Option 2: Cultural Encounter 2

  • Group size: 12 or more trainees
  • Materials: handouts provided

40 minutes

Stage 1: Preparation for Activity

  • Form two culture groups and select three or four anthropologists. (There are three cultures from which to choose).
  • Give handouts to the groups and have them read through them.
  • Ensure that trainees understand the laws and do not share them with the other group.

Stage 2: Activity

Let the anthropologists interact and try to find consistent answers to their questions.

Stage 3: Debrief Participants

Ask the anthropologists to describe the culture they encountered. Next, ask the people in the cultures studied to describe their rules.
Discuss:

  • Why did misunderstandings occur?
  • Why did it result in frustration?
  • What is the anthropologist's role in affecting the response of those in the host culture? Did they critique their own performance or assume that those in the host culture were "inconsistent" or " uncooperative"?

Stage 4: Applying the Knowledge

Ask trainees to discuss how this exercise will affect the way in which they tutor.
Possible answers:

  • How we interpret (what we experience in) another culture is a projection of our own culture and ourselves.
  • Confusion can result from incorrect information or assumptions about another culture.

2 L. Robert Kohls and John M. Knight, Developing Intercultural Awareness: A Cross-Cultural Training Handbook (Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press Inc., 1994.)