The Derdians
This game is a simulation of a meeting of two cultures. Find the key to foreign cultural behaviour, analyse the effects of meeting with a foreign culture. A team of engineers goes to another country in order to teach the people there how to build a bridge.
Target group
- Teenagers (cca. 13 – 18 years)
- Young adults (cca. 17 – 26 years)
- NEETs
- Youth with fewer opportunities
- Youth workers
- Teachers
Content
Object of the play: To understand that culture is something special and that everyone's culture is different. To tolerate everybody and try to understand someone with whom you don’t agree with.
The method can be used also for other content.
Materials
Strong paper (cardboard), glue, scissors, ruler, pencil, game descriptions for Derdians and engineersSpecific Environment
Two roomsSpecific goals
Raising the level of skills that are useful/helpful for youth to their social involvement/participation ( such as self-confidence, leadership, …); Motivation, support and encouraging young people to engage into initiatives groups, Non-Governmental organizations, volunteering, youth councils and other bodies to act socially for the local communities; Advise young people how to identify, diagnose or just name challenges and problems of their social environment; ToleranceDescription
Step-by-step
- Depending on the size of your group, have 4–8 people play a team of engineers, who will teach the Derdians how to build the bridge. They receive the instructions for the engineers and are brought to a separate room.
- The rest of the group will be Derdians. They receive the Derdian instructions. If you have too many people, you can also make a team of observers, who just watch and take notes. These observers should not be introduced to the Derdian culture beforehand, so keep them with the engineers in the beginning.
Reflection and evaluation
Debriefing:
After the game the two groups of participants take a piece of flipchart and note their comments to the following three points:
- Facts
- Feelings
- Interpretations
The following points should be discussed in plenary:
- We have a tendency to think that others think the way we do.
- We often interpret things right away, without being aware of the differences in cultural behaviour.
- How were the roles distributed/What role did I take? What does that reveal of my identity? Did I feel comfortable with my role?
- Is that image I have the same that was perceived by the others?
- What influence did my cultural background have on the role I took on?
Outcomes and its measurability
Reflection, emotions of the participants, shared ideas about the feelings they had.
Project in which the method has been used
It is used to see group dynamic and how they can work, listen and see each other.