Students try to put themselves in the shoes of a person described on their card and by moving forward/backward they express the feeling/experience of such a person. Discussion follows.

Building empathy with people who differ from the majority

Empathy with people who differ from the majority, understanding their wishes, dreams, fears and everyday reality

Cards (in the attachment), space for the movements

1.      Teacher distributes the cards (see the attachment) to individual students and asks them to read their card carefully and imagine themselves as a person described there: How does he or she feel in this country? What are his or her experiences? What does he or she dream about? What does he or she fear?

2.      Students  form a row and the teacher reads the statements (see the attachment). If a person agrees with the statement, he/she moves one step forward. If he/she does not agree, he/she moves one step backward. Who got furthest? Who ended up last?

3.       Discussion starts with the description of each person. Start with those who went furthest and go to the end. Ask how they felt during the game: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. How they felt about students who ended up in front of them?

 Source: Czech Council for Children and Youth, www.crdm.cz/download/publikace/zacneme_treba_takhle.pdf