Crosstalk DVDs and Handbooks for training in
Cultural Awareness, Cultural Competence, Cross-cultural Communication, Managing Diversity

CI-CD has a unique library of documentary films on awareness and skills of cross-cultural communication. These DVDs illustrate how damaging misunderstandings happen between people whose way of speaking English is influenced by different cultures and mother-tongue languages. They are ‘gold dust’ as visual aids in teaching/training because they show spontaneous talk in genuine workplace interactions - not actors in simplistic, or worse, stereotypical, scripted drama scenes. They bring the powerful smack of real-life credibility to any training room or lecture hall, providing authentic case-studies for teaching socio-linguistics or for triggering discussion of managers' need for intercultural competence in the workplace.

Most of these films have been broadcast many times by BBC TV and by SBS Channel in Australia. Most have integral support teaching/training manuals setting out explanatory background, more detailed analysis than that shown on-screen, and ways to use the film interactively - with group exercises, discussion points, handouts and checklists. (See too, the Handbooks listed as items 36 - 44.) Click on 'Contact us' at top of this page to discuss which films best match your training needs, and how to obtain copies of these training packages.

Using DVD visual aids

These DVDs are selected from over 100 documentary training films on diversity produced by John Twitchin. He was for 25 years senior producer in BBC TV Continuing Education and Training Department, in charge of all BBC management and multicultural training output. He is now Director of Diversity Works and heads its specialist division for research and training in cross-cultural communication: the Centre for Intercultural Development (CI-CD).

Though non-academic in presentation, these training films are rooted in the most authoritative research in the relevant academic subject: applied interactional socio-linguistics. They were made in consultation with world leading authorities: Professor John J. Gumperz of University of California at Berkeley (co-founder of socio-linguistics, and consultant to items 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 22), Professor Celia Roberts of King’s College, London (consultant, items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 14, 15, 16, 22), and Dr Margaret Byrne, Australia’s leading intercultural specialist (items 10, 11, 12). In his own academic role, John Twitchin has used these films in visiting lectures at 103 universities and colleges; in tutoring at Leeds University Institute of Communication; and as a founder-tutor of the post-graduate ‘MA in Intercultural Communication’ at University of Bedfordshire (Business Studies Department). These courses strongly attract international students.

1. CROSSTALK 1 35 minutes. ‘Crosstalk’ is famous as the original pioneering documentary of cross-cultural communication - it is the film most widely used in universities and business schools worldwide. Broadcast many times by BBC TV, ‘Crosstalk’ shows how intercultural misunderstandings occur - even when both parties are speaking fluently in English - with case-studies of people from South Asian cultures in interactions including customer service in a bank, public service advising, and ‘white-collar’ job recruitment interviews. On-screen analytic comments are by Professor John J. Gumperz and Professor (Lord) Bhikhu Parekh. ‘Crosstalk’ is an integrated training package comprising DVD + 70-page Trainer’s/Tutor’s Manual setting out essential background analysis and ways of using the film for maximum training/learning effect. Click 'Contact Us' for information about obtaining a copy of this as a teaching/training package.

2. CROSSTALK 2 - Performance Appraising Across Cultures 30 minutes, with 32-page manual. Shows staff of East Asian cultural backgrounds (Chinese and Vietnamese) in appraisal interviews at Chevron and Bank of America. With on-screen analysis by Professor John Gumperz. (BBC)

Filmed in UK Business and Public Service settings

3. Recruitment Interviewing Across Cultures 45 minutes, with 74-page training manual. Case-study interviews of job candidates of South Asian and African-Caribbean cultures in UK. (BBC)

DVDs 2 + 3 are prize winners of UK Training Media Awards: "These videos contain appropriate training messages and convey them most effectively. They tackle a subject which has often proved difficult for trainers: they are very rich in terms of content."
(Bryan Rynn, Chair of Judging Panel).

4. Successful at Selection (SaS) 45 minutes. DVD directed for Professor Celia Roberts, on recruitment interviewing across cultures (made for Job Centre Plus + King’s College; funded by DWP). Copies available from CI-CD: click 'Contact Us' above.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Companion to SaS, addressed to BME job candidates, produced by Professor Celia Roberts.

6. Counselling and Advice Across Cultures 50 minutes, with 32-page manual. ‘Fly on the wall’ filmed case-studies of cultural contrasts between BME (South Asian) clients/users and Anglo-British public service advisers. (BBC)

7. Evidence Unseen 30 minutes, with 56-page trainers’ manual. Made for training magistrates in cultural competence, it shows common misperceptions of young people of African-Caribbean background when communicating with police and magistrates in UK. (BBC)

8. WorkTalk: Series of 4 films + trainer’s manual in skills of cross-cultural communication for supervisors of migrant workers (BBC):

Asians on the Shop Floor
Singh 171
Fred Barker goes to China
It's not what you say, it’s the way that you say it

9. State of Training 60 minutes documentary on communicating at work, and on developing a ‘learning organisation’. (Includes Liverpool University Dept. of General Practice, and case-study of London Underground.) (BBC)

Filmed in International Business settings

10. WHAT MAKES YOU SAY THAT? - Cultural Diversity at Work Series of 3 DVDs, 60 minutes each, directed for Dr Margaret Byrne, Australia’s leading intercultural consultant (contact www.ugmconsulting.com). Broadcast many times by SBS Channel; funded by Telstra and Westpac.

