Speaking/listening

Idea for an activity:

Take a text, in another language, that you love (poem, song, whatever).

Use Google translate to translate it to English.

If the result is sufficiently strange, copy it, reduce it, and perform it like a poem at a poetry slam.

If the result is too normal, try translating the translated version into a different language, then from that language into English, or into another language -- repeat until you have freed the words from the original text.

The idea is to start a discussion of a famous person (or text, artwork, etc) using the Dating Game format.

There are three roles: the Joker (emcee), the player, the potential dates.

The flow:
The player sits separated from the three potential dates.
The joker introduces the player.
The joker then asks the dates to introduce themselves in one sentence that will be attractive to the player.
The player then proceeds to ask questions, to one date at a time, trying to find the one who sounds best.

From the great Open Culture website. http://www.openculture.com/2014/04/10-rules-for-students-and-teachers-po...

These rules can be used in many ways:

• As one big prompt for a writing activity;
• As individual prompts for a writing activity;
• As prompts for role plays or speeches;
• As propositions to debate...

They are great to use for thinking about innovation, creativity, education, any kind of self-directed work.
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RULE ONE: Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for a while.

For a few years I have been using Facebook Groups in my university courses. One technique that has been especially useful is to have students post comments for homework, then, in the following class, read and respond to others' comments, using their smartphones. I also participate, provoking discussion and reflection. It becomes a kind of instant writing/reading process and the atmosphere is relaxed and fun.

I learned this from my friend Jon Ander Musatadi, a young cooperative entrepreneur from Euskadi.

The Joker asks participants to think about the biggest problem they face in their work and write it on a piece of paper.

Then, in groups, the participants come up with two solutions: the best solution and the worst. The worst solution is like a nightmare scenario.

The game Loud & Proud is designed to played as a rapid-fire competitive matching game. http://store.toolboxfored.org/loud-proud/

It can also be played:

• As prompts or seeds for making speeches or sermons. One card: if you draw "Organic food is...", you have to improvise a speech on organic food (for or against, or other). Two cards (matching symbols): if you draw "Corporation" and "A Democracy" you have to improvise a speech that relates the two concepts.

The card game Buffalo, by Mary Flanagan, is designed to be played as a rapid-fire competition between players. (http://www.tiltfactor.org/game/buffalo/)

It can also be played:

Play the game "Which would you rather be?" (have, do, see, eat...)

Do it first for fun, making the questions challenging, surreal, random, etc.

Then do it thematically: which would you rather be: a boss or a worker? A capitalist or a cooperativist? The questions should be real, not rhetorical or testing people's adherence to a political line.

In pairs, one person is the Engineer the other is the Robot. The engineer gives the robot instructions. The robot does exactly what z is instructed to do, if possible in the spirit of "yes, and...". It is okay for the robot to fail to perform an action -- that requires the engineer to adapt the instruction. This will be most interesting if the instructions are creative: write a poem, pretend to eat ice cream, explain the meaning of life...

Variations:

Sound shiritori, joker is judge of sound match, uses silent way to help people find the right sound.

Play --> Ace (or eight...)

No words ending in -ing.

Can combine with sound color chart that shows letter combinations per sound, but point is more to get people to stop thinking visually (letters) and think aurally instead.