#engchat #mbedu
Discuss
the dialogue that you overhead:
1.
Talk about the process of eavesdropping:
i.
Where did you go?
ii.
How long did you listen to
conversation?
iii.
Who was it between?
iv.
How did it feel to be recording the conversation?
2.
What insights did you gain about the way people speak?
3.
How can you apply this to your writing?
4.
How is personality and character revealed through conversation/dialogue?
5.
What happens when more than two people participate in a conversation?
6.
What was the most surprising thing you’ve learned about the way people
converse?
7.
What are the differences and similarities between written and spoken
conversations?
Finished assignment = 350 words. Post it here in the comments, and on your blog.
23 comments:
Caitlin and Kendra
We went downstairs into the halls and found a group of friends (2 guys and a girl) talking outside a locker. We were there for around 5 minutes listening to there conversation. It was mostly one of the guys and the girl talking to each other. It was hard because people talk really fast, I also think they kind of knew that we were listening to them. I don't think people speak in full sentences and they cut each other off. The girl talked really quietly and I think it was because the girl was with 2 guys. People also jump all over in the conversation. You can kind of make it broken and have people cutting other people off. As well as having topics change quickly. I think that personality comes through in dialogue through the word choice a person uses and there tone of voice shows how they are. I also think depending who controls the conversations shows if they are more controlling or not. When to or more people participate in a conversation I think that two people talk more then the rest of the people involved so it is controlled by the more dominant people in the group. I think that people converse differently with there girls friends then they do with their boyfriends and some peoples conversations have absolutely no meaning and are just to hear the sound of their own voice talking. Think in spoken conversation it is a lot easier to get the tone of voice a person has and you can learn a lot more about there personality and how they act around people. I think in written you don't get that one and it is a little harder to understand the tone.
Ashlyn and Emily P
We followed two girls around the hallways, and we listened to them for about 3 minutes until they turned a corner where it might be really obvious that we were following them. We also followed a group of 2 guys and 1 girl. It was weird to write down everything they were saying, but I listen to peoples conversations all the time so it wasn't that weird. One thing we noticed was the manner in which they spoke. The two girls spoke like they were good friends, being very honest and agreeing with each others opinions. The other group didn't seem to be very good friends, it was a very one sided conversation with the girl trying to impress the 2 guys. This could be applied to your writing by knowing who your characters friends are, your characters conversation would be more personal with their friends than a group of people they barely know. Peoples character can be revealed through conversation by the tone of their voice, and also through exaggerations they use. If the conversation is very one-sided, that person may just be talking for the sake of talking. When more than two people join a conversation, it becomes louder as everyone is trying to get there ideas heard, or it becomes a conversation between 2 people with 1 person listening. It's surprising to hear how many conversations are just pointless. I don't think any of the people in these conversations are benefitting from talking about how annoying their parents are. Written conversations usually have a point, and are there for a reason. They are often very descriptive in describing body language and emotions in their voice. Spoken conversations tend to be very pointless, and don't contain much meaning. You wouldn't put a spoken conversation into a story, as it doesn't benefit to the plot in any way.
Thinking of Dialog
1.Talk about the process of eavesdropping:
i. We walked all around the hallways following different groups of people. Stayed inside the school.
ii.Not very long because it was hard to understand the conversations and people walked fast
iii. Two girls-most likely friends
iv.we felt very out of place while eavesdropping on these girls
2. What insight did you gain about the way people think?
-Some people talked very quietly or stopped talking when we approached them and some people talked very loud and didn't even notice
3. How can you apply this to your writing?
-We could make our characters have conversations about everyday things like what we heard.
4. How is personality and character revealed through conversation and dialogue?
-by the tone they use
-by the volume of their voice
-by their language
5. What happens when more than 2 people participate in a conversation?
-It gets harder to keep up with and there are more opinions.
6. What was the most surprising thing you've learned about the way people converse?
-we were surprised at how loud people were talking and how they didn't seem to care about the surroundings
7. What's the differences and similarities between written and spoken conversation?
-In written conversation you can't tell the tone of voice so you don't really know how they feel about what they're saying unlike in spoken conversation.
-I'm spoken conversations you can easily change the subject and can get distracted.
-Both conversations in spoken and written form can be about very random topics
Erin, Shelby, Alaya
1. We followed them to the gym and through the halls and upstairs. We listened to them for at least 5 to 10 mins until tartan blew our cover. It was between two girls. It felt creepy when they realized we were following them around.
