Lecture
Relevance of the training:
Communication has always been significant in a person's life and personal
development.
The problem of communication has traditionally been at the center of attention of Russian social psychologists due to its significance in all spheres of human and social group activity. A person without communication cannot live among people, develop, or create.
Within the structure of interpersonal communication, the main content of communication is distinguished, namely: the transmission of information, interaction, and people's
cognition of one another. The transmission of information is regarded as the communicative aspect of communication; interaction as the interactive aspect of communication; and understanding and knowing one another. That is why it is important to be able to
communicate, and to convey one's thoughts clearly so that others can understand you.
Goal of the training: Developing communication skills.
Objectives:
practice persuasion skills
practice the ability to find arguments in favor of one's position
develop the ability to find an approach to people
emphasize the importance of intonation in the communication process.
develop the ability to use nonverbal means of communication.
teach effective ways of communicating.
Requirements for participants:
The training is designed for students.
Number of participants: 10-16 people.
Preparation required of participants – comfortable shoes.
Training plan
1. Organizational moment 1 minute
2. Introductory talk 2 minutes.
3. Warm-up:
Exercise «This Is My Name» (20 minutes)
Goal: To introduce training participants to one another.
Exercise «The Seven Bogatyrs» (20 minutes)
Goal: to practice persuasion skills, the ability to find arguments in
favor of one's position, and presentation skills.
4. Main part:
Exercise «Breakfast with a Hero» (30 minutes)
Goal: to practice the ability to persuade one's interlocutor.
Exercise «And I'm Happy» (10 minutes).
Goal: to learn about ways of lifting one's mood.
Exercise «Leopold» (25 minutes)
Goal: to practice persuasion skills and the ability to find an approach to people.
Equipment: name tags, for the cats.
Exercise «Convey It in One Word» (20 minutes)
Goal: to emphasize the importance of intonation in the communication process.
Equipment: business-card-sized cards with the names of emotions printed on them.
Exercise «Everyone's Attention» (10 minutes)
Goal: – developing the ability to use nonverbal means of communication.
Exercise «Ask for the Chocolate» (15 minutes)
Goal: to teach effective ways of communicating.
Break 30 minutes.
Exercise «Three Laws of Communication» (20 minutes)
Goal: to develop nonverbal communication skills, group discussion, and logical thinking.
Game «Hug Tag» (10 minutes)
Goal: Release tension, mutual support, «rescuing physical contact».
Requirement: A spacious, safe room.
Exercise «My Problem in Communication» (20 minutes)
Goal: to find out what problems exist in communication.
Equipment: paper, pens.
Exercise «The Ability to Listen» (25 minutes)
Goal: for participants to become aware of what, in their behavior, helps
their partner speak openly and in detail about their problems and state, and
what can worsen their state. Familiarization with listening techniques.
5. Organizational close:
Exercise «Handshake» (1 minute)
Goal: To end the training and lift the mood.
Discussion: 10 minutes.
6. Reflection: 85 minutes
Total time: 6 hours.
Hello! My name is ... Today I will lead a training for you devoted to communication.
Communication permeates our entire life; it is just as much a human
need as water and food. Under conditions of complete isolation, a person
begins to experience auditory and visual hallucinations on the sixth day. He
communicates with these nonexistent images.
Communication – is the exchange of information through language or gestures. Communication is the communicative interaction of people or social
groups. In the process of communication, an exchange of various kinds of
information takes place between the participants in communication.
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Let's get to know one another; to do this, we will introduce ourselves to each other.
Exercise «This Is My Name» (20 minutes)
Going around the circle, each person in turn says their name. Then they share
something about their name.
For example, they might try to answer questions such as:
Do I know who chose it for me?
Do I know what my name means?
Who else in the family bore this name?
Reflection (5 minutes)
Was it easy for you to talk about your name?
If not, why?
