“Six differences” asks participants to find someone in the room who is different than themselves in six ways which aren’t appearance-based. “Six differences” is a great way to partner people up for “25 Questions.”

 “Different Similarities” offers polarized students the opportunity to see how they are similar to someone that they thought was much different, and it also gives students who minimize difference the opportunity to find out just how different they might be than others. 

“25 Questions” gives practice for domestic and international students to ask one another interesting questions that they might not think of on their own.

In the activity entitled “Living in a Bubble,” learners analyze the places that they regularly go for sameness and difference and discuss the pros and cons of experiencing heterogeneous and homogeneous communities.

A similar but different tool which increases self-awareness about our own personal networks is entitled Auditing Your Personal Networks. In this activity, participants sort their contacts based on feelings of intimacy—how close they feel to people in different zones. Groups include personal relationships in the middle, social relationships in the blue circle, and the public in the outermost circle. Participants put actual names in each circle and then talk about how they could draw more people into their circles.

Both the Bubble and Auditing tools begin with a reading of a 2019 article from The Atlantic by Green entitled “These are the Americans who live in a bubble." The Auditing tool also includes a reading of an article by Kos entitled “Relationship circles—the most important diagram of your life.” The sources for these are included in the HubICL Toolbox.

Another activity that gets at this idea of how we sort people is called Critical Mass. This particular activity builds off of a reading in Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi, entitled “The Strength of Stereotype Threat: The Role of Cues.” Steele begins the chapter by talking about how it felt for Sandra Day O’Connor to be the only woman on the Supreme Court. There was a little less stereotype threat when Ruth Bader Ginsberg (RBG) was added, but there were still a lot of comments by reporters that mentioned “one of two women on the court.”  It wasn’t until there were three women on the court  that it began to feel like women had reached critical mass and that RBG, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan could speak on behalf of their own opinion and not on behalf of all women.

After reading the chapter on critical mass and stereotype threat, we ask participants to look at their own college’s webpages and analyze who is represented, who is missing, who might feel excluded, whether the pages challenge or reinforce stereotype, etc.

This tool comes with a complete lesson plan for talking through each of the videos and applying the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. In the particular context of the class in which we talked about sorting, this could have made a nice follow up to talk about how each of their languages reinforces the way that they categorize objects, ideas, and even people. I especially like this particular activity because it asks viewers to either watch the movie Arrival or to watch one of the many YouTube videos about Arrival, along with a popular TED talk by Lera Boroditsky. 

Kris Acheson-Clair has created another variation of Language Envelopes, which she calls Language Coding, that asks learners to sort sentences in a similar way to sorting objects. We offer both a hard copy of this for you to use with a group face-to-face and a ready-to-use jamboard for your use with virtual groups.

If you were to visit my office, I have 30 envelopes each containing the items that you see on the screen. Depending on how many students are in the room, I number them off in such a way that there are two 1’s, two 2’s, two 3’s, two 4’s, etc. in the room, and no one originally sitting side by side has the same number. The two people who have number 1 sit facing one another with the envelope of objects between them. The two people who have number 2 sit facing one another with the envelope of objects between them. The two people who have number 3 sit facing one another with the envelope of objects between them, etc. until the entire room is paired off with someone that they were not sitting by when they came in the room.

Silently, one member of the pair empties out the envelope and sorts the objects while the other person in the pair observes. When all is sorted, the observer guesses the sorting logic that was used, and the sorter acknowledges whether the observer is correct in their guess. Then the roles reverse—the sorter becomes the observer, and the observer becomes the sorter.  Taking turns, each player should get to sort 3 times and observe each time, each time using a different sorting logic.

Let me give you an example of a couple of ways that I’ve seen this sorted. If I were to put the pencil, the nail, the screw, the coffee stirrer, the stick, the toothpick, and the Q-tip into a pile together, you might guess that I had sorted those objects by what qualities? If I put the feather, the leaf, the shell, the rock, and the stick together, you might guess that I sorted those objects by what characteristic?

