7/28/2019 Humanisticki pristup - 8.12.2012 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/humanisticki-pristup-8122012 1/19 Blind Spot consists of things you know abollt me but that I ~11I11I1JW t. ' The Facade or Hidden Area isjust the r ~ v e r s e . those: things about Ille Il lttl I h el ' to myself, that I do not wallt you to know. Perhaps I need to trusr Y"U more III reveal these things, or I may feel that you will think less of me if I let you kn OI . these parts of myself. The Unknpwn Area has data about me that neither you noli I am' aware of. Some may be at the unconscious level. Now how does the nlodel work? Ideally, the largest area should he the Open Area in which you and I know a good nlany things about me, while tht! oilier 3r~JS should be 'Illite small. The way this can corne about is through sharing and feed- ' back. That is, the rn<lre I let you know about me, the smaller my Ilidden will be: and the larg N the Open Area will grow. My Blind ~pot r.'iU di:cr l ! ~ j f y flII1td give me feedback related 10 things Imay not yet realize about. As I ~hare things about myself with you and you gj~e ' develop sorne insights into rnys~lf that are in rhe Unknown' I I :1 • I • " i .4. .. \ All Ahoul Hum.niscic [d u , , Ii "" 11-. ; '" rI Motiel l{)r Sharillg I Humanistic te chniques hc lp create a warmer, more accepting climate, iliid ofgr,eater closeness "m O l!! s ~ d e n l s But how does this corne aboutl'l 0 '. underst:lnd the prol'.!». it is helpful to refer to a model called the JuhJri Ili ll .l , Its n\ysterious naille lI'a, coined from the first names of the PS},Chlllllgj , ,, ' . 1 1" developed it, JoseI'll I.lllt and !larry Ingham, Things I Things I Know Dorl't 1\:1l 0'.': The Johari Window Model' Things They Know Things They Don't Know "Reprinted from John E. Jo n . 3nd J. William I Arena '-/. I Blind SP " 1 "'t' t' Facade "" lii,I,len Area) UnklH1wll Uncolls r i o ,, , .. J II 1:> 1''' : " '1 , i Pfeiffer, eds., The 1973 Anrillal " r- Group Facilirators. b Jolla, Cllif.: Univcllily A"oei3te, (1973). Used wilh I'<rm i;,i ,n o The model is viewed as a cOllimunit:ation window through whkh 111/1111 11 J tion is given an.1 rece ived ahout oneself and others, It works this war, I li t r e four areas in the window. The Open or Public Area contains information wlii , Ii J know about myself ;lJld YOII also know; it is therefore public knowledge , 'I he
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Blind Spot consists of things you know abollt me but that I ~ 1 1 I 1 1 I 1 J W t.'The Facade or Hidden Area isjust the r ~ v e r s e . those: things about Ille Il lttl I h el '
to myself, that I do not wallt you to know. Perhaps I need to trusr Y"U more III
reveal these things, or I may feel that you will think less of me if I let you kn OI .
these parts of myself. The Unknpwn Area has data about me that neither you noli
I am'aware of. Some may be at the u nconscious level.
Now how does the nlodel work? Ideally, the largest area should he the Open
Area in which you and I know a good nlany things about me, while tht! oilier 3 r ~ J Sshould be 'Illite small. The way this can corne about is through sharing and feed- '
back. That is, the rn<lre I let you know about me, the smaller my Ilidden
will be: and the largN the Open Area will grow. My Blind ~ p o t r . ' i U d i : c r l ! ~ j f y f l I I 1 t dgive me feedback related 10 things Imay not yet realize about.
As I ~ h a r e things about myself with you and you g j ~ e '
develop sorne insights into r n y s ~ l f that are in rhe Unknown'I I :1
• I • " i .4. ..
\
All Ahoul Hum.niscic [d u , ,Ii
"" 11-. ;
'"
rI Motiel l{)r Sharillg
I
Humanistic te chniques hclp create a warmer, more accepting climate, i l i id
ofgr,eater closeness "m O l!! s ~ d e n l s But how does this corne aboutl'l 0
'. underst:lnd the prol'.!». it is helpful to refer to a model called the JuhJri Ili ll.l ,
Its n\ysterious naille lI'a, coined from the first names of the PS},Chlllllgj , ,, '. 1 1"developed it, JoseI'll I.lllt and !larry Ingham,
Things I
Things I Know Dorl't 1\:1l 0'.':
The Johari Window Model'Things
They
Know
Things
They
Don't
Know
"Reprinted from John E. Jon . 3nd J. William
I
Arena
'-/.I
Blind SP " 1
"'t't'
Facade
""lii,I ,len Area) UnklH1wll
Uncolls r io ,, ,
..
J II 1:>1''' : "
'1
,
i
Pfeiffer, eds., The 1973 Anrillal " r-Group Facilirators. b Jolla, Cllif.: Univcllily A"oei3te, (1973). Used wilh I'<rm i;,i ,no
The model is viewed as a cOllimunit:ation window through whkh 111/1111 11 J
tion is given an.1 rece ived ahout oneself and others, It works this war, I li t re
four areas in the window. The Open or Public Area contains information wlii , Ii J
know about myself ;lJld YOII also know; it is therefore public knowledge , 'I he
I Ii ' ' -"ring Sharing ill t1" Fureign L.ll1f;""gr el.ls,
I h ~ s c insights wilh you, they revcn to the Opell Arca.lhcrcrore, t h r o u g l ~ sharing
and fcedback the Opcn or Public Area increascs, while thc other t l H ~ e a r ~ J sueclcasc. HUllIanistic techniqucs, then, aim at increasillg the Open Area for
, everyone and, through the process of giving and recciving information abloutI
l.lursclves and each other, warmth and closeness develop as we tluly get to know
ene another. · I I Dut just how essential is the plocess of sharing" Sidney M. ]ourard. .
p ~ y c h o t h c r a p i s t and teacher, spent llIany years in the scientific investigation of
self·disclosure, or sharing oneself, because he vicwed it as the most important
thing in the world that can be studied. lie regardcd this area as vital bccause
"authentic self·disclosure is a way of le1ting othels krll\w of one's self and wOlld,
to sec if thcy approvc or disapprove-and to sec if OIiC likes or dislikes this self
and world one's self." 18 lie saw selr·disclosure as "Ihat cmbodiment 'the
(uuragc to be.' "1 9 Building tru sting relationships anu sharing oneself WIth others
go hand·ln·hand as necessities for sound I l l c n t ~ 1 h e ~ l t h I
ASSUMPTIONS OF l/UMANISTIC ElJUCA nO N : ISilll'Ply stated, these are some of thc key premises underlying hUnlaniSlil educa·
lion which were drawn upon in preparing the matcrials plcsented in book ror
the fmeigh language class:
I. A principal purpose of edllcaliOlI is to provide learnings and an environ·
IlIeIIl that facilitate the achicvement of thc full potential of students .· I . ,;:.:'2. Personal growth as well as cugnitivc growth is a responsibility of the '." ", .
school. Therefore educalion shwld deal with both dimensions ofhumahs-the"I .
cognitive or Intellectual and the affective or emotional. . ::' 'I .1 ' ;
J . For learning to be significant, feelings IIIIlSt he recognized a.ndput to use.! '
4. Significant lealning is discovcled for oneself. I .: .5, Human beings want 10 actualize their potcntbl. . ' . 'r; !
c..learning.
