Training session on skills for members of The Children’s Smiles project

"All grown-ups were once children… but only few of them remember it." (The Little Prince). Let’s follow TCS 4, to once again awaken the child inside you, by working with children through the following article!
At 14.00 p.m. on April 14, in classroom 17.07 at the University of Economics and Finance, The Heart To Hand project organised training on how to work with children, especially children who lack the love of their families. Under the guidance of Ms Phung, along with the participation of Ms My Phuong – Officer of Centre of Service-Learning, the board and the members of the Heart To Hand project and The Children’s Smiles 4 had the chance to learn about rousing skills through useful activities.

At the beginning of the training session, Ms Phung and the students sat together in a circle, after which each of them would write down their question onto the notes and be given an answer after the session. Everyone then took turns sticking their question on the board, and the ones which have been “untangled” would be removed.

The members were eager to participate just as the first activity started. With the question: "We play one-two-three in how many ways?", they all answered in unison: "One way".

Ms Phung then conducted the game in the "normal" version: playing with the next person, whoever loses has to sit down, and therefore cannot participate in the game, and whoever wins will continue to fight with the others. The game proceeds until the winner is announced. Although it was exciting, those who lost from the first time would certainly want to get in the game again.

So Ms Phung decided to upgrade the game with a new version: Whoever loses follows the winner (which means the student will become an ally of the winner) and continues to play with the other team. The atmosphere was more bustling than ever.
Ms Phung continued to refresh the game with a very unique version: Each person is initially an egg. If a student wins, he/she becomes a chicken, a dinosaur, and the game goes on. The one-two-three game was, at the time, filled with laughter.

It seems that the game was just a warm-up activity to connect people, but through which the members learnt their lessons: There are no winners or losers in children’s games, and kids should not experience any kinds of exclusivity throughout the process. The question is how to help them realise that when an individual victory becomes a collective one, and when each of the members can continuously participate in the game, they will feel like a winner after each and every activity.
In addition, they could learn more about the psychophysiological characteristics of children of all ages, through which the curriculum can be revised more effectively in the future.

What the students remember most about the session is probably the B.E.S.T (Behavior Empowering Support Techniques) method. Thanks to this, each of them has gained new knowledge and situational skills in teaching children.

At the end of the session, Ms Phung organised a check-out circle, which is the time for the students to share what they learnt in the workshop. "I have never had much contact with children before, and I didn’t know how to play with them and what to teach them, but through today's lesson, I know how to approach them"; "I had been living and treating people intuitively, but through today's session, I know I am going to change.", shared by some.

Through this training session, the members of the two projects can certainly equip themselves with new knowledge, experience, and skills in the process of working and interacting with children. Hopefully, in the future, the CSL Centre will continue to add new training sessions to help students better understand community responsibility, children, children's law, and how to solve unexpected problems. From there, they will be more prepared to contribute to the project more effectively.

Media Team | The Children’s Smiles
Người dịch: KIỀU THỊ THU TRANG