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Care to share in the ESOL class?Try humanistic techniques!

Gertrude Moskowitz

To improve the self-image, personal relationships, and attitudes of foreign-languagestudents, Y developed methods, courses, created materials, and conducted two researchprojects based on using humanistic communication activities to teach languages. Theresearch indicated that students instructed with humanistic techniques improve significantlyin their attitudes toward learning the target language, in their self-concept, and in theiracceptance of their classmates. The activities helped overcome the fear and inhibition manyfelt in speaking in speaking the new language. They also increased the enthusiasm andmotivation of teachers and students. I discovered that such techniques appeal to all ages andto many cultures because we all have the same basic needs: to feel good about ourselves, tobe accepted, and to have close relationships the very goals of humanistic activities. Thefocus of the lessons is the learners themselves: their feelings, hopes, memories, values,

experiences -their very lives. Be yourself, accept yourself, discover yourself, and care forothers are some of the underlying themes. Through the more personal, relevantcommunication which results, students recognize their strengths an those of one another.The end product: personal growth leads to growth in the target language.

The following activities appear in a book of 120 humanistic techniques that Ideveloped for language learning1

NAMES PEOPLE PLAY

Humanistic purposes: To enable students to develop greater sensitivity into how classmates

feel about their names and what they are called.

Linguistic purposes: To practice structures related to giving ones name, for example, Myname is ... and I used to be called ... and I like ... and I dont like ...

Levels: All levels

Size of groups: Three to six, depending on the amount of time available

Procedures: Inform the students that they are going to discuss a topic about which theyprobably have many feelings. You could introduce the activity this way:

Al of us were given a first name when we were born. We had no choice in thisname. Yet this name represents us, stands for us, identifies us. When people say this name,we respond to it.

1 Gertrude Moskowitz, Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class: A Sourcebook on HumanisticTechniques. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers, 1978. (This reference contains 120humanistic activities, detailed guidelines for their use, instructions for training teachers, and humanisticvocabulary and quotes.) The three activities described in this article are, respectively, from pages 109-10 and56

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Think about your first name and your nicknames (any other names you have beencalled) and how you feel about these names. Tell your group your first name and anynicknames you have ever been given. Discuss who has called you these different names andhow you feel about each name. Then let your group know what name you want to be called

now.

As the teacher, start out by sharing your feelings about your own first name andnicknames. After the small groups have discussed the topic, ask for a few volunteers toshare their feelings about their given names and nicknames before the whole class. Everyoneshould then tell the class the name he/she wants to be called.

In the second phase of this activity, tell the students to imagine that they can selectany first name they want for themselves, but they cannotkeep their present name. Ask themto decide what they would call themselves and why. To start off the activity, let the classknow what name you would select and why. Have a few shared before the whole class oncethe small groups finish their exchange. Conclude by asking what they learned about

themselves or others regarding names and nicknames.

Comments: This lets students realize the negative feelings others can have when they arecalled a name they do not like. As a result of this exercise, sometimes students will decide tohave the class call them something new or a name rarely used to refer them.

Students find this a personal interesting topic to discuss. If they are able to expressthemselves well in English, they may wish to spend more time discussing this topic than youthink they will. You may wish to ask the students to write about this topic before it isdiscussed to help prepare them for their participation. As a follow-up activity students canbe asked to write what they learned about themselves and others related to the names people

are called.

FIREMAN, SAVE MY ...

Humanistic purposes: To encourage students to think about what they really cherish andplace a high value on

Linguistic purposes: To converse freely in the language

Levels: Intermediate and advanced levels and midway through the beginning level

Size of groups: about five

Procedures: Ask the students to close their eyes and imagine the following scene:You have been away all day and are returning home. As you arrive at your house or

apartment, you find it is on fire. Luckily, all members of your family and your pets are safe.But almost everything else is destroyed.

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A fireman calls down to you, Y have time to save just one thing thats in yourhouse. Tell me what you want. Think about all the belongings in your house and decidewhat is the one thingyou would ask to have saved.

After the students have time to think about this, ask them to share in their groups.

They should tell what item they would want saved and why. When everybody has had aturn, ask the students to decide what value this shows they place a strong emphasis on. Tellthe students to be specific. For example, if someone would save a photograph album, thevalue here is not being sentimental but that of placing a strong emphasis on the family.

FORTUNE COOKIES

Humanistic purposes: To encourage students to wish good things for their classmates; to tryto project what would make others in the class happy; to provide a bit of fun and mystery inthe lesson

Linguistic purposes: To practice the future tense

Levels: All levels

Size of groups: About five

Procedures: This activity should be used after the members of the class know one anotherfairly well so the students can more accurately predict what would make individualclassmates happy. The students are placed in groups of five, and each students is asked towrite a fortune for the other four in the group. The fortunes should be something thestudent thinks would make the persons happy. Each student also writes a fortune forhimself, one he would like to have come true. Each fortune is written on a separate slip of

paper, folded, and placed in front of the person whose fortune it is. These should all bepassed out at the same time. The name of the person should be on the slip of paper and faceupward. (Each person will thus have received five fortunes.)

Have five rounds of turns in which each group member, one at a time, picks up aslip, opens it, reads it aloud to the group, and comments or reacts to the fortune. Thestudents are not to read their fortunes to themselves ahead of time, as that takes away fromthe spontaneous reactions that are seen by and shared with the group members when allhear them at the same time. (You will have to remind students about this once the slips arein front of them, as some will forget in their eagerness to see what others wrote for them.)Much of the fun and enjoyment of this activity comes from the suspense and from seeing the

fortunes for the first time as they are shared with the group.

Since one of the fortunes for each person has been written by the individual himself,another phase can be added to this activity. After an individual has read all five fortunes, thegroup may guess which fortune he wrote himself. He can confirm this for the others or not,as he pleases. After the groups have finished the activity, each student can select one of thefortunes to read to the entire class.2

2 This article appeared in the April 1981 issue of the English Teaching Forum.

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