CULTURAL ICEBERG Age group: 16-18 Keywords: Cultural Competences, Cultural Awareness, Group Work, Communication, Tolerance, Social Skills. Time required: 45-60 minutes Number of people: 10-30 Equipment and materials: Flipchart or board, markers, worksheets. Space: Middle-sized to large room or space outside. Activity explored and suggested by: Zaklad Doskonalenia Zawodowego w Kielcach - Poland.
Aim of the method: To develop cultural awareness, learn to look, analyse and solve problems from the perspective of cultural differences, to promote openness, respect, curiosity towards other cultures, to acquire cultural knowledge paying special attention to the invisible aspects of culture, to develop flexibility and adaptability in intercultural communication, to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of intercultural relations at and outside of school, to increase mutual tolerance and acceptance, to develop the ability to communicate with people of different cultures, to fight xenophobia, racism, as well as all forms of prejudice. Preparation: The room should be arranged in such a way as to ensure effective teamwork, i.e. the tables should be pushed together or taken out of the room altogether if the participants feel more comfortable working on the floor. The tables’ arrangement should enable the facilitator to move freely among the groups and offer individual help whenever it’s needed. Before the session starts, handouts with iceberg images should be prepared as well as a worksheet with a list of visible and invisible aspects of culture. The way it is described here, the method should be implemented in a multicultural group. Mono-cultural variants are also possible, as described in the “variations” section below.
DESCRIPTION INTRO The facilitator welcomes the participants and explains that they are going to do an activity that will help them understand each other a little better. CREATING COMFORT The facilitator starts off by drawing a large image of an iceberg on the board. He or she asks the participants what they know about icebergs, stressing the fact that the part that’s visible to us is only about 10% while most of it is hidden from view. The facilitator then inspires the participants to think about an iceberg as a metaphor and asks what situations we could apply this metaphor to. GETTING INTO THE TOPIC The next step involves introducing the idea of culture. The facilitator challenges to participants to come up with a definition of culture and to create a list of elements that they feel make up culture (eg. religion, food, clothes, celebrations, music, visual
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