A superhero story

STORY DESCRIPTION

When Javier was born, he suffered three cerebral strokes. Doctors told his parents that they had to be prepared for the worst situation as they were sure he wouldn't survive. However, Javier fought and they told his parents he would probably be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

He had difficult surgeries and when he turned 4, he started to walk but he needed another surgery. When he was 6 years old, he had another one and he had to be hospitalized as he had a really bad hemorrhage. He attends a special needs school and he gets really good marks without any specific measures. As a child, he is strong, funny and he loves computers. His hobby is watching action films. Even though he has this strong personality, he also has bad days. Maybe because another student calls him names, or because he can't play football like the rest of them. His parents contacted Enrique, from AEPAE, to help their son to feel better about himself and to be more confident. They wanted him to have strategies to face his problems in the future.

Javier is 12 years old now and he is starting secondary school. He has been in love and he has had a love disappointment. During his childhood, Javier suffered bullying for years. They used to call him names all the time and he felt very small and lonely. He never had a phone but one of his friends used to bring one to school and he showed him funny pictures with insults and Javier ´ s name on them. Apparently, students from his class sent them to other students to laugh at him. Today is a strong boy who can defend himself from any situation.

PUPILS AGE: 12 YEARS

SELF-REFLECTION QUESTIONS

NON-FORMAL GROUP ACTIVITIES

How would you help Javier if you were in his class? If Javier is having a bad day and you see him alone because he can't play with others? What would you do? Sometimes, secondary school can be hard for some students and some of them can be cruel to others. One day you hear a student calling Javier names, what would it be your reaction? Would you do something to help him? Would you tell the teacher?

To know people's feeling To know about online hate speech. To encourage them to treat people right. To improve their communication skills by working in groups.

Title: How do you feel?

Objectives:

Age: 15+

Number of participants: any

Duration: 30-60 min

Materials: cards with messages, paper, pens, pencils, colors...

Implementation:

In small groups, they will have a look at some cards pretending they are texts sent by phone. Each card will have different texts related to online hate speech and nice messages.

The teacher provides one to all of the students. They will have a few minutes to look at the card and think about it.

Together, they will have to discuss how they would feel if they received a text like that. The teacher will invite each of them to read the cards and every pupil will have to say an adjective that describes how the message made him/her feel.

In the end, they will be relocated to different groups and they will have to make slogans showing negative online messages and positive. When this is done, they will put them around the school to encourage other pupils about the importance of using a good way of talking online.