As I said, I facilitated this activity with the group, and then we discussed the natural ability and tendency of humans to sort and our ability and tendency to see the similarities of things that have been sorted. I am going to leave this story for a time and come back to it in the end, so I can tell you what else is in the HubICL that you might be interested in for answering this question.

As a result of the pandemic this past year and so many things moving to on-line learning, this particular tool in the HubICL also includes a jamboard for you to use and copy, so you can partner off participants into breakout rooms, and they can manipulate pictures of the items, just as they would the real items.

In this article, Thiagi details important questions for facilitators to ask themselves to ensure effectiveness when deciding which facilitation activities to use. 

In this article, Thiagi highlights his philosophy on game facilitation and adaptation, encouraging facilitators and trainers to consider new ways of implementing old games to build their skills and encourage new learning objectives.

This article delineates important characteristics of games, training games, and simulations. 

This article details the history and vision of the "simulation and games movement."

This article presents an analysis of decades of simulation research to identify patterns, issues, and areas of opportunity.

This article includes tips for simulation success, defined as an "aha" moment for learners. 

This article discusses what needs to be present in design and implementation for effective simulation results.

An article that sheds light on simulation design and effectiveness, and the variables that impact learning from simulations.

This article from Willy C. Kriz provides guidance for instructors and facilitators on solution-oriented simulation design aimed at learning and sustainability. 

This article from Randall Kindley, PhD, provides design strategies for instructors and trainers within e-learning contexts. 

This guidebook from Clark Aldrich provides facilitation tips for trainers and instructors.

This other article from Thiagi is excellent for trainers, providing additional details to address and debunk misconceptions about simulations.

This article archive provides activity ideas, an interview with activity trainer, and facilitation techniques. 

This article provides simulation activity ideas that include embedded puzzles.

This article from Thiagi is excellent for trainers, addressing and debunking misconceptions about simulations.

A report assessing whether CILMAR met its goals in 2022. 

A report outlining CILMAR's goals for 2023.

This is the checklist we used to assess and include andragogical, developmental, experiential, transformational, constructivist, and critically inclusive aspects into intercultural learning activities. 

The Ramping Up - New Activity Checklist Version 2 includes the items from our whiteboard brainstorming session during the workshop.

*Both Word docs and PDFs included.

This article introduces Tami Pyfer, Utah Demonstration Project Lead of the Dignity Index, a rhetorical scoring scale for politicians developed to address issues of scapegoating, polarization, and other divisive language in politics. 

These are the slides we used in our pre-conference presentation.

This article explores culture beyond country borders.

This book by Benedict Anderson discusses nationalism, detailing that humans of different cultural groups have always contested territorial control through war, migrated for multiple reasons, co-existed, and intermingled. 

This activity challenges participants to recognize and analyze their reactions to a variety of cultural values. 

Within our session, we used this tool as an opportunity to practice assessing and developing intercultural learning tools after completing the New Activity Checklist.

Overview: This lesson plan will challenge participants to recognize and analyze their reactions to a variety of cultural values. In this activity, participants will move to various locations around the room based on their opinions about value statements read by the facilitator.

For this activity, participants refer to the Hofstede Insights website and explore the cultural proclivities of their own cultures as well as compare them with others’ cultures, understanding that these are generalizations. Additionally, participants examine the generalizations presented on the website and reflect on the complex nuances that are excluded from these over-simplified categories.

Within our session, we used this tool as an opportunity to practice assessing and developing intercultural learning tools after completing the New Activity Checklist.

For this activity, participants will refer to the Hofstede Insights website and explore the cultural proclivities of their own cultures as well as compare them with others’ cultures, understanding that these are generalizations. Participants will examine the generalizations presented on the website and reflect on the complex nuances that are excluded from these over-simplified categories.