2. These two girls were talking quietly, one of them had like a sadness to her voice. People say whatever that is on their mind to somebody they know.
3. There was one girl kinda controlling the conversation, the friend was basically there for morall support.
4. These girls really didn't have much emotion besides the friend that broke up with her boyfriend, she was sad.
5. The conversation will no longer be one sides if there was more than two people talking.
6. They didn't surprise us with the way they were talking, it was nothing new.
7. The difference is you cannot tell what kind of tone they were using in a written conversation. In a face to face conversation people use more expressions with their bodies and voice. The similarity in the conversations usually one person controls the direction of the convo.
Kellie and Jeremy
My partner and I went to a window upstairs where we saw two girls who were clearly friends sitting and talking together. We listened to the conversation for about 7 minutes. At first we couldn't hear what they were saying, they were pretty quiet and mumbling. It felt awkward because we didn't try overly hard to be subtle. When we saw them we went straight to note taking and we assumed it felt out of the blue. When we sat down we noticed that they stopped talking for a moment and started mumbling. It took a while for them to start talking normal again. We could tell that they were friends because they were acting silly and goofing around. For example when one of them went to lie down, the other said "can you just not embarass me?" in a joking tone. We could use this conversation to apply to our writing because of the way they spoke to one another. We overheard them use the acronym "OMG" which proves that people don't speak formally all the time, especially when they're with their friends. You could tell that when teenagers are around people they're most comfortable with they tend to act kind of immature. One of the more surprising things we learned was that when two people are conversing they tend to take a while to adjust to others being present. They seemed to be comfortable after a while, one was standing up moving around and the other was lying down on the bench. One of the main differences we noticed between written and spoken conversations is the way that people speak. In written conversations, authors assume people talk more formal than they actually do. You can tell that spoken conversations are less formal because people use words such as "OMG" and "like".
Thinking about dialogue.
1. Me and Colby went to the gym, followed a few people around up stairs and listened to some people in the power mech hallway. We listened the gym people for about 5 minutes, the people we followed upstairs for about 5 minutes also and the people in power mech hallway for a brief minute. The conversations were between 3 groups of different people we didn't know. It felt like we we shouldn't have been listening but at the same time it was funny.
2. Some people like to use sound effects while talking, example "just whip the ball at him like whoosh" and when regarding a sock conversation you can see how boys who normally wouldn't care about it they would love to hear it from a girl.
3. Creeping on people and hearing them talk helps expand your dialogue because not all people talk the same as you.
4. Personality and character are revealed through conversation because most of the time you can judge how someone will speak by the way they look, but in some cases that is not true at all.
5. The conversation becomes less intimate and becomes people trying to be more funny or show of rather than showing their feelings through a personal one on one conversation.
6. There tends to be a leader/leaders in the conversation and everybody else seems to talk about what the leader is saying.
7. Texting people tend to let there feelings out more, maybe this is because they don't have to see the persons facial expression which could lead to them getting hurt.
With Justice Tait
Thing about dialogue
1 Where did you go?
I went to resource to listen on there conversation.
2 how is did you listen to conversation?
I listen for around 2 mins then I move on to next one.
3 who was it between?
It was between EA and a student and the other is a student was talk to a other student about her test coming up soon.
4 how did it feel to be recording the conversation?
I hate that because it's not right to listen to people conversation .
2 what insights did you gain about the way people speak?
Some were talking loud some talk quit and some talk med in there voice.
3 how can you apply this to your writing?
When I write the characters I can mention the volume of their voice.
4 how is personality and character revealed through conversation / dialogue?
For a example a person who talk sarcastic they are probably a sarcastic person.
5 what happens when more then two people participate in a conversation ?
When there is more then two people in a conversation it will get loud because people are trying to be heard
6 what was the most surprising thing you 've learned about the way people converse? I was surprised how loud people could be.
7 what are the differences and similarities between written and spoken conversation ?
The difference between written and spoken conversation is in Spoken conversation
It is usually less formal. A similarity between written and spoken conversation is that in both you can tell if some one is asking a question or if they are very excited.
By Cody calcutt
1.
a. We went in the hallways of our school because all the kids that skip class have fairly weird conversations.
b. We listened to about two minutes of each conversation (before they found us suspicious).
c. Most of the conversations were between about two guys and one girl.
d. We felt like undercover spies!
