They're pretty friendly, actually...
September 21, 2010 8:41 AM   Subscribe

What are some good icebreaking activities for cross-cultural friendship groups?

I'd like to start an Afghan-American friendship group where I am. There's a lot of potential friendliness, but the language barrier makes it tougher.

Here's one idea I've thought of: Have Americans and Afghans pair off, and have Afghans guide blindfolded Americans through a maze drawn in the dirt by using Pashto for "Left", "Right", and so forth. Then trade places.

Do you have any other ideas for short activities that can improve understanding and relations between small groups of people from two very different cultures?
posted by atchafalaya to Human Relations (3 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Absolutely organize a potluck lunch/dinner involving traditional Afghan and American dishes. Maybe shy away from pork.
posted by YamwotIam at 9:23 AM on September 21, 2010 [1 favorite]


Seconding a potluck. Also. If you ave access to a kitchen, maybe you can swap basic meals - have the Americans attempt to cook an Afghan staple, and have the Afghans attempt to cook an American staple (cheese pizza maybe?). Don't worry too much about ingredients, just rough concepts are fine. Laugh as both groups royally screw up, but acknowledge that each is best at what they do. I generally think cooking together is a great way to bring people together - and learn from each other. Of course, eating the fruits of your labor is always fun! Not a short activity, but a worthwhile one I'd bet.

I would also maybe avoid expressing that Americans and Afghans are "very different culures." Different languages, some different traditions, but are fundamentally more alike than different.
posted by raztaj at 9:51 AM on September 21, 2010


Focus on some of the things you might have in common. I like to do an icebreaker (as much as anyone "likes" icebreakers in the same office) where you have a list of things or experiences -- some common, some not -- and you have to find one or more people who match those things. Example: "Has a dog" or "Is an only child" moving up to things that you might know are surprising or hidden -- "can juggle" or even "was in a commercially released movie."

Yes, there might be a language barrier, but if you could write them on the same line in the two languages, it would be easy to go around.

How about a small-group progressive dinner, if the distance or expense isn't too much? Hors d'oeuvres at one place, dinner at another, dessert at a third and maybe drinks or games at a fourth? Alternate between Afghan and American homes.

Soccer! Any other sport would also be good, too, whether you're at a game in person (casual or professional) or just watching the tv. A church I sometimes attend reaches out to international students by turning on the giant projector in the fellowship hall and playing world soccer games (Premier League, international games, etc.) so people can drop in whenever they have time and know that it's a friendly, comfortable place.
posted by Madamina at 10:09 AM on September 21, 2010


« Older PDF character encoding problem   |   What's the best tool to author CD-Rom and DVD-Roms... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.