Karnataka vs Kerala, rule no 1: only speak English

Bosco Plus was made up of students from Karnataka and Kerala who all seemed proud of their heritage and cultural identity. For many of them this had been the longest period they had spent away from home, and for some in a different state. It was an interesting experience being with them as they tried to adapt to each other’s cultural differences – food (different varieties of rice in both states), language (Kannada/Malayalam), climate, dress style… Luckily for me, the purpose of them attending this course was to learn to communicate in English so the rule was to speak only in English. I soon came to understand some of the difficulties they were experiencing in acclimatising. This certainly presented a good opportunity to capitalize on the intercultural learning experience and importance of tolerance, teamwork and diversity in life skill classes.