1. Study Abroad
Awareness Training
Meaghan O’Brien, Meghan Harder,
Vicky Berry, & Julia Brown

2. Target Group
O Who: Study abroad students in
universities (aged 18+)
O 20-25 students
O Minimal study abroad experience

3. O Atmosphere: “Hello
from Around the World”
O Goals:
O Help new students get
acclimated into a new
social, scholastic, and
environmental setting
O Learn to integrate and
interact with individuals
from different cultural
groups
O Getting the most out of
your experience abroad
Introduction

4. Framework
O Client: University Study Abroad Office
O Where: Easily accessible location on
college campuses
O Length: 3 Hours
O Method: Interactive Workshop

5. Needs Assessment & Potential
Problems
O Students not venturing out
of their comfort zones
such as:
O Fear of interacting with
locals
O Failure to learn about
unique cultures
O Lack of resiliency in
stressful situations
O “Simply sending students
to a location abroad for
academic studies is not
sufficient toward facilitating
the larger goal of creating
effective global citizens”
(Lederman, 2007).
O Improvements on
intercultural development
index are marginally
significant (Pederson,
2009).

6. Agenda for the Day
Introduction
Goal 1
Goal 2
Goal 3
Wrap Up

7. Agenda
O Introduction
O Comfort Scales
O Circle Up
O Country Game
O Charades
O Goal 1: Results &
Discussion
O Challenging
Situations
O Goal 2: Action Plan
O Energizer
O All About You
O Goal 3: Discussion
& Results
O Wrap Up & Round
Up

8. Introduction
O Introduction of facilitators with personal
experiences of studying abroad
O Explanation of the overall goal of this
training
O Guidelines:
Safe Place
Judgment
Free
Zone
Respect
Each Other
Ask
Anything
No Phones

9. Comfort Scale
O Method: Each participant is given a personal
Comfort Scale along with numbered stickers to
place on the sheet
O Objective: Visual representation of progression of
feelings
O Materials: Premade scale and 8 stickers per
person
O Directions: Throughout the day participants
continue to place stickers based off of their
feelings of comfort at that given time

10. Introduction of the Students
O Form and circle with all the students
O Ask students to state name, study abroad
location, and what they are hoping to gain from
this training

11. Country Game: 20 Questions
O Method: Asking people
questions what country they
are
O Objectives: Engagement,
Comfort with asking questions
O Materials: Paper cards with
country names
O Directions: Everyone is
given a card with a name of
a country and instructed to
not look at what is written on
the card. They will place is
on their forehead and walk
around the room. They are
allowed to ask one question
per person. Once they figure
out their country they may
be seated.
O Duration: 5-10 Minutes

12. Charades
O Method: Act out given scenarios & have your team
figure out the situation without the use of speech
O Objectives: Using nonverbal communication,
Interacting with groups
O Materials: 2 groups of 10 & scenario cards
O Direction: Players are given a scenario with one
restriction and have 60 seconds to reenact the situation
O Duration: 15 minutes

13. Goal 1: Reflection &
Discussion

14. Challenging Situations
O Method: Drawing out adverse
situations that they have
encountered or are fearful of
O Objective: Identifying feelings
during challenging situations
O Materials: Groups of 4 or 5. Each
get their own poster board and
writing utensils
O Directions: Split everyone
into even groups and make
them draw out difficult
situations in with they have
encountered or some
situation they fear that might
happen while abroad. Once
completed, one member of
each group will stay at their
poster while the other
members move around to
learn other situations and
add their feelings to the area
surrounding the picture
O Duration: 30 minutes

15. Action Plan, Goal 2:
Discussion & Reflection
O Method: Discussing action plans to cope with stressful
situations abroad
O Objectives: Adapt and cope in challenging situations
O Materials: Poster board and writing utensils
O Directions: Talk in small groups about ways to cope
while abroad. Write down actions you can take and
share one with the whole group.
O Duration: 30 minutes

16. Fast Ball/ Parachute Game
O Method: Tossing a ball
around a circle of
people
O Objectives: Energizer,
Realizing similarities
O Materials: Ball,
stopwatch
O Directions: Remember who
threw you the ball and to
whom you throw the ball.
After students practice a few
times, facilitators will call out
a category or experience,
and all of the students for
whom this is true will run
into the middle and switch
places with each other. In
the new positions around
the circle, repeat the original
order of throwing the ball.
O Duration: 10 minutes

17. All About You
O Method: Asking questions in order to find 3 cultural
differences between partners
O Objectives: Communication skills, Learning about
others
O Materials: 1 Partner and 1 Piece of paper and pen
O Directions: Without using “I” statements, partners of 2
ask each other questions in order to find out 3 cultural
differences between each other
O Duration: 15 minutes

18. Goal 3: Discussion and
Reflection
O Why do you think we did this?
O Why is it important to learn about others
while abroad?
O Listen first

19. Wrap Up/Round Up
O Wrap up:
O 5 most important things you have learned
O Pair discussion for favorite quote or drawing on back of
panic to comfort scale
O Round up:
O Everyone in a circle and share their quote or drawing