In Our Family

_____ We have a number of common interests.

_____ We like to have fun together.

_____ We feel comfortable with each other.

_____ We like to give each other a chance to do new things.

_____ We enjoy hearing our grandparents' stories about the past.

_____ We enjoy simple, inexpensive family activities.

_____ We like to have a place we call 'home.'

_____ We feel strongly connected to each other.

_____ Hanging out together builds strong relationships.

_____ We have lots of good times together.

_____ We often laugh with each other.

_____ Observing family rituals and customs is important to us.

_____ We enjoy sharing our memories with each other.

_____ We enjoy having unplanned, spontaneous activities together.

_____ All things considered, we have adequate time for each other, and we enjoy the time we share together.

Prove your feelings with the examples. Write three sentences describing your family time together.

Our family spends time together doing these things:

1. ________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Here are some questions to help you explain how your family is unified.

1. Do you feel that you are an important part of the family? Why?

2. Is there a calm, accepting, and happy home atmosphere? Why?

3. Do you feel the freedom to express yourself?

4. Do other family members show an interest in your activities? When?

5. Do the other family members respect your feelings and ideas? How?

6. Do your family members respect your property and privacy? In what way?

7. Do you feel that you can depend on your family to support you in challenging time? Why?

8. When your family disagrees, do you take time to resolve the problem?

Decide which areas can be strengthened and improved and fill in your action plan how you can work on these areas.

Action plan

Statement of Goals____________________________________________________________

For each goal determine:

What actions you will take __________________________________________

How you will take action ___________________________________________

Who or what will help you __________________________________________

Why you might not take action _______________________________________

When you will take action __________________________________________

In the times of knights, princesses and kings, people created special signs called family crests to represent their families and what they stood for. Colour the family crest. In each square draw a symbol representing something about your family. Examples might be a football if your family loves sports, a food you love to cook together, a group of stars or flowers with one for each family member, or a favourite animal.

1. What do you consider to 2. What three family

be your family’s greatest activities do you enjoy

achievement? doing?

3. What one thing could 4. What three family

other family members rituals mean a lot

do to make you happy? to you?

5. What is something that 6. What three words could

your family improved over be a family motto that

the past two years? you could believe in?

Family is a social educational institution. Families look different. It might be a GROUP of STUDENTS involved in learning process and mutual activities. The GROUP is a community where students are nurtured and are given the tools to go out into the world, capable and healthy.

All about us

Put an "S" for strength beside the qualities you feel your /\group has achieved and a "G" beside those qualities which are an area of potential growth. If the characteristic does not apply to your group or is not an important characteristic, put an "NA" for not applicable.

This will help you to identify those areas you would like to work on together to improve and those areas of strength which will serve as the foundation for your growth and positive change.

_______We eat meals together.

_______We spend time together in recreation.

_______We participate in different activities together.

_______We attend university and social activities together.

_______We celebrate holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries as a group.

_______We enjoy each other’s company.

_______We have good times together that are unplanned and spontaneous.

_______We take time to be with each other.

_______Give an overall rating (S or G) of time together in your group

Write your answer on each part of the flower. Colour the flower then share it with your group.

Analyze the results you’ve got. Choose those your group does well and those things your group could improve on. The phrases in the box below will help you to give your personal opinion.

Our group does the following well. __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

We need to work on the following. __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

In my opinion In my view It seems to me that I think I feel strongly that My feeling is I believe that … because I consider I’m sure that

Create your group crest to show what you stood for. Colour your crest, draw symbols representing something about your group and write a motto.

OUr GROUP CREST

OUR GROUP MOTTO

Read the text and decide whether your family members are good at communicating.

COMMUNICATION

Family communication is much more than just the exchange of words between family members. It is what we say, how we say it, why we say it, when we say it, and what we neglect to say.

Communication means to impart, to pass along, to make known, to give and receive information. Therefore, when we attempt to communicate we are trying to establish a “commonness” with another individual or with a group.

Communication is one of the characteristics of a strong family. There are some tips to help improve communication within a family unit:

• appear interested and be interested

• listen to each other – hear what other family members are saying

• be sensitive to each other’s feelings – try to identify the feeling

• do not jump to conclusions

• try to see things from each other’s point of view – imagine yourself in the other person’s position

• avoid being critical.

Family members communicate to exchange ideas, gain knowledge, and increase understanding of others. Good communication skills are evident in families who

• spend time talking

• share feelings, joys, sorrows, hopes, dreams

• state individual needs and wants

• do not fault find

• face conflict honestly and openly

• resolve problems by ‘win-win’ methods

• show appreciation for feelings and ideas

• develop speaker and listener roles

• are consistent in behaviours and expectations.

Positive communication skills help you maintain strong family relationships. It’s a process in which the whole family should become involved. Some key strategies for building and strengthening your family communications are:

• avoid letting aggravations accumulate

• be honest but not accusatory

• when you argue do so constructively

• put yourself on the other persons shoes

• accept feelings – do not judge them.

Mark each statement T for True or F for False.

My My family’s

Opinion opinion

_______ _________ 1. I clearly say what I mean

_______ _________ 2. I am an attentive and sympathetic listener

_______ _________ 3. When I don’t understand something I ask

questions

_______ _________ 4. I let other people finish talking before I speak

_______ _________ 5. I am straightforward and forthright in

expressing my thoughts and feelings to others

_______ _________ 6. I rarely use sarcasm and insults

_______ _________ 7. I willingly listen to the ideas and feelings of

others

_______ _________ 8. When stating an opinion, I use words like “I

think” and “It seems to me”

_______ _________ 9. I seldom get angry or hostile when someone

disagrees with me

_______ _________ 10. I am sensitive to nonverbal signals, like tone of

voice and body language

The more “trues” you have, the more skillful you are as a communicator. What can you learn from this? Write a paragraph following the paragraph plan below. Use the following words to link ideas in the paragraph.

PLAN		Linking words
1. What skillful communicator you are.		also for example in other words moreover in addition but although nevertheless however in spite of thus in conclusion therefore finally so
2. What aspects of communication you need to work on.
3. What family’s pieces of advice on how to improve them you’ll follow.
4. What steps you should take.

All about us

Put an "S" for strength beside the qualities you feel your group has achieved and a "G" beside those qualities which are an area of potential growth. If the characteristic does not apply to your group or is not an important characteristic, put an "NA" for not applicable.

This will help you to identify those areas you would like to work on together to improve and those areas of strength which will serve as the foundation for your growth and positive change.

_______We allow time for communication (conversations, discussions).

_______We have positive communication.

_______We listen to each other.

_______We see things from each other’s point of view.

_______We avoid criticizing, judging or acting superior.

_______We are honest and truthful and kind.

_______We deal with disagreements promptly.

_______We deal with conflict issues one at a time.

_______We are specific when dealing with conflict issues.

_______We seek compromise or consensus in resolving conflict.

_______We avoid actions and words that would be emotionally devastating to

each other.

_______We seek to understand and accept differences.

_______Give an overall rating (S or G) of positive communication in your

group.

Analyze the results you’ve got. Write three sentences describing how your group communicates.

Our group communicates in these ways:

1. ________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Do you know your family history?