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As a part of a workshop taken at MIIS on the subject of intercultural training in international organizations, our deliverable was to create our own intercultural training workshop for a specified audience. Working in a group of five, we created an intercultural workshop to prepare undergraduate students to study abroad in France for 5-9 months. Prior to the workshop (had this been a real workshop for this audience) we created a needs assessment survey to determine more personalized characteristics and needs of the students. Below you will find the powerpoint presentation that we used for the workshop, and our final report, created as a group.

The first slide details the target audience for this training workshop.

 We then began the workshop with an icebreaker in which students would stand in a circle with their backs towards one another. Participants are told to sit on the ground, then explained that the objective of the activity is to have the entire team stand up in unison, without leaving anyone on the ground. Eventually, they will work together by creating pressure from their backs to stand up at the same time. It will be most effective if the participants are told to perform the task in silence.

The goal of the game is to make its participants a bit uncomfortable as they struggle to collaborate in order to all stand up together. Participants should feel a sense of interdependence because they have to rely on one another.  This resembles the feelings our students will have when they first arrive in France.

Introductions: We then asked all students to introduce themselves and state why they chose to attend this program, and what they are most nervous about.

Next, we showed students this video:

Throughout the music video, the actors demonstrate popular stereotypes of the French culture. The purpose of showing this video to the group is for the students to begin thinking about the preconceived notions Americans have about French culture. We will ask the students what they thought of the video, and what French stereotypes they could identify from it. We’ll explain that stereotypes and aspects of culture that are easy to be seen and recognized represent only a small portion of French culture.

The following slide is what we’ll show while discussing the Iceberg Model of Culture in order to help the students envision the difference between what is seen and what is unseen. The unseen 90% of culture is what truly shapes a society. We then introduced an activity to help them use their knowledge of France in order to create their own icebergs. The students were split up into groups of 5 and instructed to draw an iceberg on a sheet of paper distributed to them, with the water line to show the division between what is seen and what is unseen. The students were then asked to fill in the top portion of the iceberg based on the preconceived notions about France and the French culture that we discussed after viewing the video. After 5 minutes, we cerated an iceberg on the whiteboard and fill it in with the “surface” aspects of the French culture that the groups came up with. The groups will then set their models aside to be completed later in the workshop.

The next portion of the workshop aims to help students understand that they will come across many cultural differences in France; they will learn that it’s normal to feel uncomfortable at times and that they will need time to adjust. To demonstrate this, a facilitator will invite a volunteer to come up the the front of the class, without giving a reason as to why. As the student approaches the facilitator, he or she will greet the student as the French do: “faire la bise” (give a kiss on each cheek). Since this type of greeting is not normal for Americans, the student will most likely feel awkward and slightly embarrassed as he or she is being kissed. We’ll ask the student how he or she felt when approached and kissed on the cheeks by the facilitator. We’ll also ask all of the students to reflect on what they witnessed and how they felt when seeing the volunteer being greeted in such a manner. This will lead into a discussion on French/American cultural differences, using the peach versus coconut metaphor.

American people are peaches and French people are coconuts. Americans are in general very inviting. They can make friends easily and they are open to sharing certain, superficial things about themselves with others. They have a soft exterior like a peach. Americans value being polite and accommodating to others, so they are usually pleasant to strangers and provide great customer service. However, Americans have a hard center. It is more difficult to become close with an American, to become “true friends”. French people, on the other hand, are sometimes seen as cold or hard. They are not particularly nice to strangers and it takes them a while to warm up to others in order to make friends. They are like coconuts. When you get past the hard surface though, the French are very welcoming and compassionate, and they highly value “true friendships”. Just like how a coconut is soft and spacious on the inside, French people become very close friends and are very open once the initial barrier is broken. This is because the French value respect, and believe that allowing strangers to have their own space and their own lives is respectful. They also value personal relationships very highly and believe it is a bond for life. Learning the peach versus coconut metaphor will help students begin to understand that the French are different than Americans, and that it’s okay.

This next section provided scientific and research support for the activities we just completed and the cultural information the students have just learned.

