One part of being a good global citizen is to be able to understand and be sensitive to features of other cultures, such as body language, discourse patterns, and male and female roles. A role play which simulates entering into and interacting with another culture helps student to both practice their English skills and develop their awareness of how people in other cultures interact. This simulation is appropriate for intermediate and advanced level students. Classroom activities before the simulation and the actual simulation can take up to two one and a half-hour class sections or less, depending upon the levels of the students.
Teachers can vary the difficulty of the language and tasks involved to fit various class levels.
Preparation for the simulation involves teaching the concepts of body language, especially regarding greetings, leave takings, and personal space. Students must know vocabulary such as bowing, shaking hands, hugging, kissing, touching palms together, etc. Additionally, they must be introduced to both the concept of gender roles and the vocabulary for discussing gender roles. For teaching the concepts and vocabulary above, sections from videos which show people from various cultures interacting in many ways, such as greeting, eating, leaving, interrupting, etc., are very useful. Students watch with the task of observing and recording how males and females from these cultures interact.