Workshop Description
- Details
- Hits: 625
Presenting ourselves and/or a specific topic in a foreign language to a foreign “audience” is the situation that most Europeans have already experienced or will eventually experience in today’s Europe. An example would be a Slovenian person talking in English to Finnish, Italian and German people.
The most simple and efficient way to communicate ideas is talking to each other, having a conversation. Our proposal is to introduce creative and playful elements into the conversation to move it from a small circle to a broader audience.
Attributes, characteristics and properties such as verbal articulation, visualisation, non-verbal communication and reception are present in any social and cultural situation - though in different degrees.
These properties are introduced step by step in the sessions “Listening”, “Text and Voice”, “Visual Dimension” and “Body Language” in a creative and playful way to be applied to the communication in a multilingual/multicultural situation.
The workshop is structured as a creative collaborative game, the Talking Foreign Game. The informal learning approach is based on the participants’ active involvement including taking on the role of a mentor.
Before coming to the workshop each participant prepares a topic of his choice – from his personal experience or concerns, about his work, his hobby or special interest This topic is presented to the group, i.e. the group will get involved in the topic by asking questions, making comments, giving feedback and making proposals about the presentation of the topic.
Towards the end of the workshop every participant was asked to take up the topic of another participant and present it in a different manner without loosing the exactitude of the content and applying the skills acquired during the workshop.
We have documented the workshop in simple (standby cameras) and complex video recordings (edited) and photography. Although the cameras put an extra stress on the participants the resulting documentations are part of their personal evaluation process.
The participants gained security and self assurance in talking in a foreign language because they learned to apply a range of skills in their communication in a creative manner. They gained the understanding, that language, text, voice, visual elements, body language and listening are equal partners in the human communication.