Looking at Geert-Hofstede’s Model, we can get a good understanding of the major diversities between the French and American culture:

• Power distance (PDI): This specific dimension reflects the attitude of cultures towards inequality in power. France has a PDI score of 68, meaning that it accepts inequality in their society. Whereas, the United States (US) has a PDI of 40 and is less accepting of inequality.

• Individualism (IDV): The main idea of this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. What is important to note here is how the society reflects on the self, as an “I” or a “We”. In societies that have a high IDV percentage people consider only themselves and their direct family only. In collectivist societies, on the other hand, people belong to ‘in groups’ that take care of them in exchange for loyalty. France scores a 71 on the individualistic index, and therefore, favors individual and private opinions, taking care of themselves and immediate family rather than belonging to a group.

• Masculinity/Femininity (MAS): Cultures that are high on the MAS scale are masculine. They are driven by competition, achievement, and success. Cultures that are low on this scale are feminine. They are driven by ensuring a high quality of life for everyone. Standing out of the crowd un uncaring and therefore unadmirable. France is more feminine and therefore more caring with a score of 43. The US has a score of 62, making it more driven by competition.

• Uncertainty avoidance (UAI): This dimension has to do with the way a society deals with the unknown future. What must be considered here is whether we should try to control the future or just let it happen. This question brings anxiety to different cultures and these cultures have learnt to deal with them in different ways.  France scored an 86 and has one of the highest scores on the UAI Index whereas the US scored a 46 and therefore, ok with not knowing what the future holds.

• Long term orientation (LTO): A long term oriented culture is future-oriented whereas a short term oriented culture focuses more on the present and how the past fits into what is currently happening. France scored 39 on this index, meaning is is short term oriented and highly values tradition. The US scored just 29 on this index, meaning the countries are similar on their views of orientation.

At this point in the workshop, we asked the students to participate in an energizer activity. We asked the students to stand up and remain silent for the duration of the activity. The students were asked to organize themselves by favorite color (in silence). The purpose of this activity is for the students to interact and reach a goal using only non-verbal communication. After the activity is completed, the students were asked to reflect on their experience. The facilitators prompted them to think about the methods and strategies they used to communicate non-verbally.

Next, the facilitators will show the students this humorous video (see below) of a commercial in French. While funny in France, this commercial was not widely accepted in the U.S. The students will be asked to reflect on what they observed in the video, including the following questions: Did you find this funny? Did this make you uncomfortable? Why do you think this video was so controversial in the USA?

The next section is dedicated to culture shock. An evaluation of our needs assessment reveals that our audience has never traveled abroad for more than two weeks. Therefore, they are unlikely to have previously experienced culture shock. In order to introduce them to the idea of culture shock and the emotional adjustments that they will face during their study abroad experience, the facilitators will show them the following model:

When living in a different culture for an extended period of time, people generally experience different waves of culture shock. At first, everything will be new and fascinating and people will experience a type of honeymoon phase. Then, they will sink into a “crisis” or “shock” phase when they become frustrated with cultural differences, when they are having a hard time “fitting in”, and when they are beginning to miss their home country, family, and friends. Luckily, there is an adjustment period when people get used to their new life and begin to enjoy their experience. A similar series of emotional adjustment will occur when returning to a home country.

The purpose of this part of the workshop is to inform the audience that experiencing culture shock is completely natural. The facilitators will give the following advice: everyone will blunder and make mistakes so it is important to have a good sense of humor.  In order to escape from the culture shock crisis phase, it is beneficial to go out and try to make new friends rather than just staying at home to skype with friends and family.

At this point in time, after reflecting on the cultural differences between the U.S. and France, we will ask the students to recreate their groups that worked on the top of the iceberg model together. The groups will have 5-7 minutes to fill in the bottom of the iceberg with French values, body language, norms, learning styles, etc. Once the groups have finished their icebergs, we’ll collaborate again to complete the group iceberg model.

After completing our iceberg models, we’ll go around and ask each student to reflect on what they have learned from the workshop. Each will say what he or she realized about the French culture, about Cultural differences in general, and about himself or herself.