We are surrounded by many interesting things, and the whole world around us is moving and hurrying. All of life is moving: rest, work, family, friends — that
is, our entire environment does not stand still. But do not forget that while everything moves around you, you can quite well direct all the events happening around you. The most important thing – is correct communication and easy
communication with the people around you and the whole world; the art of communication is very
important. Moreover, to learn correct, relaxed, and easy communication, so that everyone understands and remembers you for a long time — whether friends or enemies — you need to find an approach to everyone, you need to communicate easily with
everyone.
The famous psychologist Dale Carnegie advises avoiding arguments like
rattlesnakes. He believes that 90% of those who take part in an argument become
even more convinced of their own rightness than before. An argument can practically never be won.
This is because if you emerge victorious from an argument, you lose a friend, a business partner. This is natural, since a person feels uncomfortable
after losing an argument.
Instead of arguing, one can persuade one's interlocutor by finding arguments in favor of one's position.
Now we will practice persuasion.
Exercise «The Seven Bogatyrs» (30 minutes)
One participant will play the role of the princess. Who would like to? The rest of you,
divide into teams of 3-4 participants.
In order to practice the ability to persuade, let's recall
and act out A.S. Pushkin's fairy tale of the dead princess and the seven bogatyrs. In
particular, the episode where the seven bogatyrs, with whom the princess lived, try to persuade her to marry one of them and stay with them forever. In
our version of the tale it will be the same, except the bogatyrs, having gone through a series of trainings and
possessing the gift of persuasion, will be able to convince the princess, better than in the tale, to give up Prince Yelisei and stay in their house. Each mini-group will need to prepare the most enticing proposals in order
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to persuade the princess to stay with them, showing her all the advantages
of such an ending to the tale.
You are given 5 minutes to prepare, after which one representative from
each group will present, addressing the princess with their arguments.
Reflection (10 minutes)
After the presentations, the princess says whether she felt like staying
with the bogatyrs, and what pros and cons she saw in each presentation.
What emotions did you experience while doing this exercise?
The next exercise is «Breakfast with a Hero»
«Breakfast with a Hero» (30 minutes)
Materials needed. Paper, pencils.
Imagine the following situation: each of those present has the opportunity to have breakfast with any person. This could be
a celebrity of the present, or a historical figure of the past, or an ordinary person who made an impression on you at some point in their life. Each person must decide for themselves whom they would like to meet, and why.
Write the name of your hero on a sheet of paper. Now divide into
pairs; within the pair, decide which of the two heroes you will meet with. You have
2 minutes for discussion.
Now the pairs join into groups of four, which, in turn,
must choose only one hero. You again have 2
minutes for discussion.
Now the groups of four join with one another, and within 2 minutes
choose one hero.
Now everyone joins together, and you decide whom you will have breakfast with.
Reflection: (10 minutes)
Why was this particular hero the one who remained?
Was it easy to give way, and why did you give way?
Mood plays a role in conversation. Let's now find out what ways there are of lifting one's mood, and get moving a bit while we're at it.
Exercise «And I'm Happy» (10 minutes).
We are sitting together in a circle; we need to add one more chair.
The person who has the empty chair to their right begins. They must move to the
empty chair and say: «And I'm happy». The next person who ends up with an empty chair on their right moves over and says: «Me too»; the third participant
says: «And I'm learning from... (names any participant)». The person whose name
was called runs to the empty chair and names a way of lifting one's mood, and then the whole thing repeats from the beginning in the same way. Names may not be repeated.
Reflection: (5 minutes)
Which of the suggested ways of lifting your mood seemed
most interesting to you?
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Our next exercise is called «Leopold»
Exercise «Leopold» (25 minutes)
One «mouse» is chosen from the group; everyone else becomes «cats».
Each «cat» receives a slip of paper with their name; one of them
is named Leopold, and all the others – other cat names,
for example, Vasily, Murka, and so on. Any participant, of any gender, may
become Leopold, and the trainer emphasizes this to the group.
The trainer reminds the group of the plot of the Leopold cartoon. In
this cartoon, the friendly and harmless cat Leopold tries
to make friends with the mice, who constantly play
tricks on him.
