The introductory module provides a background for initiating a Life Skills Education Program. Life skills will only be learned if the training experience reinforces what is taught.
The module includes activities for introducing oneself, identifying expectations and establishing ground rules. It introduces the children to the idea of teamwork and encourages cooperative behavior among them. From the very beginning, the children are encouraged to express their opinion and participate in activities, be it in establishing ground rules or reflecting on sessions to follow with other activities outside the classroom.
Facilitators play a key role in the entire process. Their participation and involvement with the children will ensure interactive and participatory learning. The comfort level of the facilitators in discussing sexuality and sexual health issues creates the right kind of atmosphere to explore these issues with young people.
Establishing a supportive environment is crucial since many of the life skills sessions deal with sensitive issues. A supportive environment allows the children to freely express their thoughts and feelings if they so desire. Many children may be unaware that their reactions or statements may hurt others. It is therefore necessary to sensitize the group to ensure empathy and concern for each other.
Trust and confidentiality are valued in addressing sensitive issues such as HIV and sexual health. Children are also informed that their participation in
the program is voluntary, and they can choose to remain silent in any session if they so desire. The sessions ensure that children living with HIV are not discriminated against and that they get to participate actively in all activities with the other children. This module assumes that needs have been identified and that a life skills curriculum has been developed based on an analysis of these needs. The needs assessment is based on the assumption that a road map must be drawn so the participants know where they are going and why.
Module One consists of three sessions:
SESSION ONE
Introduction
This session contains six activites to introduce oneself
SESSION TWO
Rules and Expections
This session sets ground rules and voices expectations
SESSION THREE
Trust and Support
This session creates a supportive environment for training. It has four activities with an option of two additional activities.
Objectives
At the end of the session:
• The children will know each others’ names and qualities;
• Communication among the children will be facilitated; and
• The children will be able to make new friends.
Key Points
A number of activities have been presented for the facilitator to choose from. Many of these
introductory exercises also encourage
demonstrations of interpersonal communication that can take place without words, sharing information about oneself and feeling okay about it, understanding others better, making new friends
and encouraging participation of others. The facilitator can pick and choose among activities according to the needs of the group. Some of the activities can be used as introductory exercises for other modules and sessions as well.
Life Skills Learned
Self awareness, interpersonal relationships and communication.
Time Required
15 to 25 minutes for each activity.
Materials
Card paper, markers, cello tape, and music cassette for Double Wheel activity.
3 • LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN INDIA
Directions:
ACTIVITY ONE Mistaken Identities
1. This activity is most suitable when the children do not know each other. Make name tags with large letters for all children. Use first or familiar or pet names only.
2. Distribute the name tags to the group, making sure that no child gets his/her own name tag. 3. Let the children mingle and find the right person, exchange names and where they are from. 4. Cards should be easy to read and colorful so that the children can read the cards from a
distance, mingle easily and meet people.
5. If some children know each other and others do not, a pet name or a second name may be used for identification
Experience from the field
If children cannot read or write, draw the meanings of the names of the children or a symbol they like. Even if children draw the same object, they can recognize their own drawing. After finding the child with the right name tag, each child can introduce the other to the group.
Activity: Double Wheel; Partner: YWCA, Delhi ACTIVITY TWO
Double Wheel
1. Ideally, this activity should be conducted when the children in the group do not know each other. Divide the children into two groups of equal size. 2. Each group forms a circle, one group
inside the other.
3. The inside circle moves clockwise and the outside circle moves counter- clockwise when the music plays.
4. When the music stops, the circles stop moving and the children in both circles face each other and exchange names and where they are from. When the music resumes, the children move in the circles as before.
5. When the music stops, the children should rush to find their previous partner and both crouch down. The last few pairs to crouch down are selected to introduce their partners to the group. 6. The Double Wheel continues for a few rounds more until all participants have introduced
1. The children form a circle and think of a hobby, sport or some other activity they like which they can mime. For example, a child who likes to play drums can mime it or a child who likes cricket can mime that.
2. Encourage the children to mime different hobbies so that the miming performances are not duplicated. This will create variety and the children will enjoy guessing.
3. After each person has mimed in front of the rest of the group, the group is asked to remember each other’s mimes. The facilitator may join in the game with the children.
4. The game starts with one person clapping hands and then saying the person’s name and miming him or her. That person now claps, says another person’s name and mimes him or her. A person, who mixes up or forgets the name of the person and the mime, is out. Any child who remembers the name and the mime begins the activity again.
