PAL: Before PAL.

In 2004, Victor Chan and the Dalai Lama went to Vancouver to give public talks about the need to educate the heart. Then the Dalai Lama Center for Peace + Education was found and it triggered a movement to include Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in schools, By 2013, 90% of schools in British Columbia had such programmes. 

Danial Goleman (2015) A force for good: The Dalai Lama's vision for our world, p. 184. 

In his book, he bases his vision on Science rather than religion. He reasoned that if he offers methods from Buddhism about moral ethics and inner peace (he termed SEL as emotional hygiene) then people might dismiss it as 'just religion' but if science says these methods work, then there will be more openness.

The Dalai Lama says that our existing modern education system is orientated toward materialist values. Therefore, we need an education on inner values to lead a healthy life. He often returns to the idea that the right kind of education will help in solving many world problems from global warming to economic gaps and conflicts.

Perhaps PAL came about because of these. Nevertheless, at least we have an understanding of why we are doing what we need to.

Resources on SEL is here.

PAL: Using Art and Creativity to Build Social and Emotional Skills

I stumbled upon this course organised by the Social Service Institute and I attended a 2-day workshop conducted by Ms Caroline Essame. You can read more about the course overview here. I had to go for this because it seems so helpful for my planning of the PAL lessons. To find out more about PAL, please click here. 

There was a balance of theory and practical sessions during the workshop. The participants consist of people from various social service sectors. We worked individually to collaborative play and finally we have case studies where we do role play. We randomly picked a note that states the roles we are supposed to play and I was assigned the role of a social worker. My task was to work with 4 clients (my group members) whom each of them has different specific needs. It was exhausting at the end of the session! My group member were fully immersed in their roles and it was hard to get everyone to be on task.

In one of the activities, Ms Essame gave each of us a randomise unknown number to hold up against our foreheads. The numbers are only visible to other participants. Since there were 20 of us, she instructed us to guess our own number at the end of the activity using non-verbal language. We were to told to assume that the person holding the number 1 was the most noble and respected and the number 20 was the most undesirable. So, it works like a number cline. Of course the activity begins by seeing a number of participants bowing, smiling and waving to a lady, needless to say, she was holding a #1 and more participants flocked towards her. As the activity continues, we saw a man holding #20, some shoo-ed him away or just brushed him aside. The more "dramatic" participants pretend to spit when they see him approaching. 

When the activity ends, Ms Essame facilitated the session by asking all of us to stand in line according to what we thought our number was. She went one at a time and asked how we felt and to give the reason why we chose to stand in a particular position in the line. #1 was no brainer because of the treatment the lady received. She said that at one point she felt really good because everyone treated her so well so she thought she must be #1 even though she had no idea what her number was. The participants whose numbers falls in the middle range didn't receive much reactions and they were very much ignored. When we finally come to the man who received a #20, he had a very interesting comment. He was very sure of his number because of the responses he had received. At one point, he claimed that since he knew he could not change his number and the unkind treatment he had received, he decided to "scare" other people by approaching them because at least he felt powerful by having some sense of control to cause others to recoil in fear. 

It was really interesting to hear from everyone. We also reflected about our own practices after this activity. This simple and effective activity allows us to think about the class dynamics in general. Typically, the class would consists of teacher pleaser, class clown etc so to keep them in mind, teachers can engage them more effectively.

A collaborative work around the room

Things we would have learnt after an activity

     

Some recommended readings

To find out more, please visit:

www.spreaker.com

www.carolineessame.com

www.suejennings.com

PAL: Books I use

PAL lessons are structured mostly around books/ videos that touches on Social Emotional Learning. They act as starting points for discussion as the children would be familiar with the routine of their English language lessons by reading a book first and followed by discussion. 

PAL

PAL is the acronyms for Programme for Active Learning. It was introduced in 2010 and targeted at 7 and 8 years old. In 2016, every Singapore primary school is given a set of Art pedagogical resources. In the last chapter of one of the books, Serious Play: Perspectives on Art Education, you can find more information on PAL visual art and art lessons in general.