Subject: Savoir-vivre for little children
General aim:
Lesson of good manners – making children aware of necessity of proper behaviour in contacts with people.
Particular aims:
Using series of plays and natural social situations:
- education of good manners (principles and norms of good breeding – what’s the right and what’s the wrong thing to do, what one is allowed to do and what one mustn’t do)
- developing such characteristics as kindness, punctuality, discretion, moderation, kindness, patience, loyalty,
- Acquiring ability to cope with difficult situations,
- Exchange of customs that oblige in their countries,
- Learning of unacceptable behaviour in the culture circle of participants.
Tasks of the project’s participants is to present savoir-vivre in several areas:
1. Interpersonal communication: Phrases and forms of addressing to other people: children, adults. How to refuse kindly and efectively? How to control restlessness, anger, irritation? How to react to aggression? Etc.
2. Appearance: in kindergarten, playground, at the doctor’s, at a concert hall, at birthday party (clothes for various occasions seasons).
3. Etiquette at table: covering and table-ware, use of cutlery, ways of consumption, eating with family, festivities in kindergarten, etc.
4. Forms of behavior in particular situations and in public places such as shops, trips, theatre, walk, forest, museum (…)
Effect:
The result of teacher’s work with children will be a presentation of process of education to proposed subject.
Teachers realizing the project will combine examples of tradition, history, literary fiction, everyday life and ICT.
On the website of the project teachers will publish the descriptions of activities and with their multimedia documentation: photo- reportages, films showing children’s presentations, simulations of social situations, effects of discussions, pictures, posters and social games.
Children and teachers will use various computer programs and applications. Free servers, tools like mini CMS, media blogs, photo galleries will be used, which will give wide possibilities of publishing this project.
Importance of the project and possibility of wider application:
Children at the kindergarten age, often meet people who are not members of their family for the first time.
Child’s life in wider social environment requires abiding generally accepted norms and rules of behaviour.
Knowing these rules and applying them increases sense of safety, acceptance which results in building positive picture of ourselves.
Knowledge of savoir-vivre is also a capacity of coping with difficult situations. The participation of children in the project will help them understand such situations. Discussions among teachers, presentation of prepared materials, doing exercises collectively will provide them with pieces of information about good customs that oblige in different areas.
Knowledge of such customs will enlarge consciousness of similarities and differences. It will result in building the sense of identity and tolerance towards various societies. In this context the subject-matter of this project owns a great educational valor. The project is open because it gives new partners a chance to join in every moment. It is also possible to continue the raised subject on higher level of education.
