Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 2, Session 2: Positive Communication | Page 19 of 127Instructional Sequence
I. Motivation (10 minutes)
Materials:
(None)
A. Zoom, Zip
Participants play a short game to highlight the complications of balancing the many factors related to
positive communication.- Ask participants to stand or sit in a circle. Say:
“We are going to continue learning about positive ways to communicate today. To start, we are
going to communicate with just one word. I’ll turn to [name of person] on my right and say to
[her/him], ‘Zoom!’ [She/He] will turn the next person and say, ‘Zoom!’ so that the word gets passed
around the circle. Let’s begin, ‘Zoom!’“- When the word travels around the circle, begin again and encourage people to send the ‘Zoom’ as
fast as they can. When the group has the task up to a good speed, say:
“This is great but let’s challenge ourselves a bit more. This time, I’ll start by sending ‘Zoom!’ to the
right but I’ll also send ‘Zip’ around to the left. Let’s see how fast we can keep both ‘Zoom’ and ‘Zip’
going.”- Watch what happens when “Zoom” and “Zip” meet. Encourage people to restart the activity if it
gets confusing. Stop when you think people have had enough laughter.
B. Summary
Summarize by asking:
“Last time we met we learned a lot about how to use spoken and unspoken listening skills to
improve communication. This activity is like communication in some ways. Even though there were
only one or two words being spoken, things can still become confusing. And sometimes even having
good listening skills is not enough because other things ‘get in the way.’ Today we’ll talk about how
the actions of other people, as well as our own emotions, can make communication confusing. We’ll
learn some ways to cut down on that confusion so our communication is more effective.”II. Information (35 minutes)
Materials:
Flip charts 1 and 2: Direct Communication; Indirect Communication
Handout 1: Direct and Indirect Communication
Flip chart 3: I Statements
Handout 2: I Statements: A Communication Tool
A. Better Communication: Direct and Indirect
Participants learn the first of two types of positive communication techniques.