WEBELOS

Communicator

Circle 10 Council

Den Activities

Invite a member of the Rotary Club or Toastmasters International to visit your den and give examples of body language.

Visit a meeting of these organizations to observe different types of communication.

Visit a telephone company. Find out how they help others communicate.

Visit and tour a post office and see how communication by mail is processed and delivered.

Visit a retail or production facility for cellular phones.

Learn how to make a cellular call.

Visit a vision impaired or hearing impaired learning

center.

Codes

Webelos enjoy being able to communicate in code – it’s like knowing a happy secret. Codes are used all over the world. When you send a telegram or a cable, you are sending a kind of code written in a short way to keep costs down. During wartime, codes are an important way for sending secret messages. Even the brands marked on cattle and markings on planes and ships are kinds of code. Codes usually have two parts. The first is making the code, known as "encoding" the message. The second part is called "decoding", which tells the person who receives the encoded message how to read and understand it.

Rail Fence Code

Suppose you want to send the message LOUIS LIKES BEAN SOUP. In the rail fence code, you encode by dropping every other letter down:

U S I E B A S U

O I L K S E N O P

Then, take the bottom line of letters and put them next to the top line of letters. You’ll come up with the coded message: LUSIEBASUOILKSENOP. When your friend wants to decode the message, he just counts the number of letters in the message, divides it by two, and places the last half below and between the first half.

Dot Code

For writing the dot code, it’s best to use lined paper. On the top line, write a mixed up alphabet, with the letters evenly spaced across the sheet. Each line down the page will represent one letter of your message. Starting on the first line, put one dot on each line beneath the letter you want the dot to be. To read the message, start on the first line and read downward.

CKSPFVYHAXILTNQRGWUJEDBMOZ

Box Code

A simple code which substitutes numbers for letters is made by building a square of 25 boxes into which the alphabet is inserted. Number each of the columns in the square from 1 to 5, then do the same with each row. Put a letter into each box. For one box, 2 letters will have to share the box, but the other letters in the message will help clarify which of the 2 letters is needed when the message is being decoded. Using this system, the row number followed by the column number indicates the letter needed for the message. For example, "O" is 34: row 3, column 4. Using the box code, try to decode the message hidden in the numbers of the "grocery order" below. Be sure you use all the numbers in the order.

Gentlemen:

Please accept my order for the following and deliver at once.

43 cans of your best sardines @ .15

33 boxes of soap flakes @ .14

23 large boxes of napkins @. 15

31 large cans of peaches @ .35

Message:

Webelos

Message:

Send help

Viking 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.

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.

Den Activities:

• At a school or church function, create and post directional signs.
• Read to a visually impaired person.

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.

Communication with the blind: Have your den form a large circle. In the center place an empty coffee can. Blindfold one of the boys and supply him with a broomstick. The object of the game is to have the den direct the blind Scout to the can and have him pick it up with the broomstick. Was it easy? Does it work better with one boy giving directions or all of them?

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.

INTERNATIONAL SYMBOLS

The following symbols are used to communicate information to people of all countries since they do not use words. Have the boys look at the symbols and identify what they mean.

Answers: 1. No U-turn 2 No bicycles 3. Tent site 4. Hotel, motel 5. Boat ramp 6. Forest

7. Restrooms 8. Wet floor 9. Trash can 10. First Aid 11. Red Cross 12. Animal Crossing

13. Handicap Access 14. Wildlife Refuge 15. Magnetics 16. Shower 17. Information

18. Campsite 19. Child Crossing 20. Fasten Seat Belts