Part 1. The Business Advantage click here to see sample extracts 12 +13

Part 2. Asian Encounters: Managing and Business Negotiating in Asia click here to see sample extracts 4-10

Part 3. Success in Meetings involving people of different cultural backgrounds click here to see sample extracts 1-3

This series includes unique documentary of intercultural sales presentations, business negotiations and joint project meetings (in telecommunications, airlines and banks) filmed in East Asia (Hanoi, Jakarta, Semarang). It shows Western executives and managers in meetings face-to-face with Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian and Vietnamese counterparts; also mentoring of technical staff and business relationship building in Vietnam; and intercultural project management meetings between Western managers with Japanese and Indonesian joint venture partners.

The films reveal the common mistakes made by Westerners when seeking to negotiate contracts, build business relationships, manage joint projects or motivate staff and/or effect change in Asia. Practical guidance for success in working inter-culturally is given by ambassadors, academic specialists and long experienced Asian negotiators.

'WHAT MAKES YOU SAY THAT?' was reviewed in People Management, journal of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD):

“These are unusually powerful DVDs/videos. They are long, with three hours of documentary footage from which a trainer can select. They present authentic material about behaviour abroad that will be new to many Western viewers. They encourage managers to see cultural diversity as a resource that adds value, rather than as a problem - a rich resource to draw upon to improve an organisation’s international scope and give it flexibility.

The video evidence especially demonstrates the pitfalls that await culturally naive Westerners who try to do business in Asia. It discusses culturally-based business behaviours and their consequences when two parties fail to communicate and understand each other in meetings for marketing, negotiating, or project/change managing. The series provides admirable material for a two-day workshop on diversity issues in management development.”

11. Marketing across cultures: 25 minutes documentary also directed for Dr Margaret Byrne showing the work of intercultural marketing expert Josef Assaf, and demonstrating how by cultural sensitivity Westpac Bank attracted Chinatown customers in Sydney, and Qantas won catering contracts from Japan Airlines.
click here to see sample extracts 11+12

12. Management Training Series: also directed for Dr Margaret Byrne, 3 x 40 minutes documentaries on Gender and Cultural differences at work. (Funded by Australian Commonwealth Government; Telstra; Westpac.)

Diversity and Leadership: Why managing diversity is key to 21st century business success
Teams and Meetings: Communicating across overlapping gender/culture differences
Virtual Teams, Virtual Management: Communicating virtually across cultures: analysis of video-conference (in Hewlett Packard) between Western manager and an Indian and Chinese team in Singapore.

13. Offshore Customer Services from India: 25 recorded calls from Indian contact centres. for analysis of 'Indian-English' interactions with 'Anglo-English'. Made to equip agents/CSRs to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction in the West. (A Research Report on causes of Western customer alienation, together with the contents of the Advanced Intercultural Communication training scheme is available free - click on 'Contact Us'.)

Filmed in NHS and University settings

14. Fair Access:60 minutes. DVD on Wider Student Participation in University and Medical Schools, made for ‘The Advice Clinic’ (consortium including St Georges, University of Kingston, RVC.). Includes cultural competence for selection interviewing of candidates from Albania and India for health practitioner courses. Funded through HEFCE. click here for sample extract 14

15. Developing Empathy 30 mins, with manual. Directed for Professor Celia Roberts, for training of doctors interacting with patients found ‘difficult’. (Funded by DOH)

16. Doing the Lambeth Talk + Words in Action: DVDs + notes by Professor Celia Roberts for GPs on interacting empathetically with culturally diverse (BME) patients.

17. All in the mind? 30 minutes, plus manual. Intercultural insights for diagnosis and skills for treatment in psychiatry/psychotherapy for Black and other Minority Ethnic patients (BBC)

18. The Health Gap: Documentary on needs for, and benefits of, BME community outreach by hospitals (case-studies include Moroccan women patients). (BBC)

Filmed in Education settings – schools and colleges

19. Anglo-Saxon Attitudes 50 mins Documentary showing teachers working to develop pupils’ respect for cultural differences. Film includes an interaction within a multi-cultural working party, illustrative of subtle differences of Black/White communication styles. (BBC)

20. Attitudes to Islam 45 minutes, with 48-page training/teaching manual. Shows European (English and Dutch, non-Muslim) teachers, mental health and community health workers working in an Islamic society (Pakistan) – and how they apply insights in work on return to Europe. (VSO + BBC)

21. Children without prejudice Documentary of nursery/primary teachers tackling attitudes to race/culture differences at earliest age (4-10 years) (BBC)

22. Man Alive: multi-cultured talk swap 50 minute documentary with notes including case-study of misunderstandings between an English teacher and parent of S. Asian background. (BBC)

23. Languages for Life Benefits of bi-lingualism/community languages in education (BBC)

24. Intertalk 3-part pan-European series on plurilingual education in schools and vocational FE colleges (filmed in Luxembourg, Germany, UK, Finland). Commissioned by University of Jyvaskyla, Finland; broadcast by BBC TV; funded by European Commission.

