Activity 1.2.8 Red Light / Green Light

Purpose

To acknowledge problems and practise giving advice

Materials

Red and green note paper

Time

1 hr

Method

1. This exercise requires participants to write a problem and a piece of advice. It is not entirely focused on a problem, nor is it focused on a solution. This is more about having participants experience a light-hearted insight and/or gain a viable solution to a problem.
2. The facilitator can give some examples of problems such as “I have difficulty with spelling” or “I need more money”. Brainstorm with participants for some examples of advice. These might include “You need to relax more”, “Ask someone for help”, “Don’t be so hard on yourself ”, etc.
3. Participants are given one red note paper and one green note paper. The red paper is for writing down a problem. The green note paper is for writing a piece of advice. Participants should not sign their names to the papers.
4. When everyone has finished writing, the facilitator can collect all the papers. The red and green papers are then mixed up and put face-down on the floor.
5. Ask each participant to now randomly choose one red and one green paper from the pile. Note: it does not matter if a participant happens to pull their own paper.
6. Ask each participant to first read the red paper, and then the green paper.
7. Guide discussions around the range of uncanny and valuable insights gained from the random matches between problems and solutions. Ask participants what they felt was gained from this activity.
8. Another way for participants to do this activity is to have them imagine that they actually have the same problem as one of the ones written on the red papers. Get them to analyse what advice they would give themselves. For example, “If it were me, I would…”