Council of Europe training Programme for

education professionals
Programme de formation du Conseil
de l'Europe pour les professionnels de
l'éducation

Training Resources:
Education for Linguistic
and Cultural Diversity

Drama activities to raise awareness of

cultural and social diversity
in the classroom

Hilal AKYÜZ

Ministry of National Education, Republic of Turkey

E-mail address: [email protected]

Edited by Ildikó Lázár

October 2009

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 Theme: Drama activities for raising awareness of cultural
and social diversity in the classroom

Title of unit: The Black Sheep

General aims:
 to experience the feeling of being excluded / different
 to develop multiple perspectives
 to learn to accept otherness
 to benefit from cultural and social diversity in the classroom
 to introduce drama activities in the filed of intercultural education and diversity education

Target group:

Type of training School level Subject area

Initial and in-service teacher Primary and secondary Languages, education for
training level democratic citizenship

Brief description of the unit:

Everything that is not known to us and not introduced to us is strange. Whatever this unknown and strange
thing is, sometimes it frightens us, sometimes it makes us laugh, and sometimes it causes disgust. Although
we may not know anything about new people or things, we sometimes react to them with prejudices, biased
and intolerant attitudes. As educators we cannot interfere in the lives of families or tell them about how to
think and act, but we can be resourceful in our teaching to help our students learn to respect their
classmates.

Teachers usually know the background of their students and are aware of the diversity present in their
classrooms. Yet, this does not mean that every teacher welcomes this variety at school. Teachers, and
especially student teachers, are often so involved in following the curriculum that they even forget about the
diversity in their own immediate environment. If we could provide our students with a classroom climate
where no one is excluded and no one feels bad about being different, we would profit from cultural and social
diversity to the full. And children brought up in such an environment would never be the ones to start a war.

The aim of this unit is to remind trainees of the unexploited diversity and richness present in their
classrooms. This training unit is NOT aimed for learners at school. First of all, it is teachers and trainee
teachers who should learn to regard diversity as a resource in their classrooms, and only then can they
become effective in teaching their students to benefit from diversity.

Methods/techniques used:
Viewing short videos, drawing, reflection, mime, drama, collaborative work and whole group discussion

Time:
Whole unit: 225 min
 Activity 1: 15 min
 Activity 2: 50 min
 Activity 3: 50 min
 Activity 4: 50 min
 Evaluation: 30 min
 Activity 5: 30 min 

Tips to trainers:
 This unit consists of a group of drama activities followed by different pre- and post-drama activities,
aiming to lead to a discussion and problem solving tasks.
 Give trainees time to remember and reflect as it takes time to recall and talk about past experiences
but do not force trainees to share possibly unpleasant experiences.
 Do not allow trainees any time for reflection until you finish with Activities 1 and 2.
 For classroom implementation do not limit yourself to the materials the author suggests, you can
explore the same topic using relevant movies, books, music, ads, etc. At the end of the unit there is
a list a suggested prompts.

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Activity 1 15 minutes
Title: The black sheep

Specific aims:
 to experience the feeling of being excluded / different through film
 to be able to write about feelings

Resources:
 a computer
 a screen or projector
 downloaded video or internet connection http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLj1kboVhz8
 pen and paper for each trainee

Practical arrangements:
Make your computer and internet connection ready before you start your training.

Procedure:
1. After greeting your trainees tell them that you are going to watch a video together.
2. Make sure that every trainee has a pen and paper.
3. Don’t tell them what they are going to watch and why.
4. Ask them not to talk until the activity is over.
5. Watch the video.
6. Wait for 20 seconds in silence.
7. Watch the video again.
8. Ask the trainees to write down the feelings they had when they saw the video.

Tips to the trainer:

Reflecting will take place after Activity 2 is finished.

Activity 2 50 minutes
Title: Monuments of exclusion

Specific aims:
 to express feelings through mime/dramatizing
 to determine what is excluded as the other / the different
 to be able to talk about positive and negative feelings

Resources:
Pen and paper for each trainee

Methods/techniques used:
Mime, drama, group work, whole class

Practical arrangements:
Make sure that trainees have enough space to move around and form monuments.

Procedure:
1. Ask your trainees to form small groups of 3 or 4.

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2. Ask each group to form a monument with their own bodies, giving the monument a name or title which
shall summarize what they have seen.
3. When the groups are ready to show their monument, ask them to do so one by one for the whole class
to see.
4. The others watching the monument should try to guess the name of the monument.
5. The group stops being a monument and reveals its name.
6. The next group presents its monument to the whole class, the others guess what the title might be, and
so on.
7. The activity goes on until every group has shown their monument to the whole class.
8. Finally, ask each trainee to write again about the feelings they had when they formed the monument.
They should write on the same sheet they used in Activity 1.

