Gaining confidence to connect
Students can feel lonely anywhere, anytime – no matter how many people are physically around them. Use this lesson to help students feel confident to connect with others and gain confidence and skills for social situations.
Year level
7-10
Duration
5 minutes
Type
In class activity
Online learning
SEL Competencies
Relationship skills
Responsible decision-making
Learning intention
Students explore how to connect with others to help alleviate feelings of loneliness.
Key outcomes
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
identify strategies to help them feel connected
list some ideas on what to do when they feel lonely.
Materials needed
Access to the ReachOut.com article ‘11 things to do if you're feeling lonely’
Mapped to
Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education
Analyse the impact of changes and transitions, and devise strategies to support themselves and others through these changes (AC9HP8P02)
Examine the roles of respect, empathy, power and coercion in developing respectful relationships (AC9HP8P04)
Evaluate emotional responses in different situations to refine strategies for managing emotions (AC9HP10P06)
Plan, rehearse and evaluate strategies for managing situations where their own or others’ health, safety or wellbeing may be at risk (AC9HP10P08)
Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities
Personal and Social Capability:
Self-awareness
Self-management
Social awareness
Social management
NSW PDHPE Syllabus
Examines and evaluates strategies to manage current and future challenges (PD4-1)
Applies and refines interpersonal skills to assist themselves and others to interact respectfully and promote inclusion in a variety of groups or contexts (PD4-10)
Analyses factors and strategies that enhance inclusivity, equality and respectful relationships (PD5-3)
Critiques their ability to enact interpersonal skills to build and maintain respectful and inclusive relationships in a variety of groups or contexts (PD5-10)
Victorian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education
Evaluate strategies to manage personal, physical and social changes that occur as they grow older (VCHPEP124)
Investigate the benefits of relationships and examine their impact on their own and others’ health and wellbeing (VCHPEP127)
Evaluate factors that shape identities, and analyse how individuals impact the identities of others (VCHPEP142)
Examine the impact of changes and transitions on relationships (VCHPEP143)
Activity 1
Instructions
5 minutes
Explain to students that most people feel lonely at some point in their life. Sometimes, people feel lonely because they don’t feel connected to the people around them, while others are in a pattern of isolation and aren't sure how to build these connections.
Provide students with access to the ReachOut.com article ‘11 things to do if you're feeling lonely’.
Students select one of the strategies from the article and write a story using the following sequence of sentence starters:
Once upon a time, there was…
And they/he/she felt…
And so they/he/she…
And because of that, they/he/she…
And because of that, they/he/she…
And because of that, they/he/she…
Until one day,…
Tip: It may be helpful to the students if you read them this example:
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Bill.
And he felt like he had no one to talk to.
And so he looked for ideas online.
And because of that, he decided to join a basketball team.
And because of that, he met some new people.
And because of that, he felt confident, as he was doing something he liked with other people.
Until one day, he didn't feel lonely anymore and enjoyed chatting to his teammates.
Debrief:
Helping people feel connected is something everyone can do. It’s important that we help others by being friendly and considering how they feel walking into a new situation or if they reach out to you for ideas or support.
