The motto of this paper is to design an exercise which can be useful for students of different disciplines to understand key concepts related to a particular subject.
Exercise: Word Play Taboo
This exercise can be used in relation to any subject where students need to be taught about particular concepts or personalities. The objective of the game is to encourage students to ask questions so that they can understand the concept at a much depth and also to make them more inquisitive and curious. This would also encourage students to develop the ability to think out of the box.
This exercise can be conducted for a group of 15 to 20 students. Be sure that there are not too many people playing at the same time otherwise it would be difficult to monitor the game. There should be at least three supervisors who would see that everyone participating in the group follows the rules. To play the game one would require sheets of paper, marker pen, tape and a pair of scissors. Before the game starts, the supervisors need to make a list of some ideas which are integral to the subject that the students are studying. For example, if the class is studying English, then the list can comprise of names of famous literature writers, poets of titles of classic books. The list should comprise the same number of concepts as the number of students who would be playing the game.
Write down one title or name on one sheet of paper, big enough for someone to read from a little distance. Once all the sheets of paper have been prepared, the students should be called into the room. Each student would then get one sheet of paper stuck on his or her back with tape, and they will not be allowed to read what is written on the paper. Once all the students have got their papers on their backs, they have to start asking questions to guess what is written on their paper. The questions can be asked only so that the reply can be a yes or a no. The supervisors need to monitor that students do not cheat and ask the right kind of questions. Also, a student can ask only one question to one individual at a time and after that they have to move on to another person.
The students who are able to guess will go up to the supervisor, tell them their answer and then can sit down in their chairs. When every student has been able to presume what is written on the paper on their back, they will each take turns to share with the class what questions they asked and what information helped them guess what was written.