Tips to the trainer:

 If you have a camera you can take pictures of the monuments, and later use them for different
activities, for group sharing, reflecting, etc.
 Please warn trainee teachers after Activity 2 that this video may not suitable for the lower primary
school classroom, as it may affect some little children negatively.

Debriefing/reflecting:

 After having finished Activities 1 and 2 you can start reflecting by asking each trainee to tell the
whole class what feelings they described after watching the video, and while forming the
monuments. What would they have called the monument if they had had to name it themselves?
 Ask the trainees if they have felt this way before in their life?
 Ask the trainees if they might have students who might feel the same way in their classroom?
 Ask the trainees how they react and what they do if someone in their class is excluded?
 Before finishing the activity warn them again that this video is not suitable for young learners.

Activity 3 50 minutes
Title: Turning black into white

Specific aims:
 to use creative techniques to illustrate solutions to problems of exclusion
 to develop multiple perspectives
 to build cohesive groups
Resources:
 flipchart – with enough paper for every group of 3 or 4 participants.
 coloured pencils, markers
 print-outs of pictures in the Annexes for Activity 3a and b

Methods/techniques used:
Drawing, colouring, group work

Practical arrangements:
Before you start, you should have the pictures in the Annexes for Activity 3a and 3b printed and each picture
should be glued or pinned to the middle of a flipchart poster.

Procedure:
1. Ask the trainees to form groups of 3 or 4 or if you know your students or participants, then group them
yourself as you see fit from a team building point of view.
2. Give each group a flipchart paper with one of the pictures in the Annexes for Activity 3a glued to the
middle.
3. Ask them to change the unhappy situation in the picture. In other words, each group should turn the
picture into a happy situation by drawing, colouring or using any other creative method on the poster.
They can also do this by writing onto the posters. Allow them 25 minutes for this.

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4. You can walk while the groups are working and give ideas if they cannot get started by themselves.
5. When the time is up, you ask the groups to show their posters and to explain how they turned the the
sad world into a happy one.
6. Then you can show on the screen or as a print-out the pictures in the Annexes for Activity 3b.
7. Allow trainees to enjoy the happy side of inclusion.

Debriefing/reflecting:
 Ask trainees if they have similarly unhappy situations in their classrooms. Allow enough time for
discussions and an exchange of experiences.
 Ask them how they can use these pictures in the classroom. (For example, they can show these
pictures to children, post them on the walls, and ask them to go to the pictures they like most. Then
children could explain why they chose a certain picture and could perhaps also talk about similar
personal experiences.)
 Ask trainees if their pupils could act out the scene: children do the same activity as above, but then
as a follow-up, they have to act out the story. (For example, the black duckling is played by one
student, 3 students play the role of the yellow ducklings, and they change the scene by helping the
black duckling to climb the chair, all hand in hand in the end. Of course, it is best if children find their
own solutions to turn black to white.)
 Discuss with the trainees how the second set of pictures can be used in the classroom as examples
of how animals manage to be friends despite their differences. (For example, pupils can be asked to
find a similar story to tell from a movie they have seen, a book they have read, or based on their own
experiences of making friends, etc.)

Tips to the trainer:

This activity becomes more difficult and demanding if instead of turning the pictures into happy ones, you
explicitly ask your trainees to “draw solutions to include what is excluded” in their pictures.

Activity 4 50 minutes
Title: Being in someone else’s moccasins

Specific aims:
 to experience the feeling of being excluded through role-play
 to express feelings through drama activities
 to determine what is excluded as the other / the different
 to learn to talk about positive and negative feelings
 to develop multiple perspectives

Resources:
Role cards (See Annexes for Activity 4)

Methods/techniques used:
Improvised role-play, group work

Practical arrangements:
Make sure that trainees have enough space to move around and act out the situations.

Procedure:
1. Divide the classroom according to the number of trainees into groups, you can give out all four role plays
at one session or you can give two role plays and divide the class into two groups.

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2. Before you give out the role cards, tell your trainees that they have to act out and solve the situations on
the role cards, and that everyone in the group should have a chance to act.
3. Then trainees should have about 30 minutes to discuss the situation, find a solution and allocate a role
to every member of the group.
4. When the groups are prepared, they should start by first reading out the situation and then acting out
their sketch and the solution.
5. You can again record the plays or take pictures, which you could use for further activities or debriefing
and reflecting.