2. We listened to two groups containing a couple boys and a girl and another group containing a couple girls. We noticed during the conversations with the boys and girls that most guys are willing to start conversation with girls ( knowing the girl will continue the conversation). They will continue talking even if they aren't interested in the topic. It was funny to see how the guys quickly lost interest but pretended to listen. The difference between the all girls conversation was that sentences were more cut off and it was more fast paced.
3. What we noticed is very typical to conversations between girls and guys. The conversation is slower and the girl is the main focus. Conversation between a group of girls is faster and harder to keep track of the topic because the topic is always changing. ( I now understand why guys tune us out!)
4. We noticed that your personality can be portrayed through the choice of wording you use and how intense your tone is. For example, these two girls were talking about their love for music and you could tell the one girl was a little more tough than the other girl. She was swearing while describing how much she loved music and how she HAAAD to pick up some new beats to have a deeper experience with her music. The other girl was a little more gentle with her words and seemed happier. This reflects their characters as people with only a few words.
PART TWO
5. When more than two people participate in conversation, we noticed sentences aren't always finished. The more people there are, the more other people begin to interrupt or add in on conversation. We also noticed that the more people in conversation, the more the topic can change because new ideas are being brought up. Between two or more girls the conversation is harder to follow, but when there is a guy and a girl the guy usually ends up listening.
6. I suppose one thing that really surprised us was that people (high school students specifically) can have long conversations about the most random, general topics. Ones we heard today were music and socks. We know that sometimes we're like this as well when we converse with people, but that just goes to show that as teenagers, we don’t always have a whole lot of interesting topics to talk about on a daily basis. Especially since we talk to the same people everyday. Conversations begin to resort into talking about random things such as socks. (Believe us... they talked for a good 10 minutes about their socks!)
7. In our opinion, the biggest difference between written and spoken conversations are that most written conversations are not only more planned out, but have more of a purpose. I know that lots of the things we say do not always have a purpose and sometimes it’s just about the experience of interacting with another person. Usually in a story or wherever else you’ll find written conversation, the author will omit conversations that do not further develop the character or plot of the story. However in spoken conversations in life, one cannot simply omit a useless conversation. Also in a spoken conversation there is more of a visual aspect because you can see the person actually talking and read their body language.
8. This assignment was actually pretty interesting because we were told to go walk around the school and eavesdrop on our peers to then later write about their conversations. It was a little difficult to get the full conversation at times because we didn't want to seem too obvious that we were listening in on them. Surprisingly no one noticed how intently we were listening in on their conversations... Maybe that was because we were just so sneaky! Taryn and I pretended to be opening our lockers near the people or another key trick was to walk in front of the people because then they had no idea we were following them!
By:Taryn and Maddy
1) At first it took a little while to find somebody whose conversation we could follow. We found a group of 3 people who were talking in the power-mech hallway; we sat about 10 feet away from them and listened for 10 minutes or so. It felt awkward and rude, but at the same time it was kind of fun!
2) We noticed that the boys in the group spoke in a very mono-tone voice and didn’t say as much as the girl did. One of the boys in the group hardly spoke at all; this could show that he was uncomfortable. People won’t talk if they feel uncomfortable.
3) If you want to make a character feel uncomfortable or unwelcomed you could cut out their dialogue or have them not be talked to.
4) The personality of the girl was revealed as being very happy and bubbly. Dialogue can reveal if somebody is quiet/shy or if they tend to be loud and bubbly. One of the boys in the conversation was probably shy because he talked very little.
5) If there are more than two people, a conversation will usually jump topics faster. More opinions get expressed because there are more people talking about the same thing. This could speed up a conversation and cause it to go on for longer.
6) It is kind of surprising how people don’t really care about what other people like and how they are so willing to interrupt others.
7) Real life conversation is much less enthusiastic and much more interrupted. People in books tend to never get interrupted, when in real life that is not the case.
By: Paige and Rebecca
1. i) To start off my terrible deed of eavesdropping, I wandered about the school for a few minutes until I thought “Well where do you usually see students at this time of day in which there is class going on?” and so I came to the conclusion that the front doors would be the best outlook, since students would be skipping or on their spares at this time and might want to leave the school grounds.
ii) The conversation that I listened to didn’t take place that long; especially considering it’s by the front doors, so only about a few minutes.
iii) The dialogue I heard was between about four guys probably in grade 11 or 12 for sure.
iv) Truthfully I was ecstatic to play the class’s version of “super spy” as I call it. I felt like I was undercover and I adjusted my behavior to what the situation called for, which wasn’t much. No one really expects the little girl holding her binder and writing things down to be spying and listening in to your conversations. I made sure that I didn’t keep looking at them though.
