Best Practices Host Family Pre-Arrival Orientation - Activities

From AFSWiki

• Sense of Space
• Re. the Non-dominant hand, from Mary Armes of Pacific Cascades "Our presenter made a game out of the Non-dominant hand. She divided the group into two teams. One person from each team was alternatively chosen to be the artist or writer. The team got 5 points for each activity they won. They molded an animal from play-doh--given a slip of paper with the animal on it. When their team guessed what they were modeling they got the points. They drew objects and wrote words--same procedure. They put a puzzle together as a team but were not supposed to talk. (They did anyway.) In this case, the first to get their puzzle together won the points. This activity was very successful--very good for team building."
• Another adaption of the Non-dominant hand (Al Russell - DelMarPa)
  • We're going to play "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader", everyone take a pencil and piece of paper. (pause for effect, like you're going to start)
  • But this is a cultural orientation so we have to make this cultural, so the questions are going to be those that a 5th grader in Ghana would know the answers to, so pretend that you are a 5th grader in the capital of Ghana. Ready now? (pause for effect)
  • Ah, but we'll need to have a little cultural handicap, so everyone who is right handed, you'll need to write with your left hand, and anyone who is left handed will have to write with the left hand.
  • (Ask the following questions, make them rapid, don't give people a chance to deal with their handicaps, refuse to answer questions or slow down.)
    • What is the name of the city you are in? (Accra)
    • Who is the most popular president in Ghana? (Obama)
    • What country borders Ghana to the south? (this is a trick question, the Atlantic Ocean borders Ghana on the south)
    • Using the principal language of Ghana, spell the name of the animal who goes "bark, bark" (dog, the principal language of Ghana is English)
    • What is the largest city in Ghana? (Accra)
  • Ok, pencils down, who has all the answers right? (go over the correct answers from above)
  • Continue with the non-dominant hand discussion, emphasizing about how these would have been easy questions for someone who lived there, but they are very hard for someone who is not from that country - that's exactly what their new hosted student may feel like at times.