Respect and Tolerance Activities in Katowice, Poland.

On November, 9th 2017 we had workshops on “Respect and Tolerance”. We took part in some interesting activities. In one of them we had to draw “ a typical Pole”, “a typical German” “a typical Russian”. Then we discussed what stereotypes “live” in our minds. Students admitted that sometimes we judge others knowing nothing or only a few details about somebody  Another activity was to choose a person and tell her/him to leave the room. Others think who this person can be now, e.g. an immigrant, “stupid blonde woman”, homeless, etc. Then the person comes in and others try to show him/her who he/she is. Of course, we use stereotypes reacting to this person. Then we ask the person how she/he felt. The person often says that he/she felt offended, humiliated, etc. Then students drew conclusions that not every blonde girl is stupid or every immigrant is a terrorist. Teachers also paid students’ attention to the fact that international educational programmes like Erasmus + help us understand different cultures and behaviour. The activities performed during Respect and Tolerance Activities made students think why respect and tolerance are important in functioning in a class, family, society.