'] .
8.
Having healthy relationships with olhcr c l a s ~ r n a t e s is rrfore conducive't o' ij .
. : I '. ). ~ i l lLearning more abollt oneself is a motivaling factor in learning: .f , I 1';
activities themselves. wh ble notillll is " l o I l ' i ~ n " tll l lI()s t f'j"t ; .I I . l n ~ l 1 J b eteachers. And so they ml y Idve fe:lls ,111U be teluclant ;liwul l ' t 1 i i n t ~ this l ~ a l l l l ,even though it can be a JeepJr, nlllrc s ; l t i s ! ~ ' i l l l ~ ( ) t l ~ !\lI all. l ..
. Some of the feals bxprt ssed by tcachers 1 ; l k ~ the fnllll \ r ( ) I I y i n ~ tltat.:1:.',
.foreign language teacherlwilltake on the role of psychnillgist. It\ c rfcet, ,eachers" :
·may already be ill that r , Ie whether they allinit to il or not. ' yc ;til Itavc \the puwer.
to make others feel bellcr orworse about thelllselvcs, hut tcachels, ill pallicular,t ::
L have this power with e,very sentence they \lIter. In usillg sdf·;twalcnesstccillliqucs,
teachers try to cnhance fire srudcllt's personal gruwtlr alollg willt his grtJwth il l the.\-! .
talget language, Uy doing so, they recogllill' tltat afkcJivc !;OJJs ale a legitilllate;
; .. part of the curricululll. And thele arC certaill I'roccdulcs tn folio", whclI (ullduet·
ing humanistic exercises lwhich hell' sltHlcnts fcel betlcr and aVllillthe calISe fllr
'concern that teacilers Illay have. T h c s ~ will be cbboratcd ill tit" dlill'tcr tll
help eliminate the basis for those CllllccrllS.
Arthur Jersild regalds all tearilels as p r : l d k i n ~ I,sydltlltlgisls,whdhn lli
not they know it Or acccpt it:
Every IClChcl i, in his own way a p " Y l " h n \ l ) ~ l ~ 1 . EverYlhil1J.! Ill' dUl'''. : - ; \ r ~ (lr lL'al'lH!'i
has .. , a p,ychologiral impact. Whal he On,,!! hcll'lchiIJIt,,, I" ,Iilllller Iheir I l ' l v U l r < ~and thrir limilalions. lie is the ce"l"t J i ~ U l l ' in " o \ I I \ I I l ' < ~ ,illialion, wldch ra il helpthe tearncr to realize and ac""pl him,e1f or whith ma)" b r i , , ~ hll",iIiJli"". , h , " n ~ .rejection, or s c t f d i l P 3 { . g ~ m e n I . 2 0
<II;Ii Anothcr rear some teachers ha\'e is 11i;lt thcy IIlay till SUllie ullintclltiollal
damage to students, since emotiolls ~ l I d r c c l i l l g ~ arc 1I0t :trellS custolllarily delved
Into. TIlelr concern is gencrally unwarrantcd. Sellsitive teachers wililleal
sensitively ill most classroom situatiulIS, just as irlSclisitive lcacllels will be n'nsist·' I'':.j ent with their own behavior patterns. George IS;lJ.c i l lOWII, a wcll·kn\lwlI I c ~ d c r' !!I in the humanistic education movclllent, expresses his filldings Ic\:Jteu tll this:·;1: 1
worry very beautifully:, II . I ·
'Ve know or"o ~ l u ( l e n l ~ who ha' -e Ill:cnlufll1e(\ 1,), (lUI wtHk . It lu'i bl CH t l l I r ; I " I (.\
experiencc, wurking wHh Iarrc I l t l l 1 l \ J c r ~ of l e : ' l d ) l ' r ~ ;tt :111 k\cl!'; (If i t 1 \ l ' \ l l l j ~ l l l Ihat
t e . 1 c h ~ 1 S ""ho arc going 10 a b l J ~ C ' Iheir lOll' will t t l ) :\0 wlle-tlier Of I 1 l ~ t tlil'), 11 ;1'''
11 affeclive lechniques Jvail3lJlc. If a I(a(hn rdJtl" ill J l O \ k or P J l h , l l , ' ~ i l "',.)' 10·i" I
l
his c l a u r L ' ~ 1 1 1 conlcnr . .. I h i 5 1 ' o i ~ u n will (lUi. 1111 IIIa1ler wll 11 the vd\il-k.ll
I
i i Being innovative does illdced involve sOllie risk·taking, but the nl'l'd fllr inilovatiotl
.'I in the schools is quite pronounced. Gellerally, schools h;lve not C I I " t l l l r a ~ e dThc point of view takrn herc Is that building language programs along these lines . ! ";" combining affe.:tive ex I'e riences wi th the rnin g of suhlct: t IlI;illl' I. This is nu
. I ' ; , . \
is essential ill truly motivating lear nels a n d ~ n ~ " i n g justice .t? them as human, :,i·, 1; ' \ " , doubt one reasoll why fIIany y<,ungsters don'l lind the r\;I\\ftll'lli ;1 p l a r ~ \VhCII'
beings and as Individuals , I j I. . ,! things that arc important to theil l i v c . ~ happell.(. , I i" , I
IitI ;'11!'
FEARS ABOUT JlUMANISTlC EDUCA nO N " ,i: ' ' h ~ ~ ,! J' ACQUIRING EXI'EIu/:"NU' IN lIUMANlSnC 1LClINI<jU/:S.:.!, . ! I J • ! I
. I . j' .: ! il . I . . } 1':l i t .,A problem in I ~ c o r p o r a t l n g humanistic activities in ,f0,eign language c \ ~ s s e s ; i ~ a r ; . i A c t u a l l ~ humanistic technique.1 ale r.ol,d lo r Ihc "'adlcI ."s:well.3l th ,c ltlldeot.s ' : ! : ! H
foreign language teachers are largely untrained and blexperienccd In hum, j t I ~ ~ . t f . \ ,; expandmg growth and ~ c l f · a w a l e l l e s s , getllllg I rltotlch With feehngl, a l l d l n c r u s . . J . ' ~!r
! I 1 i;I., " ~ 4 ~ ~ ·11I'll! ':"r !lli'! I· ' . .. · , F ' t ' · t r ~ ; h .;! .
vniversiries or c<lndidares sirrinkl the Cambridge exams a ~ y ~,vhere . . . . . rhe world. II :.' .