2. Since the conversation wasn’t all that long, I gained some but it was enough. Everyone in the conversation sounded comfortable, quiet, and they all seemed to be chatting equally and the conversation was of light topic, just some joking around and talking about their days being good. I get that. People usually talk with people they can be comfortable around. Why would you talk to someone who made you feel uncomfortable?
3. I can apply this to my writing because I know, unless the emotions or topics are distressing or strained in any way; the conversation will be very comfortable no matter the topic. I don`t have to exceedingly worry about the way certain characters will react in situations in any stories I might write if they are a generally relaxed character like the boys I observed. In regular writing, I can apply this by keeping things simple. No need to go and push things further than need be.
4. Personality I found can really show through when you`re relaxed because of the way you don`t need to watch everything you say. Dialogue can show that you are a funny or kind hearted or whatever kind of person by the way you talk, stand, or even what kind of jokes you make.
5. Once more than two people are in a conversation, the conversation often becomes conversations and often times there are a lot of lost words when someone might not be heard or when a topic shifts, which also happens when more people join a conversation. In group conversations it`s easy for some people to not have a word in edge wise, or for them to just get pushed to the side, depending on what you`re talking about.
6. The most surprising thing I learned about the way people converse would have to be the way in which conversation flows. I`ve always kind of known it in the back of my mind, but never has it really been brought to the surface to me. Conversations with the right set of friends are endless and they flow smoothly and effortlessly.
7. To me, there is a world of differences between spoken and written conversations. In spoken conversations you can usually tell what the person you`re speaking to is feeling by their posture, the look they have in their eyes and what emphasis they are making in conversation by the cadence of their tone of voice. With written conversation you`re guessing these things and hoping they mean what you think, or if not, then you have to ask exactly what they mean, but even then it`s still so much easier to deceive someone over a text or something like that than in person. Written conversation is dull when you think about it really. Spoken words bring life to the conversation.
Thinking About Dialogue
Discuss the dialogue that you over heard:
1.) Talk about the process of eavesdropping:
i. Where did you go?
Around the school; hallways, classrooms, the gym, the cafeteria, windowseats, wherever we could find groups of people.
ii. How long did you listen to conversation?
As long as we could, they were usually just small talk trying to break the awkward silence while the small groups walk the halls.
iii. Who was it between?
We walked around following quite a few different groups, they were all different kids but all most involved guys, with the random addition of a girl or two.
iv. How did it feel to be recording the conversation?
I felt kinda awkward because I know I wouldn't like it if someone was doing it to me, and you never know what someone is going to be talking about. Yet I wish we found someone talking about something more interesting. We got nothing.
2.) What insights did you gain about the way people speak?
People are rude, the way they speak to each other sounds awful if I guess you don't know them well enough to know they are just kidding around with their friends. They also have terrible language, every second word out of every guys mouth seemed to be a swear.
3.) How can you apply this to your writing?
I could apply this to my writing in the way that every different age group has different tones and language choice when talking to each other, and that would help me to choice what to use depending on the characters in my writing.
4.) How is personality and character revealed through conversation/dialogue?
I believe personality and character is revealed through conversation/dialogue with:
- tone
- word choice
- body language
- conversation topic
5.) What happens when more than two people participate in a conversation?
From all the conversations I saw that involved more than two people, two people still did most of the talking, the other just kinda followed, maybe laughed everyone and a while, that's about it.
6.) What was the most surprising thing you learned about the way people converse?
I wasn't really surprised about anything, I know the way highschool kids talk to each other. I think I maybe would have been more surprised if I was to go somewhere, such as the mall, and listened to conversation of people in all different age groups and were to compare.
7.) What are the differences and similarities between written and spoken conversation?
The differences between written and spoken conversation to me would be:
- spoken: body language, facial expression can be seen
: tone can literally be heard
: usually much more casual, less thought put into word choice and language choice
- written: tone and mood have to be expressed through words
: expressions and body language have to be described
: much more thought and description
: word choice is more thought out
The similarities between written and spoken conversation to me would be that they both have equal opportunities of telling a story just as well, word choice and mood choice are equally important, tone and mood can be expressed, and insight on characters of the story can be reached.
