On a sunny Tuesday afternoon, fifteen students from the New Middle School Boeheimkirchen in Lower Austria visited the International Dialogue Centre to find out more about the ‘International Projects’ their teacher, Ms Margit Tschernitz, has been introducing this year. In a wide-ranging curriculum, Tschernitz set up an exchange with a Norwegian school and a guided tour of the United Nations Office in Vienna. At the Centre, experts introduced the students to KAICIID’s work and how dialogue is used to solve real-world problems.

A  recorded TED Talk  by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie sparked a discussion about ‘the danger of a single story’ and the stereotypes that can result when a single dominant narrative is allowed to prevail. The pupils then shared their own experiences with dialogue and stereotypes. For example, a number of them mentioned that meeting young refugees and how studying with them had greatly helped dispel stereotypes they held about refugees.

The pupils were then introduced to the Interreligious Dialogue board game ‘Dialogos!’, a prototype developed by KAICIID to encourage dialogue and solve problems without violence. Split into three groups, the pupils played together with KAICIID staff members and learned through play about the importance and principles of interreligious dialogue.