| Keywords: | Discussion; Expressing Opinions; Differences in Opinion |
| Objectives: | Developing skills in discussion and argumentation. Respecting the opinions of others. Sharing your opinions respectfully. |
| Target group: | Groups of migrants. People with weak language skills can participate by using body language or can show their opinion by where they stand in the room. |
| Duration: | 50 min |
| Methodology step-by- step: | 1. Open the thinking process with a question, for example, ‘what is democracy?’ 2. Give the participants 1-2 minutes to write their understanding of what it is on a post-it. They should stick the post-it onto a flipchart and read out loud what they have written. 3. Tell the participants to imagine a line running through the middle of the room. On opposites sides of the imaginary line stick a piece of paper on the floor upon which is written AGREE or DISAGREE. 4. Invite the participants to stand up and form a line. Explain that you are going to read the statements from the flipchart. If the participant agrees with the statement, they should stand on the AGREE side; if they disagree they should stand on the DISAGREE side. 5. Point out that the participants should stand according to the extent to which they agree or disagree with the statements. The closer to the imaginary line, the less extreme their agreement or disagreement with the statement. 6. After each statement there is a short discussion during which the author of the statement explains their viewpoint and the others reflect and explain why they have chosen to stand where they stand. During this process it is possible for the participant to change their opinion and therefore where they are standing. 7. After having read through all the statements, bring the group back together for discussion and debriefing. An impulse for this could be the following questions: Were any of the questions difficult to answer because it was hard to make a decision? Were you surprised by the degree of disagreement on some issues? Are there “right” or “wrong” answers or is just subject to individual belief? |
| Resources needed: | Two pieces of papers with the words AGREE and DISAGREE. Post-its Pens and pencils Flip chart Space for people to move |
| Challenges: | Be mindful of the profile of the participants when preparing the statements; be aware to what extent the participants know the topic and understand the vocabulary; don’t chose a topic that could cause conflict among the participants. |