1. Talk about the process of eavesdropping:
i. I went to all the corners of the school, the cafeteria, and the around the gym
ii. I would listen for about a minute and half and if nothing interesting happened I would move on
iii. Most conversations were in groups between 3-5 people
iv. Nothing special considering I overhear conversations all the time in the around the school and work. The only difference was me writing down the conversations on paper rather than me recalling later on.
2. What insights did you gain about the way people speak?
A lot more people talk with their hands and eyes more than I would figure.
3. How can you apply this to your writing?
I can apply this to my reading by adding more detail to the characters actions and body language to give the reader a stronger idea of what is going on.
4. How is personality and character revealed through conversation/dialogue?
Some of the ways personality and character are shown through conversation is by:
-Body Language
-Eye Contact
-Tone
-Volume
-Language
5. What happens when more than 2 people participate in a conversation?
It's really interesting because there is two things that could happen when there's more than two people talking.
a) They are one main speaker who does most of the talking and steering of the conservation, while the others throw thoughts and opinions here and there.
or
b) there is more than one main speaker and they both share control of the conservation. And depending on what kind of personality they have may step on each other’s "toes" so to speak. For example, if they are both really shy, docile, polite, or any combination of the above and they happen to talk at the same time. They will both pause and wait for the other continue, which causes this awkward pause. While if one of them is shy and the other is more assertive then the assertive person will keep charging through without a second thought.
6. What was the most surprising thing you've learned about the way people converse?
I wouldn't say it's the most surprising thing but definitely the most amusing is how people's persona change when around certain people nearly instantly. Like how someone could be talking normally and all of the sudden change to being peppy and flirtatious when they see someone they like.
7. What are the differences and similarities between written and spoken conversations?
The biggest difference between written and spoken conversations is that in written conversations it's hard to get a feeling for tone along with things like sarcasm. I'm pretty everyone has received a written message like a text or email and been confused on what the person meant.
Thinking About Dialogue: Answers
1. Talk about the process of eavesdropping:
i. Where did you go?
ii. How long did you listen to conversation?
iii. Who was it between?
iv. How did it feel to be recording the conversation?
1. Danielle, Annika and I walked around downstairs for a bit before making our way upstairs, and sitting in on some kids talking about absolute nonsense by the big window upstairs. I'd say we listened to their conversation for a solid 7 minutes before realizing just how awkward and uncomfortable it was what we were doing. It was between these two random kids, pretty sure they were in grade 11. I honestly felt like a creepy obsessed stalker writing down every word they spoke and every emotion they expressed while talking. It was weird and uncomfortable, but it was also fun and funny!
2. What insights did you gain about the way people speak?
I noticed how much people use body language while talking. People are so animated while telling a story. This kid was talking about how good the song he was listening too, and when he started singing he would do an action with every word he sang, I thought it was pretty entertaining. I also noticed that neither of them liked looking at each other while one another spoke, I found that a little weird. The guy who was singing, liked to use a lot of sound effects and emphasis when he talked! When he got really excited, his volume would raise and his expression brightened, and when he talked about something not as exciting, his volume came down and his facial expression went down with it.
3. How can you apply this to your writing?
I feel I could incorporate some sort of sound effects in my writing, and I should definitely write the expression/emotion changes with whatever they're talking about. I could also write about how their volume changes with what they're talking about as well.
4. How is personality and character revealed through conversation/dialogue?
I believe that the personality and character of someone is revealed in the way they express the story. By that I mean, if they use a lot of hand gestures and big bright eyes, I feel they're a very passionate and loyal person. As aposed to someone who kind of talks in a monotone manner, with no body language whatsoever, I feel these kinds of people don't care about anything because they don't even care about what they're talking about in the moment.
5. What happens when more than two people participate in a conversation?
I definitely think it's a lot louder than a two person conversation, because everyone's trying to get their story in there someway and somehow. I feel it's also a lot more intense, whether it be a sad intense, or an excited intense. You could be talking about something depressing, and you get everyone's sadness and sorrows all at once and that can be pretty intense to take in. But it can also be a crazy happy conversation and you take in everyone's hyped up ecstatic energy and vibes and that's also intense, in a super awesome way!
Part Two!
