Methods used in the project events

YSPDB

The Nordic approach

– Methodology 1

4 // he number three, Bombs and shields 5 // Princesses and castles 6 // Counting to three, The call of the wild 7 // Stick challenge, Code of armor 8 // Sword your name 9 // Three things we have in common, Exchanging 3 written questions 10 // I’m unique with‌, Keep the chairs up 11 // The vanishing islands, Ask us 5 questions 12 // Avalanche, Videos and movies 13 // The dots, Silent brainstorm 14 // Cell blocks, Act it out 15 // The 3 group chairs, The four stages of active listening 16 // Abigail 17 // Simulation 18 // Dear diary

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In this practical handbook, you will find a useful set of tools which was used during the two training courses held under the implementation of the co-funded

by Erasmus+ project “Youth worker training: Nordic approach� 2018-1-NO02KA205-001233, and are currently a part of the daily activities held by youth workers who took part in it.

It contains 25 methods with their aims, objectives, materials, instructions and some variations.

Maybe some of the readers would recognize some of the activities. Still, here we stress on their precise application, highlighting the need of holistic approach and the layers you could have in one activity. Keep in mind the balance between theoretical and practical input and alternation of active and passive methods.

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The number three Aim Boosting the focus and energy level of the group Objectives Energizer; Warm up Materials None Instructions The group stays in a circle and starts to count. When there’s a number which can be divided or it contains the number three the person should jump and the next one continues with the following / for example – 1, 2, (person jump), 4, 5, (person jump) and so on/ . If someone makes a mistake he or she starts from the beginning. The activity ends when the number of mistakes reduces and the counting is going smooth.

Variations Instead of jumping the people can clap, squad or else. You can even add additional rules for other numbers.

Bombs and shields

Aim Stir the focus of the group and boost the energy Keeping in mind two variables

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Objectives Group dynamics; Energizer Materials None Instructions The activity is implemented in several rounds with the same instructions. Each person should “stay alive” by putting his shield between himself and the bomb. Everyone chooses one participant who will be his shield and one who would be the bomb, without telling them. Then the group have to start to walk freely around in the training room/ area. At some point the trainer/ facilitator says “BOOM!” which is a sign for the group to stop moving and that the bombs had exploded. The people who managed to position their selves themselves behind their shields have survived. Repeat a couple of times by inviting the participants to choose different people every time. At the end you can reflect on how they were making the decisions about who to be what.

Variations It’s not necessary to be shields and bombs, according to the context and imagination of the trainer/ facilitator.

Princesses and castles Aim Encouraging stress decision making Objectives Energizer Materials None Instructions In this activity there are two roles - of a princess and of a castle formed by two people. Split the group into trios – one princess and two people who make a castle by putting their hands together above the head of the princess who is standing between them. There should be one person without a trio who call the actions (at the first round this is the trainer/ facilitator).

During the activity there are three actions that can happen after naming them out loud – Princesses, Castles and Earthquake. When the extra person says “Princesses” all of the people who are princesses at that moment should change their castles with someone else. When “Castles” is shouted the castle pairs split and makenew ones, above a new princess (the princesses stay still at their places). “Earthquake” is like restart – changing roles and forming new trios (for example if someonewas a princess, during this action theycan become part of a castle pair or to stay a princess, but theyhave to be quick because the others are facing the same

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decisions). The activity ends when the trainer/ facilitator sees that the group is energized.

Variations As for a lot of other methods, here the labels could be adapted to the context of the event and for instance can be “youth workers”, “youth centers” and “legal reform”.

Counting to three

Aim Quick adaptation in a dynamic environment Objectives Group dynamics; Energizer Materials None Instructions Split the group in pairs and invite them to count to three in turns – one start with number one, the other continues with two, then back to the first one with three and the second start from the beginning with one. Allow them to have a couple of turns then ask them instead of saying”Two!” to maksilently one squat Again give them some turns, than they have to change “Three” with a clap. And for the last round of “counting” to replace number one with one jump. At the end they have to follow silently the pattern of jump, squat and clap.

Variations The actions which replace the numbers could be different according to the physical conditions of the participants.

The call of the wild

Aim Dividing the group into pairs or small groups.

Objectives Energizer; Group dynamics Materials Small papers with different animals with specific and recognizable sounds.

Instructions The goal is the same animals to find each other and according to the need there could be pairs or small groups. Give each participant a piece of paper with an animal written on it which shouldn’t be shared with the others. When everyone has their “roles”, the whole group closes their eyes and start to make the sound of the animals they’ve received. Without looking or using any words, the people have to find the ones from their kind.

Variations Besides sounds it could be also imitation of the way the animals act or description of their look.

