HAPPY CLASSROOMS: HOW TO LOWER ANXIETY IN CLASS

Hey guys!👋

The Happy Classrooms programme (originally known as Aulas Felices) is based on the application of the positive psychology in the educational setting. This programme aims at providing the teaching staff with the foundations of this new movement as well as with strategies and activities to implement in classrooms. The main objective of positive psychology is to teach children and teenagers in order to make them able to put in practice all their personal strengths and, in this way, foster their present and future well-being. 

Here you have some activities that are included within this project and that are suitable for an English lesson in a high school:

Activity 1: Debates with role exchange

📈 Level: Primary and Secondary Education

📂 Objectives: To foster the speaking skill and to learn to adopt another person’s perspective.

📊 Development: We can take advantage of the contents that we are working in class or talk about topics that interest our students. There are several topics that can be the centre of a debate, especially the controversial ones such as the environmental impact of some human activities, the use of animals in certain celebrations, the benefices of going vegan, etc. Then, we can ask them to adopt a position for or against this topic as well as to properly think how to justify their point of view and the reasons they have. We can divide them into two teams - in favour and against the proposed situation - and moderate a debate. The most interesting point of this activity, however, is to make them change roles and defend the view of the other team. In this way, they can carry out a personal reflection and asses whether it has helped them to put themselves in the other's shoes and if that has enriched them in some way.

★ Note: This activity is especially appropriate for the English lesson since it promotes the speaking skill.

Activity 2: Gratitude journal

📈 Level: Primary and Secondary Education.

📂 Objectives: Be aware of the positive things we experience and feel gratitude towards the people or the circumstances that promote them. 

📊 Development: Students have to write a ‘Gratitude Journal’ during one or two months, or even the whole academic year. At home, once a week, they should take a few minutes to reflect and write about three to five things that they feel grateful for. They can talk both about trivial things and the most transcendental ones, for example: some positive event, a meeting with a friend, the affection shown by a relative, the fact of being alive, to feel healthy and strong, ... For each of those three to five things, they must write at least one sentence that synthesizes what they appreciate about it and the feelings they experience (gratitude, well-being, enthusiasm, kindness, etc.). Furthermore, from time to time, we can devote some minutes so that students who wish to share with their classmates some notes from their journals can do it.★ Note: This activity not only would let them grow as individuals and feel fortunate about their lives but also can promote the writing skill in the English classroom.

Activity 3: Breathing at the beginning of the lesson

📈 Level: Primary and Secondary Education.

📂 Objectives: To create a good working environment in the classroom and to foster student’s concentration. 

📊 Development: Firstly, students have to know the techniques to meditate based on breathing. Once they already know the technique, we can make them simply breathe, to observe diaphragmatic breathing, to breathe concentrating on the cold and heat sensations in the nose, to breath while counting in each inspiration or to breath and, at the same time, combine phrases or keywords. 

★ Note: This is exercise could be really beneficial at the beginning of the class in order to foster concentration or at the end of the class to avoid the stress and anxiety.

If you are interested in this amazing project, you can find more information and activities clicking here.