RespAct Handbook Welcome Culture, Camp Group gGmbH, www.respact.org [spicy books to read TXT] 📗

Contents

About this Handbook. 2

Methodological approach. 3

Preparation. 3

Resources checklist. 4

Group Rule-Setting. 4

RespAct Principles. 4

Being Conscious of the Children’s Backgrounds. 4

Dealing with trauma. 

Signs of Trauma. 

Sports and Trauma. 

Implementation. 

Start of the Project Week. 

During the RespAct Project Week.

Last Day of the Project. 

Closing Presentation. 

Next Steps  

 

 

 

 

 

 

About this Handbook

 

RespAct is a methodology, used in sports and democracy projects, that enables children and young people to examine their living environment, examine political and social problems in their local area closely, and find solutions to them together. Through sports and confidence-building exercises participants gain self-confidence and work more constructively as a group.

This handbook includes three variants of the RespAct project week, each of which has its own specific focus for learning environments with children and young people affected by forced and voluntary migration. These variants are Diversity and Identity, New Literacy and Vocabulary and Environment.

This book is designed so that educators can take the right amount of content and apply it to their learning situation; the entire handbook can be implemented as a curriculum for a project week, or individual elements or units of the handbook can be applied for specific classroom goals.

RespAct is a prize-winning approach developed in challenging, inner-city areas in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, and has a major positive impact for young people living in neighbourhoods suffering from economic under-development, affected by migration and/or ethnic segregation as well as for young people suffering from multiple discriminations.

 

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Whilst the project is well suited to deal with structural and social issues outlined above, there are a broad range of other challenges facing educators and learners within the context of forced migration. For example:

Diversity in age, education and origin,

Different languages and literacy levels,

Physical and symbolic isolation from everyday life; for example, being placed separately in specially designed classes

High group turnover owing to unclear residency statuses among group members.

In order to overcome these challenges successfully, we have developed three variants of the RespAct format specifically to support educators working with newly arrived migrant children and adolescents.

 

The Diversity and Identity variant helps to build a more trusting group atmosphere, as well as to illustrate individual differences and explore the positive characteristics of difference and diversity.

The New Literacy video variant is particularly suitable for older participants who want to understand their neighbourhood better and at the same time want to learn new ways to express their own perspective.

 

We have designed the Vocabulary and Environment concentration for children and young people who are still learning the language of the classroom and are exploring their new life and school environment for the first time.

All variants are also suitable as introductory and exchange projects with local children and young people

Methodological approach

The RespAct approach is a mix of movement and games combined with reflection and discussion tasks that lead to a tangible school or neighbourhood intervention, initiated by the project participants themselves. We have remained faithful to this approach in the variations outlined in this handbook.

In order to reduce language barriers and contact anxiety, you will find a lot of speech animation tools as well as games that do not need any language throughout the modules.

Depending on your previous knowledge and group requirements, you can choose a suitable sport from the module collection to implement with your group - skipping or cooperation games, or, for experienced trainers and instructors, boxing.

In the following chapters, you will find all the information, checklists, and links required to plan a RespAct project for your group. We wish you a smooth and successful project.

 

More information about RespAct can be found in the FAQ of the handbook (pg.xx) or online at www.respact.org.

 

Why include sport in RespAct?

Sport is an integral part of the RespAct programme, and we would not recommend any educator to leave it out. Combining sport, discussion and social action is the magic formula for RespAct, and leads to increased self-confidence, better group cohesion and a lot of fun for all involved. Here are a couple more reasons why you should make sure the sport elements of the program are given appropriate amounts of time and attention:

Sport, movement and exercise teaches a broad spectrum of physical, mental and social skills which support the skills learned in other modules, including coordination, self-efficacy, trust, group efficacy, concentration, limit-setting, communication, negotiation, rule-setting, self-control, empathy and respect.

Through games and exercise young people get to know each other, their and their friend’s boundaries and their strengths and weaknesses in ways that are not possible in other forms of learning environment. A healthy emphasis on sports allows young people to demonstrate a broad range of skills and abilities.

Movement and exercise are integral for health and well-being, for both boys and girls with every kind of background. Young people that do not learn to move and enjoy exercise are likely to suffer from poorer health outcomes later in life.

 

Preparation

Working with newly arrived migrant children and young people requires careful preparation. In this chapter, you will find notes on all the important steps, resources and approaches for dealing with the different topics pertinent to the RespAct project. In order to successfully implement a RespAct project, it is important to bring all involved actors, such as school leaders and participating teachers and/or group leaders together and to obtain all the necessary permissions at an early stage. The schedule of your institution or organization must be taken into account; a buffer for preparation and implementation should also be planned in case of timing issues.

 

Preparation checklist for involved adults (school management, teachers, group leaders and co-trainers)

Create plan for project using the 3-day overview;

Agree with other important stakeholders the timings and rooms for the project

Share out tasks to all project team-members- decide on sporting activities and share responsibilities;

Potentially- pre-assign teams for group work;

Acquire and test all necessary equipment, specifically cameras

Resources checklist

Smartboard or projector with computer,

4 cameras (with blank SD cards),

Letter to parents to collect their consent to images and audio recording throughout the project,

A4 sheets or note paper,

Flipchart sheets

USB stick to transfer the videos to the school's smartboard,

Printed feedback sheets for children and adults,

Printed worksheets for the class,

Further potential requirements, depending on the units carried out:

Cut out petal-shaped coloured paper

Note with translations and/or pictures explaining words in language spoken by participants

Boxing gloves and pads, skipping ropes,

Crepe tape for name tags.

 

Group Rule-Setting

At the beginning of the first project day, the rules for the week are set. Proposals should come from the children themselves, with a common framework usually an existing set of school rules. Rules should be written down, displayed prominently and referred back to in case of an infraction.

 

There are orientation resources for this purpose in the module outline chapters.

RespAct Principles

In order to make the project days a positive experience for all participants, there are certain RespAct principles we recommend using when dealing with the participants, parents and co-trainers:

Everyone takes part in all parts of the project

Groups are, as much as possible, mixed, gender, age, ability etc.

All participants should be encouraged to engage in the