ICEBREAKERS
Activity 1: SHARING TOSS
Objective: To determine what the participants already know about telecommunications, and actually share that information.
Preparation: None
Resources: Ball or some other small object that can be thrown
Activity: The participants stand up to form a circle where a ball is being thrown from one person to another. Before anything happens we go around doing a name game. Name and a certain movement of their choice. Then, the facilitator throws out word that deals with "Telecommunications" to the participants. One participant has the ball and says one word they think of when they think of computers. Then with out delay pass it to someone else and the cycle continues until there is another word thrown out. The first time normally goes slow, so the next round you can throw another ball in or just tease the participants, by saying that " the other day we did this activity with 2nd Graders and they did it in 35 seconds, lets see if you can beat that."
Time: 5 minutes
Activity 2: TELEPHONE
Objective: To show how communication and miscommunication can really affect a message. Listening to what a person is saying can really make sure that a message won't get distorted or loss while in the process.
Preparation:None
Resources: None
Activity:The participants are separated into 2 lines, an A line and B line. The facilitator says a random statement to the first person in front of each line. Then soon they will pass the message down to the other people on their group. The rule is the message has to transferred by whispering it to the persons ear without the other group hearing.It is very similar to how a real phone works-a message is communicated between people. It is the participants' job to report the message accurately to one another.
Time: 5 minutes
Activity 3: BIG WIND BLOWS
Objective: It can be a fun activity with which to end the workshop. It is also a way to measure understanding of various topics with which the session has dealt.
Preparation: None
Resources: None
Activity: Everyone has a seat, except for one person who stands in the middle. His/her job is to stand there and say an attribute, article, characteristic, etc. For example, "Everyone who is wearing shoes with laces," or "Everyone who has a pet." The people sitting listen carefully, and if they have the same attribute or article of clothing that is called out by the player in the middle, they must move to another seat across from them. They cannot move to the seat to the left or right of them, only across. As players move to new seats, the person in the middle must move to find an empty seat. Whoever is left standing without a seat becomes the player in the middle.
As an added step, ask a question to the person that stands in the middle about a topic like Telecommunications. They have to answer it correctly before they can go on with the game.
Time: 5 minutes
Activity 4: THE WEB
Objective: It is just a reflection period to find out what people thought of the session. Also the web demonstrates how everyone is connected through something like the internet.
Preparation: None
Resources: Ball of yarn or other type of string
Activity: There is a ball of yarn that is given group. The size of the ball deals with the size of the group. The participants are sitting in the form of a circle. One person starts off by receiving the ball of yarn and would say a couple of words about how the session was for them. When the person is done he holds tight to the piece of string and throws the ball to another person across from him. Continues the same process, the result after everyone has said something and holds a piece of the yarn. There should be web formed by the string.
Time: 5 minutes
Activity 5: WHO ARE YOU?
Objective: To let people know about each other in the group and hopefully see some commonality between the participants.
Preparation: None
Resources: Bag of candy, or roll of toilet paper...anything that can be counted and shared in pieces.
Activity: 1 or 2 roles of toilet paper given to the participants (this can also be done with candies, etc. The facilitators simply tells participants that they have to take any amount of paper that they desire. When they are done and all have toilet paper in their hand, the exercise begins. Moving around the circle, each participant tells the group about themselves using the number of sheets they took as the number of things they are to share about themselves. Example: Robert has 5 sheets of toilet paper, so he says 5 things about himself.
Time: 10 minutes
Activity 6: WORLD LEADERS
Objective: To demonstrate the power of collaboration.
Preparation: Prepare Slides.
Resources: Slides of World Figures
. You may wish to make your own, or use a set which has been used by I*EARN Trainers in the past. Slide Projector, or Computer with Projector.
Activity: Give participants 2-3 minutes to try and identify as many of the world figures on the slide as possible. Stop. Ask people to raise their hands if they were able to identify one? two? three? all? Then, ask participants to find one or two partners, and take another 2 minutes quietly working together to try and identify the world figures on the slide. Stop. Now, again, ask groups to raise their hands if they were able to identify one? two? three? all? You should find that the number of raised hands increases when people are able to collaborate and share their collective knowledge. Reveal the names before the suspense grows too great!
Questions you might want to ask the group,
Time: 5-7 minutes
Activity 7: LET'S BUILD A WEB PAGE!
Objective: To let participants introduce themselves using a web page metaphor.
Preparation: Have name tags ready to welcome participants.
Resources: Polaroid camera or cards for participants to draw themselves. Paper to draw a "web page". Colour markers. Tape.
Activity: If camera is available have participants take pictures of themselves. Otherwise, participants draw themselves in blank cards. Then, in pairs, they build a poster using the concept of a web page. They stick their pictures and write about themselves.
Questions they might answer as part of their poster "web page" :
After the participants learn about I*EARN, you might want to go over these questions again and discuss whether I*EARN could help them reach ideals or help their students accomplish what they want.
Time: 30 minutes