Facilitation Skills - Part 1

Rationale

Participants in an NFE workshop need to practice facilitation skills as they relate to their work in the host country context. This session gives everyone practice planning and carrying out an activity and writing processing questions that take an audience through the experiential learning cycle

Objectives of Session

· To practice facilitation techniques.
· To write processing questions that follow the experiential learning cycle.
· To give and receive feedback on processing questions.

Activity Sequence

Peace Corps NFE Manual Reference

Chapter 7 - Some NFE Techniques for Working With Groups Chapter 3 - How Adults Learn, pp. 29-32

Materials Needed

· Flip chart paper
· Markers
· Handouts:

Role Play/1 - Enough for half the group
Role Play/2 - Enough for half the group
Guidelines for Role Plays - One handout per participant

· Stones, sticks or other found objects for Warm-up (See Activity 1)

Trainer Preparation

1. Read Peace Corps NFE Manual references.

2. Read through the session with your co-trainers and decide together on the options you want to use

3. Assemble materials and prepare handouts.

4. Draw or build a figure for the warm-up and collect enough materials for each pair to work with (See Activity 1).

5. Be sure the participants who signed up to do the warm-up and evaluation have the materials they need and are ready.

Activity 1: Warm-up

Activity Time 20 minutes

Purpose To draw out good teaching techniques from the group.

Step - by - Step

1. Ask everyone in the group to pair up with the person next to them. One agrees to be the teacher, the other, the learner. Give the group the following instructions:

Learners should blindfold themselves or agree to keep their eyes shut for the activity.

The object of the game is for she teachers to tell their partners how to arrange several objects in a certain pattern (or build a simple structure) that the trainer will specify.

Learners must do this without being able to see what they are doing. Teachers may not touch learners, but must give instructions verbally.

The first pair to succeed in building the correct structure wins the game.

2. Give each pair the materials they will need to make the arrangement (e.g. 6-8 stones of the same size, or several sticks or other found objects). Each pair must have the same materials.

NOTE

If you want to have participants build a small structure you can provide clay (or flour and water playdough) and toothpicks.

3. Ask if there are any questions about the activity.

4. Ask the learners to blindfold themselves or close their eyes.

5. Put on a table at the front (or on the floor, if the pairs are in a semicircle) an arrangement of stones or sticks, etc., that you have prepared beforehand, or draw the arrangement on the board. Create an arrangement or structure that is not too complicated, but that is also not easy to describe verbally (i.e. not a geometric figure, etc.).

6. Ask the pairs to begin.

7. After some (or all) of the pairs have succeeded in making the arrangement or structure, process the activity a little by asking the learner of the winning pair (and others) how their teachers gave instructions to them. Participants might answer that their teachers gave very clear instructions or used humor to make them feel relaxed under pressure, etc. Ask about WHAT the teachers said, HOW they said it, and HOW THE LEARNERS FELT about it. Write the responses on the board or on flip chart paper if you like. Ask what conclusions the group can draw about good teaching or facilitating from this experience.

NOTE:

Even if no one succeeds in arranging their materials correctly, you can still process the experience in the same way, asking learners how their teachers tried to get across the instructions to them. Find out from the learners who felt good about their teaching experience why they felt that way, even if they didn't succeed.

NOTE:

If you want to reinforce the experiential learning cycle here, refer to the wall chart and ask participants what they did in each stage of the cycle (experience = the game, WHAT = questions about what the teachers said, how the learners felt, etc., SO WHAT? = questions about what conclusions they can draw, what they learned that they didn't know before, etc. NOW WHAT? = questions such as "How can you apply these insights to NFE facilitation in your own work?)

Activity 2: Role Plays

Activity Time 50 minutes

Purpose To plan and present role plays.

Step - by - step

1. Lead in from the warm-up by telling the group that the next two sessions will focus on facilitation skills, and that in facilitating it is important to use some of the techniques they have just discovered that they already know and use. However, there is a difference between telling someone how to do something (as they have just tried) and facilitating experiential learning. In NFE facilitation, it is important to design activities that take participants through all stages of the experiential learning cycle (refer to wall chart, if necessary). This is often done by asking questions that will help participants to reflect on an activity after they have experienced it. In this session the group will first design an activity (role plays or story telling) and then develop questions to reflect on the activity.

2. Let the group know they will have about 30 minutes to design their role plays, either around a situation that you will give in a handout or (for an IST) around a similar situation from their own experience in the local community. Each role play should take about 5-10 minutes to present.

3. Divide the group in two. Give one group the Role Play/l handout; the other, Role Play/2. Give each participant the handout: Guidelines for Role Plays.

FOR IST: You might give groups the "Role Plays handouts as examples and have each group create a similar role play around the work situation of one of the participants.

4. Have each group work on their role plays in separate rooms. Keep time (30 minutes).

5. Reassemble as a large group. Have each group present their role play while the other group acts as the audience (total time: 10-20 minutes).

