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ShapeSphere · Joined: 16 Oct 2004 Posts: 386

Has anybody ever actually played one of those touchy-feely games and found it successful?　(The type of game to build trust within students).

Here are examples from a book I have:

1. Clear a space in the room. Students stand in pairs. Ask student to fall backwards towards their partner, who should be ready to catch them.

2. Students fill out a sheet. One question asks "How often do you cry?"

I could write more but am beginning to feel nauseous and don't want to vomit all over my computer.

Clearly the games are not suitable for me and any teacher will only do games they feel comfortable with, but in my experience most students don't seem interested in what their colleagues have to say or building a relationship with them. They are there to learn from the teacher only - they see that as paramount and like to stay within their own zone. A student can say something really fascinating (it can happen!), and yet nobody follows it up with a question or comment. They also have their own limits in what they will express. Who is going to reveal the level of their tears to people in a classroom?

It is my goal to break down barriers and create good classroom dynamics by getting the students to learn each other's names (as opposed to pointing or using he/she) and so on. But in certain cultures (Germany, China, Japan) the two examples above would be as welcome as a French kiss at a family reunion.

However, I am intrigued if people have used ultra-emotional games to great effect. Which country? Ages? Context? Success? Failure?

Look forward to your input.

laura1d · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 108 Location: Spain

Hi,

I used this type of activity only once. I was teaching refugees that we were trying to get to bond. Not the same as in a more usual teaching environment. The thought of doing it with my students now (in Spain) makes me laugh out loud.

I often wonder where these ideas come from. I was asked to teach English through drama once, and a teacher's book I read had a lot of them in - again hardly a normal situation though.

I agree that you have to be comfortable with an activity in order to teach it convincingly - I would be too chicken to do a lot of these types of games in a classroom.

Laura

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

The 'games' you describe are for a different audience altogether - probably people who have experienced some trauma and need to build trust in other people again.

I would absolutely NEVER use them in a language classroom, regardless of culture or any other factor.

The refugees mentioned might fit my description above, I suppose. But, not being a qualified psychologist, I'd never feel comfortable about attempting this kind of bare-your-soul stuff even then.

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 7:46 am Post subject:

It all sounds very interesting,it might just work with some of my lot ,Turkish students are very tactile by nature and regard the others in the class as their "friends" with only a few exceptions,the crying question is the type I would ask them and probably get fairly honest answers,there is a reasonable amount of trust within the groups I teach ,so these kind of activities could strengthen and perhaps extend it .Any chance of a few more examples or an appropiate link for my perusal ?

fluffyhamster · Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 8:07 am Post subject:

There was a thread on the Applied Linguistics forum called 'Don't go there':
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=2553

Although the discussion didn't center on it, there was one activity (from Mario Rinvolucri) quoted that involved emotions:

merlin · Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:23 am Post subject:

Like any book for teaching, take what you can use from it and feel comfortable and chuck the rest.

One thing I'm working on now is trying to get over a lot of the resistance i encounter among students that dates back to borderline traumatic educational experiences associated with English.

Some despotic teachers really ruin a student for life and when you get them no learning can occur until they overcome that.

So, no, not the ultra-emotional "games", but I do venture into the realm of affective education. I find my lessons are more effective when they are more ... Wink

If it isn't you then don't use it.

ShapeSphere · Joined: 16 Oct 2004 Posts: 386

Interesting replies.

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Thanks for the source! I've encountered these kinds of 'games' used for self-help/awareness courses (which I organized as a part of my old business, but neither attended nor taught) but I wouldn't have recognized them as useful in a language learning classroom.

But obviously I haven't taught the whole range of kinds of language students, and maybe I can see how they could be appropriate in some cases....

But, I'm with your original post - I'd be very uncomfortable approaching such personal issues with my students. I prefer a more professional distance.....I'm very much a Northerner in terms of personal space and privacy! Meaning that I like lots.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 4:08 pm Post subject:

I'm not familiar with the book in question, but have used similar sounding "touchy feely" games and explorations in a variety of settings.

