Games, Learning Opportunities, or Both?

Most days we would have an opportunity to play a game that gave us a firsthand chance to experience conflict and develop skills that would help to resolve the conflict created in the game.

On one of the first days, without looking at each other (facing directly out away from the rest of the class) students were provided with a rope and given instructions to form a specific shape with the the rope and themselves... sounds easy? Not in actuality, but practice does provide an opportunity to improve our skills!

In the picture above, you can actually see one of the corners we created as part of a rectangle.  This was one of our later attempts as students realized that they need to listen to one another and by designating a few students as "corners" it made it easier for other students to know where to move... still a challenge, but doable! 

In the picture to the left, the class was divided into two different groups that communicate using different hand symbols, but still were given the task of trading coloured shapes...

What would this look like with different groups of people that actually had different customs and spoke different languages? What would you need to take into account?

In the photos below, the students worked in groups with their "gravity sticks" to lower or raise them to or from the ground. Different parameters made the challenge different each time (e.g., eyes all closed, not speaking, etc.)