Debriefing/reflecting:

 Ask trainees about what was difficult to act out, which role was annoying / funny / etc., and let them
discuss the situations they were given.
 What did the situation remind you of? Are there any similar situations in our society / surroundings /
school?
 The same situations or similar ones can be used by trainee teachers later on with their classes: in a
language class, in a democratic citizenship class, etc.
 Ask trainees if they can use these role-cards, and what they would change to suit their pupils’ needs
and interests better.

Assessment / evaluation:

30 minutes

Ask your trainees to answer the following questions individually in the form of a composition and assure them
that their papers will be treated confidentially:

1. Before we talked about diversity today, I had not been not aware of the following ...
2. During the training I remembered an event where I felt different / excluded …
3. Having attended this session, I feel that there is a need to deal with diversity in school / no need to
deal with diversity ...
4. If I have a chance to apply some of these activities in my classroom, I would try out the following
activities …………….……………………………………………………………………………..
because ..................................................................................................................................................
..............
5. Further comments you would like to add ...

Your overall impressions and comments would be highly appreciated. Please don’t hesitate to also share
your ideas with the author of this training unit: [email protected]

Activity 5 30 minutes
Title: Look behind the mask

Specific aims:
 to experience the feeling of being excluded / different through videos
 to determine what is excluded as the other / the different
 to enable trainees to talk about positive and negative feelings
 to develop multiple perspectives

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Resources:
 a computer
 a screen or projector
 internet connection http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLj1kboVhz8
 two videos for Activity 5

Methods/techniques used:
Viewing videos with the whole class

Procedure:
1. Show trainees the video again about the black sheep.
2. Then show them the two videos for Activity 5.
3. Leave enough time for the debriefing session.

Debriefing/reflecting:
 Ask trainees about the differences between the videos.
 Explain to them that the two other videos were taken in order to create educational material, but with
the aim to be similar to the first one.
 Ask them why in the last two videos the sheep do not run away from the masked sheep. Do they
know of places where people are not afraid of “the other”?
 Discuss diversity again with your trainees, also reflecting about the feedback you received.
 Explain to them that the shepherds in the last two videos informed the author that the animals are
not running away from the masked sheep because they are from the same herd, while in the first
video they might have probably run away because it was a different sheep, not from their own crowd.
 Can we assume then that people also accept differences within their own group and reject only
those who come from very different backgrounds? Why is this true? Or why not? Do the trainees
know arguments, examples, and exceptions to justify or contradict each other’s answers?
 Ask your trainees how they could discuss the concept of being different with children. What or who
do the trainees think that children perceive as different in their lives?

Bibliography:

Dougill, S. (1987). Drama Acts for Second Language Learners. Macmillan.

Maley, A. & Duff. A. (1978). Drama Techniques in Language Learning: A resource book of communication
activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rinvolucri, M. (2007). Grammar Games: cognitive, affective and drama activities for EFL students.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scrivener, J. (1994). Learning Teaching: A Guidebook for English Language Trainees. Hong-Kong:
Macmillan / Heinemann.
Wessels, Charlyn C. (1993). Drama. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Annexes and Recommended Materials (some attached and some to be downloaded from the
Pestalozzi platform)

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Annex 1 – Sample pictures for Activity 3a COPYRIGHTS to be checked by Hilal

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Sample pictures for Activity 3b COPYRIGHTS???

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Annex 2: Role cards for Activity 4
SITUATION 1:

Instructions and materials:

You need 5 blue plastic litter bags, but cut space for head and arms.
1. Choose students for the roles A and B.
2. Ask them to read out their roles, and then they can start acting. Do not influence them, but ask them to stick
to their roles.
3. Give the Ocean student a blue plastic litter bag you have provided before.
4. Just when the play begins choose four students and give them the climax role. The climax role shouldn’t be
read aloud. Tell the group they should enter into the play when you give them the sign.
5. Provide the climax group also with the blue bags.
6. After a few minutes, when B still doesn’t manage to make friends, ask the climax group to enter the play.
7. See how they solve the situation.

Situation:
Classical school scenery, where newcomers are not accepted when they are too different.

ROLE A (2-3 teachers/students) ROLE B (1 teacher/student)

You are a group of 3 youngsters and don’t want to talk You are a new student and come from Ocean you are
or have contact with the student, who is from a country very unhappy because nobody wants to talk to you.
called Ocean, because he is blue coloured. Do Today you have promised yourself to be a friend of the
everything possible to avoid talking to the Ocean. most popular group in the school. Do anything possible
to talk to them.

CLIMAX ROLE (3-4 teachers/students)

You are a group of 4 Oceans you enter the scene and include your Ocean friend, trying to understand why the
others are not accepting him or her. Try to talk to the group.

