TOT 58: Weaving a Story – Ice Breaker

Divide all the participants into two groups.  Identify one group as “petitioner” and the other group as “Respondent”.

Ask one person from Petitioner’s group and one from respondent’s group to make notes of what is going to be stated by each one from the respective groups. Designate these two Persons as “RECORDER for Petitioner and RECORDER for Respondent”.

Suggest the title: “Proceedings under Section 125 of Criminal Procedure Code for maintenance by wife and two minor children.”

Ask the participants from Petitioner’s group to weave a narrative on behalf of petitioner, and participants from respondent’s group to weave a narrative on behalf of respondent.

Instructions to be given by the trainer

1. Each participant should speak only two sentences, about the facts of the case.
2. Once the first speaker ends, the next speaker will continue the facts from there and speak the next two sentences.
3. The process will continue till they reach the last speaker.
4. Last speaker has to conclude the story/narrative.  Last speaker can speak four sentences.
5. Recorder for petitioner will read the entire story /narrative woven by the group.

Repeat the same process with Respondent’s group also.

Objective

To reinforce:

1. Active listening
2. Mindfulness-being in the present.
3. Tracking of events
4. Formulating meaningful sentences

When is this exercise done?

After session on communication skills          

Preferably after lunch or before ending the session.

Advantages

Trainees will learn how carefully they should be listening to the earlier speakers.

They will learn how to tell something with clarity using simple sentences.

Trainees will learn how they have to work as a team. They will know that ‘together they can achieve more’. This learning will help them in actual mediations, where they will take every participant in mediation very seriously, and will lean forward to work with them.

Trainer will know the level of comprehension of the trainees.

Recorder/s will learn how to track everything that is said by participants in Mediation.

Debriefing

In debriefing, trainer has to inform the participants about the objectives fulfilled by the exercise.   

Checks

If instructions are not properly given by the trainer, there will be utter chaos.

Trainer has to be very strict with the participants. Once two sentences are over, the bell should ring, and the next one in the group should start to speak.

“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.”

Halford E. Luccock
Former Professor at Yale Divinity School and Author

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All Copyrights reserved by the Author S. Susheela