Implementation of “Emotional Intelligence and Teenagers” (SOI-HR-429)

Author: Dunja Siročić, teacher of English

School/Organization: Ekonomska i trgovacka skola Cakovec

Teenagers often find it very hard to cope with their emotions. It has also been noticed that there is a predominant lack of empathy among younger generation. Talking about emotions in class and studying some of them expressed through various forms of art can help students express their emotions, recognize other people’s emotions and develop empathy.

Even though the Learning Scenario (https://teachwitheuropeana.eun.org/learning-scenarios/emotional-intelligence-and-teenagers-ls-bg-506/) I chose was designed for students during the time of isolation I think students still need to talk more about their emotions and connect to their fellow students. The pandemic and the time in isolation has left its marks on some students’ emotional state and social skills The activities were done in an English class of 21 students aged 16. The aim  for students was to recognize their and other people’s emotions, talk about them and offer suggestions for dealing with negative emotions. Another aim was for students to get acquainted with  Europeana and some works of art that can be found there.

The time needed for the implementation of activities was longer than in the original scenario. There were some additional activities and homework analysis so it took 2 school lessons.

Lesson 1

Introduction

As in the selected scenario, students were first asked to describe how they were feeling. The tool Answergarden was used for this activity. https://answergarden.ch/3117651

There was a short class discussion.

Presentation

Students were then shown a few photos and pictures  found on Europeana which show people expressing different emotions.  They were not given the titles of the photos or paintings. Students tried to recognise the feelings. They shared their ideas in class.

The examples were the following:

https://www.europeana.eu/hr/item/9200579/y4ujdp9k https://www.europeana.eu/hr/item/2063612/NO_280_002

https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2024919/photography_ProvidedCHO_Promoter_Digital_Gallery_131

https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/9200316/BibliographicResource_3000092750471

Students were asked to find more examples of people expressing feelings on Europeana for homework and to put them in the Padlet created by the teacher.

Follow up

Instead of the teacher presenting students some adjectives connected with feelings (as in the original scenario) students were asked to think about and look up the words in English connected to the feelings of happiness, sadness, anger and disgust and put them on the Jamboard so that in the end they had compiled the whole list of vocabulary they could use for further reference. Students used the words in sentences.

Pictures 1,2,3 and 4: Jamboard, students collaborate in compiling vocabulary connected to the feelings of happiness, disgust, anger and sadness.

Lesson 2

Homework analysis, descriptions

Students presented what they found on Europeana. They talked about photos, pictures, drawings they found and about feelings they depicted.

Picture 5: Padlet, students upload examples (photos, pictures, drawings) found on Europeana that

show people expressing different feelings.

Closure

While in the original scenarios students finish by designing activities for overcoming boredom, the task was a bit extended and the students were asked to think about what they could do or shouldn’t do when somebody was angry or sad.

Students wrote their suggestions in the online tool Tricider. 

Students  explained their suggestions in class and talked about some experience from life when they had to comfort somebody, be comforted, deal with somebody who was angry and they talked about what they usually did to overcome boredom.

Picture 6: Tricider, students write suggestions for dealing with other people’s emotional state of sadness.

Links to Tricider

https://www.tricider.com/brainstorming/2RFDcfQPKO7

https://www.tricider.com/brainstorming/3S6Ljlj2DmN

https://www.tricider.com/brainstorming/3VPvKivbTUF

Lesson outcome

Students explored Europeana and analysed some pieces of art.

Students were prompted to think about their emotions and other people’s emotions, thus developing empathy and promoting and enhancing social emotional learning.  They got to know their classmates better because they shared experience from their lives.

Students worked on their English vocabulary and speaking skills and developed communicative competence in English. They used information technology  and some new tools in class (Jamboard and Tricider).

Promoting social emotional learning is very important nowadays. Often teachers do not have enough material in their textbooks, so these resources could be a great incentive for tackling such issues.

Final thoughts

Europeana resources offer a wide variety of ideas for teaching and learning. Art can teach us a lot about various aspects of life and often we do not have time to study it or use it in our teaching.

The materials found on Europeana can be very useful for the teaching of English as  a foreign language as teachers and students can cover various topics. 

Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario? Emotional Intelligence and Teenagers (LS-BG-506), created by Desislava Boycheva

Did you find this story of implementation interesting? You might also like: 

• We Speak Different Languages but Our Hearts Are the Same (LS-DI-730) by Anton Telih
• Culture Cure: trauma and healing across time and space (LS-ME-556) By Eleni Vasilaki
• Four seasons in the mood (EN-CUR-145) by Dila Cadun Selvi

Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.

Public Domain Mark 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Albertina.