50 Activities for Achieving Cultural Competence

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Celebrations

SelmaMyers,InterculturalDevelopment

SanDiego,California,USA

andJonamayLambert,LambertAssociates

HoffmanEstates,Illinois,USA

Purpose

• To help participants understand the meaning of holidays practiced by diverse peoples and

countries

• To explore how these observances can affect the global workplace, as well as interper-

sonal business relations

Targetaudience

This activity is richer when used with large groups of diverse participants. It is especially

useful for people living and working in countries other than their own. It will also help busi-

ness people in their own country when they are affected by local or national celebrations of

other countries. It is a high-energy activity that gets people engaged quickly and in an enjoy-

able way.

Time

30 minutes

Materialsandenvironment

• Flipchart and markers

• Handout 1, “Celebrations and You,” for each participant

• Handout 2, “Holidays Around the World,” for each participant

• Handout 3, “Create an International Calendar of Holidays,” for each participant

Procedure

1. Distribute Handout 1, “Celebrations and You,” and tell participants to answer the three

questions on that page. Allow 5 to 10 minutes.

2. Pair up participants and ask them to spend 10 minutes sharing their responses on the hand-

out with their partners.

50ActivitiesforAchievingCulturalCompetency

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3. Reconvene the large group and ask these questions, putting them on a flipchart or over-

head for all to see:

• What holidays were discussed? Were there any surprises?

• Why is it important to know about other people’s holidays when working with them?

• How does knowledge about diverse holidays affect a business relationship? The

workplace?

• Give specific examples of work-related situations, negative or positive, affected by

differences in celebrations. What happened in each of those situations?

• How do you feel about holidays that are different from your own? If you had to change

a scheduled meeting because someone was not able to attend due to a religious holiday

or if a business you do business with was closed for a holiday that your business does

not observe, what would you do?

4. Distribute and review Handout 2. Instruct each small group to create a list of holidays,

either for their own or another culture. Distribute Handout 3. Ask them to list the holidays

they discussed in the appropriate months. Discuss and note holidays that are observed in

different months because a lunar calendar or other reckoning of time or seasons is used.

5. Reconvene the whole group. Ask participants to tell how many holidays they came up

with and ask them to give examples of how these holidays might impact them in business.

Encourage participants to take these sheets home and continue to develop their own inter-

national holiday calendar. Remind them that being aware of holidays and important dates

helps them learn about other cultures.

Debrief

Sum up the activity. While the handout “Holidays around the World” lists a number of

important days, emphasize that people working in a global environment need to find out as

much as they can about the cultures they interact with on a daily basis, and especially about

how holidays impact teamwork. The more they know, the better the working relationship

across cultures can become.

Celebrations

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Reproducedfrom50ActivitiesforAchievingCulturalCompetence,byJonamayLambert,

SelmaMyers,andGeorgeSimons,editors.Amherst,MA:HRDPress,2000,2008

[Handout1]

Celebrations and You

1. List the holidays that are most important in your life.

2. List other holidays different from your own that you are aware of, and write a sentence or

two about them.

3. What role do you think these holidays play when it comes to working with people from other

countries, or when you are in an international work environment? How do holidays impact

work?