I love the 'Sound of Music' movie. Most do. I have watched it a few times. I learnt something new when I watched it, in particular the 'Do Re Mi' song, the last time. The movie shows how to facilitate others to learn. I was thinking to myself, 'The kids in the movie learnt the music notes successfully. How did it happen? What skills did Marie apply? Can we apply some of these into our corporate learning environment?' I invite you to watch the following clip on the 'Do Re Mi' Song and think about the questions:
Here is my view - the clip gives a lively example of what a learning professional should do:
Associate- At the beginning of the clip, Marie lectured first but did not work. The kids could not remember the notes simply by being told. Marie then associated each note with a concrete concept e.g. 'Doe, a deer, a female deer....' The same applies to corporate training. If you want your learners to learn a new abstract concept, you better give them an analogy. For example, in my selling course when I introduce the concept of 'Decision Criteria', I first ask the girls how they choose their future husband.
Repeat - Marie did not teach each note once. She repeated. We got to do the same thing.
Break into parts - Whilst Marie's ultimate goal was probably to teach the kids to sing, she started with the basics first and then built the learning up bit by bit.
Make it real - Marie did not leave the kids hanging with just concepts. Marie applied the notes to make a lovely song. She sang 'When you know the notes to sing, you can sing most anything....'
Any other insight you have? Do let me know.
I am thinking to use this short movie clip in my future Train-The-Trainer program. Perhaps as an class opener!
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