Quick with words

Objectives

• Playfully becoming familiar with important terms connected to civic integration.
• Experiencing multilingualism in the group
• Loosening up and movement
• Learning how to pronounce words in the right way
• Remembering words

Preparation

• Decide about the words you’d like to use in the activity

Instructions

This activity can be played in different languages and can be used as an introduction or after a break.

The group sits down on chairs in a circle. The faciliator beforehand has collected important terms (could be words related to civic integration like: equality, religion, tolerance, compromise, respect, democracy, diversity, human rights, freedom, rights, media, economics, sustainability, justice, openness…) and explains them briefly.

The facilitator stands in the middle of the circle and has no chair.

He/she counts off the group according to the principle 1, 2, 3, but instead of numbers he/she uses the words introduced earlier. The facilitator should not forget to count himself/herself.

One part of the group is always asked to change places. For example, when the word “tolerance” is called out, everyone assigned to that word has to change seat. The person in the circle tries to take a seat. The person who does not get a seat continues the game by saying a word.

The game can be played in the national language, but also in other languages represented in the group, such as English, Turkish, Arabic etc. In that case, translate the words (you could do this with people in the group speaking that language) and write them on a flipchart. Make the group practice the new words, after which the game can be played in different languages.

Variant

If running around is difficult for whatever reason, you could ask the learners when they hear the word assigned to them to just stand up.