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what is name of exercise and how to do it

I'm looking for details on an exercise described at WISE conference:

Inner circle of students surrounded by outer ring of students (arms length away). Each group takes turn asking each other questions to break down cultural barriers and discomfort.

What is this exercise calls and where can I find more details please

Ian

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    Daniel Ach

    I think this is a pretty common "icebreaker" and it's talked about on this blog, as an example: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/classroom-icebreakers/

    Personally, I have come to differentiate between "icebreaker" and "intercultural exercise/activity" in goal and framing.

    The goal of an icebreaker is to propel conversations and relationships forward after the activity; the goal of an intercultural activity is to explore cultural self- and other-awareness (among other things).

    The framing of an icebreaker is that it assumes it is a low-risk, social grease that everyone can participate in. That is, they approach relationship-building from a specific cultural frame that is unconsciously biased toward extroverted, direct, and individualistic values. The framing of an intercultural activity is that it is a developmental tool that meets the participants where they are at, which factors in appropriate challenge and support, and can run across a spectrum of risk.

    Practically, intercultural activities differ from icebreakers in at least three ways:

    1. IC activities take more work to facilitate appropriately because it takes into account different cultural differences in learning styles, conflict styles, communication styles. (The author of the blog talks about some of these challenges for her.)
    2. IC activities consequently are more inclusive because people can participate in their own culturally effective and appropriate ways.
    3. IC activities consequently are often deeper because it will include a debrief that incorporates the full learning cycle in the activity itself, such as Thiagi's debrief method.

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