Greeting Rituals
TOOLBOX GROUP
Group 4 – supporting international mobility and intercultural encounters
AUDIENCE
pupils from 14 to 18 preparing for an exchange program
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- To introduce a discussion about different ways of conduct in different cultures
- To think of our reaction to cultural differences
TIME
30 minutes
NECESSARY MATERIALS
- Instruction cards in several copies (see: appendix)
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 use words.
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?
REFERENCES
European Centre for Modern Languages, Mercé Bernaus merce.bernaus@uab.es
Combat: content-based teaching with didactic units
APPENDIX
