Pd Barnga C9

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Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization

Barnga: A Cultural Simulation

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1. Practice the “5 tricks.”2. Tournament begins; no words!3. After each round, best and worst players

must move and join another group.4. No more than 7 players per group.

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How I Felt…

• When the game was introduced…• When I began to learn the rules of the game…• When the rules were taken away…• When words were banned…• When I had to move & play with others…• When I realized something was “wrong”…

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What if…• …play lasted longer?• …any players had obvious cultural differences?• …a more complex game were involved?• …there were more at stake?• …you had been allowed to talk?• …each team had 100s of members?• Other “what if’s”?

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Maximizing Benefit from Intercultural Interaction

• Check in• Check understanding• Promote open communication• Draw the best out of a wide diversity of

people• Be sensitive to and aware of potential for

misunderstandings

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Strategies

• Try to listen to what’s being said, not what’s in your head.

• Be alert to how your culture filters your experience.

• When checking in, use descriptive language.• Cultivate healthy suspicion of your own

“wisdom.”

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Where Does Your Culture Lie?

HIGH CONTEXT LOW CONTEXT

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Personal Orientation?

COLLECTIVIST INDIVIDUALISTIC

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Decision Making?

AUTOCRATIC DEMOCRATIC

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Risk Aversion?

HIGH LOW

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Time Orientation?

POLYCHRONIC MONOCHRONIC

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Power Distance?

CLOSE DISTANT

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What do you see?

+

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What do you see?

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What do you see?

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What do you see?

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What do you see?

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Final Thoughts...