25. Schools across Europe 6-part series illustrating school exchange activities across Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Irish Republic, UK, broadcast on BBC TV, funded by European Commission.

Tackling Stereotypes: teaching the image-making effects of the media

26. The Black & White Media Show Part 1: 50 mins documentary for Panorama slot: a BBC TV ‘self-reflection’ documentary, on how television reflects stereotypes of African-Caribbean and Asian British people in comedy, drama and news output. (BBC)
See ‘Handbooks’ section below for teachers’ book on ‘de-mystifying’ the effects of the media across school curricula.

27.The Black & White Media Show Part 2 Investigation of stereotypical thinking in TV News, Current Affairs and Factual output. (BBC)

28. The Black & White Media Show Part 3 60-mins documentary with Notes. Third "self-examining" documentary on racism and the media. (BBC)

29. Racism and TV Comedy Review of nature and extent of stereotypes in television humour. With training manual.(BBC)

30. The way we see it - Portraying Diversity Documentary film made for BBCTV Regional News journalism training.

DVDs for Equality and Managing Diversity training in UK

31. Equal before the law? 45 minutes + 130-page Manual. Explains direct and indirect discrimination law, with case-study of an employment tribunal hearing, showing facts of a real NHS case, and made with leading employment law authority Tamara Lewis, with commentaries by ex-EAT President Lord Browne-Wilkinson; Tribunals ex-President Sir Goolam Meeran; Professor Bob Hepple. (CLLC + BBC)

32. Recognising Racial Discrimination at Work 40 minutes, with Manual. Illustrates Goolam Meeran preparing to represent at the hearing shown in number 31 above. Made with CLLC. (BBC)

33. Managing Diversity 50-minutes training documentary on subtle forms of Harassment at work – culture/race, gender, disability, sexual orientation. Made for the Employment Service/DWP.

34. Representing in Tribunal Discrimination cases – developing advocacy skills. DVD (50 mins) + Notes, made for Central London Law Centre (CLLC), funded by EHRC (2011) click here to see extract 15

35. Breaking the silence Training in skills for advisors/union reps to sensitively elicit facts of sexual harassment complaints. (CLLC/Unison)

CI-CD Training Handbooks

36. 'COMMUNICATING INTERCULTURALLY' - a self-learning 'mini-course' (available in print or as e-learning module) on cultural competence in global business. This handbook explains how misunderstandings occur in interactions between cultures. It sets out the practical skills needed by native-English speakers, not just to avoid misperceptions of meanings and intentions, but to positively build mutual understanding and rapport, with counterparts who are using English as a second (or third) learned language. Click on 'Contact Us' to request a free copy of the Contents and Introduction.

37 - 41. 'DOING BUSINESS IN ... France, Germany, Poland, China, UK' - five CI-CD self-preparation handbooks, first written as 'Country Trading Briefings' for use by SME clients of United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI). To request a copy of their Contents pages, click 'Contact Us'.

42. 'HANDBOOK OF IDIOMATIC, RHETORICAL AND PROVERBIAL EXPRESSIONS'. Exercises, plus comprehensive directory of English figurative expressions that commonly create confusion in intercultural business exchanges. Much valued by international students at UK and US universities.

43. 'ADVANCED INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION' (AICC) - a teaching/training course, commissioned by British Telecom and used in HCL Technologies and Infosys BPO, designed to improve C Sat rates achieved by agents/CSRs in Indian/Sri Lankan call centres serving the West. Includes 27 teaching/training exercises, checklists, accreditation criteria. A full report on AICC, plus its Contents pages, is free on request: click on 'Contact Us'.

44. 'The BLACK and WHITE MEDIA BOOK' - comprehensive analysis of the image-making effects of the media, with exercises for teaching/training against stereotypical thinking/assumptions about minority ethnic groups and cultural differences.

For training in all aspects of MANAGING DIVERSITY/EQUALITY, click panel below for Diversity Works Home Page

For coaching/training in CULTURAL COMPETENCE - the skills of Intercultural Communication - click on CI-CD panel

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Crosstalk DVDs and Handbooks for training in Cultural Awareness, Cultural Competence, Cross-cultural Communication, Managing Diversity