Crossing Borders Education

On Non-Verbal Communication

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Toolclip introduction

This Toolclip provides you with one film clip, discussion manual and debrief questions. You can facilitate with it short awareness exercises that engage your students in short peer-to-peer dialogues.
  • Suggested class time: approx 15 minutes
  • Learning areas: Cross-Cultural Skills, Intercultural Awareness, Social Skills
  • Suggested usage: in classroom or student orientations, at seminars or extra-curricular events
Video summary: Students discuss the power of non-verbal communication. They gain insight into how people employ different types of non-verbal communication to themselves and interact with others—and how these types of non-verbal communication may differ from one culture to another.

Possible points for discussion

Ask the group to brainstorm some of the elements of non-verbal communication. Possible examples include: tone, facial gestures, eye contact, etc.

When have you been misunderstood because of your non-verbals?

Detailed suggestions for how to use in class can be found in the facilitator manual. You may also find it helpful to learn about our educational approach.

Facilitator Manual

Discover more

This toolclip comes from our Study Abroad Toolkit, which was developed in partnership with the SIT Graduate Institute. The video is an excerpt of our feature film The Dialogue (68 min) which focuses on young people discovering a variety of intercultural communication skills while traveling in China.

Crossing Borders – Encountering the ‘Other’ – Discovering Ourselves