English teaching/learning

Adapted from Writing Into... http://re.rollingearth.org/?q=content/writing

Take a text and ask players to write questions they have about any word or sentence.

Then, ask them to rewrite the text to include the questions.

Discuss the questions.

Rewrite again, this time writing in the questions and answers.

Take a copy of a text.

Joker asks people in a group (or individually) to cut out paragraphs, sentences, clauses, words, until only the most essential content is left.

At each step the person cutting has to justify her/his choice to the others in the group. If they are not convinced, the cutter has to choose something else to cut.

Or, take a text, cut it up by paragraphs, shuffle them and ask groups to re-order them. (It may be possible to find an order that is different from the original, but still valid.)

An idea for an activity based on the game Um, what is...?. I got this idea from Yurie Kumakura.

In pairs, one person tells a story, or makes an argument. The listener stops her from time to time to confirm his understanding. "Okay, so you mean....?" If the listener is correct, the speaker confirms this and moves on. If not, she repeats or clarifies. This can be done in a serious way -- confirming the other person's argument -- or in a silly way, confirming (or misconstruing) the most obvious details.

Gayatri Spivak says that Jacques Derrida told her one must always say "yes" to a text twice before criticizing.

In this activity, you write something from a point of view that you dislike, then find two positive things in what you wrote before criticizing...

Or you find something you don't like (song, art work, etc) and say yes twice....

Idea for an activity...

In pairs or trios, have one person perform/write/speak/etc.

Others have to observe carefully and identify what is going right.

The idea is to listen/read supportively and to place feedback on a positive foundation. Also, to practice saying yes twice to a text. (Derrida)

On index cards, one each, write tasks, roles, resources, decision-making, access to information that go with each position in the organization. E.g., the production worker in the coop, the manager in the coop, the union steward, etc.

Draw one card for each position: steward, president, member, etc.

Line up the roles, resources, etc that belong to each position.

Then, re-distribute the roles, etc. in teams -- what is the best way to distribute roles, responsibilities, why? Are new positions needed? Are some existing positions superfluous?

I got this idea from a TedX talk by Chris Lonsdale: "How to learn any language in six months."(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0yGdNEWdn0).

The concept is simple: create a simple 3x3x3 matrix of three nouns, three verbs and three adjectives. Make sentences using one of the nouns, one verb, and one adjective. The goal is to make as many meaningful combinations as possible.

The players should feel free to add other words and parts of speech, but the basis of the sentence should be three words from the matrix.

As a child I remember playing a game in which one person made a repetitive mechanical movement, with a sound to match. The next person added a new movement and sound, and so on, until the participants had assembled a big, clanking, wheezing machine.

In this activity, the first player says one word, again and again, establishing a beat. (1, 2, 3, 4 --> The, The, The, The...) The next player adds a word and another rhythm. (1, rest, 3, 4 --> time, --, time, time) Each successive player builds the sentence and the sound.