Goal

I usually use this exercise on the first or second day of class to not only help students begin forming a community but also as an introduction to the idea of rhetorical context.

Exercise

• Have students break into pairs.
• Each student then "interviews" the other for 10 minutes and takes notes on what the interviewee says. Then they switch roles for the next 10 minutes.
• Have the pairs introduce their partner to the class. Encourage the class to take notes on what they hear.
• After the whole class finishes, generate a list on board of the "kinds of things we asked or volunteered about each other." Get as long a list as possible (e.g., sports, major, yr. in school, pets, etc.)
• Discuss the list from the perspective of context: why were we willing to share this information with strangers? Did the context of a classroom or being on campus affect what we said? Would we have said different things at a keg party? A college interview for admission? If we were from another country, etc.?
• Use the answers to introduce how context shapes and affects what we say and how we say it.

© 2007-2008 University of Massachusetts Amherst. This page is maintained by The Writing Program.