Experience from the field
Children of age group 9-11 like to mime games or a famous personality.
ACTIVITY FOUR If You Were an Animal
1. Ask the children to choose an animal they would like to portray. They should be able to say why they want to be that animal.
2. The child imitates or poses like that animal. Allow a minute to prepare.
3. Form a circle. Each child, including the facilitator, comes to the center of the circle, imitates an animal and explains why the animal was chosen. The child should explain which qualities attracted him/her to this particular animal and how those qualities were common between the child and the animal.
Experience from the field
An explanation by the facilitator about the objective of this session helps all the children. Children enjoy the activity, but later could tease and label each other so it is important to set up a few ground rules. Younger children say what they like about the animal rather than a quality.
5 • LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN INDIA
ACTIVITY FIVE Celebrities
1. Make a list of famous people that the children would know. There should be as many names as there are children. Pictures of celebrities can be used if children cannot read or write.
2. If the facilitator knows the group well, s/he could match the characteristics of the famous person to that of a child. If this is done, the facilitator must point out the connection that s/he sees between the celebrity and that particular child. The facilitator could also choose a theme such as leaders, well-known personalities, singers or sports personalities.
3. The famous person’s name is tacked onto the back of the child so s/he cannot see it. Encourage the children to walk around and ask questions to others who must answer in only yes or no. No other hints can be given.
4. The exercise is complete when almost all of the children have found out who they are.
Review
This is a good exercise to introduce the method of data collection or survey to the children because these are often recommended in later modules in the Linking Learning to Life activities. Some questions for review could be:
• Which questions were more useful?
• How did different children ask questions? What did that tell you about the child? • Were non-verbal clues useful?
Experience from the field
The facilitator conducted a practice session with the younger children so that they understood how to ask questions.
ACTIVITY SIX Find Out
1. A volunteer is asked to leave the room. The child who has volunteered needs to think of five questions to which the group will answer yes or no to identify one person in the group.
2. The children decide who will be the one who should be identified when the volunteer is out of the room. 3. The volunteer returns and asks the five questions and then guesses who the child is. The
volunteer gets three guesses. If he or she cannot guess the right answer, the identity is revealed and a new round begins.
Objectives
By the end of the session the children will: • Make rules for the group; and
• Identify and clarify their expectations for the training.
Key Points
Strict confidentiality needs to be observed which must be reflected on the ground. The children need to understand that everyone will be treated with respect, that no one will be made fun of and that private thoughts and feelings stated in the sessions will not be disclosed outside the training
setting nor talked about casually. If a child is infected with HIV, the status and the privacy of the child should be respected.
Life Skills Learned
Self awareness, critical thinking and communication.
Time Required
20 to 30 minutes for each activity.
Materials
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Directions:
ACTIVITY ONE Making Ground Rules
1. Introduce the activity by saying that we want to make our training area a happy and safe one for everyone. Just as there are rules for driving or playing a game, we can also set rules for everyone here to follow.
Encourage the children to formulate the rules.
2. The list may look something like the following sample. If, however, it does not resemble this list, then the facilitator should suggest or add some of the rules and explain why.
• Only one child speaks at a time. • Everyone get a chance to speak. • Come on time.
• Everyone should participate and not only some. • Everyone should listen to the other person’s views. • Do not make fun of another.
• Do not pass on secrets outside the training session. • Everyone should respect everyone else.
• Treat everyone else equally. • Do not say bad words. • Do not hit anyone.
• Never ask others about their HIV status.
One rule could be that everyone should attend the sessions but circumstances may not always allow it. Life Skills Education Programs are beneficial over a period of time and preferably followed consistently. But the mobile and migratory life pattern of most of these children often makes that impossible.
3. The facilitator tells the children that some rules are non-negotiable. These include
confidentiality, the right of any person not to say anything and those names of others with HIV status or other sensitive information should not be given out. It is okay to say you know someone without mentioning her/his name while sharing that person’s behavior or opinion. 4. Discuss with the children what should be done if any of the ground rules are broken. Fewer
rules will be broken if the children buy into the ground rules and accept the rules as their internal values.
5. Write the rules on chart paper. If the children can write, encourage them to write in their own handwriting. Display the rules in every session and encourage children to refer to them if necessary.
Some children are following the same rules at home and in their boarding schools. If others do not follow the rules, the children remind them about the rules from the Life Skills Education Program. (WINS, Tirupati)
Tips for the facilitator
• Revisit the ground rules often. Children can read them out loud.