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Stick challenge

Aim The group to accomplish putting down a thin stick, all together to the floor.

Objectives Group building activity; Active listening and communication Materials Thin, non-flexible stick Instructions Split the group into two even parts and invite them to stand in two lines facing each other with the stick between them along the line at the two sides of the stick facing each other. Afterwards they have to point their pointing fingers to the people across them at the level of the chest , alternating them with the people from the other side /for example next to my left pointing finger is the left pointing finger of the person standing across, followed by my right one and his and at the same way by the others/. Ordered like this they’ll form kind of solid line which will be the base where to put the stick. They have to put it all together to the floor without using any other parts of their body.

Variations Depending on your learning objectives you can district different things – to talk, to see, to use only one hand and so on.

Code of armor

Aim Personal introduction in short, visual and structured way.

Objectives Self-reflection; Ice breaker and getting to know each other Materials Paper sheets; Writing materials Instructions Show a blank code of armor, mentioning a little about what is its idea and how it was used by monarchies and great family houses (“It represents their values, strengths, history… It’s usually placed also on the shields of the solders, protecting them figuratively.”). According to your prime objectives is it going to be mainly for self-reflection or ice breaker, select some questions which the participants should answer to. Then each one of them should draw their code of armor and split it into the number of questions, frequently four or five. They should write down their thoughts, add some illustrations if they like and afterwards to present to the group their products. It’s nice to place them at a visible part of the space you’re using as a reminder who is in the group and which are their “strengths”.

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Variations If the objective is more on self-reflection, the questions can be more orientated to the professional experience of the people.

For example: 1. Which is my biggest achievement as a youth worker?

2. Which is my biggest lesson?

3. Which is my current professional challenge?

4. Why am I here?

If the focus of the activity is in other direction, the questions can be more personal or even seeking funny statements.

Sword your name

Aim Going through the names of the participants.

Objectives Getting to know each other; Materials A paper sword or very thin stick.

Instructions The group stays in a circle and there’s one person in the middle with the “weapon” in his hand.

His goal is to touch with the stick the person whose name was the last one said. To protect himself he names another and in that way there’s a new victim. If the person succeeds, he enters the circle and gives the stick to the person he touched who takes his place in the middle of the circle.

The activity continues until the group shows a very good knowledge of their names or when someone stays in the middle for too long and there’s pressure.

Variations None

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Three things we have in common Aim Finding common things between the participants.

Objectives Getting to know each other; Ice-breaking Materials None Instructions Ask the participants to go in pairs and to find three things they have in common with the other person – hair color, eyes, age, music preferences, passions, hobbies, etc. When they’re ready to change and approach another person. The activity continues when more or less everybody has spoken with the rest.

Variations The question number may vary.

Exchanging 3 written questions Aim Exploring the people in the group.

Objectives Getting to know each other; Ice-breaker.

Materials Three pieces of paper for each participant and writing materials.

Instructions Each of the participants writes down three question each on a separate piece of paper. Then they start to walk freely in the room and give short answers to the questions in pairs. When they approach someone they answer and exchange questions, so at some point they may hold questions they didn’t write. The activity ends when more or less everyone had the opportunity to talk to everyone.

Variations The number of questions may vary.

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I’m unique with…

Aim Finding common things between the participants.

Objectives Ice breaker; Group dynamics Materials None Instructions Each one of the participants should say something that he or she thinks is special and unique with. If there is someone else in the room to whom the thing applies, they should go and sit in the lap of the “speaker”. In a situation which there are a lot of people they simply sit in each other laps forming kind of a line.

Variations All of the participants can sit in a circle and just go one after the other or there could be one chair placed in the middle to which the “speaker” sits and declares the statement.

Keep the chairs up Aim Encouraging group synergy.

Objectives Teambuilding; Group dynamics Materials Same amount of chairs as the number of participants.

Instructions All of the chairs should be placed in a circle and the participants should be outside the circle.

Each participant should stand next to a chair, place it only with two of its legs to the floor by holding it with one hand. The goal is the group to make one full circle around the chairs without any of the chairs falling to the ground. During the whole time they have to keep the rule one person per chair, holding it with only one hand. If some of the chairs fall they restart and go again.

Variations None

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The vanishing islands

Aim Group cohesion and overcoming boundaries.

Objectives Teambuilding; Energizer; Group dynamics Materials Flip chart papers Instructions Place 3 or 4 flipchart papers to the floor and tell the group that these are islands. Then they have to walk around the room and by the signal of trainer/ facilitator they have to find a place on an island and not to touch the floor. If someone doesn’t manage he or she is out. Give it a round or two and then start to reduce the number of islands. Eventually, when there is only one left give the instruction “Don’t touch the floor, when you hear the signal” and afterwards you can even break the paper in two, three pieces or leave only one small piece of paper.

