Falon Ljunggren
University of Pittsburgh | Bradford
Heinz Programming Area:
Falon Ljunggren studied at the Yokohama College of Commerce in Yokohama, Japan from March 25, 2015 to August 1, 2015. While there she took a course in capital markets and financial engineering from the Japanese perspective and two Japanese language courses. These classes taught her that economics are similar around the world but each culture has a unique perspective on what can help their country and that the Japanese language is extremely complex. While attending class she would work with the college’s SIEP program (summer intensive English program) and English department as a student teacher. She helped teach English classes and attended as a guest proctor during final presentations. Along with this she would help tutor students who wished for further practice in their English. During her free time she would travel to historical and modern sites to learn about the art the area provided and observe how people interacted with it. Since her return, she is considering getting certified as an ESL teacher and taking up teaching as a second job while working towards a career in music.
CEE Title: Cry Like a Man, Throw Like a Woman
“Cry Like a Man, Throw Like a Woman” took place on November 12, 2015 at 7:00pm. We began the night by welcoming everyone and introducing ourselves as well as our facilitators. From there we spoke a bit about our experience abroad and what we took form it. After that we invited the Pitt improvers, an improv team on campus to come up front and perform. They took words from the audience that dealt with stereotypes and created a reversed role skit. Following this we introduced our first video clip and began the main event. Two of the videos dealt with gender roles and stereotypes for men, two for women, and one that dealt with both at the same time. There were five videos in total and after each one, we had two questions to promote conversation. The facilitators, which included our team, were there to promote conversation as well. The smaller, round table groups promoted students to speak about not only the videos and what they thought, but how the subject matter of the video played out in their own lives. Many of the female students commented that they did not realize the problems men faced and were surprised at how they played into creating the stereotypes and male role. These students, as well as some faculty, vowed to change how it was they interacted with men and young boys. At the end we left it open for people to speak out to room and thanked them for their time.