I stumbled upon the game Snake Oil in a game shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts several years ago, and decided to try it out in an English language conversation group I was teaching at the time. It was a big hit! Besides evoking laughter, training language skills, and bringing people together, the thing I most appreciate about this game is that it helps people develop creative thinking, an essential 21st Century skill.
The expression "snake oil" refers to a fake product--traditionally an elixir sold as a remedy, but one that doesn't actually cure any ailment, contrary to the claims of the salesperson. In the game, players try to sell a ridiculous product to a particular personality.
Everyone receives six cards with single words, all nouns. The player taking on the roll of the customer for the round draws a customer card and announces the customer's identity. It could be anything--from a party host to a kindergartener to a zombie. The other players then look at their cards, shuffling them around until they come up with a combination of two words that together become a new, goofy product, which they then try and sell to that customer.
When everyone is ready, players take turns making a quick sales pitch. In the end, the customer chooses the product they want to buy, and gives the customer card to the salesperson. Each round, a different player takes the role of the customer, until everyone has gotten a chance. In the end, the player who earns the most customer cards--who makes the most sales--wins. In some ways, it's fairly similar to Apples to Apples.
What's key in this game is putting two things together to come up with something new, and then marketing it.
The examples on the game box are for a caveman customer. One player may sell a beard brush, another an animal blanket, and someone else offers stone paint, possibly useful in a cave. Often the cards dealt have nothing to do with the role of the customer, and it takes a bit of imagination and stretching of reality to make an appealing product. For example, a snow machine could throw snow into a neighbor's cave--possibly useful to an unfriendly caveman!
When I play this game with English language students, it is important to remind them that the word that functions as an adjective--the describing word in the product--comes first, not second, as is common in Latin languages such as Portuguese. Depending on the level, I might start with a few activities where students match and sort familiar compound nouns such as toothbrush, bus stop, or fishbowl. We might also take a moment to recognize the pronunciation pattern--the first part of a compound noun receives extra stress: toothbrush, bus stop.
There is often unfamiliar vocabulary (pipe, tarp, patch, booger, etc.), but students are free to use their phones to search, or ask, learning words as they go.
Students often start out shy, but slowly warm up to the task. I often allow them to work in pairs if they prefer, and they can pass a round if they can't come up with anything. Usually there is at least one student with a wild imagination, and/or a flair for marketing, and students follow their lead. I always play with them, and demonstrate from the beginning. Although the products are ridiculous, somehow each salesperson justifies their necessity, and the results are hilarious. Often they only make sense in the context of the moment. There was one game where I sold a brain rocket bought a doubt net, each of which somehow made perfect sense at the time.
Besides being a great party game, Snake Oil has appeared in English conversation classes I've taught, and may show up in an upcoming advanced level unit that deals with the topic of innovation. Most recently, though, this game stimulated some creative thinking in the TED-Ed Club I'm leading.
Some of these TED-Ed students, while full of passions, personal interests, and the desire to change the world, started getting stuck when the words "your idea" became the goal of the exploration. While they all celebrate the "ideas worth spreading" found in TED Talks, some feared that they may have no ideas of their own. I know from talking to them that this is not at all the case! I decided to divide the lesson in half to give them extra time to consider where the intersections of some of their passions may lead to new ideas. As a warm-up to the following meeting, I introduced this game, which broke the ice and brought about lots of laughter. I could see the group getting more confident with each round, already practicing public speaking (in a foreign language!) in their sales pitches.
Then, transitioning, I told them about an odd combination of some of my interests--cats and Star Trek, and showed them one of my Klingon Kitty illustrations. I told them how, even though I was just playing around for fun with this combination, when I shared it online, something surprising happened. An old colleague from Boston saw it, fell in love with it, and asked if the drawings were for sale. Not wanting a lawsuit with the Star Trek empire, I got an idea. It involved another one of my passions, and a contrasting one at that--caring for refugees.
I had previously set up an art campaign to benefit International Rescue Committee, and it only made sense to encourage any Klingon Kitty fans to consider making a donation of any amount, and then offer some of the fan art drawings as a gift. It may only be a small drop in the bucket, but, hopefully, it made a difference for someone. This silly combination brought many smiles, let me reconnect with an important person from my old community, and, likely met a few practical needs of someone fleeing a horrible war. This is no pat on the back--in fact, I am deeply aware of the need to practice what I teach and find out more powerful and sustainable ways to use my talents and passions to help others. But it served as a small example of innovation happening at the intersections, an idea that has stayed with me since showing Emilie Wapnick's inspiring TED Talk to my classes.
During the rest of the exploration, I believe I saw some lights come on among these students as they continued their brainstorming and started to notice what exciting things might happen at the intersection of two of their passions. I left them with a few questions to consider, introduced them to the web app Sprout, developed specifically for TED-Ed students to share ideas and get feedback, and I set them loose. Our idea wall started to fill up, and students walked out at the end much more confident about the ideas they wanted to pursue.
Only time will tell what results from this exploration. I'm excited and honored to be part of the catalyst that empowers these young people to discover their voices. Meanwhile, I'll keep Snake Oil in my stash of teacher tricks, knowing that play is an essential element of creative learning. I'll also keep delving into my own passions, eager to find new possibilities and ideas to explore at the intersections.
Comments