Page 323 - The Creative Training Idea Book Inspired Tips and Techniques for Engaging and Effective Learning

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312 The Creative Training Idea Book
training videos. Your organization can buy these and use them as you like in organiza-
tional training programs. For other videos from which you wish to extract scenes to use
in your programs, find out who distributed them and obtain written permission first.
To help identify potential videos/films for use in training, go to the website
www.teachwithmovies.org. This site provides the names of various movies, their poten-
tial use, a synopsis of the film, possible problem areas, and other useful information.
Many of the video reviews on that site also contain additional links to films on related
topic material.

Video Gems
To get you started, here are some examples of some video gems that I like to use in
training. Some of these are available through training video distributors. Others can be
found at your local video store.

Who’s on First with Abbott and Costello
This is a great video to show how communication can break down even though people
speak the same language.

12 O’Clock High
The entire video can be used as a study in situational leadership and planning under
stressful conditions.

Rush Hour
This video provides some wonderful humor with a scene at the airport when a black
police officer from Los Angeles goes to pick up a Chinese counterpart from Hong Kong.
The black officer applies an inappropriate communication technique used by many
Americans, who assume a person from another culture does not understand what is
being said—they talk in a loud voice. The scene provides a perfect example of commu-
nication and cultural breakdowns.

Airplane
This is another humorous movie that shows an example of cultural and subcultural
communication. In one scene, two black people are sitting on the plane talking in street
language common to their subculture. Accompanying their spoken messages, the di-
rector inserted subtitles explaining what they are talking about in what some consider
standard English. This is great for emphasizing how many groups within the United
States and other areas of the world sometimes develop a language or communication
style that others outside their group do not understand. Even children come up with such
techniques to mask their messages from outsiders (remember pig Latin and the song
“The Name Game?”).
Karate Kid
There are numerous scenes in which the main characters Mr. Miyagi and Daniel are inter-
acting and communicating. Two scenes that I like to use in coaching programs show Mr.
Miyagi teaching Daniel how to wax a car (wax on/wax off). He does not explain at the