In his article “I work with kids. Here’s why they’re consumed with anxiety.”, John Thornton Jr shares an exercise he did with some youngsters during a youth retreat a few months ago. He asked them to write down three words that describe what their lives felt like. To his amazement, the answers that the students came up with were words like: ”stressful, complicated, over-involved, full of transitions, anxiety, uncertainty, pressure, and exhaustion”. Mr Thornton wanted to find out why these young people used such negative words and ... I guess you won’t be surprised to hear that it is because of the constant stress and pressure they face in their studies and at home.
Now, I ‘m sure that if I asked my students to describe their lives, they would probably give similar answers. How do I know? Because I have been teaching most of them for over four years and I am aware of the fears and anxieties they live with. They need to be the best at school (95 % at their exam is not good enough), they need to live up to their parents and teachers’ expectations and most importantly, they need to choose the best job, the one which makes them rich… as fast as possible.
How do you think your students will describe their life?
Going back to the aforementioned article, John Thornton says that “Kids today live with the baggage of their parents’ economic anxiety” and I agree with him. Many people live in “survival” mode and they transfer those emotions to their kids unintentionally.
So I have made a choice to empower my students every time I have a lesson with them. I know that at the end of each class, they feel more optimistic and believe that they can achieve their dreams. Being on a self-empowering journey myself has helped me to combine my English-teaching expertise and knowledge on Applied Positive Psychology. At the age of 43, I decided to embark into Mindfulness coaching which will help me in my professional and personal life.
I have been creating positive lesson plans for a while but this is the first time that I’ve decided to create a book which includes 10 EMPOWERING LESSON PLANS.
The book includes the following lesson plans:
It is Achievable
Shine your Light
Stop Chasing Happiness
Acts of Random Kindness
The Black Dot
The Power of Words
The Wonders of Water
Who am I?
Try Everything
Being Authentic
The lesson plans are dedicated to topics such as Mindfulness, Happiness, Authenticity, Kindness, Inspiration, Gratitude and Positivity. They are appropriate for students whose level is B1 + and are older than 14 years of age. The lessons have been created in such a way that they improve the students’ English skills with a positive spin.
I have used these lesson plans with all my students and have seen many positive changes in their behaviour and mindset.
Take a peek at some of the pages.
Subscribe to the updates of the website here
in order to receive positive teaching tips
and lesson plans every month.
Truly inspired,
Marusya Price
