Teamwork & Communication Skills

As our Unit has ongoing challenges with listening - to Guiders and to each other - we decided to spend another night working on teamwork and communications skills.

As the girls arrived, they collected dues and marked their attendance books. We had our usual opening and then moved into our first activity, adapted from "Take A Vote" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007). 

We asked a few girls for suggestions of games we could play, and then had everyone vote for the one they wanted. Instead of playing the chosen game, we announced that we were going to play 'Duck, Duck, Goose' and had everyone sit down in a circle. We fussed over making the circle perfect and how everyone was to be careful and gentle while playing (playing up a bit as if we were talking to much younger girls). Once the girls were thoroughly bewildered, instead of starting the game we asked how they felt. It took a few minutes, but soon the girls were expressing their thoughts - they were confused, upset, angry and wanted to know why we bothered to have them vote if we weren't going to play the game they picked. We explained that was the point of the activity, and emphasized that when we make a decision as a group, it's important to respect that decision - even if it's not what you wanted. We then played their chosen game - Wax Museum.

Our next activity was adapted from "Gagged" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007). Each girl was given a number - 1 or 2. Those with a 2 were not allowed to speak as we had a discussion about ideas for activities to do with World Guiding for an upcoming meeting. After finishing the discussion with the #1s, we asked everyone how they felt - we got a variety of responses, frustration and anger from the 2s, and a bit of superiority but also feeling bad from the 1s. We talked about how this is something we see happening, when people aren't always being given a chance to give their input to group and Patrol discussions, and the importance of giving everyone a chance to share. Of course, we then asked the 2s for their input so everyone got to participate.

Next up was a fun activity called "Play Your Part" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007), where each Patrol has to invent a new machine. The machine is then made up of the bodies of the Patrol members - each person needing to have an action and a sound as part of the machine.

We the moved onto a planning activity, adapting "Token to Talk" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007), by asking each Patrol to come up with themes and then choose one to plan activities for a meeting. Each Patrol was given a dish with 3 beads for each person. Each girl took her beads and every time she spoke, she had to put a bead into the dish. Once everyone was out of beads, they could be redistributed. The point of the activity was to ensure that everyone had an equal chance to speak and be heard. It worked quite well and as the activity progressed, the girls stopped using the beads but continued giving everyone a turn.

The last activity for the evening was Girl Guide Taboo (adapted from "Stop! You Can't Say That!" (in Right Now!, Girlguiding UK, 2007)). The cards had Guiding-themed words and girls played the game in small groups, with players helping the asker when needed. To play, one person draws a card and tries to get the player on her right to guess the word without saying any of the 'do not say' words. We did not use a timer and used teamwork to help players guess the word or phrase they were being given hints about.

We closed with reminders for next week and Taps.

Links & Downloads:

• Girl Guide Taboo Cards 

Communication Skills - Week 2

For the second week of February, we continued our work on the Build Skills in Communications section of the Program and started working on the Computer Skills Badge.

As the girls arrived, they were given a Morse Code Puzzle to Solve and were challenged to write their name in Morse Code.

We then began with our usual opening ceremony, followed by an active game chosen and led the evening's Active Living Patrol.

Our first activity was a discussion about computers in daily life. The girls were asked for examples of how they had used a computer that day, and then asked to consider other technologies that rely on computers to work.

Each Patrol was then challenged to come up with an A to Z list of businesses or places that use computers. Points were scored by the Patrol with the most local suggestion for each letter!

We then moved onto a Relay to match parts of a computer and related technology with their descriptions. It was eye-opening how few of these the girls were able to get right the first time. It was definitely a learning activity for all. The parts were labelled with a letter and the descriptions labelled with a number. (This activity comes from Go For It! Communicate from Girlguiding UK)

A. Chip	2. Contains millions of electronic components, but you can't put ketchup on it!
B. Computer	7. A machine that responds to a set of specific questions.
C. Keyboard	12. Use this to enter data into a computer.
D. Mouse	1. Controls the movement of the cursor or pointer on the screen.
E. Scanner	13. A device that reads text or pictures from paper and feeds the information into your computer.
F. Printer	8. Provides you with a hard copy of your documents.
G. Monitor	4. Can also be called a display screen.
H. Disk Drive	11. Reads data from, and writes to, a disk.
I. Modem	14. Transmits data over a telephone line or through cable lines.
J. CPU (Central Processing Unit)	5. The most important part of the computer, almost like its brain.
K. Internet	9. A network connecting millions of computers.
L. Digital Camera	15. Stores digital images that can then be downloaded onto a computer.
M. CD-ROM	6. You can store large amounts of data on these, including graphics, sounds and video.
N. Clip Art	10. Electronic pictures that can be placed into documents.
O. Corrupted	3. What happens when data becomes damaged.

