Pro-kindness campaign – Emotional Intelligence through RULER

Rapport Building (5 minutes)

Objective: to develop trust and enable a safe environment that makes the children
comfortable.
Build rapport as you may like keeping the following the mind (through the whole session):
(a) Listen with interest
(b) Engage
(c) Disclose personal experiences (humanize yourself)
(d) Ask open-ended questions
(e) Do not challenge the children’s beliefs or opinions. Instead, validate and explain if
needed
(f) Be humorous however, do not insult a child in the process
Some things you can do to build rapport:
1. Ask everyone to tell you their name and one thing they like and dislike. Make sure
you disclose your name, likes and dislikes first.
2. Ask what movies/TV shows are popular amongst them. If you know about it too, talk
to them about it but leave a few conversational cliffhangers to encourage two-way
communication. For example, you could say, ‘In Harry Potter and the chamber of
secrets, was it Ron’s sister who opened the chamber of secrets? Ummm…. Ron’s
sister… (wait 3 seconds). What was her name? I often forget’.

COVID-19 experiences (5 minutes)

Objective: to get the conversation started on feelings and thoughts.
Ask: How has coming back to school been post-COVID? Has it been scary/stressful etc?
Ask: How were the past two years or so been in lockdown? Did you ever feel
angry/sad/worried/bored/have too many thoughts?
For each question try to disclose your experiences too.

CBT cycle (10-15 minutes)

Objective: to understand that our thoughts and feelings influence our actions/behaviors.
Say: We’ve all experienced different emotions and thoughts. These are actively influencing
our actions and behaviors. Let’s look an example to understand this better:

Behavior

Environment/Event

Feelings/emotions Thoughts

Body's
response/physiology

You can come up with your own example to explain that our thoughts and feelings influence
our actions/behaviors or use any of the following:
1. Event: row with mom
Ask: what kind of THOUGHTS might you have? (life isn’t fair, mom doesn’t
understand me, etc.)
Ask: how might your BODY respond to such thoughts? (jaw clenched, muscles tense,
fists tights, chest heavy, headache, etc.)
Ask: how might you be FEELING? (Angry, annoyed, upset, sad, frustrated etc.)
Ask: And how might you BEHAVE? (if all children suggest are positive behaviors offer:
push a sibling? Yell? Shout? Maybe go to school and tell someone off? Perhaps bang
the door?)
2. Event: working with a team you don’t like or who don’t like you
 Ask: what kind of THOUGHTS might you have? (I’m too good for these guys, they
don’t like me and won’t listen, etc.)
Ask: how might your BODY respond to such thoughts? (chest high, crossed arms,
increased heart rate, hands trembling etc.)
Ask: how might you be FEELING? (proud, disgusted, worried, nervous, scared etc.)
Ask: And how might you BEHAVE? (if all children suggest positive behaviors, offer:
tell them off for not knowing anything, boss them around, don’t participate, miss all
the team meetings etc.)
3. Event: presentation
Ask: what kind of THOUGHTS might you have? ( I can’t do this, it’s too much work, I
don’t like the topic)
Ask: how might your BODY respond to such thoughts? (Slumped shoulders, shaky
hands, butterflies in the tummy, headache etc.)
Ask: how might you be FEELING? (worried, anxious, nervous, scared)
Ask: and how might you BEHAVE? (if all children suggest positive behaviors offer:
perhaps you’ll skip school the day of the presentation saying you’re feeling sick?
Perhaps you’ll skip class? Or tell your teacher you’re not ready? Etc.)
Explain: When we experience negative feelings that come with headaches, increased heart
rate etc. Our body tries to make us feel better and in doing so we sometimes engage in
actions or behaviors that move us away from our values such as yelling or banging the door.
It’s like we are trapped inside a storm of thoughts and emotions (draw stick figure inside a
storm) and we focus on just trying to get out.

Traffic Light (5-8 minutes)

Objective: to learn to recognize, understand, label, express and regulate emotions
Ask: So what do we do when we’re in this storm?
Explain: Imagine you’re in a car and it STOPS at the traffic light (draw traffic light). What do
you do? (wait for responses then say: you PAY ATTENTION to things around you. Do you
look at the signs and boards? Perhaps the kid in the car next to you picking his nose! Etc.).
When the car is moving, you don’t get to pay attention to everything around you because it
moves away. Similarly, when we’re in a storm, everything is moving fast and what we have
to do is STOP and PAY ATTENTION to what your body is telling you, understand what is
causing your body to respond in this way and label how you are feeling.

