Written by ziggy stardust
Are you planning to visit a completely new country? Teach and travel abroad? Do you
anticipate interacting with completely new people with different cultures and different.
ways of life? How exactly can you elevate your experience and make your visit life-
changing? One answer: community immersion.
Community immersion, if done correctly, allows you to engage with local communities
when you travel. Through immersion, you will enable yourself to reflect on the attitudes,
assumptions, and knowledge base you had to gain cultural competence in a new
setting. It is not a new concept. Immersion can also be applied in many different fields,
including learning, working, teaching, and traveling. Over the years, the best way to
engage with locals when you travel has evolved immensely. In this guide, we’ll cover
everything you need to know about community immersion and how to engage with
locals when you travel.
How community immersion works
When you travel to a new place, the community becomes an integral part of your experience. When they welcome you and accept you, it elevates your visit and you experience a deeper side of the community that most people never will. To immerse yourself in a new community, you can either:
- Live among the community and learn from them over an extended length of time
- Learn about the community first then explore the lessons you have accumulated when you visit
Through community immersion, you will begin to construct your knowledge about the
community based on your interactions with them. You get to set aside all your
assumptions for a moment and explore the community with a fresh set of eyes, making
discoveries as you do. Community immersion will develop your self-understanding, and
critical consciousness to slowly adjust to their culture and way of living. It allows you to
become aware of how naive you are about the community you are in, and how different
the members of the communities’ lives are different from your own. This gives you
deeper insight into your thought processes and the need to reflect on your assumptions,
turning you into a better person.
Here are a few tips that will help you engage with local communities better. In the end,
following these tips will result in a better understanding and respect for local cultures.
- Learn about the local communities before you leave
There are many ways to achieve this goal. You can read books or watch films and
documentaries by people who have visited the community before you. Try to
understand the things that make them stand out, for example, the Songkran celebration
in Thailand. What would make you enjoy your time with the community? Are there ways
to volunteer in your community? What are some of the things that threaten their
livelihood? What do the people who have gone before you recommend you do as a way
of achieving responsible travel?
At the same time, you can also take things to the next level by learning a few language
basics. This will help you communicate with the local communities better. It will also
give you a deeper understanding of their point of view and why they live the way they
do. - Learn from locals before traveling
Before you travel, consider finding someone from the country you’ll be visiting and
engaging with them. Understand and navigate the beliefs, values, customs, and
behavior with cultural orientation. Your local university should have an international
student organization that will connect you with a student from the country. They will be
glad to answer any questions you might have about their home country, equipping you
with local knowledge before your travels. - Appreciate your differences
Once you get there, there will be many differences between how you are used to living
your life and how the local communities live. Don’t obsess over all the things that set
you apart. Instead, focus on the things you have in common. Bond over stories and
listen to different points of view from your own. This will help you learn a lot more from
your visit. Then take these lessons and do some self-reflection on your own life and the
impact that they may be having without your knowledge. Doing this will fundamentally
change you for the better. - Eat local food
Community immersion is all about trying new things! Eat local food and let yourself
experience the local culture through their cuisine like being vegetarian in Vietnam.
Listen and dance to their music and learn about their customs. There is always
knowledge and experiences to be shared, and doing this may even help you learn a
new skill that you could impress everyone with back home! - Ask a lot of questions
In most cases, members of the local community would love to teach you about their
culture and their ways. So do not be afraid to ask lots and lots of questions! Be
inquisitive and ask them to share their opinions, views, and experiences. If there is
anything you would like to know, don’t be nervous, just ask! No one expects you to
know everything, and they will be happy to teach you what you do not know. What’s
more, it is the perfect opportunity to engage in some useful exchange of information! - Stay respectful before and when you go back home
How can you be respectful before going back home? Tidy up your accommodation
before leaving, maybe, even exert a little effort to make the bed, take everything out to
get rid of bad odors from the fridge, and dry the bathroom. How will you keep your
experience once you go back home? Well, you can keep learning more about the local
communities, teach others about them, encourage friends and family to visit, and even
donate to causes that support the locals. Get involved in issues that affect those
communities and stay respectful as you do. It will have a much larger impact that way.
Final thoughts
Improving your cultural understanding, community engagement, communication,
identity, and social impact can be achieved through community immersion. We believe
that one of the best ways to experience all that is to teach and travel abroad. Being a
teacher creates a positive impact and makes one a valuable asset to the community.
When you immerse yourself in the lives of local communities, it enriches your
experience and allows you to understand the local people better. This results in a much
more fulfilling trip.
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