Workshop on the topic of enhancing youth engagement through humor and comedy took place in the Romanian middle school “George Topirceanu” in the small town Mioveni during November 2023. This workshop is a follow-up activity inspired by the Erasmus+ training course “Comedy as a Tool” where we used some energizers and sessions from the Toolbox created in the duration of the course and re-created them with our 21 of our students, where we had the chance to gain the role of facilitators.
During our ice-breaker session, we engaged in a variety of energizing activities aimed at creating a positive and relaxed atmosphere. We kicked off with dynamic energizers designed to uplift spirits, setting the mood for an interactive and enjoyable experience. The classic icebreaker “Two Truths and a Lie” encouraged participants to share personal anecdotes, promoting a deeper understanding of each other. The “Fruit Salad” activity added a touch of fun as we started getting to know one another better. Taking advantage of a spacious outdoor area, we embraced movement, competition, and amusement in a lively game involving “The Princess, The Dragon, and The Prince.” During the laughter, we introduced “HI, HA, HO,” creating moments of joy and connection. The large open space allowed participants to walk freely, enhancing the overall engagement. In conclusion, these games served as a catalyst for meaningful conversations on the effective use of humor in communication, providing insights into the elements and features of humor and comedy.
The main dissemination activity after the fun energizers we did with the middle school students is step by step explained bellow. This workshop helped our students understand the discrimination via gamification, and the name of the workshop is “Take a Step Forward or Back”.
- Before the game starts the students have to prepare 21 different papers with characters on them describing them. It should be a simple phrase of an imaginary or real persona. Example: Famous football player or Single mother with 3 children
- Before the game the teacher has to prepare a list of 20 statements, describing regular human rights or needs, something every person should have been provided. For example: I have 3 meals a day every day.
- The teacher gives each participant a paper with a character on it (instruction 1). Now every person has to act and base their life around the character that they were given, to imagine how their life would look like as the described character from the piece of paper. After all participants have their new personas, they are put in a straight line so that everyone is on the same level.
- The teacher starts reading the statements one by one. For each statement that has been read the participants either take a step forward if the statement is true for their character or the take a step back if the statement isn’t true about them. Little by little the participants will be spread differently making it clear how people with better lives and more opportunities stand out from the ones that don’t have them.
- The game ends when all the statements have been read or the teacher thinks that they have read enough in order to have a proper and deep conversation after that.
After the game finishes the teacher ask the participants to take a moment and stare where they are standing in comparison to the others and how this makes them feel. After that everybody sits in a circle and the conversation and debriefing of the game starts. The participants have to answer the questions from the point of view of their characters at first (Questions 2-5)
- How was the game for you?
- What were your feelings after the game from the point that you ended up?
- Was it easy for you or not to be in this situation?
- Do you believe that it was fair for you that others were in a better or worse situation than you?
- Do you believe that discrimination is a serious problem in today’s society?
Important part of all the exercises in this workshop from a logistical point of view is having a large space so the participants can walk back and forth, freely and feel comfortable in the environment. Also some paper and pens are necessary for the second part of the activity.