6. What was the most surprising thing you’ve learned about the way people converse?
I think the most surprising thing I learned while "creeping" was that there's not a lot of eye contact. I mean I'm not one to talk to someone and stare them in the eyes the whole time, cause that would be creepy. But there was little-to-none eye contact and that took me by surprise. I was raised to talk to people while looking at them, not at my phone, so I wasn't used to it.
7. What are the differences and similarities between written and spoken conversations?
I feel that the way people converse in written dialogue is way different than in spoken dialogue. When authors are writing out a conversation, there's no tone when writing so I feel you don't know how the character is actually feeling, or how the character even said what he/she said. The conversations in real life are also a lot longer because people talk about more than one topic and keep the conversation going, unlike written dialogue which ends when the topic ends. I guess if I had to pick a similarity it would be what they talked about. A lot of conversations that happen in written dialogue, I could totally see people having in real life situations.
Thinking about dialogue
1. i) I went the corner around by the stairwell that leads to the cafeteria-band hallway-gym area.
ii) I stayed and listened to the conversation for around 3-4 minutes.
iii) There were four boys in the group sitting at the table, and then three guys were walking by and one started talking to another in the corner about hunting.
iv) It felt intrusive and kinda rude. They kept looking over at me, or at least I'm pretty sure they did. I was standing at the door of the stairwell pretending to text and trying to look casual.
2. The conversation I was listening to wasn't exactly Shakespeare. It was about playing cards and hunting. But from the way they were talking, I learned that if you listen closely to the questioning tones or laughs, who feels they belong there, who feels awkward, tensions between individuals, etc. You can also tell who was actually interested or knew what the person talking about hunting meant, and who was just going along with it to look intelligent or fit in the group.
3. I can apply this to writing by specifying the environment of the conversation, what an individual may be thinking about during the conversation, if they want to be there. I can also use better descriptive words to explain how they are talking. For example, instead of writing, "I'm gonna say this now- I have three jacks and the fourth one is in the pile" he said. I can write, "I'm gonna say this now-" he began with a cocky smirk, "I have three jacks, and the fourth one is in the pile."
4. Personality and character is uncovered by things like who talked most, who filled in the silence with whistling or singing, who interrupted or responded. I could tell you who the so called "leader" of the group was, who felt uncomfortable and maybe even too nervous to answer, so they just laughed along, who may have been best friends with the leader because when the leader started singing, his friend began whistling along. I could also tell you these guys most likely spend their time playing videos, maybe skipping class, and not studying when they should. You could just tell by the way the leader delivered his words that he was kind of careless and reckless.
5. Because of the aspect of this conversation, where there was a leader and his friend and the others were quiet, I think that they mostly let the leaders decide what the topic if conversation would be, when that would change, and when they could talk. Almost as if they were intimidated. Once the other guy walking by started talking about hunting, the others seemed to have their own quieter conversations amongst themselves, which made it harder for me to follow.
6. The biggest surprise was how much power the leader had over the conversation. It was as if everyone agreed with him, or they were out of the group.
7. Written conversation give the reader more freedom to use their imagination. If the text says: "I really enjoy play soccer," She explained. Then the reader can give her a voice. A voice of pleading, a voice of shyness, a voice of excitement. It's up to the reader to assume the voice she has. But in a spoken conversation, you listen, having no control over the way the person is going to sound or look. The only thing you get to choose is how you think about the response or conversation
I wasn't present on the day the class went out into the school to listen to conversations, so I listened to a conversation that took place in one of my classes while we were "working." I listened for about fifteen minutes before the conversationalists were encouraged to quiet down and get their work done, at which point the conversation ended. It was between several girls - there were two main contributors, and about three other girls were listening in and adding their opinions.
Recording the conversation didn't feel as weird as I thought it would. The class work we were supposed to be doing involved writing, so I pretended I was doing that and made sure not to look over at them. I expected to feel ashamed of what I was doing, but I didn't - one, because the conversation was not very private; and two, because they were talking loudly enough that it would've been hard to ignore them if I tried.
I learned that people can have very passionate conversations about things that seem trivial to others, but are very important to the participants. Conversely, some of these conversations happen for argument's sake rather than for any care the participants may or may not have about the subject. In my writing, I'll try to keep the personalities of the characters in mind. Some of them may be earnest and passionate about things the others couldn't care less about, while some are argumentative and may take part in a debate just for the fun of it, even if they don't personally agree with the side they've taken.
