A letter to myself
TOOLBOX GROUP
Group 4 – promoting and supporting mobility
AUDIENCE
pupils from 14 to 18
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- To express motivations, fears and concerns before mobility
- To be able to assess the changes in perceptions, attitudes, critical thinking before and after the experience
TIME
30 to 45 minutes
NECESSARY MATERIALS
- Paper
- Pens
- Envelopes
STEP-BY-STEP DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITY
Before mobility
Distribute paper and envelopes to students where they have to write their name.
Explain that you will give them time to write a personal letter to themselves when they are abroad: they should write about their hopes, motivations, concerns and fears today, all the questions they have now, everything they would like to share.
The facilitator keeps the letter in a safe place and will not open it.
After mobility
The letter is distributed to students after returning from mobility. You can give some time to students to read it individually.
Then, you ask students to share with the group: how do they feel while reading the letter? do they feel like they have changed perceptions? How? Did their hopes or fears change, and if yes why? Did I find answers to the questions I had? What is the most touching part of the letter?
You can conclude by showing how much everybody has evolved since the last training: What are the common ideas shared by everybody? What can we learn from that?
RECOMMENDATIONS / TIPS
When writing and reading the letter, you should give time and personal space to students as it can be a very emotional moment.
If the students are going abroad for a long period of time (more than 3 months), you can also decide to send them the letters in the middle of the programme. It could help them to remember the goals they had set for themselves before the programme and to think of what they could do to reach them or to set new goals more appropriate for their current situation.
REFERENCES
AFS Vivre Sans Frontière, http://afs.fr/
