Activity 1.2.7 Hopes and Concerns

Purpose

To gain insight and understanding of common concerns

Materials

Yellow and blue note paper

Time

1 hr

Method

Inform participants that everyone has hopes and worries about their life. Some hopes are simple, and others are grand. Some worries are small, and some may appear as huge obstacles. This exercise will help participants to discover that many hopes and concerns are usually common ones. An example of a hope could be, “I hope I get a job”; and an example of a concern could be, “I am not sure if I can compete in the job market”. Having a chance to share these will allow for more insight and understanding of themselves and others, and create a more cohesive environment.

1. Instruct participants to think about a general concern and a general hope that they have. You can give examples.
2. Divide the class into two groups. One group will receive yellow note-paper, and the other will receive the blue note-paper. Each participant should have two pieces of note-paper. Instruct participants to not write their names on their papers.
3. The yellow paper group will write down their hopes (one hope per sheet). The blue paper group will write down their concerns (one concern per sheet).
4. The participants will fold their papers and place them at the front of the room on a table or desk in the appropriate coloured pile.
5. When all papers have been collected, the facilitator will give the pile of papers to the opposite colour group. In other words, the yellow paper group now has the blue papers.
6. Ask participants to read the papers out loud and ask their group members to acknowledge if they have ever had or still have any of the same hopes or concerns.
7. Groups will now acknowledge any of the notes as being true at one time or still true in their lives. Then have each group share their comments. Open discussions may bring a feeling of belonging and cohesiveness to the class.
8. Guide discussions to lead into solutions that participants may have experienced with some of the concerns. For example, a solution to the concern, “I am worried that I can not compete in the job market” may be “I worked on upgrading my skills and continue to do so”.