Personality and character are revealed in many different ways through conversation. I think that things such as body language, tone of voice, and facial expression are much more important than word choice in this respect. People can pick their words, but only the most self-aware people are able to constantly control their body language and facial expressions in a convincing manner.
When more than two people participate in a conversation, either all participants are equal contributors, or there are one or two dominating forces who control where the conversation goes and may have louder opinions than the others. One surprise was how dominating some people can be in conversations without intending it; they just have so much to say and often have louder voices than the others, which makes it easier for them to plow right on through.
In written conversation, there is nothing but the words. While it's possible to describe tone of voice and body language for conversations that occur in books, for text or online conversations it can be difficult to get a sense of these things. I think that spoken conversations can be a richer experience because so many aspects of communication go unspoken, but written conversations have the potential to be more thoughtful and intellectual because the participants have more of a chance to consider what they're going to say.
1a) To do this assignment we walked around the school trying to listen to other peoples conversations.
b) I listened to the conversation for about a minute or two.
c) The conversation was between an EA and a student.
d) It felt kind of wrong listening to their conversation at first since it was just between them and everyone has a right to their own privacy, but it's interesting sometimes to see what people are talking about and they were also talking loud enough for me to hear them.
2) I learnt that if people are more excited about something they'll be way more happier and talk a lot more and faster. But with this specific conversation I learnt that you can tell a lot about someone's personality. In this case, the student was super quiet and kind of avoided talking, I could tell that he was super shy.
3) You could apply this into your writing by caring more about how your characters talk to one another and by showing their personalities more through what they say rather than other characters describing them.
4) Personality and character are revealed through conversation because if someone avoids contributing to the conversation or talks really quiet you could guess they're shy, or if someone is very loud when they talk, and talks a lot, you could think that they're outgoing.
5) When more than 2 people participate in a conversation, the conversation tends to get dragged on more, since each person usually has something to say and a different opinion to add. I also think that with more than 2 people talking, lots of people get interrupted.
6) The most surprising thing I've learnt about the way people converse is that lots of people don't pay attention to what the other person is saying and lots of people get interrupted so easily.
7) With spoken conversation you can easily tell if a person is more excited/sad/mad by what they say, the tone of their voice and their body language. With written conversation it's hard to imagine the actual tone of the person talking, and sometimes it's hard to determine if the person is being sarcastic or not. You can also get your point across a lot quicker with spoken conversation, written conversation just takes a bit more time and is a lot more descriptive.
1) talk about the process of evesdropping
i) where did you go?
I ended up listening to a conversation in a classroom surrounding the studio where I was smartly placed out if sight.
ii) how long did you listen to conversations?
I listened to that conversation for about five minutes.
iii) who was having the conversation?
The conversation was between 3 grade 10 girls.
iv) how did it feel when you were creeping?
Sometimes it was awkward, others it was fflat out hillarious.
2) when people are more passionate about a topic they tend to speak louder, faster and much more enthusiastically.
3) you can apply these facts to writing when using dialogue in more serious situations when anger and passion are key emotions you are trying to convey to the readers.
4) dialogue can reveal a lot about people's personality, more specifically their leadership skills. If a person speaks quieter, and less often they are probably not very out going or confident in a leadership position versus a person who dives in head first to start discussion with random strangers to promote or discuss current issues or topics on their agenda.
5) if a conversation carries on between more than two people conversations can become heated much faster with extra opinions and voices clashing.also even with just one extra person added it can be much less intimate or private.
6) I have learned that in public conversations that many people have very blurred lines for what is appropriate conversations to be having at school or in public places. It's quite shocking really.
7) a similarity in written conversation and auditory conversations is that either way the point is getting across whether its positive or negative the point gets across. A difference is that tones and moods can be completely misinterpreted over written conversations, with auditory you can hear the tone they are trying to convey.
1) Talk about the process of eavesdropping.
a) Where did you go?
I started off in the cafeteria, than I walked around the school. Finally I finished off in two different classrooms that were having free time. Both classrooms are where I got the best results for my conversations as the students were staying stationary and not moving.
b) How long did you listen to each conversation?
I didn’t listen to the conversations for very long at all. This was because I didn’t want to be too obvious that I was listening, as well as it was hard because a lot of people were walking and talking and following people walking and talking is hard to keep track of. The conversations in the classrooms like I said were a lot easier to record as the students were staying stationary and not moving. Also in one of the classes I was able to go around the corner and listen to the conversation. That conversations was the longest one I listened to which was around 3 minutes.
c) Who was it between
All my conversations I listened to were between students.
d) How did it feel to be recording the conversations?