'rh "I f l ' I' I I t · · I' h .e, 11):1Pose 0 r lIS exrrellle y Wil e s p r ~ activIty, W IC gives manyl e a r n e r ~ and reachers a sense of <llltllOritarivc: securiry, is srrictly
! , l i n g l 1 i in irs narure: ir resrs knowledge of vocabulary, collocation,gramm,\{ and spelling. II sits comfortahly wirhin what Carl Rogers,(19 83h·
1)describes as rhe tradirional par tt ligm of education:
d u c a r i o n has rradirionally t h o l ~ & h t of learning as an orderly
I f ype of cognirive, lefr-brain acriviry. The left hemisphere of rhe
lrain rends ro, fUllcrion in .ways. !t,har are IO?i.cal and linear. It'oes. srep-by-step, In :I srralght Itpe, e1l1phaslz1l1g r,he parts, the
I. petalls rhal m<1 .ke .up rife whole. Iq cceprs. only w!l:lr IS s ~ r e and
dear. It deals III Ideas and conCeprs. It IS assoclared With rhe
inasculine aspects of life. This is l rhe only kind of funcrioningthat is acceprable to our schools an d colleges.I
'Strings-nt-words' exercises
The gap-fill exercise calls on till' srudenr to work logically and linearly
and emphasises rhe pans thar go to make lip rh t whole. Tr is a clearexemplificarion, ar ,lcriviry kvl'i, of whar Rogers is saying about thewhole milldser of tradirional educarion.
Vari'llis forllls of rr:lllsiarion acriviry belong ro rhe same, no-nonsense,llla Ie pedagogy of rhe type:
J'lease tr,jllslale the followillg sel//ellce /irst literally al/d then
194
12 The JJlwulIIistic exercise
adell/iii/ely (rulll La/ill illto f.1/t;lish: i l lS HEBOS FACTIS,
Ol' l ' I IJU,\\ G A L L O l t U ~ 1 CAESAR Ol ' l 'UCNAVIT.
Grammar rranslarion exercises of rhis rype arc an imporrant elemenr
in language classes round rhe globe, both ill places where reachers have
heard of 'COnlll1Uflicarive n k r l ~ ) ( I ( ) I ( ) g y ' ,1I1d in places where rhey have
nor, for example, among rhe more elderly of China's 400 , 0 00 secondary
reachers of English.
Anorher. wide-spread rype of e x ~ r c i s e rhar focuses enrirely on formal
aspecrs of bnguage as irs objeer is choral reading. In several classes in
Sourh. Korea I heard swdenrs reciring rhe lesson in slow unison wirh
rheir'reacher: Choral reading can lead to memorising rhe rexr as a
whole, especially if rhe rexr is repeared ofren enOUgh. This is certainly
one WilY to rake a bnguage 011 board; ir is rhe wa), rhar Muslims round
the world come into possession of Ihe Koran, which mllsr always be in
Arabie. It was also the way Roman Carholics llsed to learn rhe Larinlirurgy unril ir was replaced b)' modem langllage versions in the mid
sixries. I was broughr up in this audirory learning rradirion, and radar
can effortlessly produce acres of church Latin. The problem is rhar if I
wanr to retrieve a senrence from rhe middle of a prayer I have ro sran
reciring ir from the b e ~ i n n i n g . Yo u 111ay need to do rhe same if youknow the alphJber by hean as a sound sequence: which comes firsr, 'j'or
'h'?Choral reperirion is of course very different from gap-fill or rhe
typical rranslarion exercise in rhar it is nor ar all analyrical or logical.
The aim is ro memorise rhe rexr as ir sunds and s0111erimes wirhour rhe
meaniilg being clear ro rhe learners. What the three exercises have in
, common is rhar nobody is speaking or wriring ro anybody; no inter
personal c01l1mliniCaiion is raking place and so ir is arguable rhar rhe
learners are dealing with srrings of words and !lor wirh language ar all.
The semi-communicative exercise
When you fill in gaps in a re x r, whell )'ou translare a piece of texr to
which you have no speL-ial relarionship, when you read aloudlrecirelchant a rexrbook passage, YOIl are nOI involved in one-to-one inreraction wirh anorher person and so the social aspecr of language is
missing. Some would say thar rhis is as odd as rhinking of music
withour reference to sound. The simple hallmark of rhe communicariveexercise is rhar YOll are saying something to anorher person in rhe rarget
language. The mosr successful version of the communicarive exercise is
when students arc given a [;lsk Jnd have to inreracr verbally to carry ir
out. One example would be: Imagine two students sitting back to back.
Each of them has a picture that the other stlldent cannot sec. Th e '
pictures are identical except that the second one has tell details missing.
Th e students' task is to discover what the differences between the two
pictures are. This sort of information gap exercise is somewhat inter
esting and has enough ludic appeal to create a mild level of energy in
most students, bu t such exercises wear thin when over-used.
A less linguistically and psychologically successful communicative::tctivity is on e where students arc asked to talk one-to-one about
personal matters but ill the context of artificial language work, often in
the context of a coursebook unit. Let us t<1ke a typical unit on the family
in a 10,\1cr level coursebook. Th e ullit starts with <1 gelle<1logical tree of a '
fictitious family. Often no attell1pt has been made to characterise a,ny of
the people whose names appear on the tree. Th e students listen to a
cassette about the names on the tree an d then the teacher asks qllcstions
like: 'How many sisters does John have?' 'Is Mary John's auut?' All of
the above is psychologically COlltentiess information and is clearly only
there to somehow 'carry' the language ('xponents the unit is designed to
teach. After half an hOllr of this humanly empty sort of activity, students
are typically asked to work in pairs an d ask each other aboLlt their real
families. This should mean that they arc now ming the target language
to speak about affectivcly important things bu t the shadow of the first
half hour's psychological vacuity hangs over them. Often they will
exchange what is potentially powerful informatioll, like the number of
sisters they have, bu t in a mood of relative communicational apathy.
When the teacher comes round listeni ng to the pair work, they have a
shrewd idea she is not too interested in their families but is listening ou t
for correct use of English personal adjectives. Though the information
belng exchanged at this 'transfer' st,lge in the lesson could be powerful
and important in itself, it is emptied of meaning because the Whole
lesson is narrowly form-focused.
We have looked at task-orientated coml1lunicative exercises an d ones
- that occur in the behaviollristically imrired coursebook following on
from presentation an d controlled practice in which the cOIllIl}unicative
stage is sometimes referred to as ' t r a r ~ f e r to the student's ow n life'. We,have seen how students may lind it hard to change gear from vacuous
language-like behaviour to energetic, motivated exchange of real,
personal information.
A third type of cOllllllunicative e X L ' l " d ~ e is the rehearsal activity in
which students tryout the langual-;e the)' might need in future situations
that may take place in the target Iangll,lge, such as ordering food in a
restaurant, booking into a hotel or gettin!; information in a railway
station.
