A TOOLKIT for Soft Skills Development for Young People
Area
Soft skills
Duration
50 min
Dimension of the advised group of students
Please indicate the number of people with which the activity should be carried out
Specific objectives
-develop and enhance positive attitude, communication, adaptability, time & energy management, problem solving & analytical thinking, teamwork and leadership
Needed Materials
Computer &internet connection
Software
To interact online with students use:
- online communication platform, such us: zoom, google meets, etc
- tools to deliver the training and working in groups: mentimenter, jamboard, slido, kahoot, etc.
Description
The Toolkit can be used as part of a personal development or learning programme. The kit can be used individually or as part of a group. The Toolkit focuses on the following eight soft skills: positive attitude, communication, adaptability, time & energy management, problem solving & analytical thinking, teamwork and leadership. Each skills is developed within a chapter, with a similar structure. The introduction presents the soft skill, its benefits and the learning outcomes of the chapter. Then the students assess and record their level of the soft skill and go through the tips and hints about how to develop the skill. They have to decide on a set of actions to practice the skills in real life situations and then record how things worked out. Possible scenarios to practice soft skills include: work experience, volunteering, fundraising, playing sports or organising events, e.g. social or music events. These actions take over a period of weeks. After the weeks of practice, the students then reflect on their experience and how that experience have changed them. The experience is discussed and shared with the group.
The Toolkit could be used with students at risk of demotivation because the activities are completely adapted to this kind of students using non formal education methodology; its activities could be adapted to fully virtual or blended.
Procedure on how to put in practice
Duration: 50 min
No of Participants: 10-50
Methods used: discussion, presentation (38-44)
Communication in mother tongue.
Step-by-step description:
1. The trainer introduces the topic and elicit from students what the main elements of communication are, how important body language is and how it can affect communication. Much communication is non-verbal, which means that how you position yourself, and how you use your face and body, communicates just as much – if not more - as the things you say. The trainer asks participants how good they are at decoding messages conveyed by somebody’s body language. The trainer invites participants to reflect on communication and its role in relationships.
2. The trainer divides the class into groups and invites students to have a look at some pictures and in their group decide what is the problem with each of the situations if there is any. The trainer encourages a class discussion on the findings of the groups. What is the problem with each of the situations? What would you do differently in these situations? The site has plenty of materials if students need more practice in analysing body language (pictures, video clip).
3. The trainer invites participants to evaluate their communication skills and, in pairs, evaluate each other’s communication skills and decide together what their strong and weak areas are, and make sure they both agree.
4. The trainer invites participants to think about effective actions for them to develop their communication skills (Actions for Effective Communication). Which of these communication skills are you already good at? Each participant has to create and present a poster on their communication skills and actions for effective communication.
5. The trainer organises a gallery so others can look at, read, and think about them.
6. Class discussion on the best elements of good communication and ways to improve them.
Debriefing question: what advice would you give to a teenager to improve communication skills?