SITUATION 2:

Instructions and materials:

A bathrobe, sunglasses, a very old-fashioned piece of clothing (male/female), accessories that match the old-
fashioned clothing.
1. Choose students for the roles A and B.
2. Ask them to read aloud their roles, and then they can start acting. Do not influence them, but ask them to
stick to their roles.
3. Give student B a bathrobe and sunglasses.
4. Just when the play begins choose one student and give her/him the climax role. The climax role shouldn’t be
read aloud. Tell the student s/he should enter into the play when you give her/him the sign.
5. Provide the climax role student with old-fashioned clothes.
6. After a few minutes, the climax role enters the play.
7. See how they solve the situation.

Situation:
A group of people are standing in a queue for theatre tickets. One person seems to be quite strange because of
the way s/he is dressed. Just a group of people behind him start to stare at her/him, talk about her/him and make
fun of her/him. He doesn’t keep silent.

ROLE A (2-3 teachers/students) ROLE B (1 teacher/student)

You are a group of 3 people queuing in a row for You are in front of a group of people in a row and they
theatre tickets, just in front of you there is someone make fun of you. You hear what they say. You are
with a very strange outfit, and you make fun of her/him, accustomed to it because you are treated like this
and talk about her/him. everywhere. Try to talk to them and ask them why they
think you are funny. Try to persuade them that you are
just like them underneath the clothes.

CLIMAX ROLE (1 teacher/student)

You enter the play being dressed in an old-fashioned manner and begin to be part of the group who is teasing
the strangely dressed one, you say that his or her clothing is unacceptable, and even that he shouldn’t be
allowed into the theatre in this outfit.

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SITUATION 3:

Instructions and materials:

1. Choose students for the roles A, B and C.

2. Ask them to read aloud their roles, and then they start acting. Do not influence them, but ask them to stick to
their roles.
3. See how they solve the situation.

Situation:
A group of people is going to have dinner together; at the restaurant one of the participants is unable to eat
anything because he is believer, following the rules of religion XYZ. These religious people do not eat anything
cooked, anything red and green. He or she is quite angry with his friends for not considering his dietary rules
when they are going out. There are restaurants where he could eat.

ROLE A (2-3 teachers/students) ROLE B (1 teacher/student)

You go to a restaurant with friends but one friend of You are very angry with your friends because you
yours can’t order anything and has nothing to eat or believe in the religion of XYZ, which doesn’t allow you
drink. Your friend is angry with you because he to eat anything cooked and red and green things. You
proposed another restaurant where he would also had proposed another restaurant where you would
have choices. You try to find something for him, and have had several choices but your friends were bored
try to understand why he doesn’t try to eat a with that restaurant. You ask your friends what you
hamburger just once. should eat that is neither cooked, nor red or green.

ROLE C (1 teacher/student)
You are the waiter in the restaurant serving the group, you can hear that they are debating about one of their
friends who cannot eat anything and is angry with his friends because they have taken him to this restaurant.
You just listen for a while, but towards the end you go to the guest who isn’t able to eat anything, telling him that
your restaurant caters for different demands and dietary needs and offer him: water to drink which is white and
not cooked. And a plate with bananas, pine apples, pears, which are neither red nor green and also not cooked.

SITUATION 4:

Instructions and materials:

All you need is a piece of paper for the student with Role C, indicating that he is the policeman.
1. Choose students for the roles A and send them out of the classroom.
2. Read out the situation to the classroom. Everyone can make up his language you together with the class
represent the society in the city.
3. Choose a student/teacher to be the policeman and give him his role card.
4. Invite the role A students/teachers back into classroom.
5. The whole class tries to avoid contact with the migrant family.
6. The climax role enters the class and he is allowed to make his final explanation in the real classroom
language.
7. See how they solve the situation.

Situation:
There is suddenly a new family in your happy, clean and friendly town, with a language you do not understand.
The whole town refuses any contact with the family that speaks a language that they cannot understand.

ROLE A (3-4 teachers/students) ROLE B (whole class)

There is a war in your country and you have to flee The whole class has to speak a nonsense language,
with your family into another country. You walk in the and pretend not to understand English (or the
streets and parks and try to talk to people to explain language usually spoken in the class). Try to avoid
your situation. You are hungry and tired. But no one contact with the family. Finally two of you go to the
speaks your language. Try to explain to them that you policeman to complain about the family and that their
are ready to work in order to get food and a warm presence is not wanted in your town.
place to sleep.

ROLE C (Climax Role)

You are a policeman; the citizens come to you and complain about a new family which is walking in the parks
and streets of your town. You don’t like them either. But you try to understand them as you know a little bit their
language. You understand that they fled from war in their country, and that the father was a famous scientist in
that country. You explain this situation to the whole group and see their reaction. (Make the explanation in the
real classroom language).

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