Team Building

Team Building Activities and Ice Breakers

DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIT:

This unit uses ice-breakers to welcome participants and warm-up the conversation among them in a team building session. It aims at helping students to get to know each other and understand what everyone brings to the team and how to best interact with their peers. Ice breakers can be an effective way to introduce students to the purpose and objectives of a project or event. Through team building activities students can become more engaged in the proceedings and so contribute more effectively towards a successful outcome. Most of the activities have been taken from August Boal’s Games for Actors and Non-Actors.

OBJECTIVES:

Get to know each other by encouraging students to talk to one another and share some information about themselves
Help participants who don’t know each other to start communicating and sharing thoughts in a comfortable and relaxing way
Experience respect for each other
Get students to be more engaged
Interact with others
Establish a safe environment
Make pair and group work easier
Make the group become more cohesive and invite students to create a warm and friendly learning environment
Generate energy

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this unit learners will have...

… got a sense of who is in the room
… engaged with each other and the topic of the event
… experienced trust, acceptance and a sense of belonging
… created a positive and interactive team atmosphere by working with others in a cooperative manner
… gained insight into the importance of a non-threatening learning environment
… experienced respect and appreciation for each other
… used creativity and out-of-the-box thinking
… become more engaged in contributing more effectively towards a successful outcome of the event

APPLIED METHODOLOGIES (Examples, for more download file below):

Four Corners:
This technique stimulates movement and discussion. In each of the four corners of the room, one statement is posted on chart paper (“ I want to become a primary school teacher” / “I want to become a secondary school teacher” / “I have not decided yet” / “I have already been teaching for more than 2 years”). The teacher asks students to gather in the corner of the room that corresponds to their choice. In each corner, students form groups of two or three to discuss the reasons for selecting this choice. Allow two or three minutes of discussion. At the end students should present a group summary of their choice.
Birthday Line Up :
The participants are asked to form themselves into a continuous line based upon their birthdays (considering only the month and date). The challenge is that the group members cannot talk at all. They can resort to using sign language, nudges, and other ways of communication.

REFERENCES:

Boal, Augusto (2002). Games for Actors and Non-Actors. New York: Routledge
Fritz, Birgit (2012). InExActArt - Das autopoietische Theater Augusto Boals: Ein Handbuch Zur Praxis des Theaters Der Unterdrückten. Stuttgart: Ibidem Verlag
https://www4.ntu.ac.uk/adq/document_uploads/running_a_course/187450.pdf
http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/
https://books.google.at/books?id=aOE3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=augusto+boal+ounting+1+2+3&source=bl&ots=evtcM63gUp&sig=nOcHMlHu-2xcYtn5rGKzmt6eOsQ&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiC2t3ZnNvcAhXlYZoKHY_ACPwQ6AEwA3oECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=augusto%20boal%20ounting%201%202%203&f=false