Exformative learning activities & games from all over the world
Exformative learning activities & games from all over the world
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3 unique workshops with Francis Laleman
for parents, teachers, facilitators, Scrum Masters, (Agile) coaches, social workers, L&D professionals and anybody who works with groups
The invitation:
Francis is now based in Singapore. Exceptionally, in October 2022 he will be touring in Europe and the UK. I'm honoured to be hosting this series of three in-person workshops that mark his return to the UK for the very first time since the Scrum Exchange in December 2019, just before the outbreak of the pandemic. This is a truly unique chance to experience his work.
1 - Exformative learning activities
London, October 10th, full day
An experiential exploration of exformative learning activities
2 - Playful learning with traditional games from the Philippines
London, October 11th, AM
Laro ng Lahi: Using non-serious children’s games as a vehicle for learning and development
3 - Playful learning with games from Brazil and Uruguay
London, October 11th, PM
Playful learning with Aladdin Toys, universal constructivism & incidental play
Who is Francis?
Francis is an educator and workshop facilitator originally from Belgium, with family roots from near the border with France, but he has lived and worked in and with India for the best part of his adult life. Having returned to Europe from India in 1996, Francis got involved with the early years of Scrum and the Agile movement, mainly in Belgium and in the UK. He became a frequent voice and face on social media and in workshops – and anyone who has attended one or more of his workshops in the UK, or with Tobias Mayer, or his sessions at the Scrum Exchange and Reimagine Work, will agree that being in a workshop with Francis is something quite different from anything else.
In March 2020, just before he relocated back to Asia (he now lives in Singapore and is involved with community development and social work in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines), Francis published a little book 'Resourceful Exformation' on his current stance in the world of education and L&D. The main theme of the book is that we should stop being informers, pushing skills and knowledge into others. Rather, let us be “exformers,” where we help our students or trainees make sense of the forms and shapes that they are offered by the world surrounding us.
The idea of exformation, Francis took from the Japanese designer Kenya Hara, while using traditional children’s games as a vehicle for learning and development has become a trademark feature of his work ever since his days as a learner experience designer with marginalized communities in India in the 1980s. Other inspirators of his journey and his work have been Rabindranath Tagore, Joaquin Torres Garcia, Jacques Lecoq, Paulo Freire, Augusto Boal, Yoshi Oida, James Carse, Haresh Sharma, Sivasailam Thiagarajan (Thiagi), and many more.
Some articles Francis has written about this work:
https://francis-laleman.medium.com/more-games-in-the-classroom-4c95edeb1701
What others have said about Francis' work
- Children's games work so much better than introducing yet another digital sidekick.
- The students know exactly what to do and how to play, because they recognize the game.
- As children in their barangay, the students are used to play and learn about the world at the same time. Playing the same games with us puts them in a learning mood straight away.
- This session was so much fun. I am so amazed that learning this way is so effective.
- Laro ng Lahi workshop participants from Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, June 2022
Something I learned from my favourite writer and facilitator: I want to provide learning experiences that are open, unlimited, fragile, new, sensorial, embodied, unknown, unafraid, and spontaneous. I want my participants to go back to the first 30 months of their lives.
Sivasailam Thiagarajan “Thiagi”, Bloomington, Indiana, September 2020
Resourceful Exformation is a brilliant book that gently awakens facilitators from all backgrounds to think about all that we have at our disposal, to make learning a deeper experience. I’ve been fortunate to attend an online study group hosted by Francis himself, where he’s taken us through the exformative learning practices within the book, with examples and exercises which have thrown open my cupboard of curiosity and inspired me to utilize what I’ve learned.
Nisha Joshi, London, UK, July 2020
Sometimes there is a before and an after .. and this little book has that capacity of changing you after you have savoured it. I had the luxury of reading this book in a group together with the author and understanding the depth of his experience and readings. This is what this book does: open the door to even more knowledge and experiencing, it is a delicious treasure trove, hiding more nuggets of wisdom behind every chapter. I highly recommend it, it truly accelerates your learning.
Katrien Barrat, Change & Organisation Design Consultant, July 2020
