EO Witchesfree

8/15/2019 EO Witchesfree

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Course Module

1

Assumptions– The Witches of Glum

Time:

The exercise in this module can be

completed within:

15 minutes

In total, allowing for discussion,

we recommend allowing:

30 minutes

Aims:

To check listening skills.

To illustrate the dangers of making assumptions. To provoke discussion about prejudices and stereotypes.

Group Size:

Very small groups (fewer than 8 participants).

Normal groups (8-15 participants).

Large groups (more than 15 participants).

Very large groups (more than 25 participants).

Useful for:

Staff at all levels.



Course Module

2

You’ll need:

None but we suggest pre-preparing a flipchart sheet with the statements

listed on page 5 of the trainer’s notes.

Notes:

This module is suitable for staff at all levels and can be used as an

icebreaker or short exercise in a variety of situations. For example:

In a call centre environment, where making assumptions about thenature of a customer’s problem could lead to greater problems finding

a solution.

To raise awareness of our inbuilt prejudices, perhaps as an

introduction to diversity or equal opportunities training.

To show how important questions are for checking understanding and

avoiding assumptions being made.

We’ve included a recording of the story, which you can play if you prefer

not to read it yourself. This can add to the story telling atmosphere.

Symbols used:

Background information. Ideas that you might want

to use.

Things to look out for. Visual Aid – for example,

PowerPoint.

This module is endorsed by Show Racism the Red Card. Find outmore about the great work this charity is doing at: www.srtrc.org

In a nutshell:

Participants identify the dangers of making assumptions.



Course Module

1

Assumptions– The Witches of Glum

By the end of this module, participants will be able to:

Explain the importance of effective listening skills.

Describe how beliefs based on past experiences can lead to

prejudice or false assumptions.

Describe the dangers of making assumptions.

Pre-prepare a flipchart with a list of the statements on

page 4 of this guide, without participants seeing. Ensurethese are kept covered until after the exercise is

complete.

It is important to run the following exercise without too much

introduction.



Course Module

2

Ask participants to put their papers and pens aside, sit back,and listen to the following story. Then read the story that begins

below at a normal storytelling pace:

Read the story through a few times out loud beforehandto practise.

The Story

Once upon a time, there was a great city called Glum that stood

beside a lake in the kingdom of Bung. In the centre of the city

was a castle, where the King lived with his only daughter,

Christina. The king could no longer walk, but he was often seen

being pushed around the city in a white, wheeled chair by hisservants. Christina was a popular princess; happy and always

willing to help others. The people of Bung often commented that

she would make a good queen.

Now it so happened that as well as the King, his daughter andhis subjects, there lived in the kingdom of Bung two witches.

Groga, an ugly, disfigured witch, lived on the other side of the

lake in a dark, damp cave. Gwendolyn, a beautiful witch who

wore a gown that sparkled with the light of a thousand crystals,

lived in a house to the West.

On the tenth anniversary of Groga’s arrival, the king was

wheeled onto his balcony, where he addressed those gatheredbelow.

“Who will rid the kingdom of my arch enemy, Groga?” he asked.

“Many brave men have ventured forth on this mission before,but none of those sent have returned. Do any of you have the

courage to complete this deed?”



Course Module

3

The crowd included knights from all the surrounding lands; their proud horses neighed at the ruler’s words. But only one in the

crowd spoke out - a stranger who had arrived the day before.

“I will kill her,” said the stranger, “in return for your crown”.

The king replied: “That is too much to ask, but I will give youhalf of all the gold in the city treasury if you rid the kingdom of

her.”

The stranger accepted the offer, and went to see the beautiful

Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn was impressed by the stranger’s

boldness, and she agreed to help in return for a share of theking’s gold. She went into another room, where she mixed a

strange potion. This she poured into a small green bottle.

“This will give you the strength of ten men”, she said, handing

the potion to the stranger.

The stranger travelled from Gwendolyn’s house to the dark

caverns on the opposite side of the lake, where Groga, who had

seen her fate in a crystal ball, was waiting.

