Time
10 minutes
Level
Intermediate
Material
Pre-made statements
Purpose
To help improve group cohesion in the classroom
Instruct:
- Someone starts with an appropriate statement about themselves – what they like to eat, their favourite hobby, TV show, book, etc. (See “Supplementary resources”).
- If the statement is true for someone else, they stand up and say: “That’s me!”
- Repeat until everyone has the opportunity to participate and share a statement.
Discuss:
- Did you learn something new about your classmates?
- How did it feel to be standing at the same time as others?
- What about standing alone or only with a few students?
- Sometimes we like to be a part of a group, but there is always value to being unique.
NOTE: In the unlikely event of a disclosure, be aware of your internal process to access services for the student.
Statement ideas:
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- Explore ways in which we can learn about, understand and celebrate each other’s differences, unique likes, interests, families, cultures, religions etc.
- Students can make suggestions for the next activity. Teacher must review statements before the next activity to ensure appropriateness.
- Consider allowing students to “pass”, or or share an example to help students who are struggling to come up with statements.
Students are naturally motivated to understand and engage with those who they perceive to be like them (McLoughlin & Over, 2017). Drawing attention to the similarities between those of different friendship groups, races or cultures mitigates this tendency by explicitly modelling inclusion (Qian et al., 2017).
McLoughlin, N., & Over, H. (2017). Young Children Are More Likely to Spontaneously Attribute Mental States to Members of Their Own Group. Psychological Science, 28(10), 1503-1509. doi:10.1177/0956797617710724
Qian, M. K., Quinn, P. C., Heyman, G. D., Pascalis, O., Fu, G., & Lee, K. (2017). A Long-Term Effect of Perceptual Individuation Training on Reducing Implicit Racial Bias in Preschool Children. Child Development, n/a-n/a. doi:10.1111/cdev.12971
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