Introduction

Objective: Create openness and establish a fun and creative environment in your classroom for doing WYS. At the same time, give learners a safe way to share their own emotions with others.

Step 1:

Spend time before playing the game brainstorming a long list of ‘feeling words’ that can be reinforced during the game. Give examples, such as: ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘angry’, ‘tearful’.

Step 2:

Gather the group into a circle so that everyone can see one another.

• One person (the Starter) chooses a feeling. They don’t tell anyone what it is. Now everyone must shut their eyes. The Starter taps the person beside them on the shoulder to show them the feeling, using only their face. They do not speak.

• Then the Starter shuts their eyes. The person who just received the expression does the same as was done to them: they tap the person next to them on the shoulder, demonstrating the facial expression they were shown, and then shut their eyes.

• The face (facial expression) is passed around the circle until the last person has ‘received’ it. The last person then demonstrates the expression they received to the whole group. Now the group must guess what feeling was passed along. The Starter then verifies if this was the emotion and facial expression they began with.

Step 3:

Play as many rounds as your learners want, giving other learners the chance to be the Starter.

Step 4: Class discussion

• What happened during the game?

• Were some emotions easier to demonstrate than others? If so, why do you think that was the case?

• How could you have ‘passed the face’ more accurately? What could you have done differently?