L is for Literacy - Emotional and Linguistic

For this weeks AlphabeThursday, its the letter L.  For more entries, please go to Jenny Matlock's excellent blog.

Branwen's Burglar.

This week I have done two workshops in relation to literacy.  The first was to run a bookclub at my kids school and the second was as a participant at a workshop on Emotional Literacy.

I've never organised a bookclub before and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  We started by making collages of our favourite characters, then I went round the room and asked the kids what they wanted from a bookclub and made a list of activities we can do over the next few months.  Next month will be how to make our own books, something I have a good experience of, so we will probably do simple concertina books. 



Then on Tuesday, I attended a workshop on Emotional Literacy and Multiple Intelligences run by Elizabeth Morris, a psychotherapist, psychologist and all round incredibly knowledgable lady on children and their development.  To let our children grow up to be emotionally intelligent adults John Gottman recommends following 5 principles and these were the basis for the workshop that I attended.

What are the five elements of emotion coaching?

1. Be aware of a child's emotions
2. Recognize emotional expression as an opportunity for intimacy and teaching
3. Listen empathetically and validate a child's feelings
4. Label emotions in words a child can understand
5. Help a child come up with an appropriate way to solve a problem or deal with an upsetting issue or situation

It was a fascinating day and I really enjoyed it.  I'm looking forward to putting some of the things I learnt into place.