This presentation is an outline of our time together on 1/24/23, covering the development of the HubICL Toolbox, areas beyond the Toolbox, and ways you can get involved. Feel free to follow along during the presentation and/or use it as a reference in the future.

• Artful Closer, an activity
• Color in Culture, an activity
• Examining Monuments as Cultural Expression, an activity
• Group Drawing: A Collaborative Reflection Activity for Online or In-Person Experiences, an activity
• Seeing You Seeing Me, an activity
• Draw a House, an activity

• Artful Closer, an activity
• Best Summary, an activity
• Birds of a Feather, an activity
• Building a Tower, an activity
• Building Team Communication, an activity
• Building Utopiastan, an activity
• Co-Opoly, an activity
• Global Engineering Competency Scale, an assessment
• GlobeSmart Profile, an assessment
• Group Drawing: A Collaborative Reflection Activity for Online or In-Person Experiences, an activity
• Guess the Emotion, an activity
• Hollow Square, an activity
• Ice Sculpture (per antea Meteorite), an activity
• Improved Solutions, an activity
• Me and My Team, an activity
• New Commons Game, The, an activity
• One Will Get You Ten, an activity
• Personal Agendas in Teamwork, an activity
• Power Distance Case Study, an activity
• Ritual, an activity
• Role of Culture in Team Communication, The, an activity
• Team Values Assessment, an assessment
• Teamwork Rubric (AAC&U), an assessment
• Teamwork Self-Assessment, an assessment

• Co-Opoly, a game
• New Commons Game, The, an activity
• Alpha-beta Partnership, an activity
• Adapt Your Pitch, an activity
• Building Utopiastan, an activity
• Archie Bunker's Neighborhood, a game
• Power Distance Company Picnic, a simulation
• Dollar Street, an activity
• Classism and Poverty Awareness Quiz, an activity

• Perspective Taking and Microfiction, an activity
• Empathy and Fiction, an activity
• Sentry, The, an activity
• Danger of a Single Story, a media resource and discussion guide
• Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, an activity
• Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, a media resource and discussion guide
• Street Dog's Life, A, an activity
• Counter-Storytelling, an activity
• Metaphors across Cultures, an activity

• DIE (D-I-E) (Describe-Interpret-Evaluate), the original activity
• O-S-E-E, another version by Deardorff & Deardorff  (2000)
• DAE (D-A-E) (Describe-Analyze-Evaluate), another version by Kyoung-Ah Nam and John Condon (2009)
• DIVE (D.I.V.E. Model) (Describe-Interpret-Verify-Evaluate), another version by AFS Student Learning Journey Curriculum from the Erasmus+ website (n.d.)
• I DIVE (Impact-Description-Interpretation-Values-Evaluation), another version by Susan Schaerli-Lim (2012)

• Centering Indigeneity, an activity
• Perspective-Taking Activity, an activity
• Walking in Good Relations, an activity

• Analyzing Cultural Self-Awareness and Worldview Differences, an activity
• The New Commons Game, an activity
• Intercultural Praxis Case Study Activity, an activity

• Guns or Butter, an activity
• Understanding Empathy Through Jojo Rabbit, a media resource, activity, and discussion guide
• Examining Monuments as Cultural Expression, an activity
• History Course Resources for Teaching Intercultural Competence in U.S. History, a collection by John William Nelson, Texas Tech University
• Fence In or Fence Out, an activity
• Social Justice Songs, an on-line resource
• Speeches on Social Justice, an on-line resource
• Who Said It? Quiz, an activity

• Working in Unfamiliar Surroundings Quiz, an activity
• STEM Education Publications by Purdue Faculty, a collection
• Picture A ..., an activity
• By the Numbers, an activity
• Ice Sculpture (per antea Meteorite), an activity
• Say It In Sequence, an activity

• Mental Mapping, an activity
• Place Called Home, A, an activity
• Draw a House, an activity
• For Whom the Cowbell Tolls, a media resource and discussion guide
• A Demonstration of Five Scaffolded Activities. a presentation on intersectionality in which geographical context arises several times
• Dollar Street, an activity
• Hidden American: An Intersectional Perspective, a media resource and discussion guide