In this exercise, the cats will also need to convince the mouse that
they are harmless and can be dealt with. The trick is that among
all the cats, only one is actually named Leopold, and he is the one who wants to make friends with the mice. All the other cats – are dangerous predators who are only pretending to be friendly. Each cat's task – is to convince the mouse
that they are the harmless Leopold. The mouse's task – is to identify the real Leopold.
The cats are given 5 minutes to prepare, after which they make their case,
explaining to the «mouse» why they are harmless. The «mouse» evaluates the presentations and says which cat it believed.
Reflection: (5 minutes)
Questions for discussion.
Why do we trust one person but not another?
What can be done to make people trust us more?
Intonation plays no small role in communication. The same phrase
or word can be said in different ways.
Exercise «Convey It in One Word» (20 minutes)
I will hand out cards to you with the names of emotions written on them, and you,
without showing them to the other participants, will say the word «Hello» with the intonation corresponding to the emotion written on your card.
The others guess which emotion the participant was trying to portray.
Now I will shuffle the cards and hand them out to you again.
The same task, only now we will read the short rhyme «they dropped the teddy bear on the floor».
List of emotions.
Joy.
Surprise.
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Regret.
Disappointment.
Suspicion.
Sadness.
Merriment.
Cold indifference.
Calm.
Interest.
Confidence.
A desire to help.
Fatigue.
Anxiety.
Enthusiasm.
Reflection: (5 minutes)
How easy was it to guess the emotion from the intonation?
In real life, how often, during a phone conversation, do you
understand from the intonation of the first words what mood your
interlocutor is in?
Besides communicating with words, there is also nonverbal communication.
Nonverbal communication – is all signals, symbols, gestures, manners,
timbre, and facial expressions — that is, the nonverbal form of communication and mutual understanding.
Exercise «Everyone's Attention» (10 minutes)
All participants in the game perform the same simple task by any means, without resorting to physical actions and without talking:
they need to attract the attention of those around them. The task is made more difficult by the fact that all participants perform it at the same time.
Reflection: (5 minutes)
Who managed to attract others' attention, and by what means?
Exercise «Ask for the Chocolate» (15 minutes)
Let's choose the leader. To do this, tell me who in your group is the most
fair? (a vote).
(The fairest person becomes the leader and sits in the center).
I give them a bar of chocolate. Your task is to take turns asking the leader for the
chocolate in such a way that they will want to give it to you specifically. After each
round, the leader says whom they would not give the chocolate to (choosing 2
participants), and they are eliminated. This continues until one winner remains. Each person
has 30 seconds to make their request. The winner gets the chocolate.
Reflection: (5 minutes)
Which way of asking turned out to be the most effective?
Let's take a break to rest. We'll meet back here in 30 minutes.
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The break is over, and we continue.
Everything begins with communication. What should it be like? There are
certain rules of communication. At different times, among different peoples, they
have been different. But there are basic ones common to everyone.
Here are the ancient commandments of communication:
trust the person you are communicating with,
respect the person you are communicating with,
when communicating with a person, do it in the best possible way.
When addressing a stranger, it is important that your words be kindly and appropriate, and that your gaze, smile, and whole demeanor work in your favor. During a conversation, one must look the person in the eye, and
the gaze should be kind and clear.
Exercise «Three Laws of Communication» (15 minutes)
The group is divided into 2 equal parts (Earthlings and aliens). The Earthlings
leave the room. I give the remaining aliens the following instructions: “A ship of Earthlings has landed on your planet. Their task is to find out, by any means, the rules by which you communicate with visitors to the planet.
These rules are as follows:
Only female members
of your planet may answer male Earthlings, and only with «yes» to all questions
Only male aliens answer female Earthlings' questions, and always with «no»
Contact between members of the same sex from different planets is not possible
(refusal is demonstrated nonverbally, without words, but expressively).
The Earthlings come in.
Instructions for the Earthlings: «You have landed on the planet of the aliens,
where 3 laws of communication apply. You may make contact with the Aliens in any way you like. Your task – is to understand these 3 laws. You have a maximum of 15 minutes for this, but you may stop
the game earlier if you are ready to give an answer».
