Portugal
participants
The goal of this activity was to promote intercultural dialogue and language exchange among the participants, through simple games and guided discussions where participants were encouraged to speak in any language they had in common.
The participants gathered in the event location, where our volunteers were waiting for them. To break the ice, we organised a short game where participants would introduce themselves by their names and had to make up a gesture, which the next participant would have to repeat before introducing themselves. After this introductory game, participants were divided into shorter groups (2-3 people) and our volunteers gave each group a card with conversation topics (each group was free to talk about whatever they liked, the cards were used to encourage meaningful discussion on intercultural themes). By the end of the activity, participants were asked to share their experience throughout the activity, what they had learned, what they enjoyed the most, or what they thought could be improved.
This event proved to be very fruitful and had a tremendous impact on the participants. Because it was held at the beginning of the semester, most participants ended up making new friends during this activity. The focus on intercultural exchange and dialogue, respect and understanding of other cultures also had a positive impact on the participants, who thoroughly enjoyed the multi-language conversations they had with their groups.