• Ground rules should be accepted by other children and adults in the program to avoid conflicting messages
• Sometimes specific ground rules have to be set up for specific activities (such as the activity “If I were an animal” in Session One), but make sure they do not conflict with the existing rules
ACTIVITY TWO Our Expectations
1. The facilitator informs the children that the group will be meeting every week to learn more about themselves and manage their lives in a happy, safe way. In a circle, ask the children to state one thing that they want to learn or what their expectations are from these sessions. If the facilitator has done the 3 P matrix and the Bridge Model (refer to the Facilitator’s Guide) with the children, they will be able to state what they would like to learn. With younger children, one may ask what they would like to learn when they meet as a group every week.
2. The facilitator must clarify any unrealistic expectations. This is very important. In simple terms, the facilitator explains life skills and how to think critically, express feelings and understand how to communicate, develop healthy relationships and cope with feelings of anger and sadness. The children could also learn about growing up and HIV.
3. Each child should write his or her personal expectations on a separate piece of paper. Alternatively, the children can discuss and write up expectations for the group as a whole. The facilitator can help younger children and children who cannot write.
4. Always remember to use simple words and symbols especially for those who cannot read. If there is room, pin the paper with the written expectation on the felt board for children to check or keep in a drawer until the end of the program. This will help children reflect on whether they have achieved what they hoped to when they started the sessions.
9 • LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN INDIA
Objectives
By the end of the session children will:
• Develop a sense of trust so that personal growth takes place;
• Understand how some statements can hurt others; and
• Learn how to speak positively and support one another.
Key Points
Any personal development first requires an unconditional acceptance of the person by her/his significant others even if some behavior needs to be changed. Trust and friendship create an enabling environment to test out new behavior learned
during training. Statements that hurt must be consciously removed from one’s speech and empathy for the other’s feelings should be created in its place. The first two activities are
recommended, and the others may be used in different training sessions.
Life Skills Learned
Empathy, communication and critical thinking.
Time
20 to 30 minutes for each activity.
Required Materials
Marker pens, chart paper, cello tape and cards.
1. Discuss with the children what kinds of topics they would like to talk to some people about more than with others. Then ask them to try and make sure that everyone is comfortable in talking to everyone else.
2. Ask children to brainstorm on how people whom they are comfortable with talk to them. Some examples are given below:
i. Listens; ii. Smiles at us;
iii. Speaks kindly; and/or iv. Makes us feel special.
3. The children then brainstorm on why they do not like to talk to people who make them uncomfortable. The list may look like this:
i. Do not listen; ii. Speak unkind words;
iii. Make us feel we are worthless; and/or iv. Always think we are wrong.
4. Tell the children to write a positive statement and a negative statement and then to choose which they would like for themselves. Make two columns on a flip chart. Write “words that make you happy” on top of one column and “words that make you unhappy” on top of the other. Give one or two examples and then ask the children for more.
Words that make me happy Words that make me unhappy That was an interesting thought! What a stupid remark!
You have a lovely smile You look terrible She likes to read She is lazy Try it again You are so slow That’s better When will you learn?
5. Read out each statement aloud and ask the children if they would like this in the training. If they say‘Yes’ place an X or a happy face. Place a Y or an unhappy face next to each statement on the list of what they do not want. If the children can read, encourage them to read out the statement and ask: “Do we want this in our session?” The appropriate symbol should be placed next to the statement depending on whether the children say “Yes” or “No.”
6. Ask the children how we can help everyone to say these happy words and what happens if someone forgets. The facilitator must not accept any suggestion for punishment for not saying the happy words, but encourage more supportive behavior like helping each other and giving people another chance. 7. The “atmosphere” of the sessions depends a great deal on the personal behavior and attitude of the
facilitator. It is important that the facilitator acts in a caring and respectful attitude toward the children.
Experience from the field
Children found it difficult to write positive statements and had to be constantly encouraged. (CCDT, Prerana). “I liked this activity because we generally say negative things about people and not positive things. It feels nice to hear positive things about oneself and to say positive things about others. We should do this in all walks of life.” (Children’s voices, Prerana)
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Tips for the facilitator
It helps to explain the objectives of the session to the children at the beginning of the session..
Review
Ask the children what they learned and what they felt about the exercise.
ACTIVITY TWO Trust Me
1. Divide the group of children into pairs, and blindfold one person. The child without the blindfold leads the other child by talking to them or by touch. Remind the leader that it is his or her responsibility that the blindfolded child does not fall or get hurt. This should preferably be played