1. Mountaineering in the Netherlands

This recipe from Ingrid E. C. DeBeer from the James Boswell Institute in Utrecht, Netherlands uses the descriptive power of metaphor to motivate learning on a course.

Ingredients:

* A group of students with a clear skill goal (in this case: to learn scientific writing in English)
* A powerful metaphor, which may be applied to all activities on the course

Preparation:

Take a metaphor, which is perceived as quite “unusual” by the participants, in order to add stimulus to their experience.

In this case it involved “climbing a mountain” (= learning scientific writing) – which in the Netherlands must seem very adventurous. Many other metaphors could then be derived from this. The teacher became the “mountain guide”, the vocabulary became the “provisions” and the students the “participants in the expedition”...

These associations may also be made visual, for example through objects brought along or by means of overhead sheets. These methods bring the suggestive power of an “adventure” to a seminar room environment. Furthermore, discussions among the course participants on their experiences and problems can also be related to this image.

Would you like to know more?

Click here for a more detailed description of the project!
You can contact the project manager at i.e.c.debee@jbi.uu.nl.