Ice-breaking exercises
Ice breaking for Lesson 1
Ice breaking exercise (10 minutes)
There are a lot of ice breaking exercises and the trainer can choose any they like. We recommend “One-word Ice breaker” as example. This icebreaking exercise is conducted as follows:
- Divide the meeting participants into groups of four or five people by having them number off.
- Tell the newly formed groups that their assignment is to think for a minute and then to share with their group the one word that describes “MIGRATION”.
- Upon completion of the initial spontaneous discussion in small groups, ask the participants to share their one word with the larger group. Ask for a volunteer to start and then, ask each participant to share their one word that described “MIGRATION”.
- Next, after the participants have listened to the variety of words from the larger group, debrief the exercise by asking them to explore several questions in their small group. For example:
· Would your surrounding family members use the same word?
· Is this the outlook about migration that you want to have in your society?
Each trainer can create their follow up questions depending on the group and situation.
This icebreaker provides the trainer as well as the group a snapshot into the current thinking of the whole group about migration.
Ice breaking for lesson 2
Ice breaking exercise (15 minutes)
There are a lot of ice breaking exercises and the trainer can choose any they like. We recommend “Human Bingo” as example. The trainer has to create a “bingo sheet” – you can see the example below.
Human bingo
Read the descriptions below. See if you can find someone who matches that description. Ask that person to sign their name in that particular box. Try to be the first person with five signatures from different persons in a row to get BINGO.
|
Someone who owns or has owned a pet |
Someone who is born in another country |
Someone who is the oldest child in the family |
Someone who can speak more the 2 languages |
Someone who has foreign friends |
|
Someone who has lived in the same city all his or her life. |
Someone who plays a musical instrument |
Someone who likes the same music you do |
Someone who has a friend living in another country |
Someone who has children |
|
Someone who has family member living/working in another country |
Someone who has visited more than 3 countries |
Free Space |
Someone who has lived in more than 1 country |
Someone whose family members has lived through the war |
|
Someone who has worked with foreigners or refugees |
Someone who likes crafts |
Someone who has a foreign neighbour |
Someone who is the oldest child in the family |
Someone who volunteers |
|
Someone born in the same year as you |
Someone who likes to cook |
Someone who has more than 2 brothers /sisters |
Someone who has worked in another country |
Someone who likes the same music you do |
This ice breaking exercise is conducted as follows:
- Give handouts to each participant.
- The participants will have to talk to each other in order to find someone who matches one of the squares. For example, when they do find someone who “has travelled to another EU country”, they write that person’s name in their bingo square.
- The first person to reach 5 signed squares wins. It should be 5 different people.
The exercise allows participants to get to know each other and find some common grounds. It is also allows participants to see themselves or their family members in the global migration context.
Ice breaking for lesson 3
Ice breaking exercise (15 minutes)
There are a lot of ice breaking exercises and the trainer can choose any they like. We recommend “Marshmallow Challenge” as example. This ice breaking exercise is conducted as follows:
- Divide participants into groups of 4.
- Give each group 1/3 pack of spaghetti, one tape role and one marshmallow.
- Ask them to build the tallest freestanding structure, that could hold one marshmallow on top.
- The winning team is the one with the tallest standing tower.
After the exercise the trainer should emphasise the importance of teamwork – teamwork is important in not only work but also in building our communities and surroundings. Only by working together, can we achieve the desired results.