The afternoon sessions of #CATEYEbyCET were all about practicing our roles of non-formal educators and youth workers, testing our newly developed non-formal learning activities. But, before we made the draw of who will be the first team to implement their activity, we still had some time for final preparation to refine our activities, divide the roles and tasks within our teams, prepare the materials, set up the space and do some practice.
At this point, we were also informed by our trainers that we will only have 25 minutes to run our activities, doing it in fast-forward way that will focus on the process rather than on the learning outcomes. The point was to test our activities and methods with the other participants, following the logic that if it the activity will work in 25 minutes, it will definitely work in the planned full duration.
Showtime! The ‘lucky’ team to do first their activity was composed of Emmanouil, Aleksandar and Monika who prepared an activity called “Take a step forward or backward” that addressed discrimination and how people from different backgrounds and social status have different opportunities in life compared to others. The activity was really experiential and revealing, inspiring an emotional discussion in the plenary.
After the break, we continued with a totally different activity named “The Art of the Red Nose” which introduced the Art of Clowning to the group. The aim of the activity was to improve social interactions and present ways to deal with failures by using humor and clowning methods for voice and body language. Super fun and interactive activity that everybody enjoyed thoroughly!
The last non-formal learning activity that we tested today was “Drama for Change”, developed by Wojciech, Stanislava and Antonios. The activity encouraged participants to explore and address social issues through the medium of theater, inspired by the Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed.
After each implemented activity we had debriefing, giving comments on what was good, what could be improved and providing constructive feedback to the performing team. The performing teams also shared their experiences in developing and implementing their activities, pointing out what they can improve in them.
We finished the day with the second intercultural evening that had Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia presenting their countries and cultures through their food, drinks, dance and music.