“So, you have come, as many men before you have”, she said.

“Seeking the king’s favour?”

They fought for many hours, but the witch was no match for her

adversary.

Eventually, tired and exhausted, she agreed to leave the

kingdom forever.

The stranger returned to the city to claim the promised reward.



Course Module

4

After reading the story, issue pens and papers to theparticipants and explain that you are going to make fifteen

statements. The participants should record on their paper,

without conferring, whether they think these are true

statements based on the information they’ve been given.

Read each of the following statements once.

The Statements

1. The city was called Bung.

2. The city was ruled by an old king, who could no longer walk.

3. The castle was in the centre of the city.

4. Groga was a wicked witch, who lived in a cave on the other

side of the lake.

5. Princess Christina was very beautiful.

6.

The stranger was a knight from far away.

7. The stranger wanted to be made king in return for killing

Groga.

8. The king offered the stranger a great fortune instead.

9. A good witch lived to the West of the city.

10. The stranger agreed to give Gwendolyn half of his gold, if

she helped him.

11.

Gwendolyn mixed a potion, which she poured into a greenbottle.

12. The stranger rode from Gwendolyn’s house to Groga’s cave.

13. Groga had killed many other men before.

14. Groga’s magic was no match for the stranger.

15. The stranger used a magic potion to defeat Groga.



Course Module

5

Once you’ve read all of the statements, ask participants to swaptheir answer sheets with someone else.

Uncover the flipchart you prepared previously with the list of

statements and run through each one in turn.

Read the first statement again and ask for a show of hands fromparticipants who thought it was true.

Ask one participant to explain why they thought it was true, andthen ask someone else why they didn’t.

Explain that it was not true.

Run through the rest of the statements in turn. The answers

follow. Discuss the reasons for mistakes as you go.

1. The city was called

Bung.

2. The city was ruled

by an old king who

could no longer walk.

False. The city was called Glum. The

kingdom was called Bung.

The fact that both words sounded

similar may have made this difficult.

False. We are not told the king’s age.

He may or may not have been old.

Those who said he was old were

probably making an assumption based

on the fact that he ‘could no longerwalk’.



Course Module

6

3. The castle was in

the centre of the city.

4. Groga was a wicked

witch, who lived in acave on the other side

of the lake.

5. Princess Christina

was very beautiful.

6. The stranger was a

knight from far away.

7. The stranger

wanted to be made

king in return forkilling Groga.

True.

False. At no point are we told that

Groga is wicked. Participants probablyassumed she was wicked because she

was ugly and disfigured. We know too

that the king doesn’t like her, but

again nowhere does it say the king is

good!

False. Princess Christina was

“popular.” She was also happy and

always willing to help others. But

nowhere in the story are we told sheis beautiful.

False. The crowd “included knights”.

We don’t know that the stranger was

one.

False. We don’t know if the stranger is

even a man, so we don’t know if

he/she would be a king or a queen.Anyway, the stranger only asks for

the crown – and doesn’t specifically

state he/she wants a title, or even

power. For all we know the stranger

may have wanted to sell the crown tothe highest bidder - on ebay!



Course Module

7

8. The king offered the

stranger a great

fortune instead.

9. A good witch livedto the West of the city.

10. The stranger

agreed to giveGwendolyn half of his

gold, if she helped

him.

11. Gwendolyn mixeda potion, which she

poured into a green

bottle.

12. The stranger rode

from Gwendolyn’shouse to Groga’s cave.

13. Groga had killed

many men before.

14. Groga’s magic was

no match for the

stranger.

False. The king offers the stranger

half of all the gold in the treasury. We

aren’t told how much gold is in the

treasury – maybe none!

False. We are not told Gwendolyn isgood – only that she is beautiful and

wears a sparkly gown!

False. He/she agreed to give her “a

share”. We are not told what theshare is. And, of course we don’t

know the stranger is a ‘he’.

True!

False. We don’t know the stranger

‘rode’. The story says the stranger “travelled”.

