Games or competitions
What are games or competitions?
A competition between two or more teams which involves making choices or decisions relating to real life technical problems
How to use games or competitions
There are a number of alternative games you could design, and we describe two here. First divide the group into teams.
Make up a background village story and relate it to the group, interspersed with questions
As you tell the story, ask simple or multiple choice questions.
Arrange that the more difficult the question the more marks or points the team receives for a correct answer. Ask each team a question in turn and ask the same number of questions to each team.
The winner is the team which scores the most points after a certain number of rounds; can you arrange a prize for the winning team?
Alternatively, make up a board game. In this a group of individuals progress around a set route depicted on a board, dependent upon the throw of a dice. Each space on the board is allocated a question. Players move around the board depending on how they answer the question.
Remember that the objective of the game is to reinforce learning. If one person gets the wrong answer, let someone else answer and explain the reason for the correct answer to the group. If everyone gets the question wrong, perhaps you need to repeat the teaching topic - they don’t understand the message!
When to use games or competitions
- At the end of a piece of learning
- When you visit a group of beneficiaries on a saint's day when they are not working
Why use games or competitions
- To discover how much learning has taken place as a result of your teaching
- To allow the farmers to practise their knowledge in an informal atmosphere
Source: Adapted from the International Course on Training of Trainers in Labour-Based Road Construction and Maintenance, compiled by David J Mason