What is a Bridgebuilding Week?

At Brobyggerne, we have developed a theme week on tolerance, understanding diversity, and dialogue. Here, students learn to discuss difficult topics and actively listen to each other's points of view. The theme week is aimed at students in grades 5-10 and covers the following areas: Prejudice & preconceptions, language that opens and closes, norms, democracy & diversity, communication, and conflicts & solutions. We provide them with dialogical skills so that they can prevent and handle large and small conflicts in their everyday lives.

We've been doing this since 2018, andour experience from years of working with the municipality of Copenhagen shows that all types of schools have challenges with tolerance, understanding and dialog. These include small and large schools, public schools, private and independent schools, schools with very mixed origins and schools with only ethnic Danish students, and schools in areas with high and low median income have all requested the Bridge Builders competences.

If you want to start the program at your school, you are welcome to contact us. We can run the program or help you get started on your own using our materials.

The purpose of
the Bridge Building Week

The purpose of Bridge Week is to challenge students' attitudes towards racism, homophobia, anti-semitism, negative social control, extremism etc. and thereby strengthen students' understanding of dialogue, democracy, freedoms and diversity.

During Bridge Builder Week, students learn about discrimination, prejudice, generalizations, norms, politics and society - all knowledge that benefits the foundations of democracy.

It's important to be able to stand together in the middle of the bridge and learn to disagree without being unloving...

How does a Bridge Builder Week work?

Bridge Building Week includes classroom teaching with practical exercises, presentations fromthe Bridge Builders' storytelling corps, interactive theater,and Bridge Building games with Dialoguesoda. While Brobyggerne plans and facilitates the various presentations (the green fields) during Bridge Building Week, it is the teachers' job to conduct the lessons based on our teaching materials.

We know that most school teachers have busy schedules. That's why we've developed an easy-to-use teaching material. The aim is for teachers to quickly familiarize themselves with the different topics and get inspiration for teaching and exercises. We also have experience with how a Bridge Building Week can be structured in a way that makes sense for both teachers and students. Several schools have had good experience with mixing classes across modules.

The teacher booklet consists of six different topics and contains 24 practical exercises. Before the theme week, the teaching team is presented with teaching material and the Bridge Builder Game to prepare them to teach during the Bridge Builder Week. After the week is over, the teaching material and the Bridge Building Gamecan be used again and again.

Order the educational material
"Bridge Building Week"

The teaching material can be used whether you are planning an entire theme week or looking for inspiration for a single module.

The material consists of an easily accessible teaching manual, which is divided into six sections with material for 1-2 modules on each theme, and a large exercise catalog with 25 exercises with detailed instructions that are easy to pick up and get started. In addition, you can find definitions of terms and instructions on how to organize the training, as well as an overview of organizations that conduct school visits on the topics and recommended literature.

Students are educated and trained in six themes:

Democracy and diversity
Language that opens and closes
Norms
Prejudices and preconceptions
Dialogue and communication
Conflicts and solutions

You will receive the training material digitally in PDF format.

Order the teaching material

Order the Bridge Building game

The bridge-building game is a conversation game without winners and losers, right or wrong answers. One at a time, you roll the dice and draw a card of the color shown on the dice. Each card has a question on it, and the players share their opinions and reflections and learn from each other. The game helps to put into words what we have in common and what we think differently about.

The playing cards are divided into the following categories: Community, Trust, Prejudice, Me, True/False and Joker.

The game was developed to use during Bridge Building Week for students aged 10 and up. 500 students tested the game during development, and since then, hundreds of students and adults have used the game during Bridge Building Week.

Buy the Bridge Builder game

Media coverage

Kristeligt Dagblad (October 5, 2022): Are you still Muslim if you love another woman?

Berlingske (Nov 5, 2021): They have never known a Jew - but then Copenhagen school got a special visit: "I figured they were obsessed with their faith"

TV2 Lorry (Oct 29, 2021): News broadcast at 18:30

Folkeskolen.dk (Oct 4, 2021): Teachers speak their prejudices out loud on bridge-building course

School Monitor (Oct. 15, 2021): "Don't be afraid of conflict": Brobyggerne equips teachers to handle conversations about racism and homophobia

Danmarks Radio (Feb 21, 2019): Özlem Cekic educates school students in building bridges and breaking down prejudice.

Kristelig Dagblad: Behind the high-security walls, prejudices are broken down.

Politiken (March 5, 2019): When Lea goes home today, she wants to go the straight way - she's not afraid of the boys anymore.

TV2 Lorry (Feb. 9, 2019): Østerbro and Tingbjerg in chain dance builds bridges between social classes.

Ekstra Bladet (Apr 26, 2019): Children are Paludan's advertising pillar.

Both P4 and P1 Orientering made reports from the schools.

Collaboration partners

Bridge Builder Week is supported by Tryg Fonden and the Danish Parliament. Many thanks to the elementary schools that are part of the project! At our teacher seminars we have visits from talented educators and several democratic organizations. Also thank you to our other indispensable partners.

Tryg Foundation
The Danish Parliament
Gorilla Media
Lundehusskolen
Caroline School
Tingbjerg School
Randersgadeskolen
Al-Hikma School

Learning4life.dk
Forum Theater
The new voices
Mind mover
Stamped
Sabaah
Jewish Information Center
Flashy peacock

Bridge Builders

The Bridge Builders - Center for Dialogue Coffee was created to strengthen dialogue, tolerance and understanding between people with different opinions, values and ways of life.

We want to promote a society that handles its conflicts and disagreements with words and arguments - not violence and threats.