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1. Phase d'introduction :
Exercice et jeu de contes avec les épices 

WORD SCULPTURES

Objectives

1. Getting to know each other by playing
2. Introducing people in a multicultural group
3. Communicating through body language 
4. Overcoming shyness
 

Time frame

60 minutes (30 minutes for the writing activity and 30 minutes for the photo collection).

Material needed

Only a room big enough to stand in circle with all your participants

Tips

It is an efficient ice-breaking activity for a multicultural group to see how common concepts or feelings can be expressed differently depending on cultural backgrounds.
 

Words are only concepts with dozens of different concrete meanings behind them. This ice-breaking game is a way to get closer to understanding how each word can mean different things to different people through gestures and body language.

Ask the participants to think 3 to 5 words or concepts that comes to their minds. 

You can help them giving some examples such as "beauty", "ugliness", "happiness", etc.

You can also ask them to think more precisely about things that matter to them, for example concerning values in life or aspects of personality in others or the feelings they have at the moment.

Eventually, you can also make them choose words from a page of written text. 

Ask them to write down these words. They can also add the opposite meaning of the word.

 

Then retrieve the word lists.

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Form a circle with the participants and invited them to make sculptures from their body illustrating their interpretation of the words they are about to hear. 

 

Ask them to close their eyes (so they can express their own understanding of the word without being influenced by others). Pick up randomly a word from the lists and say the word aloud. 

 

When the participants hear the word, they make a sculpture from their body, open their eyes to see the other participants' sculptures. Then they relax before the next word comes.

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Pay attention to pick up words from each participant‘s list, otherwise, you can also ask them to pronounce  themselves their words.

Here are some "Word statues" for the word "worried". The exercise is funny and meaningful at the same time. You use your whole body to express things and while working with a group with mixed cultural  background, participants can discover a whole range of body languages. 

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