Inter-cultural dialogs

This past month the CLC has been hosting a group of 20 students from Lewis & Clark University.  The students are learning Moroccan derija, staying with Moroccan families as well as other cultural immersion activities.  One of the activities that they’ve participated in is the Inter-Cultural Dialogs (ICDs).  These are structured dialogs using specific dialog skills, with two overall goals in mind.  The first is self-awareness, becoming more aware of our individual stories and  how to share them in a meaningful way.  The second is other-centeredness, or the practice of listening fully to the other’s story, while suspending the internal monologue or judge.

The students usually split into smaller groups of about 4 Moroccans and 4 Americans.  Each group has a dialog facilitator, whose job it is to keep the dialog flowing and remind people of the agreed upon structure and guidelines.  In each session there is a theme (one was Ideals) , along with several proposed activities.  Students usually have a fun, easy time with each other, while at the same time sharing and learning from one another.

In a recent session, the students were asked to break up by nationality and brainstorm all the questions they would like to ask the other nationality.  Sometimes it’s easier to write questions than it is to verbalize them.

After each group had done so, we met again and hung the questions on the board.  Students could then choose which questions they were drawn to answering.  Here are some pictures from the session.

A group of Moroccan students brainstorming:

While in another classroom, a group of Americans are working on their own questions:

Some people ate couscous while they worked:

Others worked outside.   The poster was supposed to be as visually creative as possible too:

One group is done:

When the session was over, we met in the CLC courtyard and hung the posters up.  The questions were quite interested and varied, although some common themes emerged.  The Americans’ questions often had to do with expressing individuality and challenging the status quo.  For example “How would your parents react if you rejected your religion?”, or “How is homosexuality viewed in Morocco?”.  I noticed the Moroccan questions that the Moroccans were curious to know if Americans liked Morocco/Moroccans.  For example “What image did you have of Morocco before you came?”  ”What do you think of Moroccan hospitality?”.  Of course, these are only the things that I noticed, someone else looking at the same questions could see something different.

The students also came up with a short skit/presentation to represent what happened in their session.  I liked how people did not mind doing something kind of corny like a skit.  It was a good way to laugh at ourselves and each other, and laugh we did.