A multi-purpose experiential activity or let's party (again).

As a wet-behind-the-ears general semantics teacher in 1986 at a Milwaukee women's college, I'd eagerly (sometimes frantically) search for classroom exercises that would engage my students, clarify my lectures, and elicit meaningful discussion. I discovered just such an activity thanks to Ruth McCubbrey and her "Let's Party" extensionalizing tool described in the Winter 1986 ETC. My students have consistently commented on how this experience gives them a genuine feeling for the concepts and principles of general semantics. Over the years, I tinkered a little with the original and can now offer examples from my version of Ruth McCubbrey's "party."

The party consists of a simulation where "guests" meet and mingle. They know nothing about each other except for information printed on a sticky label affixed to their foreheads. Participants don't know what their label says, nor do I encourage them to determine that information. Rather, I state that this party has only one rule: each person must react as honestly as she or he can to the other guests' labels.

Before class, I write out the labels. I make sure that they reflect a diversity of roles and status: surgeon, baby-sitter, stockbroker, feminist, unemployed, housewife, caterer, beauty contest winner, lottery winner, priest, immigrant, bank v.p., waitress.

Three labels list age only: 5-year-old, 14-year-old, and 80-year-old. I include labels with characteristics designed to elicit strong responses: accused of rape, deaf lip reader, ex-convict, confined to wheelchair, recent death in the family. (I recommend some caution when creating these kinds of identification. Labels such as gay/lesbian, member of KKK, or HIV positive may prove too uncomfortable or too on target for guests and the label wearer.)

As soon as I yell, "mingle," they do. I circulate to observe and to listen. I hear someone say "shame on you" to the person accused of rape. I notice that clusters quickly begin to take shape. The stockbroker, millionaire, and the surgeon form a tight knot, while the housewife, baby-sitter, and 5-year-old link up. Some guests drift from group to group. After about 5 minutes, I see that the ex-con and the deaf lip reader have positioned themselves on the edge of the party to silently watch the others.

After about 10 minutes, I call a halt. I tell them to NOT look at their labels until instructed to do so. I begin by asking who felt they had high status at this party. Who felt they had low status? I then ask for evidence to support their feelings. The lottery winner felt loved because everyone wanted her as a friend. The bank v.p. enjoyed the exciting company she kept with the surgeon and the stockbroker. She sheepishly admits that when the housewife tried to join in, she could not think of a single thing to say to her. The ex-con angrily declares that no matter how hard she tried, no one would talk to her. The 80-year-old feels like she had no status. She said so many people told her she looked tired, she finally sat down and stopped talking. The 14-year-old felt patronized by everyone except the 5-year-old and she didn't want to be seen with a baby!

I make sure that everyone gets a chance to speak before they look at their labels. Once they see their labels, a lot of knowing looks get exchanged. The person accused of rape holds the label high and yells, "Accused, I've only been accused!" At this point, the general semantics connections get forged.

Depending upon when in the semester I use the activity, I emphasize different principles and formulations. If the party serves as a course ice-breaker, then we talk about maps and territories. As a mid-semester exercise, I can integrate report-inference confusion, extensional devices, as well as consciousness of abstracting. Toward the end of the semester, it can act as a thought-provoking synthesizer. I find that students can relate nearly everything we've studied to their party experiences.

Since my initiation in 1986, I've taught at least one general semantics class each semester and I've used this exercise in every class. This means that I've partied with my students no less than 18 times. And I expect to party on (again). Thanks, Ruth!

Associate Professor Andrea Johnson teaches general semantics and communication courses at Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.