http://www.isp.msu.edu/cbe/
Prepared by Safoi Babana-Hampton
Associate Professor of French
Romance and Classical Studies, Michigan State University (2012)

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Previewing Activities - Strategies to Successful Intercultural
Communication:
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Thinking in Context
Complex Thinking
Cultural Self-awareness
Discerning between Fact and Fiction: Morocco Between Myth and Reality
Postviewing Activities – Strategies to Successful Assessment of What we
Learned:
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Consider all the experiences and views that make Moroccan and American students in the documentary different.
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Consider all the experiences and views that Moroccan and American students in the documentary share in common.
Consider all the obstacles to successful intercultural communication, encountered by both groups .
Consider the ways in which the encounter of both groups changed their perceptions of each other and enriched their understanding of each other’s cultures.

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To know Morocco contact with.
in relation
To understand Morocco from to different spaces, societies and cultures it is in multiple perspectives.
To recognize that its culture is the sum of all these relations, that its culture is not homogenous .
C
Morocco in North
Africa
Morocco in African
Continent
Morocco in the World

Definition of « complex »:
A whole made up of complicated or interrelated parts.
Definition of « thinking »:
Judgment, opinion; the action of using one's mind to produce thoughts .
Q. From the above definitions, how can we define « complex thinking »?
Activity:
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With a partner, describe the contents of the brown bag below:
Discuss whether the items contained in this bag share something in common or not.
Can you describe the contents of this bag by using one single word or criterion? What are the advantages but also the challenges of doing so?
How can you describe the contents of this same bag using one criterion, if you also add to it your cell phone, your flu medicine, house cleaning products, yard tools, a basketball, your desk lamp and a baseball bat? Are these items usually grouped or stored together in the same bag? Comment on this idea.

How can we use complex thinking in order to understand our identities, our histories and those of others?
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With a partner, discuss the differences between a blanket and a quilt.
Use the pictures of a « blanket » and a « quilt » below as visual metaphors in order to develop your own view of the following:
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Is our cultural identity (who we are as a society) a blanket or a quilt? Explain how and justify your view with examples and arguments.
Is our history (our collective heritage and our collective past) a blanket or a quilt?
Explain how and justify your view with examples and arguments.

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Strategies to Successful Intercultural Communication:
3. Cultural Self-Awareness
Morocco is considered as an Arab and Muslim country. Reflect on how Arab and
Muslim Americans are typically perceived in American society, by observing the first row of images below.
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The pictures on the bottom row represent different American public personalities with an Arab heritage. How do those images contradict clichés and dominant stereotypes of
Arabs. What do they confirm about our own identity as an American society and culture.

Watch the documentary below produced by Jack Shaheen, an Arab-American
Professor, in which he examines images of Arabs in Hollywood films.
Video of Documentary Reel Bad Arabs - How Hollywood Vilifies a People http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmVoSZk_fvo
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Make a list of the dominant clichés and stereotypes identified by Jack Shaheen and compare them to the reactions and observations you made in the previous activity regarding images of real Arab-Americans.
Discuss how stereotypes such as those presented in this documentary can obstruct intercultural communication and obscure our understanding of other cultures.
Reflect on how this documentary challenges us to rethink our assumptions about ourselves and the world.

Strategies to Successful Intercultural Communication:
4. Discerning between Fact and Fiction:
Morocco between Myth and Reality
The classic Hollywood film Casablanca has for a long time evoked a mostly vague and mythical picture of Morocco. Though considered generally today as an Arab and Muslim cCountry,
Morocco is a richly diverse society:
• Religious diversity: Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
• Linguistic diversity: Arabic, Berber, French.
• Ethnic diversity: Arab, Berber, African.
• Geographical diversity: Atlas mountains, Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, the Sahara desert.
• Complex history: Phoenician, Roman, Arab and French civilizations and conquests.
Observe the images below and how they relate to the above points.
Why is it important to recognize these facts?

Crossing Borders
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Consider all experiences and views that make Moroccan and
American students in the documentary Crossing Borders different :
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Think of examples illustrating each group’s awareness of perceptions held about their own culture by others: What do
American students know about the perceptions formed about their own culture by others. How does this cultural selfawareness prepare them to engage in a constructive dialogue about who they really are?
How do American students perceive and express their cultural difference to their Moroccan peers?
How do Moroccan students perceive and express their cultural difference to their American peers.

Crossing Borders
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Consider all the obstacles to successful intercultural communication, encountered by both groups in the documentary Crossing Borders :
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Cite the examples that each side gives in order to express what contributes to the failure of intercultural communication, intercultural misunderstanding, and to creating more barriers among cultures. What is the main source of these obstacles?
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What specific choices and personal attitudes do various members of each group adopt in order to successfully and thoughtfully face the dilemmas and challenges to intercultural communication?

Crossing Borders
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Consider all the experiences and views that Moroccan and
American students in the documentary Crossing Borders share in common:
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How does living and traveling together in Morocco highlight the experiences and beliefs that both American and Moroccan students share in common ?
What personal adjustments do various members of each group make in order to open up to the other and engage in a constructive dialogue and recognize their commonalities.
In your view, how has this experience of living and traveling together transformed the students on both sides? How do you think this new experience will shape their lives and their thinking moving forward?
How has this documentary expanded or contributed to what you already know?