The KeyCode project (2020-1-FR01-KA201-080108) is funded, by the European Commission through the French National Agency for the Erasmus+ Programme, with the aim of addressing the challenges that young students face in consolidating their European identity.

The KeyCode project is funded, by the European Commission through the French National Agency for the Erasmus+ Programme, with the aim of addressing the challenges that young students face in consolidating their European identity.

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Teaching Resources

Four cultures/Cultural meetup


Duration
30-45min

Age Group
13 - 14
15 - 16

Objectives
Promotion of EU citizenship, EU and democratic values and human rights
Enhancement of empathy outside school (friends, family, strangers
Development of empathic behavior at school

Needed material
Post-it stickers of 4 different colours for 4 different groups (adjust number of colours and groups based on the number of students).

Emotional Intelligence Areas
Social skills

Description
The activity tries to challenge participants to face their own stereotypes. It wants the participants to see the process of how we create and use our stereotypes to understand and categorize people around us, so that we can become aware of how our brain automatically creates these boxes and categories. The objective of the activity is to learn about the different communication attitudes, signs and their messages, interpretations.

The activity could be implemented to promote “World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development” (21. of May).

During the conversation it is very important that we offer students space and time to express themselves, their feelings and the emotions they felt during group activity. Let's emphasize that the positive opinion of some groups we often design based on personal experience, whereas negative are formed on the basis of stereotypical information, which we get through the upbringing, media, education and society. Although we do not consciously think about stereotypes, they affect us as they build standards, expectations and assumptions that are unfair and not necessarily aligned with reality. When we stereotype a group, we actually ignore all those things that they make each individual unique. That is why personal contacts are important for going beyond and questioning the often unjust and false stereotypes. At the same time, we have to be aware that we look at everything through our own "cultural glasses" and that it is because of them that some actions or habits we estimate incorrectly or differently than as it is.

Lesson Plan
STEP 1
We divide students into groups with help of coloured post-its. The groups find their corner in the room, members place coloured post-its on a visible spot. Each of the groups gets a paper, on which the rules of conduct of their own group are written.
When they read the rules, teacher tells them to stick to the rules at all times and may not disclose to other groups. Tell them to imagine that they have found themselves in a space with people who do not know them. Invite them for a walk
around the room and meet other participants.


Rules of conduct for groups

Green group:
You are kind and sociable people. During the conversation you speak loudly and wing a lot with your hands. It is extremely polite to interrupt the speaker in conversation, as by doing so you show him or her you pay attention and listen carefully. You want to know as much as possible about the person you are talking to, therefore you are extremely kind and polite to this person.

Yellow group:
You love to touch each other during the conversation. When you meet a person for the first time, you hold his hand for a long time, because by doing so, you show him how happy you are to have met him. During a conversation you like to touch the person especially to emphasize the meaning of words.

Blue group: It is extremely rude if you look the person you have just meet straight in the eyes. It is usual you look at ceiling or floor; your arms are crossed over your chest. When meeting people, you are extremely polite and want to know as much as possible about them.

Red group: You listen carefully to the person you talk to.
You catch his gaze with your eyes, because you want to learn even more, so in conversation with person you always only use questions , even though
you are answering his / her question.




STEP 2
Students start walking around the room and getting to know other students; they are changing the person they are talking to, but they stick to their role (rules of conduct dictated by their culture
groups) all the time (5-10 min).

STEP 3
We invite students to get back to their initial groups where they discuss about their experiences with members of other groups. Each group has to name itself and also other groups. They choose a representative of the group who summarizes the discussion they had and chosen names to everyone else. (They do not reveal the name of their own group yet).

STEP 4
A representative of each group summarizes the perceptions, experiences and discussion of their own group and reads / describes the rules of conduct of his group aloud, the name they gave themselves and the reasons for it.
A representative then reveals the names they have given to others groups and the reasons for this. When all the groups share their experiences, we invite students to get up, take a quick walk around the room, give “High 5s” to each other and say their names to step out of their role they had during the activity.

STEP 5
Students are invited to sit back in a circle.
A group conversation to serve also as assessment follows; as a support you can use the following questions:
• How did you feel during the activity?
• How did you feel talking to other students?
• Was it easy or difficult to communicate with others? Why easy or difficult?
• How did you feel when you talked to a person from your own group?
• You may have misunderstood or misjudged the approach of the person from another group to you, did you? What would you say are the reasons for it?
• How did you create the image of other groups and how did you come up with a name for them?
• How did you feel when you heard the names that were given to your group by other groups?
• What parallels can we find with the real world? How do you usually communicate
with someone from a culture not your own? Do you pay special attention to something?
Have you ever misjudged the actions of a certain group in real life?
• How do you think a prevailing opinion of a certain group in the society would influence your own opinion?
• How do stereotypes affect our acceptance of other cultures? What stereotypes do you know? How would you define a stereotype?
Did you experience any aha-moments in the activity? When was it?

Assessment
The debate at the end of the activity is designed in a way so that students can reflect on it as well as the teacher getting valuable information about their emotional and cognitive position.

Links for further information
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TESTING AND ASSESSMENT