More than 6% of Switzerland is prone to slope instability. New federal regulations require regional authorities (cantons) to generate natural hazard maps and the zoning of mass movements to restrict development on hazard-prone land. The paper discusses the proposed three-step procedure of hazard identification, hazard assessment and risk management. The Codes of Practice concerning the hazard maps involve the standard use of three colours (red, blue and yellow) to indicate areas of prohibited construction, construction with certain safety requirements and construction without restriction.Résumé Plus de 6% du territoire suisse est soumis à des phénomènes d'instabilités de terrain. De nouvelles bases légales exigent des autorités régionales l'établissement de cartes de danger et le zonage pour les mouvements de terrain afin de restreindre le développement dans les zones sensibles. Une procédure en trois étapes comprend l'identification du danger, l'évaluation du danger et la gestion du risque. L'application dans l'aménagement de ces cartes de danger peut être résumée ainsi: dans les zones rouges les constructions sont interdites, dans les zones bleues les constructions sont autorisées lorsque des prescriptions techniques de sécurité sont respectées et dans les zones jaunes les constructions sont autorisées.

This article offers communicative activities designed to enhance the cross-cultural awareness of Japanese university students whose language levels range from beginner to intermediate. Facilitating the development of cross-cultural awareness of foreign language students who have never lived in another culture or even visited one can be problematic. Although many educators have responded to the challenge with a knowledge-based approach, a recent study suggests a syllabus that emphasizes constructivist, process-oriented tasks would be more effective. In their efforts to implement the latter approach, the authors have devised activities that range from student-generated interviews of a guest speaker and e-mail exchanges with target language speakers to amini-video ethnography project that focuses on the cross-cultural experiences of others. The article outlines these activities and concludes with a brief evaluation of their effectiveness based on the learners' reactions.