• Tradition and Identity in Whale Rider, a media resource and discussion guide
• Farewell, The: Family & Cultural Difference (film), a media resource and discussion guide
• Happy 10th Birthday!, an activity

• Films as discussion starters, a collection
• Books and movies on cross-cultural interactions, a collection
• Tradition and Identity in Whale Rider, a media resource and discussion guide
• Farewell, The: Family & Cultural Difference (film), a media resource and discussion guide
• Check Your Bias Blind Spot, a media resource and discussion guide

• Personality Profile, an activity
• By the Numbers, an activity
• Emotion Labor, an activity
• Summary of Stages of Racial Identity Development, a resource
• Four Levels of Cultural Awareness, The, an activity
• Emotional Resilience Worksheet, an activity
• Mind the Gap, an activity

• Reclaiming our Stories: Narratives of Identity, Resilience and Empowerment, a media resource
• Multicultural Education, a collection
• Publications of Transculturation Team, a collection
• Say It In Sequence, an activity
• Going Beyond the Comfort Zone, an activity
• Racial Equity and Education: Informing Ourselves, Transforming Our Schools, an on-line resource
• Ditching Deficit Ideology: The First Step Toward Cultivating an Equity Commitment, an on-line resource

• Ice Sculpture (per antea Meteorite), an activity
• Ethical Photography & Community-Engaged Global Learning, an activity
• Dialogue Blocker Activity, an activity
• Advertising and Marketing Across Cultures, an activity
• Detecting Cultural Values in Recruitment Advertisements, an activity
• Re-imagining Rhetoric, an activity
• Invitational Rhetoric Activity, an activity

• Photo Analysis: Women of Cover, an activity
• Working in Unfamiliar Surroundings Quiz, an activity
• CERCLL Collection for Language Teachers, a collection
• Frameworks and Theories for Intercultural Learning in the Language Classroom, a collection
• Assessment of/as Intercultural Learning in World Languages, a collection
• Activities Easy to Adapt for Courses in World Languages, a collection
• Purdue University School of Languages & Cultures Intercultural Learning Study Group, Fall 2019, a collection
• Building the Skill of Empathy for Language Learners, a collection

• Photo Analysis: Women of Cover, an activity
• Red Pill, The (documentary), a media resource
• Selling Masculinity, a media resource and discussion guide
• diversophy® Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation, an activity
• Reclaiming our Stories: Narratives of Identity, Resilience and Empowerment, a media resource
• STEM Education Publications by Purdue Faculty, a collection
• Poker Face, an activity

• Barbie Savior: A Lesson in Intercultural Empathy, an activity
• Ethical Photography & Community-Engaged Global Learning, an activity
• Going Beyond the Comfort Zone, an activity
• A Pecha Kucha on Global Learning Resources in the HubICL, a presentation
• Danger of a Single Story, a media resource and discussion guide
• Body Ritual Among the Nacirema, an activity
• Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, a media resource and discussion guide
• Street Dog's Life, A, a media resource and discussion guide
• Dollar Street, an activity
• Levels, an activity

• A Potluck of Food Attitudes, Beliefs, and Traditions to Share Around the Table, a collection
• Food Attitudes Behavior Openness Scale (FABOS), an assessment
• Foodways: Slurp, a media resource and discussion guide
• Fourteen Ways to Say Thank You Internationally, an activity
• Hello in Different Languages, an activity
• Color in Culture, an activity

This presentation provides tips and tricks for most efficiently finding HubICL resources on a particular topic.

These slides were part of the "A demonstration of 5 scaffolded activities for engaging with audiences concerning intersectionality" presentation at the SIETAR 2022 National Conference in Omaha, NE.

