BE ACT LIVE
MODULE No. III - MAKING HEALTHY CHOICES IN A REAL-LIFE SOCIAL
SITUATION
Activity no.1: How peers influence healthy
choices in adolescents’ development; the
implications at the personal and social level.
Activity 1: Peers are not always friends, they may be provocative
Passive communication style
It is a behaviour in which the person avoids confrontations, conflicts; he
wants everyone to be happy, regardless of his rights or his personal
desires. It is the expression of a person who doesn’t make a request,
doesn’t require anything specific, and doesn’t engage in winning personal
rights or in defending some opinions. This kind of people feel hurt,
frustrated, but don’t try to disagree with the others.
Passive persons communicate indirectly and do not say clearly what
they want; furthermore, they expect others to know what they need
and to give it to them. When they don't get what they want, they
become passive-aggressive.
Passive people are very interested in how they’re seen by others. It is
very important for them to be agreeable to everyone. This fact leads
to an attitude of self-sacrifice, but later they reject the person for
whom they sacrificed. This behaviour is repeated in a negative cycle.
Aggressive communication style
It is a behaviour in which you blame and accuse the other, you break
the rules imposed by the authorities, you’re insensitive to the feelings
of others, you don't respect your colleagues, you think you’re always
right, you solve problems through violence, you are sarcastic and you
often use criticism in communication, you think that your rights are
more important than the others’, you’re hostile and angry.
Aggressive people are not interested in the needs of others, or
how they are perceived by others. They’re definitely not
interested in the feelings of others. This pattern of behaviour
continues, because, on short term, it’s functional.
Some people avoid confronting an aggressive person,
because, sometimes, it is very unpleasant. They talk loudly,
often use a high tone, violating the space of the others; they
are only interested in their own feelings.
Passive-aggressive style in communication
Passive-aggressive people avoid direct answers. This
behaviour is interesting because it is a mixture of the two
models. Passive people become passive-aggressive when they
can no longer bear.
Aggressive people become passive-aggressive when they
realize that they cannot act in their usual manner (usually in
situations when an authority gets involved).
For example, an aggressive person who works for an aggressive
leader, will not address his boss directly, but he will do it later.
It is very difficult to say when a person will become passiveaggressive because these people accumulate first a very high
tension and then break out. Because they do not tell others when
something bothers them, they allow a behaviour that affects them.
Once they decide that's enough, they break out. They are typically
sarcastic people, they do not look at the interlocutor and they
criticize indirectly.
To communicate effectively and assertively with partner (a) certain
steps can be taken:
Break the ice
• talk to your partner about the reasons why it is difficult to talk
about the topic;
• share your experience (when you first found out what messages
you received, how you felt);
• discuss on the basis of selected documentary materials, including
scientific information, find sites devoted to credibility and
neutrality;
• now you can drive the discussion where you are interested in.
Listen carefully and provide feed-back
• actively listen to what your partner has to say, show
interest and involvement in order to keep him in
communication;
• be supportive with his communication efforts;
• show him verbally and nonverbally that you do not
change your perception of him regardless of the views
that he expresses through communication.
Discover your partner's needs
• ask questions to understand what your partner wants.
• express in a clear, concise and firm manner your needs and your
desires; even if you don't agree;
• make specific requests, using the pronoun “I”;
• choose the right time for communication when you are not
emotionally inflated (angry, fearful, sad) so as not to make emotional
appeals;
• assume responsibility for what you want, think, feel; you have this
right; make yourself understood, if you don't have a positive result,
then conclude the discussion;
• you can resume the discussion another time, or not, it's your decision.
https://www.google.ro/?gws_rd=ssl#q=zaz+je+veux+english+subtitles
Aim:
Participants will identify and practise different ways that young
people – among themselves – can use to provoke; how you can
express your opinion assertively (expressing your opinion
without attacking the person), in stressful situations.
Steps:
1. Two volunteers are asked by the facilitator to assist in the arbitration
of the next game (it's better to be a boy and a girl).
2. Divide the remaining group into five teams. You can tell the
participants that this is a contest in which each team must come up
with the best answer in the situations that they will be given and which
relate to the things that the boys or girls are using to pressure his/ her
partner.
3. The five groups will be facing each other from the opposite sides of
the room so as not to hear what the other group is discussing.
4. Read aloud each statement, one at a time.
5. After each statement, the teams must find a good answer to
counter it. The team that finishes first is allowed to speak.