False. We don’t know whether Groga

had killed anyone before. All we know

is that those sent to kill her had not

returned. Perhaps they had a changeof heart and left the kingdom?

False. We are not told that Groga

used magic.



Course Module

8

15. The stranger used

a magic potion to

defeat Groga.

False. We don’t know if the stranger

used the potion given to him/her by

Gwendolyn.

Discuss the results of this exercise, developing the learning

points you want to. Some suggested discussion questions are

included on the following pages.

How many of you

made mistakes?

What caused you tomake mistakes?

How many of you

made assumptions,

based on the limited

information provided?

Most participants are likely to have

made mistakes.

The biggest cause of mistakes willhave been assumptions. Participants

will have made assumptions based on

the limited information provided.

These assumptions will have included

the belief that Gwendolyn was a goodwitch (because she was beautiful),

and that Groga was wicked, (because

she was ugly and disfigured).



Course Module

9

What caused you to do

that?

Why did you make

these assumptions?

What were the

assumptions basedupon?

What does this tell

you?

Participants may also have assumed

that the king was old (because he

couldn’t walk), or that the princess

was beautiful (because she was

happy, helpful and popular).

The most common assumption made

is that the stranger is a man.

Our assumptions are based on past

experiences. This exercise feeds onthe stereotypical images many of us

are familiar with from fairy tales,

where the wicked witch was always

ugly and shrivelled, and the hero wasa young prince or knight.

The important thing for participants to

understand from this exercise, is that

we all have the potential to make

assumptions, and that we all have

inbuilt prejudices.

You can use the quotes on PowerPoints 1-3 as

appropriate to emphasise some of the key learning

points and provoke further discussion.



Course Module

10

Optional Additional Exercise

Split participants into teams of 3-4 and provide each team with

a flipchart and pens.

Ask them to think about the potential consequences ofassumptions at work, and to list all of their thoughts on the

flipcharts.

Allow 15 minutes for this exercise. Provide participants with the

handout from this module (make sure you don’t do so earlier),

and then ask each team to present its findings.

You may want to provide a more detailed brief for this

exercise. For example, if you want to focus on equal

opportunities and diversity, you might say: “Think aboutthe consequences of making assumptions. How could

they impact upon our efforts to create a working

environment that promotes equal opportunities and

diversity?”

Discuss the results using the discussion questions below to help

you and encourage participants to make notes.



Course Module

11

What are the potential

implications of making

assumptions?

What problems canassumptions cause?

Assumptions can be very dangerous

things. For example:

Assumptions may cause us to pre-

judge the value of individuals or

groups of individuals – for example,colleagues or customers. This may

result in individuals’ potential not

being fully realised, and create

many other equal opportunity and

diversity related issues.

Imagine you are in a telesales role.

You telephone a customer who is

rude to you. When you come to

ring the customer again, how likelyare you to make the sale if you are

already assuming that their

behaviour will be difficult?

Imagine you work in a helpdesk

environment. Making assumptions

about the cause/solution to a

customer’s problem could result inyou taking much longer to actually

solve it. A few questions to clarifythings at the outset may have led

you down a more efficient route.

These are just a few very simpleillustrations of the problems

assumptions can create.



Course Module

12

What can help you

avoid making

assumptions?

What skills can youuse to make sure

you’ve understood

what you’ve been told?

What else have you

learned from thisexercise?

Try to look at every situation with

‘fresh eyes’. Consider what the

situation would look like to a

completely neutral third party

observer. Listen carefully to what isactually being said, and ask questions

to check understanding.

Summarise what you have heard

using your own words. This provides

an opportunity for misinterpretationsto be spotted and corrected.

We are all capable of making

assumptions – they are probablyunavoidable. The important thing is to

recognise the danger and to usesummary and good questioning skills

to check understanding and to provide

an opportunity for incorrect

assumptions to be identified early.

Allow some time for participants to record the learning points.



Course Module

13

This module is endorsed by Show Racism the Red Card.

For more information about the great work this charity is

doing, visit: www.srtrc.org.

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EO Witchesfree