This activity, created by Dr. Dan Jones, CILMAR, is based on the chapter by Toni Schmader, William Hall, and Alyssa Croft, “Stereotype threat in intergroup relations”. This activity will help participants recognize the mechanisms that cause negative impacts of stereotyping. This activity explores the ways to combat negative performance by identifying and removing stereotype threats. This activity and handout are especially beneficial to instructors and program leaders in addressing issues of academic performance among marginalized and minority students.

This is a transcript of the following podcast: 

Antolini, T. & Gross, R. (Hosts). (2015, September 10). Coming out meatless. In Gravy (No. 21) [Audio podcast episode]. Southern Foodways Alliance. https://www.southernfoodways.org/gravy/coming-out-meatless-gravy-ep-21/

These slides were part of the "An experiential and interactive lesson plan for appreciating difference" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

These slides were part of the "Interactive (even fun!) resources for reviewing the Intercultural Development Continuum" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

These slides were part of the "A toolkit for building intercultural empathy through non-verbal communication" presentation at the 2022 NAFSA Bi-regional VI and VIII in Pittsburgh, PA.

An activity from Thiagi: "As a teenager, if you ever desperately wanted to belong to a group but you were not permitted to do so, you know how it feels to be excluded. This jolt deals with the concept of exclusion (and inclusion) in groups."

This activity challenges participants to interrogate how stereotypes affect our first impressions and the value that we place on others. In this activity, participants will place one card from a deck of playing cards on their forehead. They will then interact with each other based on the values on their cards. They will then reflect on how they were treated and how they treated others based on those values. Additionally, they will relate these experiences to issues of diversity, inclusion, and cultural norms.

This activity challenges participants to recognize different communication patterns involving pacing. They will also reflect on how differences in pacing are perceived and how they might interact with individuals who use different patterns from them. In this activity, participants will first learn three different ways that people pace their communication. Then, they will role play using these patterns and discuss how they managed these various roles.

This activity uses a parable—a story that typically imparts a moral lesson—to get participants thinking about cultural differences and similarities. Participants will first read a parable that is provided to them and then discuss their assumptions and moral judgments of the characters based on their own cultural values.

This scene from Hum Tum is a great way to introduce the Dynamic Conflict style (indirect communication and highly expressive in the lower right quadrant) of the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory (ICS). The Intercultural Conflict Styles Activity + Role Play in the HubICL (link provided in post) presents an example of how you might use this film clip in an activity. 

This activity introduces participants to the Intercultural Conflict Styles and gives them an opportunity to explore their own conflict style and learn about others’ styles. To enrich the activity, participants can take the fee-based inventory if time and funding allows, but the activity can still work without taking the inventory. The goal of this activity is to encourage participants to consider how their conflict style has formed over time and how their and others’ styles impact conflicts.

This activity gives participants the opportunity to re-envision conflicts by considering the source(s), toward more effective and enduring resolutions.

Foss and Griffin (1995) re-imagined traditional rhetoric by creating an alternative way of communicating across differences in opinion, namely through invitational rhetoric (IR). IR is a rhetorical practice that welcomes and honors all perspectives on a topic without the traditional rhetorical practices of persuasion and domination. This activity encourages participants to discover new ways of discussing and disagreeing across differing perspectives and provides real-world examples of IR practices.

Invitational rhetoric was created with the goal of understanding one another rather than persuading others to believe what the rhetor believes. As an alternative to contemporary communication theory (rhetoric as persuasion to change other people), invitational rhetoric fosters strong relationships. In this activity, participants will practice offering perspectives without the goal of persuasion, and practice listening to other’s perspectives without judgment.

In her article, Lisa Lackey sheds light on the realities of grief and loss, presents a call and challenge to companies and organizations as they consider grief leave policies, and shares about the ways in which grief and loss disproportionately affect Black women.

This Japanese airline now offers a new menu item - nutrient-rich crickets - for the sake of sustainability!

This article legitimizes "hangry" feelings with a research study that explores the link between feelings and hunger.