6. Together with the volunteers, “judge” the answer. If it is valid,
the team receives a point; if not, the other team is allowed to
speak, by repeating the process.
7. The game continues until there are no more statements. The
team with the most points wins.
8. Explain to the participants that this exercise has the aim to
better understand the circumstances in which young people can
find themselves ; the pressure to start their sexual life appears.
9. Hold an alert pace of the game to train the participants in
finding as many solutions as possible.
Activity no. 2: The role of information
technology and its implications for the
development of adolescents – the Aquarium
Activity 2: Face- to- face or Facebook
Aim:
Participants will become aware of the importance of verbal/
nonverbal communication and its influence in decisionmaking. The role of reading, music, dance vs. virtual
environment
First step:
• Mixed the group.
• Ask the participants of Group A to write down the advantages of
the Internet and TV programs for teenagers.
• Ask the participants of Group B to write the disadvantages of the
Internet and TV programs for teenagers.
• Ask the participants to identify the differences between the use
and misuse/abuse of the Internet and TV programmes. After how
much time of using them (the Internet and TV programmes) do we
talk about normal use or misuse/abuse? Group C.
Processing:
• Ask for their opinions about the abusive consumption of the
mobile phone. Group D
• Ask the participants to identify the intellectual disorders
caused by abusive consumption of TV and Internet programs.
Group E.
Second step:
• Ask for two volunteers.
• Ask them to sit on two chairs, face to face.
• Tell them that the other participants will act as observers. They will
carefully watch and see what happens during the game.
• Ask the two volunteers to imagine they are two best friends
talking. One of them tries to persuade the other to make a decision
on an issue.
Possible issues that can be discussed:

To spend money received on his/her birthday on gambling

To attend a medical examination
 To go to the dentist
 To lie in order to obtain what he/ she wants
• Set the time when they begin and end the conversation (for
example: when one of the trainers tells them: “Start” and “Stop”).
• The two trainers will take a sheet of flipchart and put it between
the two participants, as close to the floor as possible. As the two
chat, they slowly lift the sheet of paper, until it reaches the face
and it prevents the two volunteers from seeing each other.
• Notice the reactions of the two. Encourage them to continue. Ask
passionately, innocently and with humour: “What happened?
Continue...” You can descend and raise the barrier for 2-3 times.
The fear is a very unpleasant or disturbing feeling caused
by the presence or imminence of danger.
Anxiety is a general term for several disorders that cause
nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worrying.
These disorders affect how we feel and behave, and they can
manifest real physical symptoms.
Activity no. 3: Anxiety. The role of
emotional education in the development of
adolescents
Aim:
Participants will identify elements that can change
emotional states.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jR9cehXrpE
Steps:
1. Divide the participants into five teams and explain to them that
they will have to send a message of fear in any way, including by
mimicking, the only rule is to talk as little as possible.
2. Give them 5 minutes to prepare for transmitting the message
and then ask them to do it one at a time.
3. In turn, the groups will be required to write and present what
they have understood from the presentation of each team.
4. Ask each team to read the message they had to send.
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlWkzUXgsEw
Recent discoveries about how the brain works have revealed
new insights into the way in which a variety of natural chemicals
can disrupt normal thinking, feelings, self-consciousness and
perception. It seems that these factors can be the basis of
emotional disorders.
The human mind reflects the chemical balance in the brain, an
essential requirement for normal mental processing and
emotional health maintenance. What are the issues that should
give us food for thought?
Causes:
The causes of emotional disorders may be the result of the
interaction of inherited tendencies, but also of the
environment and of life situations. A chemical imbalance
resulted from a brain injury could be present in the brain of
the person who suffers from an emotional disorder.
Also, if the patients were exposed to various abuses, extreme
stress, deaths or loss of family members, violence etc., they
are more likely to develop emotional disorders.
Types of emotional disorders
Among the main types of emotional disorders are:
• Anxiety disorders (panic disorder, agoraphobia, obsessive
compulsive disorder etc.)
• Affective disorders (major depression, bipolar disorder,
nervous breakdown etc.)
• Disorders resulting from the abuse of substances (drugs,
alcohol)
• Eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia)
• Behavioural disorders (ADHD, suicidal intent)
• Personality disorders (avoidant, antisocial, schizoid,
histrionic, dependent, passive-aggressive, schizotypal,
paranoid, borderline personality etc.).
Symptoms
Manifestations of emotional disorders depend on each type, but
also on different educational, social, environmental contexts.
