- More practicaL activities
“The activities with practical part were more interesting and dynamic, both for LTC participants and our beneficiaries, who were also taking part in all of our training. We might consider adding more dynamic activities to all the workshops, possibly at the expense of the “theoretical part” (working in pairs, discussions). We agree that reflection is absolutely neccessary but practical work, “games”, activities add to the relaxed atmosphere where we learn best”.
New activities tested:
- Disability experimentation activity – Try to do math exercises with loud background noise
In order to understand some of the difficulties faced by people with intellectual disabilities, participants were asked to solve some math problems (simple operations of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication) but, at the beginning of the activity, very loud and disturbing music was played. The activity lasted 5 minutes, after which a brief debriefing was held with the participants asking them what it was like to perform the operations with the background noise and to reflect on how this experience could help them understand some of the difficulties encountered by people with cognitive disabilities.
Background resources:
- Understanding different types of disabilities
In the first part of this activity, there is a brief theoretical presentation on the definition of disability and the different types of disabilities, based on the following theoretical inputs:
- Distinguishing physical, mental, sensory disabilities.
- In case of mental disabilities thinking is concrete, anchored to perceptual data and images rather than concepts: people with cognitive disabilities have some difficulty in abstraction.
- For Vygotskji, the object of analysis and intervention is not the deficit but what the individual does to overcome it. Every deficit creates stimuli for compensation.
- Vygotskji’s theory is based on the assumption that the deficit is a social product and that it must be dealt with in the social sphere, by utilising the subject’s energies aimed at overcompensation.
- In the case of repeated failures, the disabled person learns a feeling of powerlessness.
In the second part, a practical activity takes place in groups: each group has 30-40 minutes to prepare a presentation and explain what they have just learnt to a young person with mental disability. To do this, participants can be creative and use different presentation tools: either a presentation in Canva, or posters, or a play…
Background resources:
- Bøttcher, L., & Dammeyer, J. (2012). Disability as a dialectical concept: building on Vygotsky’s defectology. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 27(4), 433–446. https://doi.org/10.1080/08856257.2012.711958
- Accessible dance and movement
Body warm-up (10 minutes): The group is in a circle and, in turn, each participant proposes a warm-up/stretching movement and the others copy the movement. The same movement is repeated for a few seconds until another participant proposes a new movement and the others follow, and so on.
Contact improvisation (30 minutes): Ask participants to form pairs (preferably without knowing each other). In each pair, there are two roles: one person is active and the other passive.
In the first activity, the active person touches a part of the other person’s body with a finger: the passive person starts to move that part of the body and makes it clear when the movement is finished. This activity is repeated 3 times, touching 3 different body parts. Then the roles of the pair are reversed.
In the second activity, the active person touches part of the other person’s body with a part of their body: the passive person starts to move that part of the body and makes it clear when my movement is finished. This activity is repeated 3 times, touching 3 different body parts. Then the roles of the couple are reversed.
In the third part, there are no longer two distinct roles of active and passive, but the couple continues to make movements that follow the logic of ‘impulse and response’, but this time without ever losing contact. Gradually, pairs find themselves performing short contact improvisation choreographies.
At the end of the third activity, the participants return to the plenary and discuss the activity:
- How did it feel?
- How was it to exercise active and passive roles in the movement?
- What was it like to get in close contact with another person?
- Invite participants to reflect on the fact that they have just experienced what it is like to be dependent on the input of another person in order to move.
Background resources:
Example of contact improvisation to inspire participants:
Suggested music for the workshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu4A-3elSUU
- The visit to the Day Center for People with Disabilities (GR)
- First Aid training (GR)
- “Image Theater” workshop (GR)
“Participants learned to use their bodies to create representations of reality and ideal scenarios, addressing internalized tensions and expanding their understanding from individual experiences to collective contexts. They recognized that social, political, and economic frameworks often play a crucial role in these dynamics”.
- Adapted chess (GR)
- Tandem cycling for two riders (GR)
- involve people with disabilities
Participants highlighted the benefits of involving beneficiaries. They were not bothered by the fact that the training was adapted to the varying abilities of the participants. On the contrary, they highlighted the advantages that this approach brings. Specifically, those participants who did not yet have experience working with young people with various disabilities gained insight into how to adapt organization, language, and approach.
We strongly recommend that trainers conducting the workshops also include young people with disabilities in the sessions. Although this requires adapting the workshops accordingly, young people with personal experience of disabilities can make a significant contribution to the content.