This powerful Elon University Open Access Book Series gives us photographic glimpses into "what teaching looks like" in higher education.

This activity familiarizes participants with the Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC) and provides opportunities for applying the five orientations of the IDC to different case studies.

This article and embedded YouTube clip shed light on a popular Japanese TV show in which two celebrity chefs enter a stranger's home to cook dinner in their kitchen with only the ingredients found in the home. What viewers should know, however, is that this is an extremely unlikely occurrence in Japan - strangers don't tend to invite themselves into someone's home, let alone cook in their kitchen! 

This blog post shares fun food verbiage in honor of Julia Child's 100th birthday. 

This highlighted map indicates where in the world you might expect (and not expect) to be given a meal as a guest.

This video provides important insight into the meaning and history of Black naming traditions. 

 This article features a spotlight on indigenous cuisine chef Crystal Wahpepah and highlights the compelling and influential nature of Native American cuisine.

This article describes the importance of attitude in learning others' names.

This intercultural learning tool helps participants learn, remember and correctly pronounce each others' names.

This intercultural learning tool helps participants learn each others' names and pronounce them correctly.

This Facebook post emphasizes the importance of building relationships with students toward more effective teaching.

This intercultural learning tool allows participants to engage with each others' names and understand the importance of using names and pronouncing them correctly. It also emphasizes the importance of understanding the cultural significance of names, as well as different cultural naming practices.

This intercultural learning tool allows participants to engage with the importance of names and identity and teaches key name usage practices and understanding.

This article demonstrates why it is so important to call individuals by their name when interacting with and referring to them. 

This article emphasizes the importance of calling students by name, especially in online instructional contexts. This crucial practice allows instructors to acknowledge individual student's unique identities and connect and engage with students in meaningful ways. 

Black American Jews say they are seeking ways to bring their full identity to the symbolic food of the Passover meal.

"Vidal says there are as many recipes as there are cooks and what makes a good paella is a matter of opinion, except in Valencia, where it’s a question of science."

As they say in the video, eating bread is like eating a piece of history! Let me at it! I love bread!

What is the difference between good and great communication skills? Sharon Kristjanson suggests it is the ability to examine our judgments that skew our understanding of the world. Her vision is a world with more collaborative and productive discussions, regardless of politics or background.

I love her analogy of an 8-piece and a 1000-piece puzzle.

A report outlining CILMAR's goals for 2022.

A report assessing whether CILMAR met its goals in 2021. 

This collection includes resources by the creators of the pendulum model of intercultural competence development and maintenance.

In this video, participants will learn to understand the Intercultural Praxis model and identify concrete examples of each aspect of the cycle (Inquiry, Framing, Positioning, Dialogue, Reflection and Action). 

In this activity, participants will read a case study about a diverse group of students attending an environmental justice event. The students in the case study have conflicting viewpoints about environmental justice based on their own cultural frameworks.

In this book, participants will be able to gain familiarity with the study of communication among cultures, recognize history, power, and global institutions as central to understanding the relationships and contexts that shape intercultural communication, value reflection and action. and practice these tools to create a more equitable world through communication.

This activity can be used in team-building workshops for the dual purpose of introductions and reflection. This facilitation tool is easily adaptable to different contexts, e.g., the activity can be used to facilitate discussion about participants’ progress in class research projects.

For this activity, participants will learn how to build rapport, make introductions, create connections, review names, and become more comfortable with each other.

In this activity, participants will learn how to define and identity personal agendas, and study how personal agendas can create conflicts in a Case Study. Students engage in group and small group discussion to explore their understanding of personal agendas.

This lesson asks participants to reflect on their emotions and practice managing them during interactions that may be tense or uncomfortable. They can choose either to talk with a family member or close friend with whom they disagree on a deeply-held value/belief or to attend an event in which their social identity is minoritized. Either way, they will reflect on their emotions before, during, and after the conversation/event and consider how they might more strategically manage their emotions for future difficult encounters.