NOTE:

While groups are presenting their roles plays, write down a few processing questions that would bc appropriate to use for discussion if the audience were members of the local community Use these as examples of good processing questions in Activity 3 if you need to.

FOR IST:

If participants have already presented role plays in Session 2 (Activity 2, OPTION), they may want to practice another presentation technique such as storytelling, if it is appropriate in the local culture.

Story Telling ( 50-60 minutes)

Step - by - Step for IST

1. Divide participants into 3 or 4 small groups according to sector.

2. Ask the groups to create stories appropriate to one of the Volunteer's work situations that make a point about a particular problem or to get across a particular concept. Give them some examples such as the ones used in the role plays you may give them the role play handouts and have them adapt them, if you like. Each story should take about 5 minutes to tell. Groups have 30 minutes to decide on appropriate situations and create their stories.

3. Ask the groups to tell (not read) their stories while others act them out to the large group, preferably in the local language. (Story telling time: 20-30 minutes)

NOTE: Story telling is an art that is highly developed in oral cultures but nearly lost in Western "print cultures."

Volunteers will need practice telling stories if they want to use them effectively in their work. If possible and appropriate, find an HCN who is a good story-teller and have him or her model good story telling technique for the group before they create their stories. If any Volunteers with acting experience are present, have them notice and comment on dramatic techniques used by the HCN (tone of voice, uses of pauses and silence, dramatic gestures, etc.)

4. Now, continue with Activity 3. Participants should write processing questions for their own group's story.

Reference: Helping Health Workers Learn, Chapter 13, especially

Activity 3: Writing Processing Questions

Activity Time 85 minutes
Purpose To practice writing questions for group discussion and reflection that follow the experiential learning cycle, e NOTE: This activity is divided into three parts:

Step - by - Step

Preparation (30 minutes)

1. Ask participants to sit with the same group they did their role plays (or stories) with.

2. Let the group know that they should now write processing questions for the role plays they have just presented as if they were involving a local community audience.

3. Referring to the wall chart of the Experiential Learning Cycle, review it from the point of view of the audience. Remind the group that the purpose of the processing questions is to take the learners through the entire cycle, touching on the WHAT SO WHAT? and NOW WHAT? of experiential learning. (See Session 2, Activity 4).

4. Divide the blackboard into three sections and write WHAT?. SO WHAT?" and "NOW WHAT? on each section (or use three pieces of flip chart paper).

Image

Ask participants to think of an example of a question for each of the categories that relates to one of the role plays (or stories).

NOTE: Use the processing questions you write as you watched the role plays.

Write participants' responses on the board or on flip chart paper and post.

5. Ask participants to work in pairs with a member of the group they did the role plays with to write a series of processing questions for the role plays they put on. Remind participants (and if necessary, write on flip chart paper and post):

WHAT?, is descriptive.

"SO WHAT?, is analytical. It asks "Why is that important?, or WHAT?, does that mean to me?.

"NOW WHAT?, plans for the future.

Reference: Peace Corps Manual Chapter 3.

6. Give each pair a piece of flip chart paper and a marker. Ask them to take 15 minutes to write as many processing questions as they can think of for the role play they presented that would help their particular audience reflect on it. Their questions should cover all parts of the Experiential Learning Cycle. Have them label each question WHAT? SO WHAT? or NOW WHAT? Let them know that after they do this they will get feedback on their questions from other group members.

NOTE: You might want to say that part of the difficulty in writing good processing questions is that the facilitator never knows how the audience will respond and what direction the discussion will take.
For this reason, it is important to first plan what points you hope to bring out in the discussion and then construct questions around them.

6. Keep time (15 minutes).

Feedback on Processing Questions (30 minutes)

NOTE: See Peace Corps NFE Manual page 40 for some guidelines on giving and receiving feedback. You might provide this page as a handout to the group and lead a brief discussion of effective feedback if you feel they might benefit from this.

1. Ask each pair to form a small group with another pair. Say that first they will spend 10 minutes working with their own partners to write 5 priorities for feedback they would like the other pair to help them with.

Example: Are the questions interesting to you? Is #3 really a SO WHAT? question? Is #1 too vague?

Then the pairs will exchange papers and spend 20 minutes reviewing each other's processing questions and giving and receiving feedback.

2. Keep time. (30 minutes) After 10 minutes, ask the groups to exchange papers and begin their feedback. After 7 or 8 minutes, ask the groups to change roles and give feedback on the other pair's questions.

NOTE: Participants who finish the feedback too soon may not know how to respond to each other's questions well. Suggest to them that another way of finding out if their processing questions are good ones is to ask them of the other pair and see if their answers bring out reflection and analysis of the role plays they have just seen.

Processing (25 minutes)

1. Ask everyone to take 5 minutes to post their flip charts with their processing questions on them. If they have put their names on them, suggest that they remove them for the large group processing.

2. As participants post their questions, write the following on the board or flip chart paper and post

· Which questions are particularly clear and understandable? How are they different from others that are less clear?

