| Body | by Tigre Lusardi, CASLS Graduate Intern
This activity was designed to help learners recognize and understand an interlocutor’s reaction in a conversation in the target language. This skill falls in the Awareness quadrant of the IPIC (Intercultural, Pragmatic and Interactional Competence) Framework. This activity is appropriate for learners of all proficiency levels.
Learning outcomes:
Learners will be able to:
- Recall what they said to someone else.
- Recognize up to three verbal and/or non-verbal cues the person gave in response.
- Draw conclusions about how the person feels about what was said based on the cues.
Mode(s): Interpersonal
Materials: Awareness video, two copies of the awareness notes page, two short video clips in the target language that show a short conversation between two people (Example 1 in English, Example 2 in English)
Procedure:
- As a group, brainstorm situations in which learners tend to think about others’ responses to something they say. Possible answers could include “asking someone for a favor,” “offering an apology,” “asking for information,” and “ending a conversation.” Ask learners what cues exists to let them know how someone is reacting to what was said. Write learners’ responses on the board, or, in online courses, document responses on a Google Jamboard.
- Next, show learners the awareness video. After watching the video, ask learners to recall the three cues used to understand a response. Elicit from learners whether each cue is a verbal or non-verbal one.
- Provide learners with the awareness notes page and go over instructions. Show learners your first video clip, repeating more than once as necessary. Discuss answers as a group.
- Show learners your second video clip, repeating more than once as necessary. Divide learners into small groups to fill out another copy of the awarness notes page for this second video clip.
- Back in the whole group, elicit worksheet answers from each small group. Ask whether others agree with the answers given, or whether there were other possible interpretations of the clip.
- Ask learners, as a group, which of the three cues they find the most helpful to them in conversations, and why they think that is so. Ask learners to use examples from their own experiences.
Notes:
- Learners can fill out the worksheet by hand, on a computer, or can write their responses on a whiteboard function (eg. on Zoom).
- Learners can write their responses with words or can draw pictures on the worksheet, depending on their proficiency level and preferences.
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