Nonverbal Communication around the World
Apart from spoken language, communication also includes body language! Think of all you can express just with your face, or think of how much you move your hand while talking. But would anyone understand you? Take this unit and discover what is universal and what is not!
Warm up
Before diving into the unit, test your knowledge together with your buddy:
How do people in China usually show the number 6 with their fingers?
What are the seven universal facial expressions? Write them down!
Universal = They are the same anywhere in the world
Learn
Now open the mini-guide of gestures of the world!
Dive in 1
Now that you have seen so many gestures around the World, play with your buddy!
- Each of you chooses silently a gesture at a time from the picture, learns how to do it and what it means!
Done?
Do it for real and see if your buddy can guess it!
Have fun mimicking, guessing and learning them!
Dive in 2
Now that you know quite a few of them, start to act them out!
Imagine you are in the following situations and act them out :
- You are at a dinner party. One of you is the host, the other is a guest!
- You are out with a friend, and you try to decide what to do next.
- You accidentally meet a classmate and start to talk about school.
- You decide, if in your fictional reality, whether they all understand all gestures or not…
Create
First of all, think of what gestures you usually use.
- What do you think are the most useful gestures for someone would come to live with you for a longer period of time?
- Create your own guide of 3 gestures. If you want, you can be more specific than “national” gestures and consider gestures of a specific group of people!
Don’t forget: have it uploaded to the work.it area!
Tip: Now that you have your own guide with three gestures, create a compilation together with the creations of other buddy teams!
Reflect
Share with your buddy: what was the most surprising thing you have learnt during this unit?
Did you learn a gesture you want to use in the future?
Make a postcard together!
Download the free KIDS4ALLL app and your wish comes true!