Next, we talked briefly about how Morse Code was used for telegrams, which were the text messages of their day. Both relay information quickly, but use a limited number of characters. Each girl had to write a text message of no more than 160 characters describing her favourite computer game, program or website and why others should visit it.

The grandmother of one of our Guides was helping out at this meeting and she brought in ship's signalling flags to show the girls how they would be used to communicate between ships.

She was also able to lead the girls through the Semaphore Alphabet (which everyone tried to do!).

Parents have been emailed with the take-home activities for the Computer Skills Badge - to email or bring in two examples of work the girls have created using a computer (school work is fine!!).

The last activity was to work on creating illustrations for the pieces of writing they have brought in for our newsletter/booklet. Time went by too quickly, and we just had time to close with taps before pick-up.

Communication Skills - Week 1

The beginning of February means it's time to learn about Communication Skills! We started working on the Build Skills in Communication section of the Program and the Business Communications Badge.

Each girl has been asked to bring in a piece of writing she has done and we will be putting them together into a unit newsletter booklet to showcase their work!

We began with our usual opening ceremony, followed by an active game chosen and led by the evening's Active Living Patrol.

Our first activity was to learn how to write a formal letter.  We talked about letter writing in general and how different types of letters are needed for different situations. As a group, we then wrote a letter asking someone to visit out unit. A 'tips' sheet has been emailed to parents and girls are to write their own letters for the badge. The other take-home activity for this badge is to use the internet to find 3 pieces of information and send the answers to a Guider in an email.


Once our letter was completed, we moved onto Advertising activities. After briefly discussing where we find advertisements, each Patrol was challenged to come up with an event and create a poster and TV or Radio commercial for it.


After presenting their posters and commercials, the Patrols continued working on their Story Sacks from last week, completing this activity.

We ended with a short campfire and closed with Taps.

Reporting & Business Communications Badges

At our meeting on April 2nd the Guides worked on completing their Reporting and Business Communications Badges.

As the girls arrived they were asked to decorate a postcard, leaving the back blank. Later in the evening we asked them to write a message to a Lone Guide on the back of the card. These cards will be sent to the Lone Guides in Ontario as friendship cards.

To finish up the Business Communications Badge, we used a white board to write a business letter as a group. The example we used was asking someone from the fire department to come to a meeting and do a presentation on fire safety to help the girls earn their Fire Safety Badge.

We also talked about Braille communication and where you can find examples in everyday life. Each patrol then had to solve a message written in Braille.

To complete the Reporting Badge each girl created a newspaper front page, complete with newspaper name, picture, and article.

January is ... Build Skills in Communications!

This month we will be working on activities to complete the Build Skills in Communication section of the program as well as work on the Business Communications and Postal Badges.

At our January 8th Meeting, we created collages about Communications and explored Communication through the Arts. Two of the activities we did were Mirroring and Pictures & Patterns:

Mirroring

Two players stand facing each other. One player begins moving and the second player tries to become a mirror image of her movements.

Hint: Slower movements are easier to mirror.

Pictures & Patterns

Materials: Scrap paper, pencils or markers (use ¼ pieces of newsprint)

Two people sit back-to-back. Each player has a sheet of paper and a marker or pencil. The first player draws a picture on her paper. She then describes her picture to the other player so that they can draw it. The second player cannot see the first player’s drawing and cannot ask questions. She must draw what she thinks is being described. Now, look at both drawings—how alike are they? How could you have made it easier?

Try this a second time, but this time the second player can ask questions.

On January 22nd we worked on the Postal Badge. Each girl made mini books about postal rates, special services, and the location of the local post office. Later, we had learned how to properly address an envelope or package and held a parcel wrapping relay race to see which patrol could wrap and label a box correctly the quickest.

The final part of the meeting was spent working on advertising. We talked about different types of advertising and where they can be found, as well as the messages that ads can convey. Each girl then had to create an advertisement of some sort (i.e. a poster, flyer, bookmark, commercial) to communicate a message.

January 29th was our last scheduled meeting on Communications. Girls completed their postal badge mini-booklets when they arrived. We played Kim's game with a tray of assorted objects to complete the Naturalist badge (see Winter Camp post) and also to show how observation is important in communication. The girls had to work as a patrol to try to remember as many items as possible, which provoked a few disagreements as girls were certain they saw different things! (High Score: 21.5 out of 25) Our final activity was tangram puzzles, where each patrol had a puzzle set and was challenged to work together to create a square out of the pieces.