TAREK J. ALMUNTHARI (Homework #1)

The Prompts:

1. / ə /. Today we had enough ideas about your country. Let’s take another subject.

2. / ɪ /. This weekend I will be pretty busy baby-sitting my friend’s children. I wont even have a minute to study for my exam.

3. /ʊ/. You look like a nice woman. I’m lost could you help me.

The Report:

Although I’m saying the same thing, I received very different reactions form the people that I met. The first sentence / ə / and the third /ʊ/ when I used them with emotions like angry and frustrated some of the people tended to be angry and some were scared and wanted to end the conversation. However, when I used the same sentences but with different emotions like being friendly and polite, the people that I met wanted to carry on the conversation and were more interested in talking to me. It is amazing what I learned through this homework just by changing my emotion while speaking I could change the reaction of people around me differently. 

If I use the right emotion with improv rules, definitely they will help me extend any scene anywhere.

Remember! Always make your partner look good!

RAKAN ALAMERI (Homework #1)

The Prompts

/i/ I feel really bad, depressed!! I can’t leave or go anywhere. I think I will be staying here for a while. (frustrated/ calm)

When I did this prompt with one of my friends, he believed what I said particularly when he asked me to go to watch a movie in the cinema. However, he felt curious in a way that they were eager to know what made me depressed when I showed him how desperate I am using improvisation skills.

/ow/ O.. Bravo..  I heard you did the tango dance perfectly. Also your slow movements of your legs and elbows were awesome.  (optimistic/ excited)

One of the weirdest scenes I ever did was when I approached one of my friends in the LI, telling him about a dance he did last night. I already know that he never did the tango dance, but I acted as if he did it. The guy was completely surprised. I tried to make him believe what he did. Therefore, I extended the scene by making him doubt about it.

/a/ I heard a gun shot outside the apartment last night. I have looked through the windows but there wasn’t anybody. Do you know anything about what happened?   (angry/ curiosity)

Reflection

I did this prompt with one of the leasing consultants in the leasing office of my apartment. She truly believed what I said especially when I entered the office in a way shows how angry I am. I just couldn’t extend the scene much further. Otherwise she was just going to notify the security. Therefore I told her that it was an act. But I had to show her the homework paper so she could believe me. In the end, I believe it was really fun and it was a nice experience to counter with people using improvisation skills.

Remember! Always make your partner look good!

RAKAN ALAMERI (Homework #2)

USING THE RULES OF IMPROV AT THE GT CULTURE FEST. Rakan, right, with a GT student, who he engaged in conversation on Monday, April 2, 2012, with the goal of extending the conversation by making his partner look good and having fun!

 The culture fest is considered one of the best opportunities as a student, learning improvisation skills to use and apply what we learned to other people from different cultures. Meeting with strangers has become a piece of cake to me. I began using these skills to enhance and make the communication more effective in a way that I can get the information I want from strangers. 





For example, I approached a Chinese student who was responsible of the Chinese table where each table represents a culture in the fest that has a student who represents that culture. I started with greetings telling her a bit about my country, but then I showed some curiosity about some stuff that was on the table. She explained to me many things and showed me pictures. Also, there was a cookbook, which shows the traditional Chinese food. By extending the talk, I asked her if it was easy to use the chop sticks and eat with them or if she could teach me. She showed me how to hold the chopsticks and use them. Therefore, I used it picking some food. Moreover, I was surprised that her table was longer to any other table in the fest. She told me that this table is adjacent to the Thailand table. I was really happy to hear about some differences in these two cultures. In Thailand, people eat with chopsticks only with noodles but generally they eat with spoon, knife and fork when it comes to other dishes. However, in China it’s very common that people eat with chopsticks in most of the food. I really loved the culture fusion in this fest.


In addition to experiencing different cultures, I found it difficult at the beginning to approach to strangers who were walking around but I realized that I should act distinctively. Therefore, I approached some strangers with a very warm greeting which made them surprised to see someone stranger who is extremely happy, suddenly standing in front of them. Basically, after greeting them, I made them feel curious about my culture by asking them if they could know where I’m from. At that time, I told them about my culture and taught them some basic words in Arabic. I think they really enjoyed knowing about my culture. I knew that from their questions regarding my clothes and the reason behind wearing it etc. After that, I went back to our culture table where international people come to know more about our culture such as the food and some statues were on the table where it somehow represents our culture. By standing there, I had a huge benefit in using improv skills to explain things about my culture.

