Language in Use 169-170
This unit is concerned with the way we use language to order our experience
and the degree to which our shaping of new experience is affected by what we
have already experienced. It focuses upon the problems of describing events
by giving a commentary upon them. The aim is to show that we select from what
we see according to our view of things; that we merely hint at the connection
between important incidents; and that we assume, all too readily, that our audience
have some parallel experience of similar events to draw upon as they listen. For
this unit, two tape-recorded commentaries are required, made by members of the
class, one before the first session, and a second made after the first has been
discussed in session [1]. Those making the commentaries should NOT be familiar
with the game chosen for the task. Simple games like dominoes, five-stones and
play-ground games such as 'French he' or tag work best. Whatever the game chosen,
a live commentary is necessary.
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[1] Play the recording to the class, and ask them to question those who have made it about the details of the game. This discussion will reveal what the class has been able to grasp about an unfamiliar activity merely by listening to the commentary upon it, and where the inexperience of the commentators has led to an inadequate account of what occurred,
[2] Play back the second commentary before asking the class to make a written description of the game. These accounts can then be checked against the knowledge of someone who actually plays, or has played, it.
[3] The class are now in a position to take a second look at the misunderstandings
which arise if the record of an experience is made by someone who has not met
it before. Play the second commentary again, but this time follow it with the
first. Ask the class to look for any points where the commentator's lack of
experience led him to misjudge:
(a) the actual course of play
(b) the significance of particular moves in the game
(c) the degree to which he was giving a connected account of events
(d) the background knowledge of his audience.
If an older pupil or adult is available who knows nothing of a national game like cricket, ask him to listen to the class's account of it. Get him to question the class so that they will appreciate from his response how much of that game and its setting they are taking for granted. taperecord the exchanges and play them back for the class to examine. The problems of formulating the rules of a game which is handed down traditionally are dealt with in G7.