REaCT: Lessons of tolerance - Inclusive teaching of adults

Recommended size of the group: min. 6

Aim of the lesson:

To bring attention to the immigrants by presenting the immigrant perspective that should lead to changing the mindset about welcoming migrants.

Objectives / learning outcomes:
- By playing the role of immigrant learning of the experience of how one would like to be treated as a migrant.
- To be able to use the six thinking method to assess the information by critical thinking and make opinion by assessing all aspect of a matter as per six hats colours.

Resources needed: paper and pens, separate cards with six hats on it and on the reverse side of every card the description of a hat’s symbolism. They are needed for learners to have an easy access to their hat description and to make notes while they are preparing their tasks.

Teaching method to be used in the lesson: lecture, group work, discussion

Content:
“People of different religions and cultures live side-by-side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us in very different groups.

We can love what we are, without hating what - and who we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings” — Kofi Annan.

In every country, people of different nationalities, cultures and religions live side by side. Cultural diversity dates back many centuries. In many places it caused conflicts, but in many countries it was a peaceful coexistence. We can quote here an example from Eastern Poland where for centuries Tatars who lived peacefully together with Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Jews. Currently, Krakow is considered the best place to live for Jews in the context of the whole of Europe. In addition, Jewish culture is promoted through an annual festival held in Krakow and a thriving institute of Jewish culture (ICC).

TASK:

If there are 6 people, the group should be divided in a following way:
- 2 local community representatives that will be assigned with red and black hats’
- 3 newcomers will be assigned with white, yellow and green hats.
- 1 country authorities’ representative: blue hat

If there are more participants, they could be assigned to any of the group. If there are less people, then one or more persons will have more hats to represent.  Every learner should choose one hat either by drawing randomly or by choice. In the course of task every learner is responsible for providing the insight to the discussion as per hat colour. If there are more than six learners those who have the same colour of the hat should work together in pairs or groups.

In this task, if you are a newcomer then you are a part of a group that want to relocate and live together in a new country of your choice. However, the local community of chosen county, which is quite hermetic, does not want immigrants because they are afraid of social changes, increased crime rate, and lack of respect for their culture. These accusations are not based on facts but only on prejudices and fear. The country's authorities would like to enable the peaceful coexistence and suggested the newcomers to reach out to the locals and present themselves in order to change their mindset.  

As a group of newcomers, you have 15 minutes to prepare 3 proposals for integration with the local community and show your culture in a positive way. To convince the local community, every hat should prepare a speech representing the idea as per the hat colour. The proposals must address the concerns of the local community that were mentioned above.

At the same time, as a group of locals, you think about the negative aspects of migrants moving to your country as per black hat and negative emotions connected to it as per red hat.

Once you have the ideas prepared you present them to all parties. Then all parties discuss the ideas one by one according to the colour of their hats. Blue hat monitors the discussion between locals and newcomers. Discussion should lead to evaluation of the ideas and choosing the best one. Blue hat gives summary at the end and chooses the best idea. 

At the end, the trainer summarises the work done by the participants. Participants also talk about whether it is easy to be an immigrant and convince the local community to accept them.

Evaluation of lesson

The evaluation proposal may include an anonymous survey at the beginning and end of the lesson containing information about the attitude to immigration before and after the lesson.

Evaluation can include the following questions, where one means not a five definitely yes:

• On a scale of 1 to 5, would you emigrate from good will?
• On a scale of 1 to 5, would you emigrate for reasons not attributable to you, such as war, ecological disaster, etc.?
• On a scale from 1 to 5, would you like to welcome people from other cultures etc. into your community?
• On a scale of 1 to 5, do you think that communities should be monogenic or multicultural, etc.?
• On a scale of 1 to 5, did the lesson met your needs, etc.?

Questionnaire should also cover an open question to give a learner the possibility to provide their onion and elaborate on the marks given to the questions above. 

General tips for the trainer
Depending on the group, the difficulty of the task can be adjusted. If the trainer knows the group and would like to reduce the difficulty of the task or shorten the implementation time, participants can give ready examples of integration within the local community, there should be a minimum of two examples. On the other hand, the participants have only to evaluate them using the six-hat method. However, if there is a minimum of 12 people in the group, they can work in pairs of two people using one hat. They can also work in two separate groups.

Examples of integration initiatives with the local community:

• Inviting the local community to a meeting where immigrants will present themselves and present their culture and traditions as well as dances and singing.
• Inviting the local community to cook together on the feast of saying goodbye to summer.
• Baking traditional cookies. Visiting homes to introduce yourself and talk to the locals.
  
  

The minimum number of people is six as there are six thinking hats, so one person should think of one hat only. However, if there are less participants one person can be assigned with 2 hats and perform the tasks using 2 or more hats and perform thinking from each hat perspective.

The task duration is about 60 minutes.