Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.2A Grade 12 CPI 4

 

Standard: 2.2 - Integrated Skills

 

Strand: A -  Communication 

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 4 - The student will employ strategies to improve communication and listening skills and assess their effectiveness

 

Grade: 12

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        DO I UNDERSTAND YOU? - Write the following statement on the board: “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!”. Ask students what the statement means to them and how it might be interpreted differently by a person from another culture or country. Explain how communication is constructed from one’s personal experiences. Clear communication can reduce or eliminate a lot of problems that occur in social situations. Divide the class into small groups. Each group creates a statement that can be interpreted a number of ways, based on the use of language and phrasing, intonation, or body language. Each group asks the rest of the class to interpret their statement.

 

·        TALK THAT HELPS - Prior to class, develop a handout that describes talk that helps and talk that hurts. After discussion and modeling of each type of talk, divide the class into seven groups and assign each group one aspect of helping talk. Each group develops a brief dialogue that illustrates the type of communication. After discussion, students revise the dialogue to illustrate one kind of talk that hurts and present the skit. Discuss the impact of negative talk on feelings and relationships. Students write a journal entry addressing the following statement: Learning to be an effective communicator can have a positive effect on your health and your relationships.

 

 

·        START TALKING - Discuss how effective communication can build relationships. Explain that most people have a built in vocabulary of talk starters and talk stoppers—phrases that may invite or inhibit open communication. Provide students with a starter list of each (see below) and brainstorm others. Divide the class into two groups. Each group develops a dialogue in which the characters are discussing a significant health issue (e.g., deciding to have sexual intercourse, drinking and driving). One half of the group performs the dialogue using talk stoppers while the other half uses talk starters. Groups perform their skits and discuss the contrasting communication styles employed by the characters.