English teaching/learning

Dedocracia -- consensus decision-making with fingers.

Thu, 04/12/2012 - 01:52 by matt noyes

Dedocracia is a pun I learned from activists from the Dominican Republic with whom I used to work. When someone designates the person who has to carry out a particular assignment -- by pointing at him/her rather than voting or reaching consensus -- it's a case of "dedocracia" (the rule of the finger).

But I have since learned about another form of dedocracia: five finger consensus, or "fist-to-five consensus-building." You can read about it here: http://freechild.org/Firestarter/Fist2Five.htm

Speaking/listening

Dinamicas de Organizacion y Planificacion (organizing and planning activities)

Ludus

dedocracia

Ready for Publication

Fletcher A. (2002). FireStarter Youth Power Curriculum: Participant Guidebook. Olympia WA: Freechild Project.

The People's Microphone

Wed, 11/09/2011 - 22:11 by matt noyes

It's an obvious idea, but seeing video of people using the People's Microphone, I decided to teach the technique in my English for Activists course and use it for language practice.

The Flow

Introduce this as a technique used at Occupy Wall Street as a solution to a very simple problem: no sound permit. (Could lead to an interesting discussion about laws regarding speech and assembly in different countries.)

Speaking/listening

Ready for Publication

Hakaru-kun and Alforja Cartoon

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 00:20 by matt noyes

I have been having an interesting time working through ideas inspired by Jacotot/Ranciere in a two-semester course at Meiji University that I call the "learning seminar."

Feel free

Sun, 07/24/2011 - 03:35 by matt noyes

This is not so much an activity or technique as a policy. But, it has implications for facilitation and for participants' actions.

At the outset of a course or workshop, as part of my self-introduction, I explain that there is one general rule that is very important to me, that is that everyone should feel free. (This is constantly evolving as I learn more about what feeling free can mean.)

The spiel:

People should feel free to be comfortable:

to stand up if they need to stand up,
to leave the room if they need to leave the room,

Dinamicas de Animacion (icebreakers)

Paidia

Ready for Publication

Matt Noyes

Liar, Liar

Thu, 07/21/2011 - 01:38 by matt noyes

This is a fun way to get people talking with each other and to help them loosen up. Good for a group where people already know each other and may find it hard to strike up a conversation that isn't stale. Going deeper: this activity frees us from the usual sense of obligation/desire to tell the truth, which may conflict with our feelings of shame or just a sense of privacy. Taking the liberty to lie, to betray our principles, to espouse reprehensible beliefs, may free us from inhibition and help us find new truths.

The Flow:

Dinamicas de Animacion (icebreakers)

pair conversation game

Mimicry (Simulation)

Ready for Publication

Matt Noyes

Technique and Content

Wed, 07/06/2011 - 22:53 by matt noyes

It is often said that popular education is not about the participatory techniques that we use (or not just about the techniques), it is about the content. One argument is that techniques are just tools that can be used for good or bad purposes, to liberate or to enslave. I remember Neville Alexander making this point in Education and the Struggle for National Liberation in Southern Africa. He writes that after Freire was exiled from Brazil the military junta used some of his techniques to conduct pro-government literacy education.

What do we want? Why do we want it?

Wed, 05/25/2011 - 00:47 by matt noyes

This activity combines "What do we want? When do we want it?" with "Ten levels of 'Why?'"

Good for: animation, personal reflection, starting discussion of goals and strategic vision.

Set-up: circle-game, sitting or standing, walking (like on picket line), followed by individual work and then, at the end, circle again

Number of people: enough for a "we"

Materials: none (could be interesting to have people create placards or picket signs at the end)

Tecnicas de Analisis General (general analytical techniques)

Ready for Publication

Regarding games

Tue, 05/24/2011 - 22:58 by matt noyes

Reading Ranciere on Jacotot (Ignorant Schoolmaster) I have been thinking about the idea of constraint, of force, or the subordination of one will to another without sacrificing the equality of intelligences. ("Entre l'eleve et le maitre s'etait etabli un pur rapport de volonte a volunte..."p25) The student's will is subjected to that of the teacher, but the intelligences of the teacher and student are separate and equal.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln...

Tue, 04/12/2011 - 12:34 by matt noyes

I made this one up for the English for Activists class I teach. The first class of the new season came one month after the 3/11/2011 great Tohoku Earthquake and resulting nuclear disaster, on the day the disaster was rated a Level 7 -- the highest level of nuclear accident on a global scale.

I wanted a way for the group to share about this enormous disaster that we all confront and all share. Inspired by the "Head, Heart, and Hands" activity in Educating for a Change, I drew six icons on index cards: a heart, an ear, an eye, a hand, a mouth, and a question mark. (I made three sets.)

Group forming technique: people poker

Tue, 01/18/2011 - 00:04 by matt noyes

There are many ways to form small groups for learning activities. One tool that I like for its flexibility is to give each participant a playing card, then form groups on the basis of poker hands (or some other game): Four of a kind, Flush, Straight, Straight Flush, etc.

You can have face cards (or any other set) be observers or note-takers. You can have jokers be facilitators. You can form groups of any size.