Nonverbal games demonstrate the ability people have to pass along information without using words. On small slips of paper, write a word or phrase such as "happy," "sad" or "confused." Instruct one student at a time to walk up to your desk, draw a slip of paper and act out the word on the paper. Give a prize to the student who correctly guesses the phrase. Increase the difficulty of the game by making the phrases more detailed, such as “happy that class is almost out” or “confused about the assignment.” Use this game to demonstrate how people can communicate using only nonverbal cues.
Interpretive games demonstrate how information changes as each person hears a phrase. Instruct your students to stand in a line. Whisper a short message in the ear of the first student, then ask each student to pass the message on to the student next to him. Have the last student in line repeat the message out loud. Reward the class if they can accurately convey the entire message from the first student to the last. After playing the game a few times, explain to your class that every time someone receives information, they must interpret it before they can pass it along. Each time information is reinterpreted, it can change slightly.
Each time someone receives information, he encodes it with elements of his sociology, history and culture. You can demonstrate how people see situations through a lens of personal experience with a writing contest. Write a short prompt describing a common situation, such as a couple at school breaking up. Add details to the story but avoid explaining what those details mean. For instance, describe the boy as looking annoyed during the breakup, the girl as angry and her friend as shy. Instruct each student to write a short paper describing the scene in his own words and explaining the reasons for each character's response. Compare the student’s papers, pointing out elements of each where students included personal experiences in their explanation of the characters' reactions. Give a prize to students who provide a clear explanation for the characters' responses.
Part of the decoding and encoding processes involves the use of words and phrases generally understood between people with similar backgrounds. For example, when two teachers speak to each other, they use words and phrases common to their profession. Prepare a list of simple words such as "love," "justice" and "peace." You can play a game to illustrate these personal differences in communication. Instruct each student to write a definition for each word as you say it. Compare the definitions each student wrote to illustrate how everyone understands the words in a slightly different way. Ask your class to vote on the best definition of each word; give a prize to the student whose definition gets the most votes. .