It felt kind of weird to be recording the conversations. I guess because it is such a normal thing to listen to other people’s conversations as you are walking by or waiting for something. I think what felt weird about it was that you really had to listen and actually take note on what people were saying, This was a little weird as some of the conversations could have been personal.
2) What insights did you gain about the way people speak?
I think that if people are talking about subjects that they are passionate about, they will talk in a more excited tone. This could mean they start talking louder and faster and usually have a happy face, or an upset face depending if someone is talking down on their passion.
3) How can you apply this to your writing?
I can apply this to my writing by communicating conversations in a more descriptive way, especially if the conversations are supposed to be expressed enthusiastically. I can also add more body language into my writing.
4) How is personality and character revealed through conversation/dialogue?
Personality is shown in a number of ways including the tone of their voice, as well as their body language. If the person is shy, usually they will talk quieter, as well as go closer to the people they are talking to. Louder people may be a little more confident to talk in front of a group of people.
5) What happens when more than two people participate in a conversation?
When more than two people take part in conversations there are a lot of people talking over each other. This is especially present when the people are enthusiastic over the topics and have a lot of opinions on them.
6) What was the most surprising thing you’ve learned about the way people converse?
I feel that nothing was too surprising, but just having to noticing the body language and people’s passions. It was interesting to see how people’s tones and body language switched when they were talking about something they were passionate about.
7) What are the differences and similarities between written and spoken conversations?
With spoken conversations you are able to hear the tone and see the body language which can help show how the person is feeling. Even though authors can describe in their own words the tones and body language of the characters, hearing it and seeing it can make the feeling become clearer. A similarity would be that the message stays the same with both.
1. i. Where did you go?
Chelsea and I orginally went in the office to eavesdrop on the students that came in the office but then we went back to the classroom and I started eavesdropping just a small conversation in the classroom.
ii. How long did you listen to the conversation?
I listened and recorded the conversation for about around ten to fifteen minutes.
iii. Who was it between?
The conversation started between just three students in the classroom then it became more students and even the teacher involved.
iii. How did it feel to be recording the conversation?
I felt weird and rebellious because I felt like it wasn't right to be eavesdropping on the conversation. I also felt this way because I found some of the conversation a bit personal.
2. What insights did you gain about the way people speak?
The insights I gained about the way people speak are that some people say certain words a lot like "like" and every person has a different word that they say a lot. I learned that some people speak with more confidence then others while some people are kind of uncertain about what they are saying. I learned that with some people you can't really tell if they are being sarcastic or not. I also learned that some people talk over people and speak a lot louder then other people. I learned that some people speak faster then other people making it harder to understand what they are saying.
3. How can you apply this to your writing?
I can apply this to my writing by when I'm talking about someone that is speaking I could be more descriptive on how they are saying it. If they are saying it quickly, loud, over people or with confidence etc. I can also apply this to my writing by giving characters more personality just with how they communicate with people by describing that very throughly. I can also apply this to my writing by adding something like writing that this person interrupted the conversation and going more in depth on how this conversation is going.
4. How is personality and character revealed through conversation/dialogue?
You can tell that personality and character is revealed through conversation/dialogue because if someone interrupts someone in a conversation they could come off as being rude. You can also tell by someones voice what mood they are in or if they are saying it quietly they could come off as being a very shy person. On the other hand, if a person is talking very loudly they could come off as being very confident.
5. What happens when more then two people participate in a conversation?
When more then two people participate in a conversation, people tend to interrupt other people or speak over people. When more then two people participate in a conversation, it's also harder to understand what people are saying and record them when you are eavesdropping. When more then two people participate in a conversation it's also harder for the people in the conversation to give everyone in that conversation equal attention.
6. What's the most surprising thing you've learned about the way people converse?
The most surprising thing I have learned about the way people converse is that how much you can learn about a person's personality and character just only from fifteen minutes of eavesdropping into their conversation with their friends.
7. What are the differences and similarities between written and spoken conversations?
The differences between written and spoken conversations are that in spoken conversations people interrupt one another a lot and in written authors don't usually describe every time someone interrupts someone or the tone they use every time. The similarities between written and spoken conversations is that they both reveal the character in the person and their personality.
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