This activity challenges participants to analyze and discuss culture based on objects of cultural significance. All participants will bring in an object that has some sort of cultural significance to them. Upon arriving, they will place that object on a table. Then, everyone in the group will choose an object that interests them and discuss why. Finally, the owner of each object will reveal themselves and explain its significance to the group.

This activity challenges participants to recognize the importance of observation and to step back and describe something before interpreting or evaluating it. They will learn the framework description (D), interpretation (I), and evaluation (E) and apply it to various examples.

In this activity, participants experience music and cultural discourses from global cultures by listening to live radio stations all over the world. 

This activity uses VisualsSpeak (Martell & Tiernan, 2005), a method that uses images to help participants develop team-building skills and discover other participants’ values. VisualsSpeak can be used for many different purposes including icebreakers, team building, leadership development, conflict resolution, and intercultural awareness, among others.

Martell, C., & Tiernan, T. (2005). VisualsSpeak. https://www.visualsspeak.com/

From Jen Stanchfield: "This carefully selected collection of unique postcard images captures a group’s attention and inspires meaningful reflection and conversation. The postcard collection is popular with teachers, counselors, trainers and group facilitators looking to start off a class, training session or team-building program with style, or as a way to reflect or celebrate the strengths and achievements of individuals or the group. The postcards are an impactful tool for vision setting, helping participants resolve conflict or establish group norms, or as a dialogue prompt in restorative justice circles. Postcards inspire creative writing and can be used as journaling prompts for self-reflection. The Pick-a- Postcard Kit is a compelling and engaging tool for practicing the use of metaphor and figurative language."

Stanchfield, J. (n.d.). Pick-a-postcard kit. Experiential Tools. https://experientialtools.com/collections/teaching-facilitation-tools/products/pick-a-postcard

In this activity, participants explore micro-fiction, which differs from longer form narrative pieces in relying wholly on the perspective of the reader to interpret what is happening. Participants will practice active reader engagement to gain an immersive exploration of perspective taking and the creation of their own narrative worlds. This activity centers around developing critical interpretation skills in perspective taking.

This activity uses figural charms to spark reflection and dialogue. 

This activity challenges participants to identify how culture plays into what we deem important and how we sort and categorize the world around us. Participants will be divided into pairs and each pair will receive an envelope with various objects within it. The pairs will take turns silently sorting the objects, and they will attempt to guess the rationale behind their partner’s categories.

"'A Christmas Carol' is an excellent activity for setting context, sharing historical events, and building a vision of the future."

Hughes, G., & Thiagarajan, S. [SMARTasHellVideo]. (2013, May 16). Photo jolts activities: A Christmas carol. [Vieo]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmVigkKY6xU

This activity challenges participants to be open to unfamiliar experiences and reflect on how they might react to cultural difference. They will participate in a scene acted out by a simulated culture, the Albatrossians, and then discuss their feelings and reactions after the performance.

This blog includes important tips, frameworks, and activities to create opportunities for meaningful debriefings.

This document outlines the key elements of effective debriefing.

This activity challenges participants to build empathy and a sense of team identity by listening and sharing in response to "five nosy questions."

This activity (not open access) encourages participants to discuss their values in a group and examine how values are determined by experience and culture. 

This activity from Sparrow (not open access) can be found in Gochenour's Beyond Experience: The Experiential Approach to Cross-cultural Education. In this activity, participants will examine cultural identity and self-awareness by assessing how their beliefs and cultural attitudes have changed from childhood to adulthood. 

This activity from Sparrow (not open access) can be found in Gochenour's Beyond Experience: The Experiential Approach to Cross-cultural Education. In this activity, participants will reflect on the concept of "tribal identity."

This activity includes a list of 30 questions around topics of social identity. 

This activity includes a range of 200 questions to get to know someone.

This activity challenges participants to interrogate the complexity behind how culture affects an individual’s worldview. 

This activity challenges participants to develop an attitude of intercultural openness by initiating and developing relationships with people who are culturally different from them. 

This activity challenges participants to reflect on their identities and how they are perceived in different contexts. They will consider identities such as race, gender, and sexual orientation and contemplate how those identities may be privileged in different environments and therefore affect their interactions with others.

We often hail curiosity in getting to know culturally different others as an interculturally competent trait, but not many tools exist to help develop skills for deploying curiosity appropriately. This activity dives into the inner workings of curiosity. Participants will be challenged to reflect on their embodied experiences of acting on curiosity with culturally different others and to imagine possible approaches to satisfying curiosity that balance their own desire for learning with the rights and needs of others.

This activity challenges participants to seek information in creative ways. They will engage in a conversation and attempt to learn more about their partner without asking them any questions. Then, they will consider the role of questions in conversations and discuss their advantages and disadvantages.

This activity uses the Kahoot! Learning platform to teach participants about the five Intercultural Development Continuum stages. Participants are presented with questions and statements that reflect each stage and they must choose the stage within which the question or statement falls.

This document outlines the key elements of effective debriefing.