T9 6
12. n)(' (JlllI/ollis/it exercise
These exercises have high face valuc, espccially.if the student is
shortly to go to a target language cOlllltry ;lnd is likely to be in ~ l I c hsituations. Extroverted students will sOllletimes fill such role-pL1ys with
energy and give the teacher the impressiol] of a buuing c1ass(Q,om. And
yet such role-plays have a lo t missinl-;: thcy nre dUlllmy runs, ;the)' arc
the apprentice pilot on the sil11l1lator, not at the controls of a seven four
seven; in fatt they afford their players l11uch less virtn,1I reality thall a
simulator does. Linclstromberg (lyyo:xi) S;IYS of rehearsal activiti ,es:
. .. people learn a Ial\gn;]ge better if their experience i\l it is as
full of meaning and ak rich in imal-;es as possible. Meahing ;llld
mental images cOllle ionly when connection is made lvith the
learners' own world of experience. The greater the cO, I'fction,
the better the learnin;g .. . Most classroom bngllage Idaming
activities arc seriously!lacking in this area. Take, for eX;lI\lplc, ;\
role-play in which Iea'rners expected to imagine arc in
no particular train stAtion speaking about departure tlllles for
' imagi.nary trains g o i n ~ to arbitrary destinations. This !s Ireal and
mealllllgful language l:,se only II I the sense that the picture of a
flower is a flower. I . , I
While the entirely formal lal guage-focused exercises liko t1 ;e! gap-fill
constitute staple diet of tH9 111ajority of the world's I,!nguagi· learners
ftom Hokkaldo to Jakarta hnd from Alma At-a to LlIlla, the Anglo
North American s u b - o r t h o ( h l ~ y of cOl11l11unicative language tdaching is
to be . f ~ u n d .in secondary s ~ h o o l , text books across Europ.e, lis illlplcmentedm private sector schools I'Ight round the world and IS se t before
apprentice teachers in unive1sity training departments. Rivd·s of ink
have flown in discussions df c(JlIlIllllnicative language teacl"ing, but
meanwhile the g r a m m a r - t r a ~ s l a t i ( ) n tC;1Chers just quietly do tlle!r work
and do not feci the need to c(lter into debates . They do the j04 way
it has been done, is done and \ ' i l l he done. II
The humanistic exercise
I
So what is the difference b c t \ ~ cell a semi-coll1l11unicative e x e r d s l and aIu m a n i ~ t i c one?
' The humanistic exercise is ikely to be lIsed in a classroom wl jere theI ' ,
teacher has a strong awareness of group process and ho w th /s affectsl I I
earning. This teacher will hL e stnrted the course with activ tics that
allow the -students to get to know ench other. This tcacher wi,li re;llise
that the mood of the class to be taken into account when ilhagining
lesson plans and that the sllCcess of a ccrt,lin set (If actiVities can
crnciapj' d ~ p e l l d Oil, W h ~ [ h e r a group fOllrteen -year-olds have just
come trplll vaulting 111 the g) '1lI or worklllg 111 Illath s III self-study modeor scri\)hlilrg d6wn g ~ o g r a p h y with a ( l ~ ( 1 dictator.
The ! will he the sort of perso jl who is aware she is teachingforty l I l ~ l i v , d l l a l s , not a great Illass. She IS likely to be a good observer
and ;11;tfood, empathetic listener. If hlllll<llli5ric exercise is t,o be
r d ~ v a p l and ac\eqll3te to t3sk ot Oft 1l111lg s l l l d ~ n t s a new expcnenceof th;'In'se!vc:s, then tht! te ,lcher's attitllt must be Dositive, her person
I ;
ski lls 'lpod 3nd her training a d ~ q u a t e ,Prcipc:rly hUlllani slic exercises arc; :not fillers for Friday afternoon
(Thur1tb y 3tCernoon II I Arab world)"IOf course they do get lIsed as{illers nI liven up cOlllnlllnic.ltive work, ~ ) ~ I t this lise is trivial and, in the
long d10, uninteresting. \X!hm teachers lise humanistic activities in this
way, out of cOlltext alld as Polyf!I!'I, ( ) f l c (ind them upsetting andi rrelev;11lc '
In C ( ~ h t r a s t , let liS now have a look lat the reaction .a class ,of
Anstna,A t O l l n ~ l " l \ - y e a r - o to a fully pregrated ~ U l l l a r l l S t l ~ exercise
alllled at offenngl ea rners tlllency alld li clf-expresslOn practice (takenfrol l l Pllchra alld Schratz ~ ~ 3 : ' P . - 4 5 ) . .
The laid a circle of rope (scven Illetres long) down on the floor
in the centre of Ihe classrooill. He asked ,ill 27 students to step inside it.
As the teacher plIlIed rope in tighter,lil cOllple of stud ents, without
being askl"d, Iwlped the tt'acher raise the rop e so that it encircled thewhole group ,I t waist level. Thl"Se were the instructions he gave: \Voliid
YOII close your eyes now, /Jicilse? \Vhalever YOIl feel or lIotice, don't
o/)ell YOllr eyes. ) list (Il ncell/rilte Oil YOllr feelings. Gradually the teacher
drew rope in so that all were tightly pressed together.
During the ne xt stage of the activity the students filled the board with
words that described their fcd ings. This dialogue then enSiled:
TEAC II F n What "bow louely? Wlh" wrote thlll?
STUDENT r I .. . I h,d (/ IO/fe/y lee/illg whe/lwc were all so . . . ''' EACH Ell ;. , togetha, yO IlIl lC clll ? ,
STUDENT J Yes.
TEA CIiEll Illteres tillg, So YOII diellUlI lIIillll that. Did )1011 all have p()siti/fe reelillgs?
Sl 'UIHNTS (SO llie, hesiraling) Yes. ,T F A C II E It COllld YUU des a il)c yo ur /ee/illgs (' bit marc. Tell me what
1I ',1S {! (ls itit'e ,,/lO/lt thelll?
STUll EN'!' :!. !thillk /I'e were all (lilt! hig !,ersoll, I think. 'Ve all were
i" the .-ir':!!! ,11/,1 Ih e <ird e 11','5 S(l thall a . .. thall II, I Iot a line, a11
1,,11 rOIll/(III S IIlId, I thill.1.!, we .dllike to be ill the class a/ld so weare iJ I)ig groll/).
TE A C II E H ElIItastic! rllld who wrote light?
..
198
12 '['i)e Imllla/listic exercise
STUD lNT 3 I ,
TEA e ll E It What do you lIIea ll by t/)Llt ?
ST U DENT 3 f;r " , //fhell ! closed Ill y eyes, I had 110 feelillg o f small. I
was ou t, IIlMS /lot ill , ! lIIea li I was I/Ot ill the middle of the circle.
TE AC II Ell So you didll '/ fer/the preSSllres() 1II1le/)?
STUDENT.3 No,
The conversation then wellt off into reflection o n other ti ghtly packed
si tua tions,PLIchta and Schr atz COlnlllellt: ·-rhe students w e r ~ thoroughly involved '
- noO just cognitive\y but tll1ot ionally as well - a nd they had the
oppqrtunit), to air both positive and negative feelings' . This activity'
provided 'a Illcaningiul introduction to the next st3ge of the lesson, in
which the students read a I S S : l g e ahout the kid" crushed during a pop
concert in tv'lt::lbollfll e,
The above extrJc t illustcltes :It cxt rcise le vel, at micro level, what
Carl Rogers says in hi s overview of w h ( ) I ~ - p e r s ( ) n or humanistic
teaching (Roge rs 1'9H3:w):
To involve the whol e person in learning means to set free and
utilise the right brJin, The right hemisphere function s in a quite
different wa), from the left. It is i n t u i t i v It grasps the essence
before it understands the details . It takes in a whole gestalt, the
total configllf:llion.It
opcrares ill Illetaphors. It is aestheticrarher tha ll logical. It Illakes creative leaps. It is the way of theartist, of the creative sc ientist. It is associated with the feminin e
qualiti es of li fe,
The Austrian rcacher gave hi s fOllrtccn-ycar-olds an ex perience which
they will IlJve processed in the ways that Rogers describes above ancl
I which then fed illro and cnriclll:d the reading of the target language text.
