Heelot Culture
Red tokens are never given away. Gold tokens are exchanged during conversations as a form of courtesy.
When someone asks you a question about your favorites and you respond, “Yes” you also give the person gold token.
Heelots like to know each other’s favorite things. They tend to be uncomfortable talking about numbers, preferring to talk about quality, not quantity. They will talk about numbers but asking direct questions about them is considered rude.
Laws:
You may only speak to one person at a time. Conversations are private and cannot be repeated.
Bodies are a very private matter. Never touch another person and do not allow yourself to be touched.
Do not make eye contact in conversation. Never look the other person in the eye. Instead, approach people and converse with the right side of their faces.
Questions are asked by adding “heelo” to the end of the statement. For example, “Your favorite color is blue, heelo” means “Is your favorite color blue?” “esyay” is answered when the statement is true. “onay” is answered when the statement is false.
You must not share the rules and laws of your culture with outsiders.
When an outsider offends you, you hiss at them and walk away.
VISITING: You want to find out their favorite color. You want to find out their favorite pizza topping. Remember, you must make statements that can be answered by yes or no.
Hokie Culture
Gold tokens are highly valued. You exchange red tokens during conversation to be polite.
When someone asks you a question and you answer “yes” you give them a red token.
Hokies are very interested in learning about personal information that involves numbers such as how many siblings somebody has, when they were born, how tall they are, how old they are. Questions with obvious answers are considered impolite.
Hokies only speak to people of the same gender unless they ask special permission from the High Hokie.
Hokie Laws
You never give away gold token, only reds.
Conversations begin and end with a handshake. A handshake shows you wish to talk and then, at the end, that you are done talking.
Immediately after shaking hands, you state how many red tokens you have . So you would shake hands then say “two” if you had two red tokens or “five” if you had five. You always say the number of red tokens before you say anything else.
Yes and No are never spoken. Instead, you touch your nose to say “yes” and your belly to say “no”
When an outsider offends you, you take them to the High Hokie and have them sent back to their country.
VISITING: You want to know how many siblings a person has. You also want to know how many gold tokens they have. Remember, you must use statements someone can answer yes or no to.
Lesson Frame Work
Learn how to be a Heelot or a Hokie. Practice.
Three members from each country go to the other country to observe interactions. They watch for 3 minutes and then come back and share what they think some of the rules might be for the other culture. (They may share observations quietly with each other when they are in the other country.)
3 minutes: They share what they think the rules of the other culture with their fellow citizens.
3 minutes: Four members go to the opposite country and try to use the rules the first observers shared. They try to discover the 2 pieces of information in the “VISITING” section from as many people as possible.
2 minutes: They return and share tips and advice with their countrymen. They turn in their tokens they collected to the communal pot.
3 minutes: The last three members go to the other country and use what they’ve just learned to try to discover the information they are looking for.
1 minute: Share any further observations. Turn in tokens.
Debrief – connect with theme work.
Modified From Along the Spice Road by SPICE