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Friday Keynote Speaker – Po Bronson
Po Bronson, Best-selling author
Best-selling author Po Bronson has made a career of exploring the real lives of real people. He is the author of five books, including the #1 New York Times best-seller What Should I Do With My Life? His most recent book, Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children, with co-author Ashley Merryman, explores the science of parenting, turning on its ear most current conventional wisdom on best parenting practices.
NurtureShock began as a series on the science of parenting with an article titled “How Not to Talk to Your Kids” which appeared in New York Magazine in 2007. After researching the most current science, Bronson and Merryman reported on the counterintuitive finding that constant praise has a negative effect on children. It quickly became the most emailed article in the history of the magazine, and the series won the magazine journalism award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as a Clarion Award.
A groundbreaking analysis of modern-day child rearing, NurtureShock reveals that when it comes to children, we’ve mistaken good intentions for good ideas. After all, in a world of modern, involved, caring parents, why are so many kids aggressive and cruel? With impeccable storytelling and razor-sharp analysis, Bronson and Merryman demonstrate that many of modern society’s strategies for nurturing children are in fact backfiring– because key twists in the science have been overlooked.
In Bronson’s book of social documentary, What Should I Do With My Life?, he crosses the American landscape to find people who have succeeded in finding their calling, many after great difficulty. He describes their resolve, sacrifice, introspection and courage in the face of the overwhelming fears and misconceptions that lead many to make poor choices in their lives and livelihoods. Bronson is originally from Seattle, Washington, and earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Stanford University. He also holds an M.F.A. from San Francisco State University.
His other books include Why Do I Love These People? The Nudist on the Late Shift, and the novels Bombardiers, and The First $20 Million is the Hardest. He has written for television, magazines, and newspapers, including TIME, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR’s Morning Edition. He is currently a regular contributor to New York Magazine in the US and The Guardian newspaper in the UK.
At the podium, Bronson brings his research to life with wit, first-hand experience, and a journalistic appetite for the truth. Delving into NurtureShock, he covers a variety of parenting techniques, topics and addresses all stages of childhood, from toddlers to teens. His insightful exploration of themes and issues that transcend children’s (and adults’) lives will change how audiences think about the kids in their life, and rethink how we all became who we are today.
Bronson also reveals the ways in which individuals are challenging and changing the corporate, cultural, and economic landscape and finding their fulfilling niche within it. His uncanny ability to capture the motivations, desires, and personalities define their unique places in every aspect of modern culture. His presentations are like the life stories he chronicles: sometimes fun, sometimes moving, and always important and meaningful.
Saturday Plenary Speaker – Bernadette van Houten
Bernadette van Houten, Cross-cultural Citizen
Bernadette van Houten, MA was born in England, educated in The Netherlands, Belgium and The United States. Her academic background includes communication, education, intercultural theory and methodology, and medical anthropology. Ms van Houten has lived and worked in Central and North America, the Caribbean and Europe.
She has also worked and travelled in South East Asia (especially Vietnam and Indonesia), East and West Africa, South America, Central Europe and Kazakhstan.
She is a lecturer in cross-cultural management and intercultural communication in the Netherlands, with Webster University’s MBA programme and the Department of Communication of California State University Northridge’s College of Extended Learning. She is a visiting lecturer for the Center for European Studies in Maastricht, Phoenix University Rotterdam and the MA programme in Intercultural Communication of the University of Applied Sciences in Fulda, Germany.
Ms van Houten is co-founder and co-director of the Institute for Intercultural Communication.
She also founded the ECIS Cross-Cultural Committee in 1993 and was Chair form 1993 to 1997.
Sunday Plenary Speaker – John Rassias – joining us via telecast
Prof. John Rassias, Language Luminary
John A. Rassias is the William R. Kenan Professor, Professor of French and Italian, and Chair of the Department at Dartmouth College. He is the originator of an innovative and highly effective approach to teaching languages, known as the Rassias Method® or the Dartmouth Intensive Language Model.
His concepts, which introduce many dramatic techniques to banish inhibitions that retard the acquisition of foreign languages, have been adopted by language teachers in hundreds of colleges, universities, and high schools in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The Rassias Method is being used for instruction in 180 languages.
Professor Rassias has gone far beyond the classroom in developing and sharing his innovative approaches to the instruction of language and culture and to experimentation in hardware for language laboratories.
In l964 he began a long relationship with Peace Corps language programs, serving as Director of Language Programs at Dartmouth, consultant and trouble-shooter for Peace Corps programs throughout the world, and director of the first pilot program of languages for the Peace Corps in Africa. In October of 1996, the United States Peace Corps honored Professor Rassias for his pioneer work in developing their language and language teacher training program. Over 165,000 Peace Corps volunteers from posts throughout the world have been trained through his methods. In 1978 Professor Rassias, was the only language teacher appointed to President Jimmy Carter’s Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies.
Professor Rassias is the subject of more than 400 articles in regional, national and international press, including Le Figaro Magazine (France), Smithsonian Magazine, Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, Parade Magazine, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, London Times, Deutsche Allegemeine Zeitung, Beijing Review (China), Taxidromo (Greece). He has also appeared on numerous national and international television programs, including “60 Minutes,” “Good Morning America.” “The David Brinkley Evening Magazine,” “The Charles Kuralt Show,” “Four Corners” (Australian Broadcasting Company), and “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” He has received numerous awards for teaching, along with eight honorary doctoral degrees. In l968, Professor Rassias was selected by the Student Government at Dartmouth as the first Arthur Wilson Outstanding Teacher Award. In l97l, he was further honored as one of 10 teachers in the United States to receive the E. Harris Harbison Award for Gifted Teaching by the Danforth Foundation. He has also been cited by the government of France with its Palmes Académiques for “originality in instruction and the success of the enterprise.”
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Breakout sessions will be led by practioners, researchers and administrators from all over the world. Conference attendees may select sessions when they register via the online registration form.
For a full listing of conference sessions and descriptions, click here.
