How standing in front of a multicultural class shaped my approach to education, empathy, and creative intelligence

I remember the moment clearly. I was standing in front of my very first class at a College in Australia about to deliver my first official workshop.

In front of me sat a group of adults from six different countries and vastly different cultural backgrounds. There were 20-year-old backpackers from France and South America, published authors and artists from all over Australia, emerging entrepreneurs, and even two senior scholars who wanted to learn how to communicate their field to 'outsiders.'

As each person introduced themselves in turn, I had exactly the length of the introduction round to rethink everything: what I had planned, how I would deliver it, and how I could make it relevant to every single one of them.

Because here's the truth: If I didn’t receive top feedback, this would likely be my first and last workshop for the college. No pressure, right?

But instead of panicking, I found myself falling back on two things and they were not academic frameworks, slides or scripts. They were something far deeper. It was:

• My lived experience across cultures and systems, and

  
  

• my creative intelligence: the capacity to adapt, connect, and design meaning in the moment.

I began listening more closely. I wove their stories and interests into the examples I gave. I repeated key ideas when I felt someone’s personal journey could help the entire group connect. I shifted the structure without ever announcing it. And something remarkable happened.

People didn’t just engage. They opened up. They leaned in. They felt seen.

I received not just good reviews. In the following week, I received deeply personal thank-you emails. I saw many of them again in future workshops. But most importantly, I witnessed firsthand what happens when people feel seen, heard, and valued in educational settings.

That wasn’t part of the curriculum. But it was what changed everything.

What I Learned (And What I Still Believe)

That day taught me something I return to again and again:

Knowledge is not just cognitive. Real learning lives in connection; in trust, safety, and shared meaning.

Teaching, at its best, is a deeply human, creative, relational act. It’s not about transferring data, but it is all about building bridges between lives, minds, and stories.

And while I’ve since gone on to teach dozens of workshops and develop curricula to even far more complex groups, I still carry that moment with me because this was the very moment when I truly fell in love, again, with educational psychology.

I fell in love because in the complex, sensitive, and multicultural waters of that classroom, and because of exactly just that, I began to fly. I wasn’t teaching despite the pressure. I was teaching because of it. Because something inside me rose to meet it, with empathy, with intuition, and with creativity.

And the students? They rose too. I have been so amazed with the work many of them proceeded to do afterwards.

I would love to hear your reflections on this topic. Join the conversation on LinkedIn, where I share more insights and invite dialogue with educators, creatives, and leaders worldwide. Connect to LinkedIn here.

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Louise Sommer (MA, Educational Psychology) is the founder of Louise Sommer Studio. She specialises in creative intelligence, learning design, and leadership communication across cultures. Through her writing, consulting, and workshops, Louise helps educators and leaders build learning cultures that think, feel, and grow.

Louise Sommer Studio Blog is a free space for learning created for educators, leaders, and creatives exploring the intersection of psychology, culture, and creative intelligence.

Louise Sommer (cand.pæd.psyk.) er grundlægger af Louise Sommer Studio. Hun er specialiseret i kreativ intelligens, læringsdesign og ledelseskommunikation på tværs af kulturer. Gennem sit arbejde med undervisning, rådgivning og workshops hjælper Louise undervisere og ledere med at udvikle læringskulturer, der tænker, føler og vokser.

Louise Sommer Studio Blog er et frit rum for læring, skabt for undervisere, ledere og kreative, der udforsker samspillet mellem psykologi, kultur og kreativ intelligens.