TIME

30 Minutes

NECESSARY MATERIALS

Instruction cards in several copies

STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY

– Participants are asked to imagine the following situation: Newly arrived at the airport, everyone is trying to find their host. As we are in a multicultural society, the greeting rituals can be very different.
– Everyone receives an instruction card with the greeting ceremony they must observe. The group is divided, according to its size, into hosts and guests; one host can have more than one guest.
– Now everyone, while behaving according to the ritual prescribed on their cards, must find the person(s) associated with them, who is/are part of the same culture. It is not allowed to speak.

Debriefing of the game:
– Which greeting rituals made you feel (un)comfortable? Why?
– Were there any greetings that were misunderstood (eg. as hostile approaches or advances)?
– What feelings did unfamiliar forms of greeting engender? How would the participants have liked to react in some cases?
– How should we react when faced with different customs? Which rules should apply?