Hint: you can tell them after the end of the activity that jumping at the signal also keeps in the air and is within the rules.

Variations You can adapt the islands with the narrative or context of the session/ day and even to use different material for islands like pieces of cloth.

Ask us 5 questions

Aim Reducing hierarchy between the trainer/ facilitator and the group.

Objectives Ice –breaker; Getting to know each other Materials Something to write down Instructions Invite the group to think of five questions that can ask you or your team. Give them maximum 5 minutes and leave the room. After they call you back answer as honestly and authentically as you can in order to start the road of gaining their trust and to put down any barriers for open communication between you and the group.

Variations The amount of questions may vary. If there’s a need or the person is feeling uncomfortable to talk freely about everything, there could be restriction about the questions – without family related ones or early childhood. Still you have to keep in mind that if you ask someone not to look to the right is like an instinct to look there, and if you ask people not to ask questions about the family, that would probably be the only thing they would like to know something more about.

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Avalanche

Aim Coming up with one, shared statement.

Objectives Group dynamics; Teambuilding Materials Writing materials Instructions According to the context, ask each one of the participants to think of one statement and give them a time limit for that. Afterwards, invite them to sit in pairs, to share with each other their personal statements and come up with one common one based on them both. Again, give exact time for that. After that, they have to form groups of four, eight and eventually the whole group should declare one statement.

According to the number of participants the rounds could vary.

Variations At the beginning, they can think or pick a concreate number of elements / statements (we can provide them with a list) which they reduce during the different rounds until they have only one.

Videos and movies

Aim Exploration and evaluation of human behavior in popular video products.

Objectives Encouraging thinking out of the box and as well other channels of qualitative data.

Materials Video materials with open access.

Instructions First play the video without any specific instructions. Afterwards according to your learning objectives ask the participant to pay attention to concreate details of the products – actions, looks, lines, etc. At the end you can have a group discussion or just a round of sharing.

Variations You can use music videos, a short or a full-length movie, videos from conferences or even homemade ones. It all depends on your context.

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The dots

Aim Participants are divided in working group intentionally or unintentionally according to facilitator’s needs.

Objectives Non-verbal communication, Group dynamics Materials Small colorful stickers Instructions Choose five or six colors and put a sticker with one of them to the forehead of each one of the participants while they are with closed eyes. The number of stickers per color should match the number of people you need to have in a group. When everyone have a sticker on their forehead, invite them to open their eyes and without talking to find their group. When they finish, you can debrief and reflect on the principle they had followed to sort themselves.

Variations You can use this method for forming small groups.

Silent brainstorm Aim Generating ideas

Objectives Setting a creative, calm and safe space for sharing Materials Flipchart paper and writing materials Instructions Ask the group and invite them to write down their answers on a shared flipchart paper. Encourage them to avoid talking to each other and silently to write their thoughts. Afterwards give the floor for sharing and sum up their thoughts.

Variations You can use digital technologies and applications that allows to collect input from different authors.

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Cell blocks

Aim Structured and user-friendly presentation of information.

Objectives Encouraging analytical skills of the participants.

Materials Digital devices; Templates Instructions Filling charts is not an attractive method to harvest or check understanding but it is a valuable one if you want to have it clear and lasting. Besides that it could be easily edited and implemented into practice. According to the context it could be individual or group work which in general aims at filling in the concreate template.

Variations It could be also used with papers to distribute responsibilities among the participants during the event for example – time keeper, daily reporter, person in charge of the free time activities, etc.

Act it out

Aim Represent the vision of the group for real life situations using theatre.

Objectives Development of: Group dynamics; Creativity; Teambuilding Materials According to the context there could be different costumes and accessories.

Instructions Split the group in 3-4 small groups. Each group has the task to represent a situation from the real life by using theatre techniques. They can use drama theatre, puppet theatre, picture theatre, mime, etc. The trainer/facilitator should monitor and assist the groups in their work as it is important to ensure that all of the participants are equally involved. The groups receive some time to prepare (usually around 15-20 minutes). Afterwards each of the groups presents their work in front of the others, which is followed by debriefing and discussion.

Variations Each of the groups can receive one common topic to work on or they can get different ones. For example, the group could be split into 4 small groups and each one to represent a short scene about the daily life of people from different age groups – 13-16 years; 16-18 years; 19-24 years and 25-30 years.

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The 3 group chairs

Aim Persuing a group goal without letting any interferences.

Objectives Active listening, Group communication Materials Marked and unmarked chairs.

