Yes, and…..

Yes, and…..

There is a specific activity I often use in creative thinking skills workshops which works wonderfully well. I learnt it from T.Richards, during a lecture in Athens some years ago (pls see note at end). It’s called the “Yes, and…” activity In this activity, one person, or the teacher even, begins by positing something, anything. For example, “We’re having pizza tonight” and everyone else, in turn, has to add on to, elaborate on this statement. Some of the things you might hear in such cases, are…

• • “Yes, and, I especially love pizza with pepperoni!’
  • “Yes, and I am thinking, too, of ordering some for later on”
  • “Yes, and don’t I wish we some right now”
  • Yes, and I have noticed that some people like to drink Coke with their pizza”
  • Yes, and I have been craving for pizza too. Why don’t we have some right now?”

Things get tougher a few turns later when people run out of ideas and have to keep adding positive, “yes, and…” ideas.

Some break down and begin to blurt out, “Yes, but…..” . This is not allowed; it is an absolute no, no!

The technique if often used in actors’ workshops to help them with improvisation!  Here is an example video

Yes, but….

If you try the opposite with “Yes, but, ….” most people can go on for hours…. Why is it that people find opposition and contradiction easier, is a true mystery to me

Contradicting often does not build, but disrupts the creative thinking process, both in the contradictor as well as in the team trying to build something, from an argument to a marketing campaign or even a skyscraper!

In order to practise “elaboration”, one of the microskills (not a very accurate term – microskill for ‘elaboration’ but it will do for the time being) of creative thinking, it is necessary to add to and to build on something, rather than to pull it apart and contradict it.

Why Practise Elaboration rather than Contradiction?

A lot of the world’s greatest inventions were created because someone noticed how an existing gadget or invention could be improved by adding or changing part of it.

Elaboration in language learning is the thinking skill which will help us build on what we know to create something new, often innovative; it’s the skill we need most to avoid writing simplistic and bare-bones text, so, to the language teacher, it’s an interesting skill and that’s why I have developed an interest in it.

Helping you to be more creative thinkers as well, may help you find some creative ways of working out these issues, rather than live in silence and succumb to the pressure of those who are either ignorant or fear change because it upsets their safe, small and well padded world.

Source
Richards, T., 1993, Ideas into Action: How Creativity & Innovation are Driving Modern Business Life. Public Lecture for the Athens L.B.A.