When will this situation stop?

STORY DESCRIPTION

8 am, Monday, the alarm is on and I do not want to open my eyes. The weekend ended and I feel lost. I do not know why a 15 years old girl feels like this. I am not hungry, I am nervous and I am eating a piece of cake just because my mum is watching me as she thinks I am very skinny. I prefer to be skinny than fat as it would be worse for me. At 8.45 am, I hear my mum shouting as she thinks I am going to be late. She does not know that I do it on purpose. She believes that the reason why I do not pass my tests is that I do not study as much as I should and that is not true.do it because if I get good marks the punishment from other girls would be worse. I leave my house and I start walking, it is very cold and yesterday it snowed a little bit. I arrive at my school and I go to my class. Everybody is there. There are a few people looking at me and that makes me feel very uncomfortable. I try not to look at them. The first hour ended, my heartbeat is getting very fast and I feel paralyzed. Adriana, Marta, Fátima, and Mónica are talking and laughing, I hope they are not talking about me. I wish I could have some friends and talk to them as well.

The history lesson starts, I like this subject. My phone is ringing which is strange as nobody texts me. Text from Adriana: why are you laughing stupid?. I look at her and she is laughing with her friends. They are coming towards me: What are you doing? Why don't you answer our text? Alvaro told me that Raul texted you last weekend. I feel brave and I say yes...and why is he talking to you? Monica seems very angry as she likes Raúl a lot. I don ´t know. I didn't answer his messages. Don ´t do it, okay? Are you listening to me? -she said. Everybody is leaving and I am alone in the middle of the classroom. Nobody knows I am here, not even Laura who used to be my friend. I want to cry, why do I have to feel like this? Why is this happening to me?

I am going to the bathroom to wash my face as I feel weak, maybe because I am hungry or maybe because I am scared. I am giving up as nothing will change. I am trying to calm myself down but it is kind of impossible as I am very scared of them. I leave the bathroom and I can see Raúl is around. I have to recognize that I really like him. I am trying to avoid him but he has seen me. He looks at me and smiles. He is walking towards me...Hi, Marina-he says. Hi Raúl. How are you? I texted you on Saturday but you didn't text me back- I am good thank you and sorry, I didn't notice you messaged me. Raúl is smiling while he is looking at me: oh don ´t worry, I just wanted to know if you had plans for the weekend.

PUPILS AGE

SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS

NON-FORMAL GROUP ACTIVITIES

Oh no...Fátima is there and she has seen us. I am in trouble...Sorry, Raúl, I have already made plans- Raúl: oh okay maybe another day... let's a message on WhatsApp-he said. I feel so stupid...they are going to hit me because Fátima has seen everything and she is going to tell Mónica. I am going to the class. They are there, looking at me and they seem very angry. Of course, they know. While we were having maths lessons they have been texting me and calling me names.

Now, it is time for PE and I am running to be the first one there as I don ´t want to be alone in the changing room. I am sitting here waiting for the teacher and they have already hit me with a ball. Mónica and her friends are insulting me and nobody is helping me. I feel very lonely as always. I go to the toilet as I feel very sick. The teacher is there asking if I am ok. I think he knows what is going on but I am not going to tell him yes, I am fine. I feel a little bit dizzy that's all. - Marina, I am here if you need anything okay?- I am fine honestly- Okay...return to the class when you feel better. I feel so bad as he can help me but I am scared of telling him everything...I am going to stay here, I feel safe. After the class, Mónica and her friends went to the toilet and they found me there. She started to push me and hit me so badly. She pulled my hair. She kicked me and the only thing I could do was close my eyes and tried to protect my face with my hands. She took my bag and threw all of my books and broke them. Finally, she put my bag into the toilet. -You are an asshole and I promise you, you will pay for this. Do not go close to Raúl again. It took me 5 minutes to start crying. I was shocked. When is this situation going to end? I am sure, as soon as I get home they will message me and post nasty things on Instagram about me. I hate this situation. It is Monday and there are 4 more days feeling like this...

15 YEARS

Could you mention some of the feelings that this girl is having?

How would you feel if you were Marinar?

Why do you think she does not want her mum to know?

Would you tell your teacher if you were having a problem like this?

Have you ever felt lonely like Marina?

Have you received/seen nasty messages on your phone, social media, etc?

If you were in her class and you see her going through this, would you help her?

Title: Positive letters

Objectives:

To encourage students to help others.

To detect signs of bullying

To know the effects of being bullied at school and online

NON-FORMAL GROUP ACTIVITIES

To improve communication skills by working in groups.

Does Marina deserve to be treated like that? Is she doing something wrong talking to Raúl? If you were in love with Raúl and you see her talking to him, would you react like those girls? Have you ever received threats on your phone? Would you protect Marina from those girls? Would you tell your teacher?

Age: 12+

Number of participants: any

Duration: 30-60 min

Materials: pencil, paper, and basket

Implementation:

Everyone is going to have a few minutes to think about this situation and they are going to pretend to be one of the students in this class. The teacher provides them a few minutes to think about Marina and her situation and while they are thinking, the teacher will help them to reflect through these questions:

After a brief reflection, they will have to write a letter to this girl trying to offer her some help. We will put all of the letters into a basket and we will choose 3 of them. The teacher will read them and put them into a folder called “positive vibes” . Finally, all of the pupils will make a letterbox and pupils will have the option of writing nice letters or messages to someone from the class. At the end of the week, the teacher will give the letter to the receiver. All of them will be anonymous.