Instructions Split the group in three small ones and tell them to stand in three different places. Give each group their instructions individually as follows: Group 1 – You have to sit at the marked chairs without talking.

Group 2 – You have to make a circle from the marked chairs without talking.

Group 3 – You have to bring out from the training room/ area all the marked chairs without talking.

Give them around 5-7 minutes to interact afterwards stop the activity and invite all of the participants to join debriefing.

Variations You can change the concreate tasks with similar ones – make a square, touch the chairs with your left hand or so on.

The four stages of active listening

Aim Pointing out the power of active listening and the impact that it could have for the “storyteller / speaker”.

Objectives Explore and practice the elements of active listening.

Materials None Instructions Split the group in pairs – preferably, the people in the pair do not know each other that well or at all. Always give the instructions separately. All the people who are sitting on the right side of the pairs stay in the room and they will be the first storytellers; the others go out to receive the instructions. With every round, people in the pair take turns to be the storyteller. In each of the rounds the storyteller shares a short story, the first they can think of, on a topic given by the trainer. The other member of the pair reacts to the story according to the instruction they have received outside the room. After each stage give some time for debriefing and sharing and in the end close with group reflection.

Stage 1 - One of the people in the pair doesn’t listen and shows it openly.

Stage 2 – One of them doesn’t listen and tries to hide it.

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Stage 3 – One listens but doesn’t show.

Stage 4 – One listens and shows it.

Variations If the context allows you can use and explore the added value of the senses having stages with closed eyes, with/ without touching, comfortable and uncomfortable positions, etc.

Abigail

Aim To have a discussion on a provocative case about guilt and responsibility.

As a group, to make a ranking of guilt and responsibility taken by the characters in the story.

Objectives Group problem solving Materials The story of Abigail “There lived a girl named Abigail who was in love with a boy named Gregory. Gregory lived on the shore of a river. Abigail lived on the opposite shore of the same river. The river was separating Abigail and Gregory. The river flows very fast, it is not possible to swim to the other shore.

Abigail wanted to cross the river to be with Gregory. Unfortunately, the bridge, which was connecting the two shores of the river, had been washed away by a heavy flood the previous week.

So Abigail went to ask Simon, a riverboat captain, to take her across the river. Simon said that he would be glad to help Abigail if she would agree to go to bed with him before the boat trip. Abigail refused and went to her mother to tell everything. Mother said that Abigail has to sort out her things on her own. Abigail felt that her only alternative was to agree with Simon’s conditions.

Simon fulfilled his promise to Abigail and delivered her to the other shore of the river. Abigail told everything to Gregory about what she did in order to cross the river. Gregory pushed her away. Abigail left crying. On the way back she met Tom, a friend of Gregory, she told everything to him. Then Tom went and punched Gregory and left with Abigail.”

Could be printed out or in a digital and accessible to everyone format Instructions Split the participants into small groups - 4-5 people each. First they have to think individually how they evaluate the situation and make their own rank list. Then they have to share, discuss and come up with common ranking as a group. Then each of the groups shares and is usually followed by a discussion with all of the participants.

Variations Again according from the context the discussion could stress different aspects of the story like stereotypes, family and romantic relations, friendship or, as it was, to introduce and open the topic of the role of the youth worker and his interaction with young people.

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Simulation

Aim Creating space for the participants to go through a real life situation in a safe environment.

Objectives To explore for themselves other perspectives; to solve realistic problems in a safe environment; Materials Scripts with the context and backstory of the situation. According to it you can add whatever you think is needed (costumes, specific accessories, special materials or instruments).

Instructions Present the situation the group will enter and briefly introduce the different roles which are involved. Distribute the roles in the group and invite them to get to know their characters and to try to “step in their shoes� as much as possible. Set the time limit and then give the scripts.

Check with everyone individually if everything is clear and people have true understanding of the character and the situation. During the activity it is preferable to check their progress without interfering with the processes. When it is ended it is necessary to debrief and discuss what happened.

Variations Besides the set characters which are known by everyone there could be secret ones given to concreate people. For example the different characters could be small groups which are directly connected to youth work – youth workers in a youth center, municipal representatives, volunteers from a youth organization and young people. Inside each one of these groups there could be people with secret roles who follow their group characteristics along with their secret personal agenda.

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Dear diary

Aim Personal evaluation of new competences.

Objectives Self-reflection.

Materials Writing materials and sheets of paper.

Instructions Give some questions to the participants which are summing up or directly checking on the learning objectives of the event. Then encourage participants to stay on their own and write down their thoughts about them. Afterwards, when they are back in the big group, if anyone wants, he or she can share.

Variations If so far you have noticed that the participants enjoy drawing or show interest in it, you can encourage instead of writing to draw pictures, representing their opinion.

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