He put them in a posit ion to m:lke the exte rnal text their own and to
' experience it in lhe light of their own experience of being squashed
together. The differences hetween the rop e-tn-rcad ing exercise"and the
three semi-comlllunicativc exercises outlined a hove are striking:
The heart of the Ilulll;lI1isric e x e r c i ~ e is a personal experience and a
group experience in Ihe here alld now, which is where the languageflows from . T he stud ent s spea k to the teacher beca use they have
something to exp re ss, something tha t has welled up from their
emotions. This is cOlllpletely different frolll s t u d e n t ~ rehearsing
language for a fllture situation () f producing personal information
only because they are illslructed to personalise previously practised
language.
In the humani stic <: xcrc ise the quality of the students' language is
criticism is simply inaccurate alld illappropriatl: and does not need to
detain us. More interesling olltside criticisill cOllies from Legutke and
Thomas. These t\y'O authors descrihl-' all exercise from Rinvolucri
(19 Hz) lISCJ with cnh, 12th alld I3th grades ill.l German high school.
In the ext'rcise leamers are each asked to ~ ' h o ! l s e half a dozen groupings
the)' belollg tq or have belonged to . Each person thell draws a shape for
each of the c(ii!rctives and nurks with a cross their ow n relationship to"
and within the grollp. Srudcllls lhen explain their drawings to each
other.
Here are some of the le:Hllcr reactiolls that Leglltke and Thomas(1991: 57-8) report:
Panicipanrs agreed with Rinvolucri th3t the exercise opened up
an inreresting and lInllsual perspective on their ow n personality
and as a resliit could be quite motivating .. . However, , .. some
parricip<lllls r e p e a ~ e d l y emphasized the point that , when they
drew their shapes they experienced in parr strong emotions, and
time and again quite surprising olltlines emerged on the paper.
SLlbconscious or semi-consciolls contexts were uncovered in this
way. In many cases, panicularly wilh non-adult learners, this
procedure has heen 'lccompanied variously by painful emotions
becallse it exposed desires of grpllp belonging or p o s i ~ i o of
being placed on the oLltside of the group. The inner dynamic of
the exercise forced kMIIers into momentary undesired puhlicexposure.
The matters raised hy these tWO authors are serious and well worth
dealing with. However, for me they hring up the following questions
abolIt the groups where they had been lIsed: ,
Was this the students' first exposure to thili kind of exercise?
What did the teachers of the groups feel about using such exercises?
What kind of relationship did each teacher have with his/her group?
What had been done previously to p r o m ~ t e an atmosphere of open
ness and truSt? I - Were rile classes aware that they wer9 taking part in a sort , of
eXI)crimenral situation? I
Though 1 don't have answers to these questions, i,t is clear. that sincethe activity cansed clistress to some of the t u c l e n t s , it was not a good
choice for ; his point in their group process. That learners should no t
leave the hum'lllistic c1assroolll in an s o l v e d state of upset goes
without saying. This does 1I0t necessarilYi invalidate the use of an
exercise, bp t it doc;,s point to the need to o d u c e it properly and take
severqJ fa'dors into consideration.
2 02
', I
12 The humanistic exercise
The poillts brought lip by Lcgntke ~ l I 1 d Thomas liuk back to Dufeu's
worry about there being no ~ l l h : q l l a t e 'relational' framework that
individual exercises can be litted into. Dufeu (1996) suggests that the
creation of a harmonious progression over days and weeks at the
moment depends on the knowledge and skill of the teacher. Quite
possibly it always will, and we not likely to come up with a magic
formula to obviate [his reliance on teachers knowing their job.
IIi , _
Three areas of humanistic exercises
Whew'te'achers ' work with a class in a humanistic frame of mind they
often find they ha ve three main areas of focus:
- the task ( in our case this is language learning);
- the mood of the group in the here ami now;
- individual stuff that suriaces from the srudenrs' pasts. 1
Humanistic exercises can generally be placed in one or more of these
three categories,
Exercises for language learning (the task)
A 'humanistic exercise can have a very detailed and precise linguistic
focus. For example:
IPa$sing ,a word or phrase round the circle (pronunciation)
Ask the srudenrs to stand in a circle and tell tlIem they are going to pass
an object round the circle an d this object will be a word or phrase. Cup
your hands and lllentally concentrate on the word you are going to pass
to your neighbour in the circle. Get a feel of the word in your mind.
Pass the word and say the word so that everybody can hear. Make. sure
you co-ordinate the passing with your hands and the saying so that they
form one act of careful giving. In turn each stLIdenr passes the word to
their neighbour both verbally and manually. The linguistic focus of this
exercise is on difficult sounds in the target langllage and on specific
intonation patterns you feel the stude1lts need to get their minds round.If a student gets the sounds wrong, you quietly cross the circle and
'take' the word from the next perSOl l round the circle. You give the
word back to a person in the circle upstream from where the mistake
was made so that the person with the problem can hear the word a
I This framework was suggested in a workshop by Mike Eales.
able upper imermcdiate; as a writer he W,IS a hesitant, foot-tapping,
lower intermediate mess. As we worked, it became apparent to Sergei
that he had a silllilar problem in his native Itllssian and that he could
no w link db with a mother tollgue teadlCr he had had in middle
school. She disliked him, put him dOWII, . punished him and gave him
unfair marks. (He ched:ed this ou t by co·p)'ing a classmate's composi
tion a l l 1 l o ~ t verbatim: she gave him a D an d the classmate an A!) It wa's
clear that Sergei's linguistic past was obstrLlctillg his present like a blood
clot blocking ail artery. Th e hurrful teach¢r had broken the linle boy's
confidence in himself in this area. She ha d efficiently created a problem
where there had been Ilone, and the prilblem had stayed with him.
(Fortunately, Sergei left after tha t fortnight writing fluent faxes in
E"gli,".)1 .1
Dealing with projections
This is a "l exercise that is usdul near the ~ e g i n n i n g of a group's life to
bfing things from the participants' pasr which can get in the way of
their m beting each other effectively. IB r i n ~ .\ large soft ball to class and put [i n the middle of the circle.
Tell peOI)\p. to look around the group and see if anybody here reminds, I I .
them 0r ' lallybod)' they have kllown pre\ lOusly. When a person sees
someolle iIi the group wh o is like someone they already know, they pickup . the jll!lil,' throw it to . the person a l 1 ~ say: 'yon ,remind me of . . .
because :! .' and yon are lhfferenr from . . . \ e ~ a u s e . . . . .l
In a g ~ o L l p of 20 people usually betwt'ell SIX an d tell people WIll have
p r o j e c t + ~ they feci able [0 share and rI ese will tend to be positive
ones. exercise, if it is IIsed early in t\1 life of a group, will nor be
imponal1f in itself. Irs importance lies iry giving people permission to
think :M l\ alk ahout projectioll. Often snhlellts become aware of much
more ~ e . r f l l l an d serious projections d'\>'IS f t e ~ this little exercise has
been dpny In class. In one case, we (lid exercIse on the first Tuesday
of a t\vo-\veek cOllfse. On the Friday of tll1t,week Charlie told me that
he halL II,\ 'V finally disentangled me in hi;;, 111ind from a theatre director
I r e m i l l d ~ d him of. This 111,1 n was a p t ; ~ s o n he both respected an d
loathed, ,an d I looked like him, moved him and spoke like him!