We believe that the most valuable information for training youth workers can be obtained directly from young people with disabilities, that is, from first-hand experience. We can discuss what they need, desire, and the barriers to their equal inclusion in society. However, it is the beneficiaries who best understand their own wishes, needs, and expectations. Therefore, we suggest, if possible, adhering to the principle of “nothing about people with disabilities without people with disabilities.”
Our suggestion would also be to add a workshop on communication in easy language – how to adress young people with disabilities or how to provide information in easy language/reading.
- INVOLVE SPORT TRAINERS
Even though, each session could have been implemented with the two groups of participants (youth workers and sport trainers) separately to extract more from each participant for every session, we still believe that this kind of approach (having both groups of participants – youth workers and sport trainers – together) brought us longer-term benefits in contributing to building inclusivity in our local community.
If there are only youth workers as participants on a similar training course, then we advise the organisers to ensure some activities being implemented in cooperation with the local sport organisations, for the better impact in the local community.
- Energizers
- Participants choose to be an animal and, in turn, mimic it. After miming, and always without speaking, participants arrange themselves in a line, from the smallest to the largest animal, trying to communicate with each other only with gestures and only by miming their animal to make the others understand where to stand in the line.
Other examples of “line up” energizers are available here: https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/line-up
- Bang: Bang is a group game, played in a circle, where participants must react quickly or face elimination. One person stands in the middle of the circle as “the sheriff”, pointing at other players who must quickly crouch while those on either side of them quickly “draw”. A good activity to generate laughter in a group. Source: https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/bang
- Evaluation activities
You can find below some evaluation activities, taken from the Salto-Youth T-Kit N°10 “Educational Evaluation in Youth Work” (available here):
The Three Word Review: A simple method at the end of the day, for the whole group, is the “Three word review” where participants are asked to write down for themselves three words that describe their feelings about the day. Then participants are invited to call out their words which are noted down on a flip-chart. After that, a discussion about the meaning and relevance of the words can be initiated. This commonly leads to a lively discussion. The “Three word review” involves all the participants from the start which makes it often easier for those who are usually not the first to speak, to contribute to the discussion.
Puppets in a Tree: This method can be used for the end of day review as well as for a final review in smaller or bigger groups. The advantage of this method is that you can easily adapt it to different situations or needs. All members of the group are invited to express their current feelings and / or their satisfaction with the programme or on other aspects such as their learning, the group dynamic and so on. To do this participants are asked to choose one of the figures (or puppets) on the picture that they consider most representative of their present mood or state of mind in relation to the aspect being evaluated. When everybody has chosen is their puppet, participants explain to each other the reasons of their choice.
The River: The river is a very versatile evaluation method. It can be used on the last day of the programme, for mid-term evaluation and for daily evaluation. It offers participants the possibility to express, in a creative way, how they see their development during the programme. Participants are divided into small groups (5 to 7 participants). Each group is provided with the picture of a River drawn on a large piece of paper. The beginning and the end of the river should be marked on the paper. Each group receives paper (different colours), scissors, glue, pencils and markers. Participants are asked to work individually on giving creative expression, using the material provided, to their personal development during the programme and to place the results of their creative efforts onto whichever part of the river they consider appropriate. When everybody has finished participants are asked to explain their creations.
And here the “target evaluation activity”, taken from: https://www.europlanet-society.org/outreach/europlanet-evaluation-toolkit/evaluation-tool-target-evaluation/
Target evaluation: What is this tool?
Participants place one mark or sticker in each segment of a printed target / dartboard according to their rating of that activity or outcome, the best being closest to the bullseye, the worst being furthest away.
Visual approaches are often more fun for participants than standard questionnaires, and can quickly allow you to see participants’ reactions to your activity.
When evaluating a training course some of the aspects that can be considered are:
- Organization
- Methodology
- Cohesion of the group
- Interest in the addressed topics
- Skills acquired
- Replicability in the respective realities
- APPLY THE TRAINING TOOLS IN YOUR DAILY WORK
“Often during the course, the trainers explained to the participants how the activities they were carrying out (e.g. the activities Expectations, fears and contributions, the final evaluation, the energizers) could possibly be adapted and multiplied with persons with disabilities or with the groups they usually work with, i.e. explaining that these are not necessarily activities reserved exclusively for training courses.”