Life Skills Education Toolkit

LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION TOOLKIT FOR ORPHANS AND VULNERABLE CHILDREN IN INDIA 1•

Communication is the basis of all relationships.

The quality of a relationship is determined largely

by the quality of the communication within it. That

is why good communication is a skill that needs to

be learned. We communicate for various reasons:

to inform, to express our feelings, to discuss, to

argue, to show we care and to express our hopes.

Our manner of communication depends on whom

we are communicating with, their age, their

relationship to us and their social position or

status. Communicating with friends is different

from communicating with parents, teachers or

other adults. For children at risk, these

relationships may either be supportive or

potentially threatening or risky. Communication is

one of the skills children at risk need to learn so

they can strengthen supportive relations and

neutralize potentially threatening ones. The children

can then lead a relatively safe and healthy life.

Culturally, children are expected to be courteous

and respectful in their communications with older

people. Girls are expected to be passive rather than

assertive. Taken together, these two factors can place

children at risk if they do not know how to

discriminate between older persons who are

exploitative and those who will take care of them. In

either situation, communicating with older persons

becomes important in order to say no and not be

persuaded in the former and to be clear about the

help they require in the latter. For children who live

on the street or in other risky situations,

understanding the risks they face and knowing what

to say and when, are important skills that will protect

them from potentially exploitative situations.

Children need to learn that verbal and non-verbal

language can be interpreted in many ways.

Messages therefore need to be clearly

communicated. Peer pressure can be so strong that

unless children are able to communicate clearly

what they think and what they want to do, they

could be drawn into situations that can be risky and

dangerous to their physical and emotional health.

Good communication leads to trust and respect in

relationships. What we communicate depends on

what we feel and think. Hence, any discussion on

communication must also discuss our emotions. The

module on relationships and coping with emotions

explores some of these areas. It is recommended that

the sessions from these modules also be considered

when working with children on communication.

Communication that is clear and effective is

especially important in protecting children from

risk and risk-behavior, both of which are important

in the context of HIV. It is recommended that the

facilitator relate the skills learned in the sessions to

the life situations of the children by adapting the

Linking Learning to Life activities. The sessions may

be used with older and younger children with the

facilitator selecting appropriate examples and

situations from those suggested in the activities.

Module Three consists of two sessions which

includes several activities:

SESSION ONE

We Speak with Our Bodies

This session introduces the three components of

good communication: listening, verbal and

non-verbal communication. There are five

activities in this session.

SESSION TWO

Effective Communication

Learning to be assertive, understanding the power-

relations in communication and being able to say

“no” in spite of persuasion are the skills taught in

this session. There are five activities in this session.

MODULE THREE: Communication