John Veverka & Associates


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Interp. for International Visitors course.



Interpretive Program Presentations and Protocol for
Interacting and Communicating With Your International Visitors.

An interpretive training short course.

Nine Units - 1 CEU Credit.

With a multitude of international visitors coming to and experiencing our heritage sites, it would be valuable for interpreters to be aware of the differences that exist between our own customs and those of our international visitors.

This short "sensitizing" course is designed to provide you with an overview in developing and offering interpretive programs and media, from multi-lingual interpretive media (use of mass customization design), to general protocols such as use of first names, eye contact, gestures and other verbal and non-verbal communication techniques and their possible "double meaning" to different cultures.



What this really means and where...

USA - everything is fine - a-ok.

France = you're a zero

Japan = Please give me coins!
Brazil = an obscene gesture.
Spain = An obscene gesture.

There is a lot to learn about our international visitors and successful communication with them. Having worked in a lot of different countries, I had to learn from friends and partners what are the customes and proper protocol to use. I hope this short course will give you some advantages I had to learn along the way.

Course Instructor:
Prof. John Veverka


- B.S and M.S in Heritage Interpretation - The Ohio State University
- Ph.D. program in Interpretation at Michigan State University.
- Adjunct Professor Heritage Interpretation (summer heritage tourism institutes) North
Carolina State University, New York State University.
- NAI Certified Interpretive Planner and Trainer
- NAI Fellow
- Certified Professional Heritage Interpreter (Canada).
- Author of several interpretive planning/training college text books.
- Publisher of InterpNEWS - the International Heritage Interpretation e-Magazine.
- 40 years of interpretive planning, training and critiquing experience.


Course Units


Unit One - Introduction and Cultural Sensitivity.

Unit Two - General Do's and Taboos.

Unit Three - General Protocol Topics (Punctuality, body contact, first names, eye contact and more).

Unit Four - Verbal and non- verbal communications.

Unit Five - Forms of address when meeting international visitors or proper introductions.

Unit Six- Gestures (one we might use for a greeting might also be an insult in some countries.)

Unit Seven - an overview of Countries, Customs and Cultures (for your international visitors).

Unit Eight - Hospitality Protocol (who sits where?).

Unit Nine - Mass Customization and Markets of One - having interpretive media available in multiple languages.
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For our
e-LIVE courses, all assignments from each unit will be sent to Prof. Veverka for reveiw and comments or coaching. You can talk with John whenever you need to by phone, SKYPE, or e-mail. John will be YOUR personal coach for this course.

When will the course start? You can start this course at any time and work at your own pace. It is estimated that it will take about
10 hours to complete this short course. The tuition for the 10 hours of training is $100.00 USD, which can be paid for by credit card or PayPal. At the completion of the course you will receive a certificate of completion noting the CEU credit on the certificate.

If you're interested in this course and would like to enroll in it - send an e-mail to John at: jvainterp@aol.com for a registration form. Then return here to pay your tuition and get started.

If you have any questions at all feel free to ask.

Prof. John Veverka
JVA Heritage Interpretation International Training Center
Interpretive Training Division












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