Long description

An extract from Learning for Peace. The page is titled ‘Empathy footsteps’. This is followed by the activity ‘Aim: To explore empathy’, ‘Skills: Empathy, looking, listening, participating, thinking’ and ‘Age: 7-11’. There then follows a list of activity instructions, showing four parts: You need two pairs of paper feet on the floor that children can stand on, facing each other. 1. Act out a simple conflict between two people, e.g. Tariq has lost his pencil and he thinks Ellie has taken it. 2. Ellie and Tariq stand in ‘their own’ footsteps facing each other and tell each other how they feel using an ‘I’ statement (see p. 48), e.g. “I felt angry… when… because…I would like it if…” 3. They then swap over and stand in each other’s footsteps. They acknowledge each other’s feelings by repeating back what they said e.g. “I heard you say you were angry because…And you would like it if…” 4. They return to their own footsteps and talk about how it felt to be in the other’s shoes. They could talk about the ideas raised by the other person and this can lead to ideas to then try to resolve the conflict.