Emotional Intelligence Scripting

In this activity, students are invited to add dialogue to a story to change the outcome. It focuses on emotional intelligence and gives students a chance to imagine how a story line could go differently. The focus can be on what the others could have said or done to make a particular character feel better, and what the character could have said to the others to let them know how he or she was feeling.

Preparation

Identify a text that includes dialogues with bullying, arguing, etc. Texts can vary greatly, from stories for children to novel excerpts or even song lyrics.

Procedure

1. Distribute the text (if it is short and will be read in class). 2. Go through various key characters from the text. 3. Focus on the character(s) who are involved in the bullying or insulting, or one that is a witness to the incident. 4. Elicit the types of emotions for the character(s) being bullied or insulted and have students justify their answers. 5. Put the relevant dialogue on the board and elicit some ways in which the characters could change their reactions to the incident to be more positive or helpful.

When to Use It

• To raise awareness of emotional intelligence • To promote appropriate responses to sensitive situations • To practice how to respond to negative comments

Level

Skills

Practice

Materials

Text

Preparation Time

10 minutes

Activity Time

20–40 minutes

Variations

1. Have students do the exercise in groups and compare their answers. 2. For more advanced students, news reports or transcripts could be used. 3. Students could act the situations out with the new scripts.