A session on relationship building was conducted for us today. We started with an activity where we wrote the first words that came to our minds when we read teacher, classmate and self. At first I was bewildered at the task given, but as the class progressed I understood the purpose of the activity. The teacher explained that everybody has some preconceived notions and expectations towards roles such as father, mother, teacher etc, and this made it easier for us to think of words for the first two but not the last one “self”.

We later discussed the importance of both verbal and non-verbal communication in building and maintaining relationships. We discussed etiquette and courtesy. Etiquette is – according to what I believe – the official non-verbal language of communication. Everybody is expected to know the basics of etiquette just like a language.

There was another activity where we formed groups and built a (almost) meaningful sentence by adding words one-by-one. It showed how listening was an extremely important skill to be proficient at.

Finally we finished the class with a fun letter search. Overall the class had a balance of focused listening and interactive and fun activities.

 

By: Adithya Rakesh, DP year 1 student