5. ADAPTATION - INTEGRATION - TOLERANCE
Examples from everyday life
These examples (sometimes known as critical
incidents) can provide good discussion starters, especially
in small groups:
You are union representative in a small company. You realise
that your boss never hires any foreigners. You receive evidence
that this behaviour is intentional. Knowing that most of
the workers employed in the company (i.e., the people that
elected you) agree with this practice ... How do
you react
You are the witness of a crash between two cars. One of
the drivers is an immigrant. The police come to note the
facts, but they do not understand the foreigner (he does
not speak the language of the country). You quickly understand
that the police stand up for the native since the other
person is unable to defend himself. How do you react
You play in a sports team in which physical contact is
important (soccer, basketball, etc). One of the players
of the team announces that he is seropositive. How
do you react
You live in a small village in the country. The government
decides to set up a centre for refugees. The little rural
village, which used to be very quiet, is now the centre
of many discussions. The shopkeepers do not serve the refugees.
Thefts are discovered and the refugees are automatically
accused. How do you react
In Brussels, in the football club "Atlas", 99%
of the players come from the Maghreb. One Belgian only,
a Catholic, plays in the team. You play every Sunday afternoon
and the coach (a Moroccan) proposes to go to the country
every Sunday morning to prepare for the match of the afternoon.
The Belgian player argues that this is impossible for him
since he goes to mass every Sunday morning. How
do you react
You come from Northern Europe and love to use the sauna.
After a grand family reunion, including people from Southern
Europe, you propose to go to the sauna. The Southern Europeans
wear their bathing costumes. How do you react
[Adapted from a method used in the ETUC seminar "Racism
and Xenophobia - How young trade unionists can respond to
the rise of this problem in Europe", EYC, April 1993]
You will find more critical incidents and ways of using
them to promote discussion and understanding in the related
materials. In DOmino Section 4 you will find "Stories
told by young people".
If you would like to use pictures to represent critical
incidents instead of words, then look in the all different
all equal education pack at the activity "What
do you see".
In Compass you will find several activities with themes
that relate to the critical incidents posed above that you
could use as follow up. For example, "Trade
Union meeting" and "Sport
for all".
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