Critical Incidents for Intercultural Communication - NorQuest College

Facilitator and Activity GuideFacilitator and Activity GuideQuestionsUse these questions to explore the ideas and underlyingvalues and beliefs in the stories and quotations.Read the critical incident and answer the questions.• What is the context? What is happening? What are theissues? Summarize.• Can you relate to any of the characters or events? Why?How?• What were the different expectations of the charactersin the story?Try a role play!Imagine that this happened in your country of origin. Howwould the situation be similar or different? Act out the situationwith a classmate. Act out an alternative outcome.Looking for cultural cluesDeveloping the skill to see multiple perspectives is importantfor developing cultural competence. In this exercise,participants are asked to look at a critical incident and, usingcultural knowledge, identify both characters’ perspectivesin the story. This activity uses the skills from the description,interpretation, and evaluation exercise by Milton andJane Bennett referenced earlier in this guide.1. Describe the situation.2. Without using adjectives, list the behaviours of bothcharacters.3. List statements of inference.4. Relate the behaviours from your perspective.5. Attempt to understand the second individual’s thinkingabout the first person’s behaviours and values.6. Expand your interpretation by thinking about aninteraction you have had with someone from a differentculture. Confirm or reject your understandingthrough further communication or observation.Page 32Critical Incidents for Intercultural CommunicationCritical Incidents for Intercultural Communication Page 33