Method – Let’s Exchange!
By Jennifer
TARGET GROUP: Teenagers, 13 to 16 years old, (they can also be more and divided in teams with at least one volunteer supervisor/team)
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 5
DURATION: about 1h 30min or more
AIM:
- Make youngsters go to talk to people they don’t know
- Express themselves in a polite way
- Make them overpass their shyness
- Learn how to face a refusal in a good way
- Show them that usually, when you ask in a good way, people are likely to help you
MATERIALS:
- One or several valueless objects to exchange (last time we used twisted balloons as flowers and dogs)
DESCRIPTION:
- The team starts with objects to exchange
- They have to go to the people in the streets and in shops to ask if they would agree to exchange their object for something else (no valuable things, no money). And continue exchanging the things they get something else… and so on until the end.
EVALUATION:
- Did they managed to exchange their objects ?
- How did asked people reacted ?
- What was their feelings when they faced a refusal ?
- How did they feel when people agreed exchanging ?
RESULTS:
- They managed to exchange their objects several times, and most of the people were very nice and very happy to help them. Even one of the child get an ice-cream for free, trying to exchange a bracelet.
- At the beginning they were very shy, but after several exchanges they felt very comfortable and trusted themselves much more.
- They realized that if they ask in a nice and polite way, even if people refuse, they refuse in a nice and polite way also and feel sorry not to be able to help them.
- At the end they were very proud of them.
TIPS:
- Volunteers and local volunteers have to stay with youngsters to be sure that they are polite and don’t seem like beggars, and for people it is better to see that they are with a supervisor.
- Youngsters have to explain to people that this is a game, and they are not asking for money.