Agon (Competition)

For games of competition.

Oni ha Soto! Variation 2: Beat the Fears

Fri, 11/29/2013 - 20:14 by matt noyes

Two variations by Lo Manho, with a few adjustments by MN.

“Beat the fears”

Joker separates the class into two groups: Demons and People.
The Demons have to make a list of twenty five things that the people in this particular learning group (e.g. university students, Sanitation workers) strongly fear, writing each fear on a separate index card. Ideally it should be something specific to that group, but people should feel free to name basic human fears, like death, too.

Ejercicios de comunicacion (communication excercises)

Ready for Publication

Oni ha Soto! Variation 1

Fri, 11/29/2013 - 19:39 by matt noyes

Variation by Hirabayashi Shunichi, with a few adjustments by MN.

Make a list of fears in advance, to save time. From the list, players vote for the top 10 fears that they have. Of course, they can add another words not on the list, but the number of fears should be the same as the number of demons.

Divide the participants into two groups. One group is the people, the other is the Demons. Each Demon will choose one fear to represent, keeping this secret from “the people.” The Demons will draw masks that somehow express – without words or symbols – the fear that they represent.

Ejercicios de comunicacion (communication excercises)

Ready for Publication

Haven't I met you somewhere before?

Thu, 09/26/2013 - 00:33 by matt noyes

In this game the players improvise a dialogue along the lines of the famous "Quelle Coincidence!!" dialogue in Eugene Ionesco's "La Cantatrice Chauve" (see the opening lines below).

In pairs, one person initiates the conversation as if it is the first time s/he is meeting the other. The first line is, "Haven't I met you somewhere before?"

In the spirit of "yes, and...", the second person agrees and adds some new detail, e.g., "Yes, I was thinking the same thing, maybe at the horse track?"

Speaking/listening

Ejercicios de comunicacion (communication excercises)

First Draft

"THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PERSUASION"

Sun, 03/31/2013 - 04:48 by matt noyes

THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PERSUASION

Formal Statements
1. Public Speeches
2. Letters of opposition or support
3. Declarations by organizations and institutions
4. Signed public statements
5. Declarations of indictment and intention
6. Group or mass petitions

Communications with a Wider Audience
7. Slogans, caricatures, and symbols
8. Banners, posters, and displayed communications
9. Leaflets, pamphlets, and books
10. Newspapers and journals
11. Records, radio, and television
12. Skywriting and earthwriting

Group Representations

Reading

Ready for Publication

Gene Sharp. The Politics of Nonviolent Action

I got 198 methods and violence ain't one: three sorts

Sun, 03/31/2013 - 04:45 by matt noyes

These are sorting games I made up based on Gene Sharp's list of 198 non-violent methods of struggle. I wanted to introduce the list of methods to people without overwhelming them (198!), and do it in a way that raises the underlying organizing issues they imply. The idea is to sort the methods according to whatever criteria you choose. These games should spread awareness of the variety of non-violent methods people have used in collective action and the issues they raise in a given context/group.

Ready for Publication

Fortunately, Unfortunately

Sun, 03/10/2013 - 06:19 by matt noyes

I learned this game from a fellow teacher in the Intensive English Learning Program at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, who played it as a child.

It's a pairs game (or chain game), where each player picks up from the previous player's contribution.

The joker starts the game, usually with the standard opening, "Unfortunately, I fell out of an airplane."
The next player continues the story, but switches the direction, "Fortunately, I had a parachute."
The joker (or a third player, if it is a chain), continues, "Unfortunately, the parachute had a hole in it."

Speaking/listening

Agon (Competition)

Ready for Publication

Fellow teacher

Broken Squares

Tue, 03/27/2012 - 04:57 by matt noyes

Adapted from "Broken Squares": Preparing Students for Group Work, from Practicing Collaborative Learning, Maryann Feola Castelucci and Peter Miller, College of Staten Island, CUNY, Dept of English, Speech and World Literature, Winter 1986

Writing

First Draft

Oni ha soto! (Demons out!)

Mon, 01/10/2011 - 23:27 by matt noyes

This role play activity is based on setsubun, the Japanese festival of the coming spring, held in early February. One feature of setsubun is the mamemaki, ritual bean-throwing to chase away demons. I learned from a local shinto priest that the practice is based on the peasants' struggle to survive the winter. The demons represent hunger, death, disease and the beans -- the most nutritious food available at that time of year -- represent health and potential growth, the power to survive until spring.

The flow:

My People -- poetry activity

Sat, 02/09/2008 - 12:50 by matt noyes

Not a new idea, but a particular use of it that has worked very well. The activity revolves around a close reading of a poem by Langston Hughes, using an eraser…

In this activity participants memorize/study the following short poem by Langston Hughes.

My People

The night is beautiful.

So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful.

So the eyes of my people.

Beautiful, also, is the sun.

Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

Flow:

write the poem on a blackboard
ask everyone to read it silently

Ejercicios de comunicacion (communication excercises)

Ready for Publication

English teaching/learning