Lecture and Discussion, and "Game"- Participants are encouraged to make the workshop more relevant to their concerns by asking questions and giving input.
DESCRIPTION:
This is a training on the expression areas where cultural differences occur. The lecture is presented around a playful multiple choice game checking participants' awareness of cultural distinctions. The introduction of cultural distinctions by themselves create the potential of cultural competency, and also, if the participants are not careful, of becoming vulnerable to advanced stereotyping.
Each answer is then used as an introduction to a discussion on an area of potential expression of common intra-personal, interpersonal, and societal issues: definitions of family, acceptable vs. unacceptable aggression, touch, communication styles, time, role of adolescents, and so forth. Through playing "Cultural Jeopardy" the participants safely experience the "jeopardy" of being multi-culturally unaware (failing to appropriately interpret and respond to culturally unfamiliar people), or experience the success of being multi-culturally sophisticated (respectfully interact and respond to unfamiliar others).
SUMMARY OF CONTENT:
1) THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEFINITION OF CULTURE
2) UNDERLYING ISSUES: societal, economic, political
3) UNFAMILIAR CULTURAL EXPRESSION: the how-to's when you don't know what to do!
4) SUPERFICIAL ISSUES: Food, Music, Clothes, and other "Tourist" Issues
5) IDENTIFICATION of the areas where cultural differences may lead to problematic interaction. Information about similarities and differences between identified cultures will be introduced and used to identify these key areas.