Among the symptoms of emotional disorders there can be
included any of the symptoms listed below:
• depression
• anxiety
• fatigue
• loss of appetite
• anhedonia
• weight loss
• sleep disorders
• shyness
• low self-esteem
• suicidal intent
• nervousness
• bouts of anger
• emotional instability
• the paraesthesia
• stormy relations
• social isolation
• frequent mood changes
• suspicion and distrust in relations
• difficulties in relating
• weak instinctive control
• alcohol or substance abuse
• altered perception of reality
• inappropriate behaviours and thinking
• inability to comply with social norms
Characteristics of a child suffering from emotional
disorders could be the following:
• disrupts class activities
• is impulsive
• is careless and easily distracted
• doesn’t follow the rules of the class
• finds it difficult to concentrate
• manifests resistance to change
• transmits irrelevant information or information
class rules
unrelated to
• has an aggressive behaviour
• manifests violently and intimidates/bullies his colleagues
• is absent from school on a regular basis
• constantly blames other colleagues
• has a low self-esteem
• has difficulties in group work
• his behaviour depreciates over time
• often manipulates situations
• can't adapt to social norms related to space and personal
property.
Activity no. 4: Adolescents disorders in
contact with self-image
Aim:
Participants will become aware of the importance of
identity. They will experience their self-identification and
their colleagues’ identification.
Steps:
• Divide the group into five.
•
Ask the participants to write the advantages of teenagers’
knowing their own identity.
•
Ask the participants to write the disadvantages of teenagers’ not
knowing their own identity.
• Ask the participants to identify themselves and to identify the
similarities and differences between them , using the model of
typologies from the distributed material (James E. Cote and
Charles Levine).
Another focus of social psychology is the existence of specific
strategies of shaping an individual’s identity that can be used to
adapt to the social world. James E. Cote and Charles Levine
developed a typology which investigates the possible
differences in the behavior of individuals. Their typology
includes:
(See the distributed materials)
Identity is highlighted through signs such as language, clothing,
behavior and choice of space, signs whose effects depend on
their recognition by other social beings.
The identity is the set of characteristics for which a person, group
or thing is definetey recognizable.
An example of limits functioning is the use of a specific
language by a newcomer in a room full of people who speak
different languages.
Some people can understand the language used by the
newcomer, some cannot. Those who do not understand the
language may interpret the choice of the newcomer to speak
that language as a neutral sign of the individual's identity. But
they could also perceive the choice of the newcomer as
imposing an exclusive limit meant to exclude them from the
newcomer's social circle.
Activity no.5- The Living Library
Aim:
Participants will become aware of the social value of introducing
themselves. They will experience introducing themselves and
the introduction of their colleagues.
Steps:
• Give each participant a sheet of paper and a pen.
• Ask everyone to draw or write the things which
characterize them or which they like and they want to share
with the group.
• Ask the participants to display what they have
drawn/written and to introduce themselves as an "open
book" which everyone reads.
• Ask the participants to divide into dyads and to identify
themselves and then identify the similarities and
differences between them, and in turn, place an arrow as a
bookmark on the partner’s sheet of paper , where they
noticed something they liked about their colleague.
Activity no. 6 – Dropping out of school- a door
that closes on the corridors of your development
Aim:
Participants will become aware of the personal and social
value of school education and lifelong education. They will
experience writing mini-projects for their peers, to encourage
them to stay in school.
Steps:
• Give each participant a sheet of paper and a pen.
• Ask each participant to write down five reasons which could help
their colleagues not to drop out of school.
• Ask the participants to divide into groups of 3 and write a
mini- project starting from the reasons identified by each of
them to help their colleagues not to drop out of school.
Choose a group representative that will present the project
draft. These mini- projects will be presented in front of the
others.
• Ask the participants to complete or to express their views on
the importance of education through school and as a basis for
lifelong education.
Activity no. 7: Faking my self- image. What
does my body feel? The risk of anorexia and
bulimia
Parents and peers can prevent these diseases
Parents and peers can easily notice if there is something
wrong with the way teenagers eat. The most common
signs of anorexia are excessive weight loss, deprivation of
food or food cut into small pieces for anorexia and for
bulimia the feeling that they ate a lot.
A young bulimic should worry you as soon as you see that
after eating hungrily she seeks to eliminate food by
inducing vomiting or using laxatives. Here are some things
you can do to avoid complications due to any of these two
disorders.