Charlie fclt a lo t more comfortable in b1Y class once he had really
prised 111 '); image away from the other mah's in his head. Sorting LIS Ollt
melltallY tumed a conceivably painful c9 !1l'se into a good course for
Charlie. IIAfter t r o n g experiences like this, when I meet a new group, I am
acutely ,lware that l <1m meeting X nllmbcr of 'here-and-nows' but also
X 1 1 ! , I I 1 1 b ~ r of walking histories. I ignore these latter at my peril.
., 1 206 i'
12 TIJe /il/manistic exercise
Where do humanistic activities come from?
Opponents of the humanistic trend in Llnguage teaching will tell you
that a teacher goes on <1 couple of rherapy weekends and brings some
dangerous techniques b:lck to her class which she then uses recklessly
and fecklessly with her stllden • . To support this poillt of view they will
tell you that son]e of the techniques by humanistic writers are taken
straight from therapy an d could very dangerous in the hands of an
unskilled person. (So, incidentally, could a breadknife.)
Actually, the sources of the humanistic exercise are many an d varied.
Some activities come from a te<1cher looking with fresh eyes at an age-old
area, like, sa y, dictatioll. Some exercises come from identifiable feeder
fields, ' like drama trailling. Some are devised in response to a student
need that the teacher does not yet have a tool for in her kithag. She forges
a new instrument to cope with the stlldent need. Some activities arise
from ordinary life experiences ill which the teacher suddenly sees the
beginning of a useful exen:ise . Lel ll1e start with this last category.
IExercises that come from life experience
Imagine a train going Ollt of LOIlJOIl: four ~ e a t s , twO and two, facing
each mher. Seth an d I rook Ihe tWO aisle scats. A young ma n with his
head shaveJ, smelly socks an d a kitbag lay sprawled over the tw o seatsnext to the window. It took hinl five minutes to l110ve his dirty boot
over, away frol11 my elbow. As the lrain swayed through the suburbs I
built up a truly ferocious mental caricature of this clearly undesirable
individu:ll. All my stereotyping alld raci:dist mental machinery was
working overtime. After about twellty minutes he straightened himself
up an d very skilfully picked up on something I had said to Seth ten
minutes before. I liked his voice immediately, and very soon Seth and I
were in full conversation with him. My absurd, negative first impression
g u r g l e ~ down the plug hol e like barhwater. From this experience and
from discussion with colleagues comes this exercise that could be used
in the first five hours of a group coming togerher.
For this exercise the teacher tells the studenrs of a time when she had
a very wrong first impression of someone, which could he positive or
negatiye. The students then think of ,I time when either the)' go t a
wrong first impression of someOne or someone got a wrong first
impression of them. They work on this in threes. The teacher then
rounds off the exercise by giving om a text on wrong first impressions.
I Though apparentl)' abollt the past of people in the learning group,
this activity is really foclised on thc here-and-no w of the group, as
people try to sort out their first impressions of each other.
A good example of a whole set of exercises that wa s motivated by
student need is Letters (Uurbidge, Gray, Levy ;1I1d Rinvolucri 1996).
The authors of this book w o rked intensively with Japanese second and
fourth year university students and found that these young women
could express themselves Illuch better on the pa ge than they could
orally. Writing letters to them, receiving letters from them and getting
them to write letters to each other was a perfect way of getting them to
usc the English that they knew in the channel that felt IllOSt comfortable
to them. Once their confidence had been built up this way, it was
possible to help them to make the transition to mea ningful · oral
communication. \'V'ith these students it was certainly a case of their
written fluency leading them later to oral fluency. Without the initial
. oral silence and relative written eloquence of those Gifu students, the
useful exercises in Letters might never have been devised.
Exercises that come from feeder fields
Andrew Wright, Do n Byrne, Ah n Maley and !llan Duff were probably
among the first EFL teachers to b r i n ~ over ideas from other fields to
enrich their language tea ching. These pioneers, ·working in the 60S and70S, launched the reso urce hook genre in EFL., a category of book
which has been the vehicle for the transmission of humanistic ideas and
exercises for the last thirty years. There arc man y streams that feed the
language teaching lake. Here arc a few of them:
Drama
Alan Maley and Alan Duff, drawing heavily on Viola Spolin's work,
brought a whole range of drama and ;lctor training techniques into EFt.
their book, Drama Tecfmiqlfes ;'1 La17glfage Teachil7X (.1982), js -an
. excellent source of humanistic activities.
Psychodrama to
Bernard Dufeu has dra \Vn on the work of Jacob Moreno a nd Willy
Urbain to create a completely new approach to teaching beginners:
Linguistic Psychodramaturgy. This is a r ~ l a b l y the most complex and
complete approach to teaching adult beginners yet conceived. It is
packed with frames and activities that can be used in language tcaching
without necessarily buying the whole approach. Among the main
techniques brought across from psychodrama and Gestalt are the ideas
20 8
J J. Th e humanistic exercise
of role-reversal and doubling. In role-revcrsal, Person A takes al l the, . role of Person B when playing Ollt :I scene, :lnd, reciprocally Persall 13
acts ou t the part of Person A. In doubling, Person A gocs behind Person
B and tries to speak on Irs behalf, expressing things she thinks B mi ght
want to say but can't. Thcke have now been lIsed by many writers of
humanistic language teaching exercises. I
G r a P h O I O ~ y ,
IIn the same way that voice icarries the primary expression of language,
its oral form, h:lndwriting tarries its secondary expression, the written
form. Some ideas culled !from graphology have appeardd in EFL
magazines, but there is s t i l ~ much to be learnt and a d a p t e ~ from this
largely French-dominated fibld.
I'
, ,·, MathsI
IThe Silent Way and the wl\d le of Gattesno's thinking about [bngu;'Ige
springs directly f romma thFl1latical thinking. All the ( ) p i 1 e l l l l e d ,semantically free sentencei naniPulation exercises, which dr ' ;so dif
ferent from gap-fills, cOllle ftolll the area of mathematical rqativity.
(See Rinvolucri 19 84, sectio 1[2.)
I'. lNeuro-Linguistic Program ing I
: \ I
i A gmw;og body of E fl ,Ihm h", "k" , ;0;,;,1 ",;oin, , ." '"" h.