But remember that in my pre-EFL days, I worked in theatre. Working toward collaborative, performance based art, this kind of thing can be indispensable. I'm still very interested in the relationship between dramatic art, community voices, and social change. Agosto Boal is a very interesting writer/practitioner if you're into this kind of thing.

But in all honesty, I've been in EFL for quite a while as well, and while I disagree with the idea that trust building is only for trauma victims, I don't see that classroom relevance of a lot of this. I can see the need for new classes to get to know each other, and to work towards being willing to work together.

I know that some of them may have come to learn "only from the teacher." Well, as there's usually only one of me, and often more than 20 of them, that isn't super productive, is it? Activities that encourage them to access each other, and to form a team, can be really productive in these cases.

But they still have to be EFL activities. Students may not always know exactly what the teacher has in mind, but can usually smell an activity with no language purpose a mile away. They've come to me to learn English. Certainly, I can add other elements as they learn English. Especially if those elements, such as forming a team and accessing peers, are actually going to assist them in their English learning. But no matter how lofty my goals, they won't accept any touchy feely crap that seems to them to be instead of learning English.

Best,

Justin

Sherri · Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:22 am Post subject:

I used to teach EFL in Chelsea, London to a real international mix of students (Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Iraq, Malaysia, Japan, Brazil etc) of all walks of life from the rich wives of diplomats to au pairs. The class met 5 days a week for 3 hours every morning over about a 5 month period, so I got to know them pretty well. On the last day of the class, I thought I would do something "fun" and light, so chose an activity from Headway where you describe a journey and the students are supposed to imagine how the journey would look to them. Like "you are walking along a road and you come across a house, describe what the house looks like." Then you listen to their descriptions and each object on the journey is a symbol for some aspect of your life. I thought we could have a little laugh as we tried to interpret the symbols.

As it turned out, one of the Brazilian students was a psychologist and when we began to talk about the symbols, he gave us his analysis. It was utterly amazing! He was spot on with everyone and several of the students had revelations about themselves. It was one of my most memorable classroom moments, but I could never reproduce it!

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I agree 100 percent with Ben. It's not what we are there to do.

laura1d · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 108 Location: Spain

I also agree with Ben, in usual circumstances they are not needed.

My experience using them was in a very different circumstance.

I would never even consider it now, working at an academy in Spain!!!

I do think they have a place, they should not be disregarded. That place, however, is not in your run of the mill EFL classroom! There are far more pertinent things to impart, such as grammar / usage etc, when you have a limited amount of time with students.

These types of activities belong in 'alternative' situations in this industry.

Laura

laura1d · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 108 Location: Spain

As an aside,

I had a book called 'discussion a - z' that I decided to use with a group of all male refugees I taught. We were in the refugee camp and the guys were extremely close friends so I thought I would give one a go.

I asked them to imagine different situations and roleplay them. One pair of guys had to pretend that one was a policeman and the other was a woman stealing a chicken from a supermarket. They had time to prepare and then they came into the classroom to act it out.

Within seconds I lost control of them. the 'woman shoplifter' hunched in the corner and the 'policeman' started hitting her around the head and shouting at her. I stopped the activity immediately and we started a discussion about what had happened. They told me that they wanted to show me how such a thing would have been managed in their own country.

I have never felt so small in my life. Now I put a lot more thought into 'alternative' activities.

There is such a thin line.

Laura

thelmadatter · Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:30 pm Post subject: games

I HATE these kinds of games. For certain people (OK Im among them) asking overtly personal questions like "what was the most difficult day of your life" and games where you pass yarn through each other's clothing can be downright insulting, embarrassing and/or tramatic for some. Yes, I had experienced both things in teacher training sessions. For example, maybe for most people, a really difficult day was their SAT's or somethign like that, but what about for people who have truly experienced disaster in their lives? Is it fair to make them talk about it in an employer-sponsored class filled with co-workers? Would you like to be a student in a similar situation with friends and classmates? I dont think so.

I submitted to the yarn activity because it seemed that I was the onlyone who had a problem with it... but I really wished I had not. I felt violated ... not so much because strangers touched me (though I dont like that) but because I was in a situation where I felt I HAD to let them. (I was still fairly new to the job and unsure of myself). Excuses aside, I should have said no.

Personal questions are dynamite, IMHO-