Coloured Glasses

‘Coloured Glasses’ refers to the well-known analogy of sunglasses, which represent the unconscious cultural filters we are born with and through which we observe and interpret reality. According to the experiences, encounters and characteristics that shape our identities, we all perceive the world differently through this filter – our colored glasses.

In YFU, Coloured Glasses has come to refer to a set of workshops designed to build young people's cultural self-awareness, leading them into cultural understanding by introducing them to the concepts of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, and to encourage positive action in their own communities. Some modules also revolve around active citizenship and democratic participation.

The workshops can be conducted with school pupils and other groups of youth, from the age of 11 to university level; some workshops also address educators. The modular content can be adapted by facilitators according to the learning needs of the specific participants and allows teachers and schools to address their thematic priorities.

The Coloured Glasses workshops are considered a non-formal education activity. They are lively and engage participants in simulations and role plays that allow them to experience aspects of intercultural interaction. The simulations are followed by group discussions where participants can share their feelings, difficulties encountered during the exercises and relate them to cultural theories introduced by the facilitator, thus fostering reflection and learning.

For more information on our previous educational projects linked to Coloured Glasses, please visit the ACLEV and CGROW project pages.

Several YFU member organizations around the globe offer to deliver Coloured Glasses workshops. If you are interested, please contact YFU in your country. 
Together with a Quality Assurance Framework, the Coloured Glasses Manual is also available through our Educational Resources page.

Educational Resources

"For me, Coloured Glasses means playfully and interactively introducing topics into the classroom that 
affect young people every day, but which many of them may not be so aware of or cannot put words to.
With Coloured Glasses workshops, we offer impulses to encourage reflection about themselves,
and respectful interaction with one another."

– Mareike Schwarz, YFU volunteer and Coloured Glasses expert.