I NLP and have turned s o m ~ bf its rich range of exercises to language
!' teaching usc. NLP is still a jdpidly developing field and we so far
only seen the beginnings of IIsiadaptation to langu:lge f l i n g ends.I,·j The above listing of feeder Leas is by no Illeans e x h a u s t i v ~ , bU it shows
some of the pastures in h i c h adventurous language tea chers ,have
grazed. My hunch is that t l l ( borrowings <lnd adapt:ltions of the past
tWenty-five years have been[so fruitful that Illany more feeder fields not
yet approached will be pressed into EFL service over the first twenty
years of the twenty-first century. · .,- ' I
Exercises that come from anew look at an old areaI I
In the 80 S John Morgan ;1I1d I stumbled on the f<lct that when we told
stories to language students, SOllie of them responded with d depth of
feeling we did no t at first understand. I remcmber an Italian business
\ man who stopped me telling Little Red Riclinghood at the point where
I To become mo re c i o u s of uppealing m e n l s in the environment ,
To lake nOle of what is pleasing (U ont!'s renses and to share that
ple,asllfc 1 I II 1"1111,1 i'
Tll practice 1 1 1 ~ ' v e d ) s lhiar, l a S I ~ , Sill"" kcl, and touch, which
relate to Ihe t1ve sch'ses
'I'll raclin: II,e v()cail\I!,IJY 'r' kelill!:> iiJl( r lllllS
Levels: Alllc'Iels, with vocabulary help (or the begilll ing level , ' ISize o fgroups: I balt five I
/ l / l e r i a l S lIee'/t·f:Comple\ion of Ihe ass gnment by d e n t s who will bring in aariety ,)f b j e c ~
I
IJ "I'ro/'elitlle,\': B"III" "i ' 10) II,c :1",II(III1ICIII III":
I 'There i\rQmallY I"iugs ill the cnVirUJlIll<:lIt Ihal re very pleasing us,
! ometimes we r le not wllsdously ilwarC of what theSn e\ements are. In some way
I·'I l
I ,All Abuut (he Exercises • II I
they appeal to at least one of our swses. ~ Y o u cau ,ask the studcnts what ,the five
senses arL',) ,
"We are going to explore our s e l l s ~ s and think ablll!t (he many things that
,plcus\! each of thell!. AI h,illlC Illllig!rl wrik a lisl Ill' Ihillgs that pkil'" Y,Hlf S,'IlScS,
Make a colullln for each of (hc sellses below iI,wlile,as llIany Ihillgs as yuu
"an l!rink I ll ' w!rirh VOlIIl'SI'l'l:ialll' i 1 ! , " I , ~ , ' i i l ( l ' wilh 11,,11 ,.'II',l.', (III 111\ l i ~ ; 1 Ulltil'!'
'stllcll'l wnldd have sud. f l l i l l E ~ Il l: ;)11 b l d ~ , : ' \'Ld pg lH', Ei ' ,dI IH:. ~ L l l ~ f o j . \ ,1111
lists as lung as possible. ' ,
"Then for each or tile senses , select w n , ~ l h i n g Ihat ynu especially like thai
yOq can ildJlally Illillg III ,lass, llring lire fil'e! itt'IIIS ,;, .:bs s in iI lug s,' tlr:1l no llilC
C,1Il see them, For the item 10 be laSled . yolI Iliay h:ive tu supply sUllie eating or
drinking utensils., ' , ,
"You will be put into groups of five to share, of the favorile eIullents
, that appeal 10 your senses, Except for thc one which you like tll sec. you will
close your eyes when Ihe items are presenled to your groUp in order to try to
' guess what they arc. It' eating utensils are nceded for your '(astc' ilem, prepare' 10
HCHvr fl l i l l !,"" " t· , \Vr will I", d l s ( , l l . ~ s i l J ~ lilll\' "lIl'li ,111,1,111 ill'III';'\'''" hi ill/< In I I l n l you '!:eI. Ub"," ' , '
When the assignlllcnt is dllC, h<Jl'c thc S l l l " C ; I I ~ ill the glOlil'S lake (urns With
' one sense at a lime. If "s.;lcll" is the IIrst sense tll lJe worked 'with, one at a, time
the students give those in their group the opportunit:y, 'to smcllthe item each"
brought in. After the studcnts have smelled olle itCH) with their eyes clOSed, they
will glless wllat it was by saying, "I slIl.:!1 ' • , '; (OJ tlte past present
progressive tenses can be used). After ead,1 e r s o n t a k c n a guess, the one wh'o
brought it in will tell wln!t it is and what mood ode,eling s/he gets from it. '
For example: "That smell is a peony." The giollp \vill then ask, "How
does the smell of a peony l)1ake you feel'!" The person \V1i\l b r ~ u g h l in the iiem
, will reply, "\Vben I smell a 'peony, I feel heavenly'; or feel aliyc and exstalic
when I smell a peony," , .
When everyone has had a (11m in tlrc groups 10 sample all of Ihe items
hroughl ill, hllve thelll talk ,ahollt tll c other t l r i l l ~ S 'Ih ..!ir l i , l ~ t'1;1I w ~ r c not'
IoIUlllllil Ill, All! Iii",,, thul ll' 1 . I 1 " 1 I 1 t 0 l 1 l ~ , ( 10\' " I h " , ~ tli", I " " ' \ Iii"", lilOI IJr,,1 ' I r ~ y ,
didn t think of'! Did sOllie people hav.! i d < . ! n t i ~ a l ilJllls 'l-ln Iheir list s'!
III thc lotal group ask: '"
"Was it difficult to fOCLlS on your senses?"
"How can wedcvelll{J and appreciatc,our senses Inorc')" ,
"Which sense did you enjoy using the most.'I"
As u r1osinv, lIl'tivily. rOllllll dYlldi ' . 110'11. TIr,;,,' lin Ih,. II;sld,' "i1l'l" ~ h ' ' ' I { \ Ihlll<l lit" ' 1 ~ l I I s Ihey hl'<)lIglll In 10 hll '1IIeile" 1I11" 1 0 1 l d l ~ d , ' I ' I \ I I \ ' l I l h " ( l ' l I ' S ~ Icircle are 10 keep their eyes closed. The illll.!!' circle gJ(IIIP rotates around Ihe -
circle and presents the obJecls brought ill smcilingalllllou'l!/ling to each ~ ~
Procetlllrh Br.jng up Ihc Illpic or "full" 10 the f lass by Illuking some relatedrOlllmenl S [lb uilt 'It: .
"E ycryoJle like, 10 h a l ' ~ fUll ilnd to CIIjoy /lilll>eIL There are some things
that mallY } l ~ o c o n s i d ~ r fun , sudl as going tUl lhe circus. That's what makes
such evclI popular. There arc also Ihillg,; thai SHIlt! uf us enjoy which o t h e ~ s do
lIol. Some l)w ple lind a ! l l l e uf chess very exciting, II'hi:e others find it dull.
"Do rc
11<ll'e~ I l l l u ~ h
fun ill ,Hlr nl'c s'! Calli We have mure fun than Wt! donull"} To lipd out, IV,' arc all g ( ) i l l ~ lu conlplck *very simpl.: stakment with as
many elldings as lVe call Ihink or. The stateillent' is: 'hl l l is __ _ ___ ___I
i\hKe a list II I' alllhc ihings you l i k ~ 10 p:lrlicil'a;C ill ur Ii:IVC happen ihat are fun
for you. T h , ~ longer YDUI lisl is, betic!. YouI1statelllcnts wili sound like this:; I
IFUll i, , . ,
I , goillg ice sKaling ,
1 2. ealing a hOI fudge Inarslillialinw sundae.
