MOSAIC - The training kit for Euro-Mediterranean youth work

372
Instructions
Ask for four volunteers to leave the room and wait outside until you call them back
in. Then explain the activity to the rest of the group. The volunteers will be called back
one by one, and will be asked to describe an event shown in a photograph to the next
volunteer in the chain. The difficulty is that none of the volunteers will actually see
the photograph! The contents of the photograph will be described to the first volunteer
by the group left in the room. After that, each volunteer will pass on what they
remember to the next one in the chain, without any help from the participants in the
room.
Explain to those left in the room that their task after communicating the “event”
to the first volunteer will be to observe how the volunteers then communicate
it to others further down the chain. They should make special note of:
– any information that is left out;
– any information that is altered in meaning;
– Any information that is added by someone later in the chain.
When the group has understood their task, show them the photograph. Do not
allow them to take notes at this stage. Then invite back the first volunteer.
Explain the task to the volunteer as follows:
“You are a journalist in a foreign land and you are about to hear some information
from eyewitnesses to an event. Your task is to remember what you have been told,
and then to relay this information as accurately as you can to the foreign editor of
your newspaper. You are not permitted to ask any questions.”
Now ask the group to describe the “event” to the journalist-volunteer. Call in
the second volunteer immediately afterwards and explain their task as follows:
“You are the foreign editor of a newspaper and you are about to hear some information
from one of your foreign journalists. Your task is to remember what you have been told,
and then to relay this information as accurately as you can to the general editor of your
newspaper. You are not permitted to ask any questions.”
After the foreign editor has received the information, invite in the third volunteer,
and explain the task in a similar way. This volunteer is the General Editor and
will communicate the information to a journalist who should write up the story.
The General Editor listens to the information and you then invite in the fourth
and final volunteer. Explain the task in the same way: he/she is a journalist who
is to listen to the information and then communicate it to the readers of the
newspaper.
After listening to the information, the journalist tells the whole group about the
event.
Bring everyone together for debriefing and evaluation.
Debriefing and evaluation
Show everyone the picture. Ask people about their general impressions and feelings.
Start with the volunteers. Then move on to discuss the process as a whole.
How well did the description at the end correspond to the original photograph?
MOSAIC - The training kit for Euro-Mediterranean youth work