207__Communication_with_Children_and_Young_People

Discussion about Healthy Eating I choose to take a group of seven children for this assignment. They were all Year 1 children, of similar ability, aged between 5 and 6 years of age. The group consisted of 4 boys and 3 girls, all of whom have low levels of listening, writing and communication skills. The children were seated around a table in the school hall. The table had a selection of fruit and vegetables on it, so that the children had visual props in front of them. I made a seating arrangement plan beforehand, showing where the children would sit. This is because I knew that some of the children may be distracted by others in the group. I introduced the children to the main activity; by explaining to them clearly and calmly, what I expected and wanted them to do by the end of the session. I explained that we all needed to listen to each other, concentrate and that we would all have a chance to speak. I gave the children 2 to 3 minutes to pick up and feel the fruit and vegetables, whilst explaining about the other activities which we were going to do, i.e. Group work using flash cards and drawing a healthy plate of food. I checked that the children understood the activities by asking them to relay the instructions back to me, each time we did a different activity. I then grouped the children into 3 groups and gave them a set of flash cards which consisted of healthy/non healthy foods. I asked them, with in their groups, to place each card into a pile of healthy/non healthy foods, encouraging them to talk and discuss about what they saw in each picture, with each other, and listening to each other’s ideas. Group 1 – came up with 2 piles, consisting of healthy and non healthy. Group 2 – also came up with 2 plies of healthy and non healthy. Group 3 – came up with 3 piles of, healthy, non healthy and not sure. The not sure pile consisted of a pizza with vegetable and chocolate milk. They realised that part of the food was healthy. I demonstrated that I valued what each child had to say, by listening to every child’s answer and responding with encouragement and praise for their ideas and thoughts. I asked each child to pick 1 item of a fruit or vegetable which they weren’t sure about, encouraging them to smell, feel and taste if they wanted (2 out of 7 in the group didn’t try the red cabbage.) I went around the whole group one by one, asking each child what they though they had picked, whilst listening to and answering their questions, making sure they all had a chance to speak. I also encouraged children to put up their hands if they knew an answer to a question, and not to just shout out. This meant that I could choose a child to speak, thereby encouraging the reluctant speakers to have a go. I kept the discussion going by using and following a plan which I’d prepared beforehand, which consisted of a list of questions which I felt the group could manage, printing off flash cards for group work and drawing plates. All of this helped the children to focus and concentrate. I used lots of encouragement and praise for all their ideas and thoughts, making sure everyone was listening to each other. I encouraged reluctant speaker by asking them direct questions and making sure all the other children were listening to them, praising the speaker and encouraging them. I encouraged positive interaction by using visual props on the table for first hand experience, as well as using flash cards in groups for communication skills, getting the children to help each other. I praised and encouraged all the children for their ideas, whilst encouraging each child to listen to and value the whole group/groups ideas. I feel I encouraged the children to work well as a group, and feel the discussion went well. The children enjoyed the session, and were very enthusiastic to repeat it.