This just had to come first. It's unforgettable!
Mrs. Rosângela Oliveira, who was my Sociology teacher in 2000, taught this class at the end of the term, and I managed to addapt it to ESL classes successfully.
At the very beginning of the class, you tell the students that they will have to keep their eyes closed for a few minutes. During this time, they can talk freely (just choose the subject). However, when told to open their eyes, they cannot speak at all. While students have their eyes closed, make a small mark on each student’s forehead with some watercolor. Mark three or four students with white, two or three with green, following the procedure with different colors according to the number of students and, finally, mark only one with black. Next, tell them that they will open their eyes and, right after that, they have to FORM GROUPS (say just these two words) using body language, gestures etc but they cannot say a word. Wait and see what happens: in a few minutes, they will have formed groups of students of the "same color"... The one with the black mark will be alone. They will probably be curious and excited about their groups...
This is the time when the teacher explains the goals of the class. First, when they were told to form groups, they didn’t have any specific instructions so, by instinct, they grouped themselves based on the color mark on their foreheads (you can talk about sense of equality, need for acceptance); next, the student with the black mark ended up alone (prejudice, racism, not accepting the difference). Finally, you have them in groups of 3 or 4 to have a debate on why these things are so common and what should be done to improve this situation in society.
In all the times I’ve done it, the results were nothing but great, giving students not only an opportunity to speak about important matters but also a chance to reflect upon such flaws on people’s behavior.
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Wow, Ortiz! What a creative way to introduce such an important social topic to class. See, that's why I'm addicted to blogging! How could I ever know about this group dynamics if it weren't for your blog...Thanks for your generous tip. I'll try it some time in the future.
ResponderExcluirWow, Ortiz! That must've been a wonderful class indeed!
ResponderExcluirI agree with Carla that it's critically important to work with important social topics like discrimination and group exclusion.
I've been in similar situations. In one, we took a quick personality inventory and were sorted into four groups that were labeled by color. We then had to figure out what other people were in our groups even though nobody was allowed to say "I'm a Yellow" or "My group is the Purples" or anything like that. Some people found their groupmates quickly, others not so quickly, and still others couldn't believe that they were in a group with A, B, M, and Y because they seemed so different.
I was in another situation like that in which we were told that everyone in the class was in either the Blue-Eyed Group or the Brown-Eyed Group and that the Browns were the majority and the Blues were the minority and should interact accordingly. I didn't know which group I belonged to because my eyes are a combination of blue and gray—not exactly blue, but maybe closer to brown (at least sometimes) than to blue.
I'm really happy, by the way, to see your blog come alive. You're doing wonderful work! Keep it up!
All the best—
Dennis