The lessons within Color My Conversation (CMC) have been written chronologically with one concept building on another! Having said that, as the Conversation Coach, you have the liberty to pull later teaching concepts forward into earlier lessons in order to make the most of the teachable moments!
CONVERSATION PIX & SCRIPTS
A great way to hone our ability to read people and situations is through observation. A convenient way to do this is to simply look at pictures of people having conversations. There are many options of images available online. Conversation Pix n Scripts is a fantastic “brain gymnastics” activity to do daily as a warm-up for the conversation lesson! In Color My Conversation, these activities are known as Conversation Recipes and Scripts.
How to do this?
Determine what type of conversation you want the child to observe. For example, you might look for images of people greeting each other, having chitchat, or deeply engaged in serious conversations. Make sure to consider the level of awareness the child will have in comprehending the pictures. For example, for younger children select pictures where the facial expressions are easy to read or interpret (i.e. happy, sad, excited). For older children, you may look at pictures where the emotions and situations are harder to read (i.e. mixed emotions of feeling happy and yet sad). Discuss the social interaction in the photograph with the child by making comments or asking questions about it.
QUESTION EXAMPLES:
What are these people doing?
Where are they? How can you tell?
What time of day is it? How can you tell?
Do you think these people know each other? How can you tell?
What do you think they might be thinking? How can you tell?
How do you think they might be feeling? How can you tell?
How would you feel in this situation? What might you say?
This activity has many benefits that can impact a child’s language skills, problem solving skills, imagination, and emotional awareness. More importantly, it’s an opportunity to spend time with the child and grow your relationship with them.
FEATURED ARTICLE
Much of the research on the relationship between technology, lifestyle and social-emotional health, is found within the adult population. This is one of the first articles that I found that addresses changes in empathy and perspective taking that have been observed within the college-aged population over the last three decades. It was this study that impacted my desire to find out more about the interconnection between technology and human behaviour.
Konrath, S. H., O’Brien, E. H., & Hsing, C. (2010). Changes in dispositional empathy in American college students over time: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review. Retrieved from: http://www.ipearlab.org/media/publications/Changes_in_Dispositional_Empathy_-_Sara_Konrath.pdf
TRAVEL TALKS & PERPETUAL PURSUITS
Color My Conversation – 3rd Edition is set to be released in Fall 2024. Super excited to have it available for purchase. If you’d like to be put on the waitlist for this latest edition, go to www.northernspeech.com
Warmly,
Rosslyn