AT THE KOREAN TABLE.  Rakan poses for a photo at the GT Culture Fest with his  improv classmate Hana.

I believe that using improv skills while interacting with other people helped me demonstrate better in English. In fact, it helped me deliver information better and improve my fluency in English. It was a nice experience










Remember! Always make your partner look good!

ELHAM ALNEAIMI (Homework # 2)

Spending class time at the Culture festival in Georgia Tech was an amazing idea. We have engaged with many people from different cultures which give us the opportunity to talk to people, make up conversations, and have fun. I really liked what we did and I am very satisfied with the results even though I did a lot of mistakes.

However, our task was to talk to more than three people from different cultures than ours. For me, my first try was really disappointing since the first participant was not exicted as much as I was; he was completely not interested and his answers were so brief. I did not lose hope and decided to give it another try when the result was nothing like the first.

The second participant was familiar with what I was saying about my culture since he has a brother that lives there. He was totally enthusiastic to share me what he knows and that gave the enthusiasm to complete what I began.

The third participant was a native American  English speaker that have been to many different parts of the world but the United Arab Emirates. She had a brief background about it, and she was amazed by the information that I shared with her. She kept talking and asking questions which made me really comfortable and happy.

The last two participants were good. They did listen to me and gave me some of their time, but they did not interact with me. Even though I was disappointed at first, as the time was going on, I found it interesting and fun to stop people using the skills. I consider this task as one of the most important tasks that I have ever done; it is puzzling, interesting, and challenging.

Remember! Always make your partner look good!

FATEMA ALMAZROUEI (Homework #2)

Reflection about cultural fest:
I met three people in the cultural fest, but before I approached  them I was nervous and shy. The first person who I talked with was kind and helpful. We shared some information, and at the end, she gave me advice where can I find people. I tried to go to the place where I can talk to the people, but I couldn't because they run away when I just say hello.

GT CULTURE FEST

Therefore,  the teacher helped me to speak to the other two people. And they were really friendly, and so I spoke with them comfortably. I tried to use the improv skills like saying yes and listening, but I forgot about the intention and trunk movement.

The experience was very valuable because I got to know new information. I think the more I practice speaking, the more I can improve my speaking and improv skills. I need some time to talk to people because I cannot approach people suddenly. That is why I was nervous and scared to talk to the people at the cultural fest. Finally, I enjoyed the cultural fest and I got some positive reflection.

Remember! Always make your partner look good!

HAMDAN ALMARZOOQI (Homework #1)

3 vowels are in each word :

*Rock

*Doctors

*book 

1 - We should stop that noisy rock music because Robert is so annoyed.

2 - Hey I have an idea, lets talk to the doctors to take some snapshots for the new robot that is used for the surgery.

3 - You could have booked some goods by calling.

 REFLECTIONS coming...

Remember! Always make your partner look good!

MARIA GABRIELA URDANETA (Homework #1)

Reflection

 The experience was really good. Despite that it was something new for me because I had never done it before, I think that I did a good job.  In each scene, first, I started talking with people who I chose about any topic already with the emotion that I wanted to show such as frustration, curiosity, excitement, so on. In that way, it was easy to say my prompts with the emotions that I chose for each one.

One thing that surprised me was in two of the scenes that my prompts was out of context in the conversation, and the girl  who I was talking to  didn’t know about the assignment and she received that without any bad comment, and we continued talking for around 20 minutes more. I believe that was really successful because I think I followed the rules of improvisation and not only I, the people who I was talking too. They received my ideas and made me look good unconsciously the same as I did.

The most difficult emotions to show people so that they could understand my intention was frustration because they confused that one with sadness. In my opinion, to show frustration was really hard for me. On the other hand, the most important thing that I did to communicate my intention was starting each conversation with the same emotion that I wanted to project my prompt.

Remember! Always make your partner look good!