Running head: 602A PROJECT 1

602A Project: International Student Peer Mentor Training Lesson Plan

Program Outcomes:
The international peer mentor training program is shaped around Mick Vande Berg’s Four
Intercultural Competencies, as described by Stephen Duke in his 2018 Lilly Conference
Presentation “Activities for Facilitating Intercultural Learning Through Education Abroad”:
1. Increasing self-awareness of our systems of meaning-making and behavior
2. Increasing awareness of others' meaning-making and behaviors
3. Managing our emotions and thoughts in the face of ambiguity, change, and challenging
circumstances and people
4. Bridging cultural gaps--shifting our perspective, attuning our emotions and adapting our
behavior within unfamiliar and/or challenging contexts
This is the first of several trainings throughout the school year that will build these competencies.

Learning Outcomes:
After completing this training, international peer mentors will
1. Be able to articulate their 5 core values and vision for themselves as a peer mentor.
2. Be able to analyze how their culture affects their behavior and attitudes.
3. Be able to list key university offices and resources for new international students and how
to refer students to them.
4. Be able to analyze and troubleshoot a cultural adjustment issue using the 360-degree
view on cultural dilemmas tool

Duration: 4.5 hours

Materials Needed:
• Paper (1 sheet per participant)
• Pens (1 per participant)
• White Board/Large notepad on display easel
• Projector and PowerPoint with Campus Resources
• Campus Resources Handout
• Index cards (10 per participant)
• Duct tape (4 long pieces per participant)
• 360-Degree View of an Intercultural Challenge Mapping handout and informational
handout
• Movable chairs for participants
602A PROJECT 2

Lesson Plan:
(30 minutes) Identity tag game (Deardorff, 2012a)
Brief description:
Students write their names on a piece of paper and then various identities they hold (explain for
students: social, personal, and role identities) on the paper. They should be identities they feel
comfortable sharing. Then they should hold the paper in front of themselves and walk around
reading people’s papers and discuss and ask questions about identities they have written. 15
minutes of walking and then 15 minutes of debriefing the activity.

Debriefing questions (Adapted from Deardorff):

1. How did it feel to define yourself in this way?
2. How many of you wrote down family roles? Hobbies? Major?
3. What other patterns did you notice? Any surprises?
4. How many identities are readily visible without the identity paper?
5. How well do these identities say who you are? What is it like to try to capture your
identities in words and phrases?
6. Which parts of the activity were more challenging and why?
7. What identities did you take for granted and not write down? (answers are usually race,
class, or gender. Discuss privilege)
8. Reflect: How many of these identities are culturally conditioned? How would your
responses be different if this was in a class or your residence hall? Would they be
different 5 years ago or 5 years in the future?
9. Which identities are strongest for you? (circle them).
10. How do others see you? How would you like others to see you?
11. As you reflect on your culturally conditioned identity, what are some things you can take
away from this activity?

Learning Objectives:
• Students will gain an understanding of the diversity of their mentor group
• Students will build trust and group cohesiveness by discussing their various identities
with each other

(10 minutes) Human Values Continuum (Deardorff 2012b)

Brief description:
Facilitator will say a series of either/or statements. Students must choose a place to stand in the
room to reflect which statement they agree with, and to what extent. Each wall symbolizes
complete agreement with one of the statements.

Statements:
602A PROJECT 3

• Life is what happens to me/Life is what I make it

• Competition brings out the best/Cooperation is the way to get things done
• Change is good/tradition is important
• People should tell it like it is even if it hurts/Maintaining harmony is important even if it
means not telling the complete truth
• I make decisions completely on my own/I rely on family and close friends to help me
make decisions

Debriefing questions (from Deardorff):

1. What was it like to place yourself along this continuum?
2. What stood out to you from this activity?
3. Based on these statements, what do you think some of the underlying cultural values
might be?
4. Why is it important to understand underlying cultural values?
5. As you reflect on this activity, what are some things you can take away?

Learning objectives:
• Students will gain an awareness of how culture affects our attitudes and behaviors.
• Students will visually see differences in the group, even among those from the same
culture

(1 hour) Crafting a Vision Statement (Schaetti, Ramsey, & Watanabe, 2012)

Brief description:
First, have students share and write a list of the character traits, qualities, and ways of being of
someone who is demonstrating what it means to be a good international peer mentor. Then ask
them to choose 10 qualities/traits that seem most important to them and they want to commit to
embodying in their role as an international peer mentor. Have them write each one on a notecard.
Then, looking at all the notecards, have them pick 5 that will form the core of their vision
statement. We will then review the four Ps of a powerful vision statement. The facilitator will
then share the vision statement template (which students can choose to use or not use) which
reads:
When I am an international peer mentor operating at my highest and best, I….
I do this so that…
Have students volunteer to read their vision statements aloud.

The four Ps of a powerful vision statement (from authors):

Personal-it’s about you, not about anyone else
Present-it’s in the present tense, not a conditional future
Positive-it’s what you are committed to rather than what you’re not
Passionate-its alive to you; it makes your spine tingle and gives you goosebumps
602A PROJECT 4

Learning Objectives:
• Students will gain a deeper understanding of their core values and ideals as a peer mentor
• Students will have a clear vision to shape their engagement in the program and stay
committed to

(40 minutes) Duct Tape Hands (Pollack, 2012)

Brief Description:
Ask participants to untie and tie their shoes, or unbutton and button their jackets, anything they
can do with their fingers that they do all the time. Ask participants what it felt like to do and
write answers on the board. Then have participants duct tape their fingers on both hands so they
can’t use their fingers separately. Then have them repeat their actions from round one. Write any
of their relevant verbal comments on the board. Once complete, ask participants what it felt like
and write responses on the board. Then have participants tape their thumb to their palm and
repeat action from round one. Write down verbal comments or nonverbal communication you
hear during the activity. Once complete, ask participants what it felt like and write answers on
the board.

