Educational objective | The students are able to identify situations of oppression, to develop creativity in non-violent conflict resolution and to use body language as a means of expression. |
Resources | None. |
Procedure
- The students carry out the following preliminary exercises in pairs:
- One student strikes a pose; the other has to imitate. They reverse roles.
- One student places his hand a few centimetres from his/her partner’s. When he/she moves his/her hand the other has to twist into whatever (uncomfortable) position is necessary to keep the same distance.
These exercises train students to take notice of each other.
- In the plenary session, the students represent and discuss situations of oppression:
- Two or more students agree on an idea and then form a group of statues to represent a situation of oppression (example: a kneeling child polishing the shoes of a seated rieh man).
- If a member of the audience thinks of a way of resolving the situation and making it more equal, he/she rearranges the actors aecording to his/her new model.
Ideally the exercise should be condueted in silence, to encourage the students to mime and develop expressiveness.
- More actors may partieipate in the scene progressively.
- The teacher reserves the last 10 to 15 minutes of the lesson for a follow-up plenary session. The students give feedback, and they may come forward with questions that can lead to further study.
Variation
- The same procedure is used to illustrate human and children’s rights and instances of how they are violated.
- The exercise may be resumed in situations of conflict and in real situations that invoke strong feelings.
Key Concepts :
Conflict