Group Belonging

513 Words2 Pages

Declare a small end of the course party next week. Have students work in groups of four or five, and brainstorm the ideas for the preparation.
Sample Questions: What are you going to bring to the class? What are you going to do at the party? What are we going to eat and drink at the party? How are we going to decorate the room?
Personal question: What did you remember most about this course?
Celebrating a small party in class is an excellent way to bond students together in many ways. Firstly, students would have something to discuss together; they share the same feeling of excitement and expectations; they work together to make the party successful; they feel like a big family having a “meal” together, even it is just snacks and …show more content…

It is important to note that cohesive groups do not occur by chance, but they evolve over a course of time when there exists a sense of security, respect and tolerance in the team (Cress, Collier, and Reitenauer 2013, Brown 2014).Therefore, team bonding activities need to be constantly used to reinforce students’ sense of belonging throughout the course. In summary, there are three important stages which could be taken into consideration: 1: Beginning the course: students should get a basic identity of their friends, feel comfortable and relaxed to share their personal information with each other. 2: During the course: students should be exposed to activities where they get a chance to reveal their life stories, experience a shared sense of joy and happiness when winning competitions, and join hands to solve a problem. This would greatly help develop their sense of sympathy, belonging and trust. 3: Ending the course: students should be given some time to go back to their best memories with their friends and the whole learning experience. Moreover, ways on how to keep in touch after the course such as setting up a Facebook group should be offered to students as an effective means to cultivate a sense of continuity in learners. Finally, activities such as group photo/video competitions should be included since they give students something they could remember for the rest of their

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