Take A Photo Of It

One way to assure that we are engaging in less risky behavior as teachers/tutors or as curriculum and program designers is to take our own photos.  A photo itself is generally considered a transformative medium. Take a photo of a McDonald’s sign and use it all you want!

What About Other People Using P-P-T’s Stuff?

Many aspects of using things P-P-T creates are laid out in our Research policy.

Here’s the short version: People-Places-Things offers Intercultural Communication Training & Services.  We want people to communicate more effectively with each other.

We use a bridge metaphor to describe what we do. Like all metaphors, it illuminates aspects of what it describes, and distorts other aspects. Still, we try.

We train people with significant skills in navigating a particular language/culture how to show other people with less skill & experience how to navigate that language & culture.

For people with significant skills & experience with a particular language/culture (a.k.a. “Native Speakers”, “Fluent”, “Culturally Competent”, “Experienced Cultural Navigators”, “Longtimers”) – we are training them to build intercultural “bridges”. We call them “Interculturalists”, “Facilitators”, “Attachés”, “Bridge Builders”, “Practitioners” – “Teachers” is convenient but problematic for many reasons, so we try to limit that use.

We show those who are less experienced/skilled or on the margins of a particular language/culture (a.k.a. “Non Native Speakers”, “Language Learners/ELLs”, “Students”, “Newcomers”, “Outsiders”, “Foreigners”) how to walk across those bridges to get where they want to go. We train them to use a language or navigate a culture.

Here’s what we want you to pay us for:

• Practitioner/Interculturalist Training (showing  how to build “bridges” – apprenticeship/professional development)
• Language & Culture Navigation Skills Development (showing learners how to use the language & navigate the culture – classes & excursions)
• General Language & Cultural Navigator Curriculum/Materials (a blueprint/plan and manufactured materials for a “bridge” for commonly recurring situations)
• Customized Language & Cultural Navigator Curriculum/Materials (individualized blueprints/plans and manufactured materials for specific situations)
• Program Design & Implementation (designing a custom “bridge” for your specific community or organization – including logistics, curriculum, and implementation)
• “Being the Bridge” (interpretation & translation services/training; intercultural consulting; workshops; matching services)

Here’s what we don’t want you to pay us for:

• Techniques – any technique or activity you learn from us, adapt & use freely!  Give us a call when you want new ones.
• Theory
• Metaphors
• Inspiration