Debriefing questions (Adapted from Pollack):

1. Ask participants why they think you asked them to go through this process and discuss it.
2. Ask them about what they thought, their reactions, what they saw others doing, at each
stage
3. What are some similarities between this exercise and making the transition to a new
culture?
4. What past experiences have you had that are the equivalent of needing to untie and tie
shoes in a new cultural environment? How did you handle them? What did you do
well/what do you wish you had done differently?
5. Through this exercise, what did you learn about your natural feelings, attitudes, thoughts
and behaviors that could be challenges for you when moving into a new culture?
6. Based on this exercise, what thoughts, tips, tricks, ideas and coping mechanisms could
increase your cultural adjustment proficiency in managing future cultural transitions or
would you advise your mentee?

Learning Objectives:
• Students will understand that cultural transitions involve strong emotional reactions to
simple tasks
• Students will be able to determine various coping mechanisms for the stress and emotions
of cultural transitions
• Students will gain insight into their natural emotional reactions to cultural transition, in
order to better cope
602A PROJECT 5

(1 hour) 360 Degree View on Cultural Dilemmas (Berardo, 2012)

Brief description:
Hand out the Mapping a 360 Degree View of an Intercultural Challenge handout and ask
students to think of a challenging intercultural situation they are in now or have been in. Have
them write it in the first box of the handout. Then ask them to describe what success would look
like in that situation, filling out the second box of the handout. Then give students the handout on
Gaining a 360 Degree View of an Intercultural Challenge and explain the worksheet. Give
students time to reflect on it and analyze their situations. Then have students pair up to discuss
their findings and strategies with each other.

Debriefing Questions (from Berardo):

1. Have one or two people share their scenarios and next steps. Compare and contrast
different situations and solutions generated by the group
2. What was the impact of taking this holistic focus?
3. What factors were you not originally thinking about that the 360-degree view revealed?
4. What was the impact of discussing the situation with someone else?
5. What else did you learn through the process?
6. How can this tool be useful to you moving forward?

Learning Objectives (adapted from Berardo):

• Students will understand that situations are complex and they will know what questions
to ask to examine a challenging situation from multiple angles
• Students will understand that they must balance their focus between potential barriers and
potential enablers to find well-rounded solutions to move forward
• Students will understand the importance of reflecting on their own motivations and role
in challenging intercultural situations

(1 hour) Campus Resources & Advising

Brief description:
Review offices and resources on campus for new first year students and how mentors can refer
mentees to them. Spend approximately 30 minutes presenting resources. Give students handouts
with resources, how to refer, and what each resource does and what students should be referred
to them for. Then spend 30 minutes having students pair off and take turns role playing being the
mentor and the mentee, either providing resources and advice or presenting a dilemma.

Sample Situations:
• Mentee comes to their mentor saying they are unable to keep up with their work. They
spend so much time studying for one class that they don’t have time to do the work for
602A PROJECT 6

their other classes. They end up staying up late to study and now they’ve gotten sick and
had to miss class and are falling even further behind.
• Mentee comes to mentor saying their roommate Alex doesn’t talk to them or interact with
them and Alex told their RA they want to move out because they “can’t understand their
roommate (the mentee)”.
• Mentee comes to mentor saying they are lonely and miss their family and can’t find any
good food to eat and are feeling sad and frustrated.
• Mentee comes to mentor saying they are in a group project for a class and their group
members won’t respond to their emails or texts and the mentee is worried about the
project.

Learning Outcomes:
• Students will know what resources exist on campus for students, how to refer students to
these resources, and what to refer students for.
• Students will feel more comfortable having conversations with mentees about challenges
and referring them to campus resources.
602A PROJECT 7

References

Berardo, K. (2012). Chapter 46: Tool: A 360-degree view on cultural dilemmas” In K. Berardo

and D. Deardorff (Eds.), Building Cultural Competence: Innovative Activities and

Models. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Deardorff, D. (2012a). Chapter 22: Identity tag game. In K. Berardo and D. Deardorff (Eds.),

Building Cultural Competence: Innovative Activities and Models. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Deardorff, D. (2012b). Chapter 16: Human values continuum. In K. Berardo and D. Deardorff

(Eds.), Building Cultural Competence: Innovative Activities and Models. Sterling, VA:

Stylus.

Duke, S. (2018, November). Activities for facilitating intercultural learning through education

abroad. Conference session presented at annual Lilly Conference on College and

University Teaching, Oxford, OH.

Pollack, S. (2012). Chapter 31: Duct tape hands. In K. Berardo and D. Deardorff (Eds.), Building

Cultural Competence: Innovative Activities and Models. Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Schaetti, B., Ramsey, S. & Watanabe, G. (2012). Chapter 24: Crafting a vision statement. In K.

Berardo and D. Deardorff (Eds.), Building Cultural Competence: Innovative Activities

and Models. Sterling, VA: Stylus.