Reflection: (10 minutes)
How do you feel?
What just happened?
Questions for the «Earthlings»:
What helped the group arrive at a solution?
What would you do differently if you had to
do a similar exercise again?
A question for everyone: what conclusions can be drawn from this exercise?
The next game is for releasing tension.
Game «Hug Tag» (10 minutes)
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The person who is "it" can tag anyone who does not have a partner (a pair must hold
on to each other tightly). If a trio forms, the person who joined last may be tagged.
Now we will find out what problems occur in communication, and look for
ways out.
Exercise «My Problem in Communication» (20 minutes)
On separate sheets of paper, you write, briefly and concisely, the answer to the question: «What is your main problem in communication?» The sheets are not signed. The sheets are folded and put into
a common pile. Then each participant randomly takes any sheet, reads it, and tries to find a technique with which they could get out of
the problem in question. The group listens to their suggestion and assesses whether the problem has been correctly understood and whether the proposed technique really helps resolve it.
Reflection: (5 minutes)
What did you feel while doing the exercise?
Speech plays the main role in communication. In the process of «speaking», literally
everything is important: how one addresses one's interlocutor, what is said first, and
what is said afterward, whether the words match the tone of the statements, and so on. Even ancient
philosophers noted that carrying on a conversation – is a true art. It is surprising that people, knowing about their inability to speak in public and doing everything
possible to learn how, practically never stop to think about whether they succeed in
communicating successfully with the people around them – friends, colleagues, relatives, and so on. Meanwhile, it often happens in life that we want to say
one thing but, without even realizing it, say another, or fail to find any
words at all to express some important thought or feeling.
The most important nonverbal component of the communication process – is the ability
to listen. When a person listens attentively to another person, literally everything about them – their eyes, posture, facial expression – is turned toward the speaker, which, in
turn, has an effect on the interlocutor, helping them formulate their thoughts, open up, and be as sincere as possible. Distraction, indifference, and apathy can lead to the opposite result.
Exercise «The Ability to Listen» (25 minutes)
The group participants sit in a circle.
Instructions: Now we will take a short walk along the
seashore. Please sit comfortably and slowly close your eyes. Pay
attention to your breathing, feel it: the air passes through your nose, throat, enters your chest, and fills your lungs. Feel how, with each inhale, energy enters your body, and with each exhale, unneeded
worries, anxieties, and tension leave... Pay attention to your body,
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feel it – from your feet to the crown of your head. You are sitting on a chair (in an armchair),
you hear some sounds, you feel a light breeze on your face.
Perhaps you will want to change your posture — do so. Now imagine that you find yourself by the sea. You walk slowly along the shore. Look carefully around you: what colors, sounds, and smells surround you... Look at the sky, at the sea. Pay attention to your state: what
emotions and feelings arise in you, and how they change during the walk.
You are in no hurry and can calmly continue walking. Perhaps you will want to go into the water and swim, or sit on the shore. Do this...
And now it is time to return to this room, to our circle. Do
this at whatever pace is comfortable for you: you can open your eyes right away, or sit a while longer
with them closed.
Now we will share our impressions with one another. To do this, let's form groups of 3-4 people. Try to make sure that most of the people in your group are
people you have not yet worked with in a small group.
(After the groups have been formed.)
Now each person, in turn, will talk about their impressions, about the
images, experiences, and states that arose in them during
our «walk», while the others listen attentively to the speaker,
without asking questions, commenting, or interpreting what they hear. Try to catch the moments when you stop listening. Spend about
3-4 minutes on each account.
After finishing this exercise, everyone is invited to return to the circle and share impressions – this time about the work in the small groups.
Reflection: (5 minutes)
At what moments did you stop listening?
Our training is coming to an end.
Exercise «Handshake» (1 minute)
«We have all worked productively today, and everyone deserves thanks. While I count to five, you must manage to thank each
other with a handshake»
Reflection at the end of the training: (15 minutes)
«So, let's sum up...», «Let's once again define what we discussed...»
What are you taking away with you?
I bid you farewell, goodbye.
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