Emotional Intelligence (EI) is an “umbrella” term that includes both intelligences, interpersonal intelligence (the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people) and intrapersonal intelligence (the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one’s feelings, fears and motivations). The contemporary educational system fails to recognise the importance of these ‘neglected’ intelligences, due to the emphasis put on linguistic and mathematical abilities for such a long time. People with developed EI are gifted with greater mental health, exemplary job performance, and more potent leadership skills and of course excellent performance at school.
Below there are some activities aiming at developing empathy in young english learners, that is the ability to ‘get into somebody else’s shoes’ so that they cultivate healthy relationships with other people and be able to manage their anger. The activities belong to three different countries (including Greece) that participated in the eTwinning project “My Treasure Chest” (2013-14) and are hosted in the wiki created for the whole project whereas the lesson plan can be seen further down the page.
The videos following are parts of activities that cultivate the recognition of one’s own emotions and the way we express them and they are based on the PEAP material for B’ class (activity Δ2 – Why are you Happy?).
