EC SOLILOQUY

In this group exercise asked the participants to deliver a soliloquy before the audience imagining that they are a character from a well known movie which they have seen and which has had a great influence on their thoughts/behaviour/life. This speech should have the narration of experiences/release of emotions/message to people based on lessons from life/wisdom attained by success/suffering etc. The performance can also be used as a test for assessing one's acting/emoting/creative communication/stage presentation/articulation/mass entertaining skills.

TO BE CONTINUED...

EC SUCCESS SHARING

In this group exercise asked the participants to share with the group their SUCCESS SECRETS/STORIES by giving a good presentation. Here they can also imagine that they have attained success in a particular field/skill after say a period of 10/20/30 years and have now reached a stage where they would like to pass on the ideas which they have used so successfully to help their fellow beings in achieving the same kind of success in their chosen professions/passion.

TO BE CONTINUED...

EC IDEAS

The ideal world to live in is the world of ideas. Ideas which help people to grow and empower themselves. But this is not the reality of our times. We are not living in a world where we can easily access ideas.
We don't have a system to encourage/invite/welcome new ideas. We don't have a culture where ideas are respected without seeing where or from whom the idea originated. We acknowledge a good idea only if it is voiced by those who have power/position/possessions. We think that common people cannot have good ideas which can change a situation/solve a problem or crisis/end a social evil. This reluctance to encourage new, different, bold ideas is what is keeping our society/organisations/institutions/people/groups and individuals stagnant and frustrated. And this is what is making our life unproductive/unfulfilling. Let's take the case of road accidents in India. Every year the number of accidents on the roads is increasing but no ideas on reducing it are discussed in a serious/purposeful manner. The companies manufacturing vehicles think only about expanding their business but don't think of making the travel safe. The people who design the roads also don't think in the direction of minimising accidents. The government thinks only when some big accident happens and that too for a day or two. Why is it so? Why don't people in our culture show better awareness, engage with new/old/effective ideas and act for making the world a better place to live? Why don't we make our lives meaningful by working for a collective goal which can improve a million lives? Why can't we think beyond our limitations of "self"?
And this is where we have to focus on to get new ideas...
TO BE CONTINUED...

WHAT MAKES AN EC COURSE REALLY GOOD?

The two most important things that the teaching method should focus on are: The logic of making sentences(LOGIC) and the way English is used by different types of people in real life situations (USAGE).

For learning the logic of EC, rules of making sentences in English  communication must be taught and for learning the usage, the learners must get the right exposure. This is what make an English communication course really worth doing.
This means that teaching/learning grammar is not the first (or the only) step. In fact the first step is learning the rules of making sentences and start thinking in English as soon as possible. 

Grammar and literature should be made optional subjects and they should be meant only for those who would like to become teachers/researchers in English language. 

English communication is  actually a skill and it can be imparted only by those who practice and refine it on a regular basis by getting new awareness and also engaging with that awareness/sharing it/applying it for creating social, intellectual, economic, cultural, emotional, creative, ecological, artistic and many other diverse kinds of wealth forms.
The practicing learners having the right temperament can easily become the best teachers by becoming aware of the tools/techniques/resources used by themselves first to get the best results in their field of work where English Communication has a vital role to play.
Therefore in an ideal learning environment the teaching is more inspirational than instructional. The learners also participate in the design, delivery and development process of knowledge creation thus feeling inspired and motivated to excel like the person(s) imparting that particular skill.


TO BE CONTINUED...

EC STORY TELLING: A GROUP COMMUNICATION EXERCISE

Asked the groups to sit in circles and share stories with each other. These stories should be about real incidents actually happened in their native places, schools and families.
Then they have to choose the most popular story from their group.
Afterwards all the  groups should ask their Best Speaker to read/present the story before the class.
Now comes the presentation of a story in the form of a skit/drama/play having three scenes. Out of the three scenes two should be from the actually told story and the third scene should be an imagination to give the play a sense of completeness/dramatic quality/element of audience satisfaction.

TO BE CONTINUED...

EC SURVEY: A GROUP EXERCISE TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Day 1
Name of the exercise: Youth Survey
No. participants: 51
Age group: 18-19
Education: Completed Plus two
Present State: Going to do Engineering
Purpose of the exercise: A kind of ice breaking as they were all in the process of getting familiar with the new atmosphere. It was also meant to give them more awareness about themselves as a group/ other group participants/ the society in general.
Steps: 1. Divided the class into teams having ten members in each team. The teams had names. Gave a topic to each team to conduct a survey by asking questions. Only three members from a team could approach others while doing the survey and they should not do any writing while asking questions. They have to give the data thus got to their team for further discussions.
2. After getting the answers from their co-participants they wrote a report based on their findings.
3. After studying the report they tried to analyzed it ie., tried to make some sense out of it and discover any logical pattern which had to be communicated to the audience.
4. Presented the survey results and gave their opinions.


The topics given to the students were:

1. The common hobbies of the class.
2. The qualities of a good engineer.
3. The dreams of the students of a life ahead after completing the course.
4. The challenges/problems which they might face during their course.
5. Their expectations from parents/teachers/friends.

The skills practiced: Team Interaction(Team building and Leadership skills), Assigning roles to team members(delegating work), getting information through questions(oral communication), organizing information (data sorting), report writing, analytical and presentation skills.  

 

Day 2

Asked the students to close their eyes for a minute and think about the activities of the previous day during the same session. (Easy Meditation)
Then told them to sit in teams and gave them a sheet of paper. They were asked to write a one line comment about the previous class(Sentence Making Skill Test). Next they were asked to write a summary of their report in a single sentence having less than fifty words/2-3 lines. (Instant Feedback exercise)
Then each group had to come and read the one line summary before the class.(Voice of the people exercise)
Then a pair of students from each team shared their opinion about the speeches made by other teams.
After this the students were asked to write a four line poem based on their given theme. Then they had to compose a nice song by finding a good tune for their poem. It had to be sung by four students in their group. After the song presentation, those who didn't participate in singing have to share the secret behind the song ie., how the team got the creative spark/who wrote the lines/set the tune etc.
The exercise ended with a small speech by a member from each team on the singing performance of other teams.

TO BE CONTINUED...

EC GANDHIAN VALUES EXERCISE

The Gandhian value I cherish the most is honesty/love for peace/self reliance/tolerance/equality/compassion/....Choose one Gandhian value and speak/share your thoughts.

TO BE CONTINUED...