This two day personal development module is sequential, building on skills that many of the young people already possess.
The exercises on the first day have two objectives –

1) To listen, listening is to concentrate on hearing something – to pay attention.
To encourage young people listen, not only to their peers but, also everyone around them. To pay attention and take into account what others are saying and enable young people to pay more attention to their own words and actions.

2) To listen, acknowledge and understand each other.
The activities are designed to enable young people to be more conscious of the effect that effective listening can have on group activities. Everyone enjoys being acknowledged and listened to, it adds value to life. However, you must be prepared and have the ability to acknowledge and listen to others in order to be acknowledged and listened to yourself.

Day two focuses on the young peoples’ achievements and the skills behind their achievements.

The young people focus on what they are good at, not only in school, but also in sports, in cultural work, leisure time activities, voluntary work or wherever they have made big or small achievements. Participants identify their skills by analysing their achievements before engaging in activities that explore how their skills work in combination with the skills of others in order to meet group challenges.

Exercise 1: Group Contract
Aims: to agree on a way of working together so that everyone is able to contribute, enjoy and get the most out of the training.
Expected results: a group contract that is agreed by the whole group and displayed for all to see.

Exercise 2: Tree of Life – Pre-evaluation
Aims: to enable individuals to reflect on their emotions at the beginning of the session.
Expected results: each person to have completed a pre-evaluation form and recognised their emotional state at the start of the training programme so as to be able to evaluate their development over the course of the module.

Exercise 3: Introduction to the theme, “listening and listening skills�
Aims: to introduce several listening and listening skills activities found in the module. Expected results: the young people will understand the reasons for participating in the listening and listening skills activities that are covered in this module.

Exercise 4: Group Portrait
Aims: to make the group attentive to one another and encourage the group members to focus on others rather than themselves.
Expected results: an illustration of each person in the group, created by all of the other members of the group showing their perceptions of the individual.

Exercise 5: Speed Dating
Aims: to enable members of the group to discuss and share information about each other, to start to develop listening skills and share information.
Expected results: the young people will have found out more about the other people in the group.

Exercise 6: Group Story
Aims: to stimulate the group working together and showing that the end product is dependant on them cooperating and listening to each other.
Expected results: a story that has been told by the whole group.

Exercise 7: Chinese Whispers
Aims: to demonstrate how difficult it can be to listen and interpret information. Expected results: a better understanding of how easy it is to misunderstand what people tell us.

Exercise 8: Chain Reaction
Aims: to encourage active listening and the realisation that all our actions are a reaction to others.
Expected results: a realisation that our actions are usually reactions to the actions of others.

Exercise 9: Autograph Hunt
Aims: to encourage the members of the group to look at each other and appreciate the others characteristics.
Expected results: each participant to have a completed worksheet of “autographs� and a better awareness of the other people in the group.

Exercise 10: Blocking Information
Aims: to enable young people to appreciate that there are barriers blocking the passing of information and that these can be deliberate as well as accidental. It will also encourage team building skills and problem solving.
Expected results: an understanding of what can block communication between people.

Exercise 11: Active and Inactive Listening
Aims: to allow members of the group to experience how it feels when they are and are not listened too.
Expected results: a better awareness of the effect we have on the feelings of others.

Exercise 12: Story Telling
Aims: to enable participants to appreciate that they all have experienced success and identifying what made the success a success - this to encourage them to do more of what has created success in the past.
Expected results: young people acknowledge and share their own successes with others.

Exercise 13: Dream Vision
Aims: to enable young people to appreciate that they can build on past success and create success for themselves in the future.
Expected results: each young person to have described their vision of their own future on paper, and shared this vision with others.

Exercise 14: Tree of Life – Post- evaluation
Aims: To allow members of the group to reflect on their achievements during the day and to share these with others. They can also appreciate the contributions of other members of the group and recognise new friends.
Expected results: by comparing their emotional state at the end of the day to their state from the beginning of the day, participants will have measured their personal development over the course of the module.

Exercise 15: Positive Statements
Aims: to share successes and positive emotions with others.
Expected results: each person in the group will relate at least one positive event to the rest of the group.

Exercise 16: Skills, Competencies and Characteristics for Achievement Aims: to show young people that there are skills and competences behind achievements and performances, that people make.
Expected results: each young person to have a list of their own skills and competences.

Exercise 17: Introduction to workshops
Aims: to introduce the group to three teambuilding workshops that will enhance their skills and competences.
Expected results: an understanding of what the workshops aim to achieve, and how they will benefit the participants.

Exercise 18: The Lego Teambuilding Workshop
Aims: to develop teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills.
Expected results: successful completion of the workshop challenge through the use of teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills. A written review of success.

Exercise 19: Egg Drop Auction and Workshop
Aims: to bring people together and to demonstrate the principle of teamwork.
Expected results: successful completion of the workshop challenge through the use of teamwork. A written review of success.

Exercise 20: The Kite-building Workshop
Aims: to develop teamwork and creative thinking abilities.
Expected results: successful completion of the workshop challenge through the use of teamwork and creative thinking skills. A written review of success.

Exercise 21: Egg Launch
Aims: to consolidate creative and enterprise thinking abilities.
Expected results: successful completion of the workshop challenge through the use of creative and enterprise thinking skills. A written review of success.

Exercise 22: Finishing the Day
Aims: to celebrate each person’s contribution to the training module and to acknowledge that in written form.
Expected results: a certificate of each person’s skills and competences, and a friendship letter for each participant created by the group.