ICI
Global Connections for Local Empowerment
PO Box 178
East Haven, VT 05837
ph: 8028817805
benjamin
Welcome to the
Institute for Cultural Intelligence (ICI)
-CQ Education and Consulting
-Global Networking for People and Businesses
Our mission is creating integral world citizen learning experiences for intercultural understanding, friendship and local economic empowerment.
We help people learn new languages and cultural patterns. We form communities of people from diverse cultures for horizon broadening friendships and cooperation. We empower creative and critical thinking by offering a global menu of options for the development of a personal culture by design.
Our major current initiative is helping to establish chapters of the Cultural Ambassador Society in culturally intelligent schools world wide. Find out how to establish a Cultural Ambassador Chapter (CAS) at your school with the CAS Seminar for the Integral World Citizen Learning Experience.
We are also currently offering a free French class for hospitality, friendship and business at the East Haven library.
Developing CQ (cultural intelligence) is about learning new languages and mastering the social patterns and skills of various human cultures. This site is specifically dedicated to helping people learn English, French and Spanish. We also promote intercultural friendship and the sharing of useful cultural patterns. In this way we help each learner develop a more extensive and empowering menu of choices for living!
For his contributions in curriculum design and English teacher training, Benjamin Clarke receives the 2009 Top Foreign Expert Yandang Friendship Award from Wenzhou mayor Zhao Yide
My name is Benjamin Clarke, and I am the founder of the Institute for Cultural Intelligence (ICI). I began creating this website while serving with the U.S. State Department in China. The goal was to help people learn and teach English more joyfully and effectively and to promote intercultural understanding and cooperation. I later developed the French for Life page in order to help promote an active and communicative approach to French learning.
Over the last several years, I have also been active in promoting intercultural cooperation and friendship and in helping schools understand and cultivate cultural intelligence (CQ) in their curriculum and extracurricular activities. The Cultural Ambassador Society is an example of this initiative.
As part of my teacher training work in China, I developed a guidebook for language teachers. You can find a detailed explanation of my approach to language teaching in this book, Better English: A Guide to More Naturally Efficient and Enjoyable Learning. It is located in the "Tools for English Teachers" section of this website.
I hope that the book (especially pages 11-26) will help you to better understand how to go about learning a new language. There are also poems, essays and songs to enjoy, and, if you are an English language learner, I think you will find the activities in the "Improving Spoken English" section particularly useful.
The "Meditate to Win" page is designed to help all learners create optimal states of mind and attention for language learning and other performance challenges.
Wishing you well,
Benjamin Clarke
ICI Founder and Cultural Ambassador
There are three theorists who have particularly influenced my understanding of language and the language learning process: George Lakoff, James Asher and Lev Vygotsky. My thanks go out to them.
In addition, I wish to offer my special thanks to my professors and colleagues at St. Michael's College for sharing their knowledge with me and helping to deepen my understanding of the language learning process.
Finally, I am thankful to my students for helping me to understand how to help a wide variety of learning types succeed in learning new languages and for helping me to brainstorm many of the questions and answers shown in the lessons featured in this website.
Copyright 2006 Embodied English. All rights reserved.
PO Box 178
East Haven, VT 05837
ph: 8028817805
benjamin