Fourteenth Activity

“The purpose of this activity is to understand someone else’s point of view”

1.The mentees form pairs. They find something that one likes and the other dislikes.
They then swap roles and try to think of all the reasons why they have different views, trying to feel as their partner would.
For example:
Jake likes neighbours; Mary hates neighbours. They swap roles.

Jake: I hate neighbours because it’s boring, the plots are really far-fetched and the characters are unreal. They are always discovering long-lost relatives and squabbling. Real neighbours aren’t like that (etc).

Mary: I like neighbours because it’s exciting. You get to really like or hate the characters. I can’t wait to see the next episode because it’s always full of surprises. I get really sad when someone leaves because I miss them. I like talking to my friends about last night’s episode and guessing what’s going to happen next (etc).

Neither of these is right. They have a right to their opinion. By listening to others views we can respect them more, even if we don’t agree.

If this is tough for them, finish with a game of sausages.

The children sit in a circle. One person stands in the centre and asks one child a question. The children must answer with the word ‘sausages’.
For example:
Q. What do you wear on your feet?
A. Sausages
Q. What’s your favourite group?
A.Sausages
Q. What do you brush your teeth with?
A. Sausages
If they smile or laugh when answering, they take the place of the questioner in the centre.

Thirteenth activity

(You will need to make notes on what your mentees say)

Soon we will be welcoming the year four pupils from their primary schools on their transfer day. This activity asks mentees to recall their first experiences at stoke and to help the new intake have a good start.

“The purpose of this activity is to use your experience to help others”

Remind mentees that they have come a long way and learned a lot since they were year fours, not just in lessons but in the playground, lunch hall, assemblies….maybe they can remember solving problems or helping a friend to solve a problem. Maybe they have made new friends, or joined in with a new activity or club…

So, in a way, they are experts on being a pupil at our school

Ask them to decide on their five top tips for new pupils. They need to talk in the group first of all (2 minutes) and then:
Take turns to give one top tip(be firm about taking turns)
There may be time to decide on a final top five but it is more important to let everyone have their say

Be sure to thank them warmly. Reward all their good behaviour