View Content #27111

By Isabelle Sackville-West, CASLS Fellow

This activity is a critical-thinking activity that engages students in analysis of their own values and internal biases as they relate to linguistic diversity. Depending on how discussions are scaffolded, It can be used for any proficiency level. It makes use of the wonderful game Parable of the Polygons by Vi Hart and Nicky Case which can be played in a variety of languages including English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Italian, Russian, Hindi, and Arabic.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

1. Think critically about the linguistic diversity of their home community
2. Assess how important linguistic diversity is to them personally
3. Discuss immersion schools and their impact on the community
4. Argue for or against the integration of an immersion school in their community

Modes: Interpretive, Interpersonal, Presentational

Materials: Computers with Internet access, poster paper

Procedure:

1. Pre-Activity: Conduct a class discussion that primes students for the rest of the lesson, asking about diversity and linguistic diversity in their community.
   1. What is diversity? What types of diversity are there?
   2. Do we live in a diverse community? How so?
   3. Is our community linguistically diverse? What languages and cultures are represented?
   4. Is linguistic diversity important for a community? Why or why not?
   5. How can we increase linguistic diversity? (Discuss immersion schools here)
2. Game Play: Have students play their way through Parable of the Polygons (available at https://ncase.me/polygons/), asking students to think of the different shapes as representing speakers of different languages. As they scroll through the game, have students discuss the following guiding questions in smaller groups.
   1. Do you think that small biases affect the larger shape of society?
   2. In the second black board, what happens to segregation over time? Did you expect this? Why or why not?
   3. On the third black board, play with the scale adjusting how sensitive the shapes are to diversity. How sensitive do you think members of your own community are? What percentage would they fall at?
   4. Before you play the fourth board, what do you expect will happen in an already segregated society if you lower their bias?
   5. In the fifth board, individuals start demanding diversity. Is diversity demanded by members of your community and if so, how much? What percent range would you place your community at? Why?
   6. Why is it important to work together to increase diversity? And why is it scary to do it alone?
   7. After you play the final box a few times for fun, try to use it as a model for your own community and see how it behaves. What do you expect to happen and why?
3. Analysis: Once students have finished the game, debrief on the concepts of the game as applied to linguistic diversity. In the game, it is proposed that it is not enough simply to be happy with diversity, individuals must actively seek it out (in other words, small individual biases yield larger group biases). With this in mind, discuss how immersion schools provide one method of actively seeking out linguistic diversity by attracting members of different linguistic groups into an area, thus increasing its diversity. Brainstorm ideas to combat and feelings of discomfort that might be associated with this increase in diversity. For example: Training in intercultural communication for parents, students, and school administrators; facilitated discussions between groups; persistence and patience in the face of cultural and linguistic challenges, etc.
4. Extension: Now that students are familiar with the principles of the game, immersion schools, and the concept of linguistic diversity, ask them individually or in teams to make a poster that either argues for or against an immersion program at their school. For the poster, students should not only consider the pros and cons of immersion in the community, but also which language should be selected and why (students do not have to choose the target language if they don’t think it is most suitable for their community).This project will look different depending on the proficiency level of the students.
   1. Novice—simple commands, short sentences and phrases, and lists of words such as a pro/con list. Sentence frames might need to be provided by the instructor.
   2. Intermediate—more complex sentences and longer, sometimes connected discourse. Students should elaborate on their pros and cons and be able to provide simple explanations for their choices.
   3. Advanced—Students should incorporate persuasive language and utilize longer, connected discourse with more complex structures.