Following Hibo Omer’s presentation, the LEND faculty and trainees participated in a card game. Working in teams of four, each team was given a set of instructions for how to play the game. Once they learned the rules, teams played the game without talking. The object was to win as many hands and rounds of the game. Several times during the playing of the game, winners moved to another table and continued to play with different team members without talking. After several rounds, participants began to suspect their team was following a different set of rules from other teams. Debriefing this experience provided numerous insights to linguistic and cultural differences and how individuals might feel when faced with such differences. Barnga provide a shared experience for the faculty and trainees to discuss cultural and linguistic sensitivity.
To learn more about Barnga, visit: https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-teaching/2017/07/10/barnga/
