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What a great teaching idea!
Mary Byram Washburn
Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Linguistics, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences
Mary Byram Washburn, Dornsife, Linguistics Department, shares her "5-Minute Pidgin" activity, a dynamic example of active learning through collaboration and constraint. Students work together to complete a task—building origami hats—without a shared language, simulating a key concept in her introductory linguistics course: pidgin language formation. This playful constrained collaboration activity deepens understanding, builds communication skills, and offers a flexible model instructors can adapt across disciplines.Featured Resources
Strategies for Discussing Current Events
Facilitating academic discussions
Foundations of academic dialogue, Part 1
Challenging discussions modules 1-7
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