· Which questions would provoke especially interesting responses? Why?

· Which sequence of questions flows especially smoothly from one to the next? Why?

· Which sequences of questions lead participants through all phases of the experiential learning cycle? If some do not, how could they be improved?

· Which questions are particularly appropriate for the audience they are addressing? Why?

3. Let the group know they will have 10 minutes to "browse", through everyone's processing questions. As they "browse." they should think about the questions, above.

4. For the next 10 minutes, lead a large group discussion using the questions above. Pull out participants' insights from this discussion and write them as a list on flip chart paper, headed: Guidelines for Writing Good Processing Questions.

Examples: Clear questions are concise

It's best to use specific language

To write a sequence of questions that flows, keep both the previous question and the upcoming question in mind.

Activity 4: Evaluation of Session

Activity Time 10 minutes

Purpose To have participants evaluate the session.

Step - by - Step

Ask participants who signed up to do the evaluation to carry it out.

For Next Time

Ask three Volunteers from the workshop to work with you to present a demonstration for the next session. You might choose those who mentioned acting experience as one of their skills on the Interests/Skills inventory. Explain the details to them outside of the session, so that their preparations will be a surprise to other participants.

The three Volunteers will present a five minute problem drama about Peace Corps experience to the rest of the group. The purpose of this will be to demonstrate how a problem drama illustrates a common problem in the experience of the audience, and how the audience can be led to reflect on that problem by the actors.

Ask the Volunteers to read the handout Demonstration Problem Dramas about Peace Corps Experience (See Session 5 - Handout, page 88). Ask them to choose one of the examples that they would like to act out, or to work with you to create a different scenario based on the experience of their group.

Suggest that the Volunteers practice the presentation of the drama and the processing questions until you all are satisfied. Ask the Volunteers to be prepared to present their drama at the opening of the next session (Session 5).

· End of Session 4.

Time Saver

It is strongly suggested that you do not cut short Sessions 4 or 5, as they form the core of the skill building activities that Volunteers need to practice NFE in the field.

RELATED REFERENCES (See Appendix III)

Vella, J. Learning to Teach
Werner, D. Helping Health Workers Learn

Role Play /1

You have 30 minutes to prepare a 5 - 10 minute role play. Here is a suggestion.

John, the Volunteer concerned about Steel-gilt houses, is working in water and sanitation, and spends most of his time helping people construct latrines. The only trouble is, the new latrines have been getting very little use, as people are continuing to go to the fields behind the village as before. John and a group of concerned community people have decided to put together a role play to show in an amusing way how using the latrines might improve people's lives.

The group has had several ideas: one is to show how disease is spread by flies (with John acting as the fly); another is to have local characters approach a latrine with curiosity and speculate about what it might be and (when they finally discover it is a latrine) talk about the possible advantages and disadvantages of using it. However, the group hasn't yet decided how to use appropriate language and humor for this subject without offending people.

Help John and his group by either taking one of their suggestions and elaborating on it, or by creating your own situation appropriate to the local culture.

Role Play/2

You have 30 minutes to prepare a 5-10 minute role play. Here is a suggestion.

Steve, the Volunteer who was trying to get people to try his chain saw, is an agricultural extension worker. When he isn't out cutting trees, he works with farmer's groups, promoting safer use of insecticides and fertilizers. Steve and a group of local agricultural extension agents have been worried about the way local people have been over-using the chemicals. Part of the problem, they have discovered, is that the directions are printed on the cans in English, which few of the farmers speak or read. Steve and his group have decided to put together a role play about safe use of the products and take it to the meeting of a local farm cooperative.

Steve and his group have had several ideas about how to make the role play both entertaining and informative. One is to somehow show crops dying instead of thriving from overuse of fertilizer; another is to show someone who uses his wife's cooking pots for measuring insecticide, with disastrous results. But the group hasn't decided how they will incorporate the correct measuring and mixing instructions into the role play in a way that people will remember.

Help Steve and his group by either taking one of their suggestions and elaborating on it, or by creating your own situation appropriate to the local culture.

Guidelines for Role Plays

1. Decide on the problem or situation. Choose one that seems relevant, practical and credible in your cultural context.

2. Clearly define the objective of the role play, that is, the main point that you want to get across to the audience.

3. Decide on the characters in the role play. Give them characteristics that define them clearly: age, sex, status, reputation, personality, strengths and weaknesses, family ties - whatever is appropriate in your cultural context. Give the characters appropriate names.

4. Keep the role play flexible. Players should be able to improvise somewhat to make the role play come alive.

5. Use few real props. Have players mime wherever possible (for example, opening doors, measuring fertilizer, etc.) This will help the players (and the audience) concentrate on the action.

6. Do the role play in the language the potential audience will understand best. If a number of language groups might be present or if players don't know the language well, keep the dialogue extremely simple.

7. Allow role players enough time to think about their roles and decide how to play them.

8. Practice your role play in front of a few members of your group. Ask them for feedback and incorporate their comments into the final version.