"This essay explores the goals, challenges and outcomes associated with a course titled The Global Workplace, which the author taught in May–June 2007 as part of Thomas Jefferson School of Law's inaugural Study Abroad in China Program. Although she had previously taught a similar course, this was her first experience with a cross–cultural, cross–national classroom. The essay reviews the goals the author had for the course, aspirations that did not differ in content from what she ordinarily hopes to achieve when teaching the course: (1) introducing students to international workplace law principles and international organizations, such as the International Labour Organization (ILO); (2) comparing several national systems so that students achieve insight into how common workplace problems are addressed differently in different countries; and (3) creating creative, open–minded future transnational lawyers through respectful discussion of policy and the tools available to facilitate transnational legal practice. Next, she describes three challenges attendant to teaching international and comparative workplace law in a foreign country. These challenges were: (1) language–related, because the Chinese students were not used to speaking and reading English on a regular basis; (2) pedagogical, in that the Chinese method of law instruction is typically lecture–based rather than interactive and Socratic; and (3) political, because some of the issues in the course implicate Chinese and American foreign policy and workplace conditions. Finally, the essay reviews the outcomes achieved during the author's three weeks in China. By the end of the course, the author felt she had: (1) piqued the students' interest and increased their knowledge in the course subject matter; (2) facilitated cross–cultural appreciation and the development of friendships between the Chinese and American students; and (3) achieved a depth and balance in her teaching that had perhaps been more difficult to achieve when teaching on American soil."

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