Vocabulary Adventure.

Integrative Studio Week 1 – 06/01/2020

First class of studio was quite fun than what expected. We were divided into different groups and were given 8 words for 8 different groups to choose one. What we had to do was a word play activity. Here are the 8 words:

1. Serendipity
2. Phenomenon
3. Obnoxious
4. Coherence
5. Incorrigible
6. Inscrutable
7. Trepidation
8. Armistice

Once each group chose one of the words and wrote a sentence on using that word the next task for us was to dig around and find out all the synonyms of that one particular word. After jotting down the synonyms, we had to know their specific word to word meanings. Then here comes the play of words when we had to check if the synonyms would fit in the original sentence of the chosen word.

Our team chose the word ‘Phenomenon’. The word phenomenon had two different meanings:

1. A fact or a situation that is observed to exist or happen rarely.
2. A remarkable person or a thing. 

On the basis of each meaning here are the two sentences we formed: 

1. Glaciers are interesting natural phenomenon.
2. Michael Jackson was a true phenomenon of the dance industry.

After figuring out till here, we made a list of all the synonyms we found out with their specific word to word meanings:

1. Anomaly: derivation from the common.
2. Aspect: appearance to min or perspective.
3. Circumstance: a condition.
4. Episode: series of incidents.
5. Event: something that happens.
6. Experience: personally going through something.
7. Fact: verifiable truth.
8. Incident: occurrence.
9. Miracle: surprising event.
10. Paradox: contradictory features or quality.
11. Reality: facts of existence.
12. Sensation: function of the senses.

After this task we tried to fit in each synonym in both of the sentences, some went with the sentence while some didn’t. Despite of the fact them being synonyms, some of them had meanings that were far away from each other. Here is the experiment done using the synonyms instead of the word chosen on the same sentence.

1. Glaciers are interesting natural anomaly.
2. Glaciers are interesting natural aspect.
3. Glaciers are interesting natural circumstance.
4. Glaciers are interesting natural episode.
5. Glaciers are interesting natural event.
6. Glaciers are interesting natural experience.
7. Glaciers are interesting natural fact.
8. Glaciers are interesting natural incident.
9. Glaciers are interesting natural miracle.
10. Glaciers are interesting natural paradox.
11. Glaciers are interesting natural reality.
12. Glaciers are interesting natural sensation..

Here, in the case of first sentence, sentences 2,5,7,8,9,11 sound fine and normal while others don’t due to their completely different meanings, they don’t fit in.

1. Michael Jackson was a true anomaly of the dance industry.
2. Michael Jackson was a true aspect of the dance industry.
3. Michael Jackson was a true circumstance of the dance industry.
4. Michael Jackson was a true episode of the dance industry.
5. Michael Jackson was a true event of the dance industry.
6. Michael Jackson was a true experience of the dance industry.
7. Michael Jackson was a true fact of the dance industry.
8. Michael Jackson was a true incident of the dance industry.
9. Michael Jackson was a true miracle of the dance industry.
10. Michael Jackson was a true paradox of the dance industry.
11. Michael Jackson was a true reality of the dance industry.
12. Michael Jackson was a true sensation of the dance industry.

Here, in the case of the second sentence, sentences 1, 9, 10, 12 sound quite fine while the others don’t.

And then came the twist in the second part of the class where each team had to explain their chosen word as a mime, a skit without the use of any words and props, just actions. Our group ended up with two ideas to depict both the meanings.

1. For the first meaning we decided to present the scene of titanic by one us being the glacier and the others forming a ship and going towards it and eventually crack open due to the glacier
2. For the second meaning: We decided to present a famous person surrounded by fans, one clicking picture while the other praising it and others doing such fan tasks so to present the person as a phenomenon for them.

We sought of failed at the first one but the second one was quite successful and the other groups easily guessed the word. We were asked to give first one another try so we came up with idea of presentation of a volcanic eruption where on of us would be at the center and jump to burst and the others that will surround her will fall.

We were asked certain questions based on our experience that day in our class. Here they are with my answers:

1. What all problems did we face?
2. How were the problems overcome?
3. What did i learn through this activity?

1. The major problem we faced was when we had to decide which synonyms fit in and which don’t because we ha different perspective and each word had more than one particular meaning, even the synonyms had more than one meaning and thus concluding down to one decision was a little tough. Another tiny problem was to figure out the next act after one failed one.
2. The difference in aspects problems was solved my communication and explaining our perspectives and what we meant and then after that googling the exact accurate meaning of the synonym to decide if it went with the sentence or not. More communication was needed to solve this problem and then we finally did. The other tiny problem was solved by exploring different ideas, imagination and creative thinking.
3. The most important thing i learned from this activity was how one can present their words, their stories in the form of actions without speaking and using any props, just actions. When deeply thought about it, this is the basic daily way deaf and dumb people use for communication which we found a little tough for just a day’s activity. It was amusing. Another learning i took home was important it is for one to first understand what is to be presented for oneself and then also deep think about what other’s perspectives are and how and in what manner would they understand the same things. It helped us to perceive the same thing in variant ways to acquire a broad mind.

Reflection: My reflection was pretty much my answer to the third question (The most important thing i learned from this activity was how one can present their words, their stories in the form of actions without speaking and using any props, just actions. When deeply thought about it, this is the basic daily way deaf and dumb people use for communication which we found a little tough for just a day’s activity. It was amusing. Another learning i took home was important it is for one to first understand what is to be presented for oneself and then also deep think about what other’s perspectives are and how and in what manner would they understand the same things. It helped us to perceive the same thing in variant ways to acquire a broad mind.) Still i would like to add some more points. As i mentioned earlier, today’s activity was quite fun, all of us enjoyed it. We worked with classmates we hadn’t worked with before. It was creative exploring different words and presenting them after the whole process. I even enjoyed the guessing part where the other teams acted, because it is not only important to present what is their in your mind but also understand what the others have in their.