Emotion Decoding adapted from positive psychology (20-25 minutes)

Objective: to recognize the physiology of different emotions in the self and others
Say: So, today we’re going to STOP and work together to recognize our body’s response to
different emotions. Remember that some emotions can have very similar responses in the
body such as being excited and scared so it’s VERY important to pay attention and
understand WHAT is causing the emotion and then LABEL that emotion. We’re going to play
a game which is a little like charades and you’ll have to guess an emotion being acted.
Ask: What parts of our body do you think reflect our emotions? (Emotions are reflected by
changes on the face, body movements and speech)
Say: In this exercise, we are going to learn to recognize (or read) and label emotions by
analyzing facial expressions, talking, and moving.
Step 1: Create groups of three
Divide children into groups of three
Step 2: Assign roles
Explain: Each group will be assigned a decoding role: Facial, body or speech. Teachers will be
acting out different emotions and the decoders will have to guess the emotion as a group. D
• The face decoders: Carefully observe the actor’s facial expressions to decipher the
emotion. Pay attention to the eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth etc.
• The body decoders: Carefully observe the actor’s bodily movements to decipher the
emotion. Pay attention to their posture, gestures etc.
• The speech decoders: Carefully observe the actor’s way of talking to decipher the
emotion. Pay attention to their pitch, loudness, speed etc.
Step 3: Start decoding
Allow the teachers to act and children to decode simultaneously for 2 minutes (for each
emotion)
Step 4: Share observations
Discuss the observations of the face, body and speech decoders.
Ask: Have you ever felt an emotion like this? Would you like to share? (Spend about 2
minutes or so sharing. Remember, if they don’t share then you disclose some personal
experience). For example, (angry) I notice I’m angry when someone keeps rejecting my calls.
Try to come up with examples for each emotion acted so the students learn that it is vital to
understand the cause of our emotion.

Feelings Pot (5 minutes)

Objective: take home activity to reinforce recognition, understanding and labeling of
emotions.
Draw a feelings pot and fill it with emotions based on a day you had. Pay attention to body
physiology and cause.

Happy

Angry

Worried

Sad
For example, in the above: I woke up late and my head started hurting because I was
worried, we’d be late. However, I very soon had good breakfast and felt calmer and happier.
On the way to work, I got stuck in traffic and my heart started beating really fast because I
was worried I’d miss my morning meeting. When I got to work, the meeting was delayed
and that made me happy. I had good lunch and was feeling happy again. However, I had a
lot of work assigned to me and my muscles kind of felt tight and I noticed I was angry. Then
it was time to go home so I was happy again but, on the way to work there was a massive
traffic jam and I was breaking really hard so I noticed I was angry. When I got home, I was
happy to meet my kids and family. Then I was informed we were going out for dinner and
that made me happy too. Later at night, I was tired and getting in bed made me really really
happy like I was flying!
Say: You have to go home and before you go to bed, try and make a feelings pot of the day
every day until next week when we meet again. Pay attention to your body’s responses,
understand their cause and then label that emotion.
Review and feedback (5 minutes)
Review the session:
1. Thoughts and feelings influence actions/behaviors
2. Sometimes thoughts and feelings can be overwhelming and like a storm and we try
to get out of this storm by acting against our values for example, being unkind
(shouting, hitting etc)
3. How do we help ourselves out of this storm? STOP and PAY ATTENTION to what your
body is telling you, understand what’s causing these responses and then label the
emotion
Feedback:
1. How do you feel after what we discussed today?
2. Do you think it is helpful?
3. Is there anything you’d like to add?

Close: Make sure to say you had a great time and they are a great bunch of kids. You look
forward to hearing about their feelings pot next week and moving on to the Yellow Light
which will be about GETTING READY.
For the teacher (actor)

Your job is to act out one of the following emotions:

1. ANGRY
2. SAD
3. WORRIED
4. EMBARASSED
5. HAPPY
Take a moment to bring a personal situation to mind and try to connect with the situation
and the emotion that you experienced at the time as much as possible. Do not choose a
situation that makes you feel uncomfortable. The job of the students is to guess the
emotion you are going to act out therefore, try not to name the emotion but focus on
describing it as best as you can through your facial expression, bodily movements, and
speech.
You might use the following neutral sentences to speak:
1. I am an actor/actress
2. You are a student
3. This is a school
4. Today is a weekday
5. There are many classrooms on this floor
The Face Decoders

While the teacher acts out the emotion, your job is to carefully observe his or her facial
expressions. For example, you may notice that their eyes are wide open, lips are tensed, and
eyebrows frowning. Write down every facial sign of the emotion that you notice in the
scoring area below, and then make an informed guess as to what the emotion may be.

Eyes

Eyebrows

Nostrils

Mouth

Lips

Other

The emotion is:

The Body Decoders

While your teacher acts, your job is to carefully observe his or her bodily movements. For
example, you may notice they have a slumped posture, downward gaze, or clenched fists.
Write down every bodily sign of the emotion that you notice in the scoring area below and
then make an informed guess as to what to emotion may be.

Head

Shoulders

Arms

Hands

Legs

Other

The emotion is:

The Speech Decoders

While your teacher acts, your job is to carefully observe his or her speech that is how what
they are saying is being said. For example, they may be speaking softly or loudly, or very fast
or slow. Write down every sign of the emotion you notice in the scoring area below and
then make an informed guess as to what the emotion may be.

Volume

Rate of Speech

Other

The emotion is:

Feelings Pot

KEY:
Emotions List for help throughout the session

Anger Fury, outrage, irritability, frustrated, hostile

Sadness Grief, sorrow, gloom, melancholy, lonely

Fear Worried, anxiety, apprehensive, nervous, panicked

Joy Happy, calm, content, relief, bliss, pride

Interest Acceptance, friendliness, trust, love

Surprise Shock, astonishment, amazement, wonder

Disgust Scorn, aversion, revulsion

Shame Guilt, embarrassment, regret, remorse