.1. rilling ill a cUlivellible wilh Ihe lap down.
..), Iyillg in Ihe sllnwhcli the willd hlows gelltly.
5. bt!illg willi illy best flicl"\.
(0, dancing 10 mli siL or Illy favoritc grullp.
011 Friday bring in YOllr list or what fun is ror you. Nlllllber each item so we will
knoll' how many :Il'C on yom list. I'lit slilr in rnHlt of lliose you find llie mosl
fun,"
Wlien Ihe ~ s s i g n l l l e i l l is dUe, p l ; t c ~ SlliJelllS into groups of four 10 five, Have
Ihe s(udenls in each group take one lurn al a lillie slaling sometliing they consider
fun. COlltinue for a IIl1mbcr or WlIlllls unlil ~ l y o l l e ' s list is given. Ask the
sllHlents 10 slale tlie things Ihcy l'( lIl, i,kr the lIlust run at (he end of Iheir lists but
to mcnlion w h ~ n tliey reacli I h e S ~ , T l l l b ~ wlio mort! on their lists may end
up giving ,,',(ral by Ihcmselvcs i,f Ihe o l h ~ r s lUl i l lU! of items, Tell the students
thai Ihey can ,llId to their lists anylhillg ,I ci:t,i'llolall! mentions as fun tliat is not on
tlieir list s hUI Ihal they wanl to i l l c l u u ~ .
When tlie groups t1l1ish this phase of the exercise, Ihey should check:
L Which aClil'ities have you engagcd in I ' t ' cc l I l l ) ' } (f,lark Ihese with an "R "
or thc leller of Ihe equivalent word in thc largel language.)
Which aclivilies do yuu cng,igc ill Jieqllelllly' (Mark Ihese with an "F "
or Ihe letler Ill' the equivalenlwllld in the Lligcl language,)
3. \\Ihidl aclivities dl) YOll engage in only OCl'I /SiOll l l l /y ') (Mark Ihese with an
"0 " or the lel'tero()I' Ihe e q u i l ' ~ l e l l l word ill Ihe largd languag.:.) ,
. 4. Wilh \ ~ L l i frequellcy do you eng;lgc in Ihe aCli'ili es you have slarred as
the 1Il0st fun' for you'}
Ask t h , ~ studl nts tll disCllSS whal they discuvere,1 ,\boutthemselvesfrom this
exercise. Tellthern 10 make SlllllC resolutions fur Ihe futule regarding having fun.
- - - , ,
Ali Abou[ the Exercises 125
In the total group. have the stlldents s h ~ r . : the activily or situalion they
consider to 'be the 111051 fUll. A discussioll witli lhe whole class can also follow
on what studenls l e ~ r n e d about tliemselves frol11 this exercise. Some of the
resolutions made can be shart!d.As 3 follow-up activilY, the slll!tenls can submit lhdr extended lisls of what
they consider to be run with Ihe u e n c y Ihal the aClivilies are engaged in.
They can write what lhey \ c a r n e ~ I ~ r u l n lliis exercise and what resolutions they
have madc for tlie future. As an alternative or in addilion to this assignment, havethe siudents wrile ab()ul UII!! or nllHC of llie activities whi ch they enjoy, describ
ing occasiuns and events in Iheir lives connected with Ihose in wliich they ha'd a
To help build close tics among studen ts in a conscious way
To encourage students to think positively about themselves and
others in the class
Linguistic-
To practice the vocabulary of feelings
Lellefs: All levels
Size ofgroups: Abou t six
Procedllres: This activity is intended to be used as a closure after students have
worked with these exercises quite a while and feel close to each other. It is
especially effective after a more serious activity in which students share personally
meaningful memories or feelings or in which students have expressed very positive
feelin1s ther have" for one another. This exercise/ iS appropriate as a closing acti,vity
before v a c ~ t i o n oo t the end of the year.
. The Tudents should alreauy be in groups In which they worked on one or .
two e y . e r c i S ~ s together: They should be seated a circle. Here are the instructions
to give 'this activity: ·1.."T;IJc .e hch other's Ilanus :lIId look at ~ ' o l l e to make certain that
, I ,Ik ~ \ J w W J ~ O I
sit ting ill e a ~ h part of the cir de : Npw close you r eyes don't talk.
.With yo«r eyes closed, thmk of each person III Y,OIlr group, one at a time, and
experiell¢elsome warm thoughts and feelings a b ~ l I t each person. When you i!;jve
done t h i ~ , Ihi'1k of some warm though ts abou t " oursei f. Keep your eyes closed
'I I te 11
' I"n tl ).I9l, to open t lelll,
, I3;,lc{rtain that no one tnlks. I f anyone U ~ C $ , in a \vhisper quiet ly say, "No
tdkmg. , I 1 {
Tolallow enough time, verbalize to yours If this experience with the ' "
member \ given group or, better yet,join a ¥IOUp. When students have had
enough t l ~ e complete the activity, in a Cail11 ' voice, give this set of .
instructi6ds! r , . . ,
;;\Yi !your eyes closed, t 1ink of how fl!l doing this exercise and h o " , ,ypu are ~ t ; r l i n g right now. (Allow a minute to Pflss.t Nuw open yonr eye,s Jfjd
share t l H ~ S feelings." t . , , i . 1
After about three or four minutes, ask to have a few students share th(!ir
feelings he1ore the !otal group. ,, '
II '
I.L , . '. .
EXERCISE 49. I ENJOYED, I ENJbYED7 ."'
,/lrposes:
Aifebive-
To give students the opportlillity to express warlll thoughts andt r I I. lee 'ings '
To bring out i t i V ~ thollghts which might not otherwise get
exprcsseu "
Unguistic-
To practice the past tensc(s)
To practice the f!rsi and third persoll n b l r l a r Levels: All levels
'1
Size ofgroups: Tot al class ",./11.
..Procedures' This exerciscis intcildeu as a closing :Ictivi'\' after the students know.
,.each other well and after they have experienced awareness activities for quite.a .,
w h i \ e . l t is 'fitting before a huliuay vacation or uuring thelast week or thdaSl.day ,l a ~ s c h o o l is in session. ," Ii, .:.
If pos;;ible, hav e tile cl;15S scaled ;n a ci lck :,1.) everyone can be seen by ull,
An alternative is to have the students stalld ill a circle anu hold h ~ i n < l "Je re is a
way to introduce the activity:
"There are lllany go " d l i n g ~ ; ;II1U thoughl : that have, but they uon ' t
necessarily get e x p r c s We arc nnw go ing 10 have the LllallCC to share l h ~ s t :wilh the class,
"The question I'd like YOll.to an swer is. 'Did all)'on c ill tl llr class say or do
som'tthing that you especially liked. enjoyed, or "ppreci:Jtcd Lluring OU f (name orthe target language) class') ' Take a 1ll0lllent to think ahout it "nd thell we'll e3 ch
,have_- tU,rn to tell the class wll.O the person is and what it was thaI we enjoyeu ornppreciated.'·' . I
. Be certain to ; n t i c i p ~ t e in this activity yourself. TllS r! xercise is conducive
to bnn gif:l; oui glOWing fee lIn gs ,md even sonIc laughter.,