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!

ABDULLA ALSHEHHI (Homework #1)

1 /au/: Now that the crowd is about to leave downtown, I have to stick around the house.
( happy / frustrated )


2 /ae/ : The bad fat man laughed for half hour, so I left the class.
( angry / suspicious )

3/u/ : Your two new boots and my new suit are really beautiful.
( Excited / business like )

 I really think that rules of improve are rules for live this is what I learned from these rules. Make mistake, is a rule that encourage us to make wrong or stupid things, but in the end we will learn a lot of things. Rules of improve toughed me that fun is how much you try to do new things and you do it. Trying to do new things is like breaking your boundaries to create new ones which can accept the other person, but more importantly you can discover your abilities and your personality. Understanding your personality will make it easier to communicate with native Americans because you will understand the way you feel(reactions) when you approach someone and you will overcome this feeling. I really believe improve speaking is a good way to discover your self.

Remember! Always make your partner look good!

PAULA RODRIGUEZ (Homework #1)

STEP 1 (VOWEL): Identify three vowel sounds that you have the greatest difficulty saying.

                VOWEL#1: the sound /o/ in the word “taught”

                VOWEL#2: the sound /e/ in the word “third”

                VOWEL#3: the sound /u/ in the word “woman”

STEP 2 (PROMPT): Write the “prompts” for three different improv scenes.        

PROMPT#1: For the vowel sound /o/:

                             My mother taught me that I have to work hard. She is my example because she fought for her dreams. This is the law of life.

PROMPT#2: For the vowel sound /e/:

                             Today is April 3^rd   (third). I didn’t pay my rent, and I don’t remember the terms of payment.

PROMPT#3: For the vowel sound /u/:

                             I could play tennis last night. I met a friendly woman.

STEP 3 (EMOTION): For each prompt, choose two distinctly different emotions.

#1: Proud ßà Sad

#2: Worried ß à Happy

#3: Excited ß à Mysterious

REFLECTION

Our first homework was AMAZING.  I noticed a lot of differences in my manner to communicate my feelings and information.  Moreover, I am so happy because I met my goal: my “victims” didn’t know about my acting.  I think this step was the most difficult because I had to mix verbal and nonverbal communication.  For example, I had to pronounce the words correctly, think on an emotion, use gestures and facial expressions, and do my best improvisation.  I thought that it was impossible, but I could transmit my intention, and people answered me according to my emotion.  It was exciting for me as I felt that I was doing a god job using different improvisation rules.

   People reactions were different.  My interactions were with three friends, one teacher, and two native speakers.  When my emotions were pride, worry, and excitement, people followed my conversations.  For instance, I was talking with a teacher who showed her preoccupation and gave me suggestions when I said it: “Today is April 3^rd . I didn’t pay my rent, and I don’t remember the terms of payment.”  In that moment, I wanted to laugh.  Nevertheless, I had to control my emotions. This improvisation was hard for me.

When my emotions were sadness, happiness, and mystery, people felt curious about my conversations.  I was talking about a specific topic, and they hoped a different reaction.  For this reason, my friends looked at me strangely; however, they continued talking with me.

Without a doubt, this experience was different and helpful to improve my conversations and improvisation.  Thanks Ruth for this great course.