The first activity is interactive to create a basic awareness of the nonverbal concept of touch. The students will be paired up in two and sit facing each other, although their eyes will be closed. The teacher will instruct the students to hold their hands up in front of them, and to touch flatly their partner’s hand. Keeping in mind their eyes are to remain closed and are supposed to use their hands to communicate throughout this entire activity, the teacher should instruct the students to say “hello” to their partner’s hands. Then instruct the students to have an argument, and afterwards have the pairs make up and say sorry. Finally, the students should say goodbye to their partners. After this activity, the teacher will debrief the class …show more content…
The teacher will allow students to form small groups of various sizes (two people to five) and give the students a small slip of paper with a situation on it. Situations might include being at a funeral, winning an athletic game, and a first date. The group will write a short skit using touch as a main feature based on the situation they are given. For example, a two person group with the funeral might have one person crying while the other person drapes their arms around the crying character or hugs him. After all the students have been given enough time to write and practice their skits, they will go up in front of the classroom and perform their skits.
The final activity will be demonstrating the subjective rules of nonverbal behavior that are governed by cultural and social rules. The teacher will instruct the students to imagine they are writing a guidebook for visitors from another culture. They will describe the rules that govern touching in several relationships (an adult and five year old, an adult and a twelve year old, two adults, an elderly adult and a young adult, two enemies, two good friends, parent and child, siblings, lovers, and a boss and an employee or a teacher and student). In each case the students will additionally describe how the gender of the participants may affect the rules. Afterwards, the students will present their guidebooks to the