and teaching assistant orientation programs; briefings for Americans dealing with foreign students; and orientation for exchange students.