Canada Workshop 101

The Canada Study Tour Workshop

Before the official trip to Toronto began, every student had to participate in the Canadian workshop. The workshop has been insightful. The workshop helped us all familiarise ourselves about Canada before we traveled to Toronto, Ontario.

There were many interesting things to learn about Canada and its people. One of the interesting lesson during the class activity is that we were asked to compare the Australian and Canadian culture.

The Canadian culture

Even during the workshop, several students had already some ideas what Canadian people were like. Based on class discussions, Canadians are known to be friendly and polite people.

Examples of famous Canadian people were also highlighted. For instance, Celine Dion, Jim Carey, Justin Bieber, Ryan Reynolds and many more.

There were many more discussions that took placed as we identified unique things associated with Canada such as their animals (The beaver, moose being famous ones), the types of food famous in Canada (Poutine, bacon, maple syrup and beavers tail), the sports they played (Hockey, baseball) and so on.

However, we would go on in to more detail about the Canadian culture as compared to Australia through Hofstede’s cultural dimension.

Hofstede’s cultural dimension

Professor Greet Hofstede studied culture and its relationship to how it can affect the work place. There are many attributes to rank a country which are:

1. Power distance
2. Individualism
3. Masculinity
4. Uncertainty Avoidance
5. Long term orientation
6. Indulgence

The diagram shows how Canada ranks on Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimension. Canada ranks high on individualism and indulgence. Moderate masculinity and uncertainty avoidance. Low power distance and long term orientation (The hofstede centre 2015).

Canada’s cultural dimensions as compared to two countries, Australia & Malaysia (The hofstede centre 2015).

I decided to compare Australia and my own country, Malaysia to Canada in the Hofstede’s Cultural dimension. Interestingly, Australia and Canada share a similar many cultural dimension, with the exception of its long term orientation, where Australia has a shorter term orientation.

However, compared to Malaysia, Canada differs a lot in terms of power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and indulgence. I was prepared for many culture shocks because I can tell that many cultural values of Malaysians and Canadians greatly differ based on Hofstede’s cultural dimension.

REFERENCE:

The hofstede centre, 2015, Canada. Available at: < http://geert-hofstede.com/canada.html >

The hofstede centre, 2015, Greet Hofstede. Available at < http://geert-hofstede.com/geert-hofstede.html >

Personal Reflective

Introduction

Reflecting back to the time before I decided to join this study trip. There were many reasons that convinced me to join the 2015 RMIT Study Tour in Canada. Reasons for this venture includes: peer influence, a new opportunity to experience a new culture, challenging myself, global forces and finally, to compare the actual picture, versus media stereotypes of Canada.

1. Peer influence

Personally, I have never been to Canada. Many of my own friends had joined this study tour last year. They gave positive feedback and encouraged myself to join the study tour.

They will tell me about the places they visited in Canada, the rich diversity Canada had to offer and how different the culture was from Australia. My curiosity about Canada grew more because of my peers.

2. A new opportunity

Followed by the opportunity to experience a new culture, it partly convinced me to sign up for the Study Tour in Canada. Learning about a new culture is always an interesting experience.

Adapting to a different lifestyle can be difficult at first, but when we walk in someone’s shoes, we will learn more about them. Living in their environment, picking up the local language, and tasting their food are examples of how we can understand and learn more about a foreign country.

3. Challenging myself 

Challenging oneself to get out to travel to a different country is always difficult at first. However, it is a worthwhile experience. We learn new things and see it differently when we travel abroad. It is truly an eye opener to break out of one’s comfort zone in order to expand one’s view of the world.

So in order to pursue my interests, joining the RMIT Study Tour was a must for me. This would be my last year at RMIT, I wanted to finish my masters program outside of the classroom. I wish to take this special experience before flying back to Malaysia. I wanted to grow my potential both personally and professionally.

Breaking out of one’s comfort zone

4. Globalisation

As an international student, it seems overwhelming to travel to a different country and learning to adapt to their foreign ways all over again.

Looking at my own background, I come from a small town in Malaysia, I felt intimidated at first to travel to a big city in Canada. However, living in a global world, we must learn to accept one’s culture and embrace it. I felt the need to become a global citizen.

We as global citizens will always meet people from different walks of life. In the RMIT classroom, I will meet people from many parts of the world. We would often travel the world for reasons such as education, tourism or to do business. Having the experience and global mind set will be advantageous in one’s career.

The global world

5. Canada in the media

I have also heard so much about the country and its people particularly through popular media such as TV shows, music and the Internet. Canada have been portrayed in many ways by the media.

Examples of typical Canadian stereotypes include they love ice hockey, and their people are always depicted as overly friendly or polite people. I wanted to see for myself if these stereotypes of Canadian were true.

An example of a Canadian stereotype through TV media, The Simpsons. The character is dressed as a Canadian mountie and singing the national anthem.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I wanted to enrich my learning experience through the RMIT Canada Study Tour. Canada is one of the big economies of the world. Seeing Canada through my own eyes will help inspire new ideas.

I was also interested to see how real Canadians educate their students and do business. This way, I can improve my global understanding on the Canadian culture. I was looking forward to the Canada Study Tour.