Increase self-confidence:
Make her feel good about the way she looks, so as not to be
influenced by the others’ opinions.
If she wants to keep a diet, decide together with a nutritionist
whether she needs it or not, what she will eat and watch her to
see if she sticks to the diet.
Pay increased attention to her diet to avoid excesses of any kind.
Eat together and do not let her eat quickly in front of the TV or
the computer.
If signs of any of these disorders appear, go to a psychotherapist
together and do not cease to show her how much you love her
the way she is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaA0ybRFfa0
Aim:
Participants will become aware of the personal and social
value of health and body image. They will experience the
role of advisor together with their peers.
Steps:
• Give each participant a sheet of paper and a pen.
• Ask everyone to write the things that impressed them and
share them with the group.
• Ask the participants to group in pairs, to sit face to face and in
turn to advise each other how to prevent the desire to mutilate
the body through starvation or abusive consumption of food (5
minutes per round).
• Ask the participants to express in plenary what emotions
they experienced as advisor and advised person.
• Ask the participants to speak in plenary about this
individual and public health issue.
Activity no.8: What job / profession
should I choose? What encourages me?
Aim:
Participants will become aware of the value of a job
interview. They will experience introducing themselves and
introducing their colleagues.
Steps:
• Give each participant a worksheet
• Ask everyone to inform themselves about a professional
interview.
• Ask the participants to introduce themselves in plenary.
• Ask the participants to choose the best three
presentations/introductions and to argue their choices.
Activity no.9: Who am I? How do I fit into
the group?
Aim:
Participants will become aware of the qualities and
differences between them and their peers in the group.
Group integration
Steps:
• Give each participant a sheet of paper and a pen.
• Ask each participant to answer the questions from the tests
below, then interpret them in order to know themselves.
• Ask the participants to display these lists.
• Ask the participants to divide into dyads and discuss their
choices.
Activity no.10: What hobby should I choose?
How can it contribute to my development?
As in the case of young children, computer games and all
sorts of series are on top of the lists of favorite activities of
teenage boys and girls. Increasingly fewer adolescents spend their
leisure time in a really exciting way and over the years they realize
how much time they had which they could have used in a creative
way.
So if there are still adolescents who want to spend their free
time in a special way, in the following lines we will present eight
hobbies for teenage girls and boys.
• Reading is a hobby suitable for all ages. How many
teenagers spend their time with a good book in their hand?
Increasingly fewer because they believe that a TV series or a
PlayStation game are more interesting than entering a
fabulous world from which they can learn a lot of things.
•
All teenagers love to go to parties but some of them do not
feel comfortable when they have to dance. And in order to
avoid this, both teenage girls and boys can embrace a
passion full of fun, relaxing and which, if they practise, they
will be able to make new friends. It's about dancing, a noble
passion, ideal for the body and soul.
• Photography is an ideal leisure activity for boys and girls
which, fortunately, teenagers like. The low price of good
quality cameras has made photography become one of the
most common leisure activities among adolescents. Those
who want to take this hobby seriously can enroll in photo
clubs and courses to learn useful things.
• Practicing a sport is another ideal activity for girls and
boys who are in the process of development. Sport helps
teenagers keep fit but also to make new friends.
• Model construction is an ideal hobby for teenagers. The
construction of model ships, rockets, planes and cars is the
perfect activity for the boys who are passionate about cars,
airplanes, rockets or ships.
• On the other hand, modeling is an ideal hobby for teenage
girls who want to highlight the beautiful features, without
making a career out of this activity. It is an ideal activity for
those passionate about fashion and all the beautiful things.
• Keeping a diary is another ideal activity for a teenager.
Often, at this age, people go through many emotional
changes. Teenagers feel they cannot trust anyone so they
close themselves in their own thoughts and problems, and
keeping a diary can help them confess to a friend that will
never speak.
• Volunteering is an ideal activity for adolescents that not
only helps them develop socially, but also helps them
integrate into youth groups who want to spend time helping
the others.
Aim:
Participants will become aware of the value of hobbies for
the personal development.
Steps:
• Give each participant a sheet of paper and a pen.
• Ask everyone to write on a sheet of paper one of the 8 hobbies
described above, which they attach to the back of a colleague.
• Ask the participants to walk in the room and stop one another
to describe the hobby written on the back, and the one who
listens has to recognize it. Continue to do so until each
participant has learned what the hobby they had written on their
back is.