D. THE ELEPHANT

A. INTRODUCTION

The process of learning a language (and the culture that goes with it) is long and complex. But what do you do when faced with a group of people who have little or no experience of speaking another language? These ideas concentrate on what to do with your group to prepare them for an international activity in order to take away some of their fears and apprehensions about having to try to communicate with people who speak another language.

The principles upon which these activities are based include:

* use anything you can to arouse curiosity

* make it fun by using the resources present in your group

* do not put people in embarrassing situations

* make the language live

* always try to relate the exercises to real life

These exercises have proved their worth in youth exchanges and seminars all over Europe. Some of them may be new to you, some not. As with all methods you need to experiment with them before using them with a group - and all of them will need to be adapted to your particular conditions. Some of the ideas presented here could be extended to serious language learning, but it is worth emphasizing that we are speaking about linguistic animation here, with no pretensions to anything grander!

B. FEELINGS

Ask the group to discuss their feelings about meeting someone who speaks another language.

Write the ideas down and compare them - some will be positive (curiosity, fun) others will be negative (fear of making mistakes, not being understood) and others will have more than one meaning (surprise, excitement, unexpected things might happen). The following exercises are designed to emphasize the positive feelings.

C. SILLY CHANT

Write the following "words" on a large piece of paper and hang it on a wall:

ANA NA GRRRR PHUT BOOM!

Say it slowly with the group, then increase the intensity, make it louder and softer, faster and slower (you can even include a little dance with it if you like). End with a big BOOM!

Your group has just "learned" a new language with its rhythms, light and shade.

D. THE ELEPHANT

With a volunteer, mime two zookeepers taking an elephant out of its cage and washing it. The rest of the group should watch but not say anything. Ask for two volunteers to repeat the mime. [If you have time, others can try too].

The reflection after the exercise could concentrate on questions like these:

* how did you understand what was going on?

* what part did non-verbal communication play?

* were there misunderstandings?

* how did the messages change when two other people played the mime?

* what lessons can we learn for communication with others?

E. THE HOUSE AND ANIMAL

Divide the group into pairs. Give each pair one marker pen and ask them to sit opposite each other with a piece of A3 paper taped to a table between them. Tell them that they will not be allowed to talk during the exercise which will last 5 minutes. Their task is to draw "a house and an animal" and they must do this with both partners holding the marker pen at the same time. No questions about what type of "house" or animal" are allowed!

After the five minutes are over, compare the drawings.

The discussion about this should raise some of the following points:

* what different methods did you use to communicate?

* how could you tell what the other was thinking?

* what strategies could you imagine to improve things in the future?

[Depending on the language level of your group, you may be able to run this exercise in the language which they want to learn, i.e., une maison et un animal; ein Haus und ein Tier; etc].

F. MUSIC

Find a song in another language on a cassette or CD or record.

Ask the group to listen to it: what kind of song is it? what kind of mood does it evoke? who is the song for?

Play the song again and this time ask the group to try to write down as many of the lyrics as they

can (don't worry about spelling!). Ask volunteers to read out their words - do they really appear in the song? how strange it sounds! can they understand anything?

Play the song again and repeat as often as the group wants.

You may find it useful to have a copy of the lyrics and a translation if you do not understand the language yourself.

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