This document summarizes Fernando Lanzer's presentation on learning across cultures. Some key points include: - People learn what they want to learn, not always what others try to teach them. This is illustrated through an anecdote about a dog learning from its owner's behavior, rather than the owner's intended lesson. - Learning is an active process that requires participation like asking questions or practicing. Passive listening is not enough for learning to occur. - Whenever we learn, we change and incorporate something new, which can be scary since it threatens our identity. However, seeking unfamiliar experiences through international learning provides more opportunities to learn from diverse others.

1. Learning Across Cultures
Fernando Lanzer
A presentation made at
the University of Tilburg
2012

2. Everybody learns
Sometimes we meet some difficult
people, perhaps a member of your
team, and after giving them
instructions and seeing them
carried out wrongly, we tthink: “that
guy just does not learn!”
Well, we are wrong. Despite our
irritation, the truth is that everyone
is capable of learning. The problem
is: people learn what they want to
learn, and not what we want to
teach them!

3. People learn what they want
and not necessarily what someone
else wants to “teach” them
I have a friend who was sitting on
a chair in his living room, reading
the newspaper, when his dog
came by, raised a hind leg and
peed on the chair.
My friend had the impulse to hit
the dog with his newspaper, but he
held back, thinking “I’m a teacher;
instead of punishing this dog, I
should educate him, teach him the
right behavior!”
So he took the dog with him
outside to his back yard. He led
the dog to a tree and, making sure
the dog was paying attention to
him at all times, he peed on the
tree, saying: “See? This is what
you should do!”
He went back inside, sat on his
chair and watched as the dog
diligently followed him.
As my friend opened his paper
again, the dog came next to him
once more. The dog stood on his
hind legs and peed on the chair,
using the same position the man
had just demonstrated to him!
The dog learnt what he wanted to
learn, not what the man wanted to
teach him. That’s what we all do.

4. Learning is an active process
In order to learn you need to do
something: ask questions, practice,
pay attention, at least listen
actively, if nothing else. If you are
totally passive, learning does not
happen.

5. Learning =
Whenever we learn, we become a
little bit different than before. We
incorporate something new to us,
so we are not exactly the same
anymore. Therefore, whenever we
learn, we change. Sometimes just a
little bit, sometimes a lot.

6. Change can
be scary
This, of course, can make some
people afraid of learning, because
they are afraid of changing. Change
can often be frightening.

7. Will you
change
too
much?
Since we were all little babies, we
all felt a desire to learn and to
change, but at the same time we
felt a need to preserve our identity.
On the one hand, we want change,
we want to grow; on the other hand,
we want to remain the same, we
want to continue recognizing
ourselves as being who we are.

8. Life is made of choices
In every situation, we can choose
to seek what is most familiar or go
to the road less traveled.
We can choose for the unknown,
in order to learn more, or for the
already known, in order to feel
safe.

9. We want to learn
Learning can be very attractive,
it can increase our feeling of
being in control of our lives, of
“knowing everything”.

10. We are afraid of learning
Yet it can be terrifying to learn
something than you were really
not prepared for...

11. Identity
versus
It all boils down to keeping the
balance between knowing who
you are or losing your identity and
going crazy.

12. sameness
sameness
sameness
sameness
sameness
sameness
sameness
sameness
sameness
sameness
sameness
Do you prefer the comfort of being
with the familiar?

13. • Sameness versus unprecedented
Or do you crave the excitement of
seeing things you’ve never seen?

14. Learning = growing up
Ultimately, it depends on
how much do you really
want to grow.

15. who
you
are
Do you feel safe
because your
identity is secure?

16. Do you know what you want and yet
that doesn’t scare you, but rather it
spikes your curiosity even more?

17. better
Do you enjoy becoming even
better at doing what you already
know how to do well?

18. fitter
Do you like the idea of becoming
even more fit?

19. Adding
something
you already
have =
More of
the same…

20. Comfortable
reinforces
identity

21. boring
Too much of the
same can be
just...

22. Adding
something
new…

23. Exciting!
can be really...

24. Threaten
ing
Even though it might be..

25. Learning can make you potentially
richer

26. Are you brave enough to do it
(and enjoy it)?

27. The thing is,
you learn more…

28. from people who are
different from
yourself

29. The more different, the more
Exciting
Threatening
Potentially enriching

30. Are you brave enough to do it and enjoy it?

31. Learning
internationally is
learning from
people who are
different

32. 32
It’s a two-way road.
So go abroad in order to learn
more than you would if you
stayed in your home country.
And be aware that as you learn
from others, they will also be
learning from you.

33. The world is increasingly
virtual
People can connect with other
people anywhere on the planet,
instantly, without having to move.

34. • Nothing beats being there!
Yet nothing beats an
experience, being really
close up and persona!!

35. Nothing beats plunging
in the deep end of the pool.

36. Join AIESEC and find others who are also going
to the road less traveled, to learn from people
who are different from themselves.