• Is everyone satisfied with their seat in the circle?

If the answer is NO, this is the time to change.

• Ask those who are not satisfied, where they would like to sit.
• Then let the students ask each other in a proper way if they can sit beside him/her.
• If the change means that someone has to move, it is important that everyone involved is given the chance to speak.
• Keep on till everyone is satisfied... It might take some time.

In the meantime, you can observe a lot of the social structures in your class.
And the students are trained in negotiating and hopefully find a 'tool' to use in similar situations later in life.

The 'Feel Happy' Scale
There are lots of exercises to be used to improve the social environment in a class. One of those is the 'Feel Happy' Scale.

Several questions can be asked:

• How are you - at school today?
• How is your teacher(s) today?
• How are your friends today?
• Put yourself on a scale from 1 (at the bottom) to 6 (at the top)

Some students will have a 'low' score. Give them a minute to think about what changes are needed for them to reach a 5 or 6 on the scale.

• Are there things you can change to improve on the scale?
• Are there other people who must change?
• Are there any people in our class that must change?
• Do you want to say any more about this? If so, what?

Some times you'll get an answer.
Remember to speek about the use of proper language in the circle.

Communication Exercises

1. Introduction
   • What do you want to know in order to get to know me?    Or...
   • What do you need to know in order to get to know a person you haven't seen before, for example, a new student in your class?
2. Good or bad communication between people
   • How do we look at each other when we talk?
   • Do we have eye contact? Or are we looking somewhere else?

Exercise 1.

1. Talk to each other - two and two with our heads turned away from each other.
2. How did that work out? How did you like this way of talking to another person?

Exercise 2.

1. Talk to each other - two and two with just one turning the head away from the other.
2. Did this way of talking turn out to be better? Why? Or, why not?

Exercise 3.

1. Find something you can talk about to the other person you are working with, a movie you have seen, a new video game, your vacation or something about what you did last weekend.
2. One of you do the talking and the other one is clearly not interested. Give signals showing your lack of interest by looking at your watch, yawn or look at something or someone else. Put on your 'stone' face, don't show any sign of interest on your face.. (no smile, laugh etc..)
3. After a while, you stop and talk about how this felt for both of you
   Remember to change the roles.

Exercise 4.

A volunteer tells a story to the whole class. At first everyone is looking at the person talking and listening very closely. Then, one by one drop out and start talking to some of the others about other things. It is important that the person talking to the class just goes on talking. After a few minutes, all talks are interrupted. Then you all discuss these questions:

1. How did you feel while talking to someone who wouldn't listen?
2. Is it often that these things happen in our class - that the teachers or any of the students say something and nobody listens?
3. When does this happen most often - when the teacher is talking or when a student is talking?
4. Why does this happen?
5. Is there anything we can do to change this from happening in the future?