Making own voice heard

Activities 

• Icebreaking and getting to know each other games: name games, Bingo, Speed date game, drawing portraits.
• Teambuilding game such as building the nest around the egg to keep it intact, having at disposal only a limited number of materials. This game was meant to enhance their creativity, to find solutions as a team, to try themselves in different roles in a team.
• Teamwork activities: City game to discover Tallinn; art activities and visual thinking activity.
• Art, thematic and professional workshops and sessions: language workshops to learn to communicate and to work as a team run by English language teachers from Ahtme; session by the school psychologist (TKG) and the policewoman (Ahtme); visual thinking workshops by the TKG teachers to facilitate the visualization of the bully; music and art workshops by TKG teachers to facilitate the expressions and understanding of feelings and emotions by the means of sounds and music, drawing and ceramics.
• Visits and excursions. Participants had visited Tallinn Zoo, Tallinn Old town, guided by a TKG history and natural sciences teacher, and Ontika waterfall from Ida-Virumaa, accompanied by the teachers. This was to keep their interest alive and to help them focus on the life around them. At Zoo they had to accomplish certain exercises helping them to focus on the life of the animals and to enrich their knowledge about the animal life, as well as to awaken their curiosity. The same was considered during the excursion in the Old town. Discovering new places was achieved by the excursions for Tallinn young people and for young people from Ida-Virumaa.
• Health day at Toila Spa and outdoor sport activities. This day was dedicated to the physical health and to raise awareness on its importance for the mental health. Young people went to swim, got acquainted with various types of saunas, played minigolf.
• Cooking breakfast together. Young people made teams and booked mornings in the hostel to cook the breakfast for the entire group. They thought of what they want to cook, made the list of the ingredients and together with a teacher, went to shop the products. They took responsibility to wake up in time to have the breakfast ready.
• Concert by the music school from Ahtme.

The main results of our project are that the young people have acquired new knowledge and tools about/on how to handle bullying situations, who and how can help, how to seek the help. They have learned about the role of youth police and school psychologist in helping young people, about the laws regulating this kind of problems.

Another important result was the highly positive feedback we have got from our students. Even though it was difficult to communicate because of the language barrier, young people managed to establish connections, to participate together in common activities and to focus on realizing what was asked from them.

The changes in their attitudes and behaviour became also visible throughout the two meetings. If in the beginning of the activity they were showing rejection towards each other and they were avoiding participation in joint activities, by the second meeting they have managed to overcome this attitude and to participate more actively together, looking for ways to communicate.

Raised interest to participate in further activities and even to start own projects. Most of the participants have asked how they can participate in more similar activities and several students from 7 grade asked to write own project proposal during the upcoming study year.

An established partnership between the two schools. We have developed a beautiful cooperation that we plan to continue.