WEBELOS

Communicator
National Capital Area Council

We are all communicators.  What does it mean to communicate?  Communication is the art of transmitting and receiving information.  And how do we as human beings go about this exchange of information?  We communicate with words, facial expression and body language.

As the human race developed so did our communicative skills.  Early man drew pictures on the walls of caves.  With the development of language came a better way to keep records and tell stories... writing!  With the discovery of electricity came the telegraph, telephone, radio, television, computers,  micro-wave transmission, optical fibers, lasers, and on and on and on.

Who makes a good communicator? We do of course!  With all of the modern technology at our fingertips today it is still important for us to learn basic communication skills.  Skills that will be with us throughout our entire lives.  Things, like how to talk to one another with respect, how to listen to one another.  Silly things, like saying please and thank you.  Things like, learning good telephone manners and practicing being polite and courteous to others.

Den Activities:

·         At a school or church function, create and post directional signs.

·         Read to a visually impaired person.

Speakers: News broadcaster, radio DJ, politician, minister

Field Trips:

·         Visit library - talk to librarian, learn how books are indexed.

·         Visit radio station - see how it operates.

·         Visit television station

·         Visit police station or 911 dispatcher - learn how 911 calls are processed and prioritized.

·         Visit school for the deaf and/or blind.

·         Use a computer to talk to other people

·         Visit a newspaper office - see how a newspaper is put together.  Watch the printing presses run.

Games:

Communication With A Blind Person: How would you go about describing something to a blind person?  An animal for instance, one they have never seen.  Try this exercise; blindfold your den, give them each a pencil and a piece of paper, then describe to them an animal and have them draw what they think they hear.  Remove the blindfolds and see if they can guess what animal they have drawn.  Hint:  Don't use any key words.  Example:  if you are describing an elephant don't use the word trunk for his nose.

Secret Sounds:  Use prerecorded sounds or have den chief produce sounds from behind a screen or another room.  Webelos listen as each sound is produced and then write down what they think the sound is.  Example: Sandpaper rubbing against something; a deck of cards being flipped into the air, a golf ball or Ping Pong ball, bouncing on a bare floor; bursting of a paper bag; etc.