Making

lesson 9 (part 2):

friendship foundations

Lesson Summary

This lesson connects with Lesson 9: Friendship Foundations. Please complete Lesson 9 Part 1, before moving onto this lesson. In this lesson, we will apply our understanding of our friendship foundations to how we make new friends. This lesson equips students with the skills to be able to effectively communicate and have conversations with people they do not know. Students will learn how to greet someone and introduce themselves, how to ask questions, actively listen, respond appropriately and show empathy. These skills give students confidence to be able to make new friends. 

Purpose

Purpose: This lesson helps students understand themselves and their friendships by exploring the four key foundations: dealing with mistakes, staying curious, handling change, and bringing their strengths.

Process

Time Needed: 25-30 minutes.

  1. Activity: Story and Discussion (5 mins)

  2. Intro and Question Generator (10 mins)

  3. Activity: Question Handshake (10-15 mins)

  4. Debrief and Reflection (5 mins)

Materials & downloads

For this lesson, you will need the following: 

  • Optional: Student workbook / notebook 

Activity: story and discussion (10 mins)

Read the following story to the class: Leo the Lion Cub Makes a Friend

Leo the lion cub loved to roar and play! He had been at his school for a few months but he still didn’t have a close friend. He watched other animals playing together with their friends and laughing together in the playground. Everyday, Leo wished he could join in with them. But, sometimes he felt a little shy and he never knew what he would say to them.

One morning, Leo noticed a meerkat sitting by herself, building a little tower of rocks. Leo’s tail twitched nervously. He really wanted to have a conversation with someone he didn’t know. “What if she doesn’t want to talk? ” he wondered. “What if I say something silly?” he thought.

Suddenly he remembered something he had heard his teacher say before in class: “Sometimes being brave is just asking one small question.” Taking a deep breath, Leo decided to walk over and said in a cheerful voice, “Hi! That’s a really tall tower. Can I try adding a rock too?”

The meerkat’s eyes lit up. “Sure! Let’s see if we can make it even taller!” Soon, they were laughing, stacking pebbles, and telling little stories about their favourite games. Leo realised that friendships don’t happen all at once, and sometimes all it takes is one small, brave step, and a little curiosity, to start the beginning of a friendship.


Debrief: 

After reading the story, discuss the following questions as a class:

  1. What made Leo brave in this story?

  2. How did showing curiosity help him make a friend?

  3. Which friendship foundations can you see in Leo’s actions?

  4. How did the meerkat show kindness to Leo?

  5. Can you think of one small step you could take to connect with someone you don’t know at school?

intro (10 mins)

We have previously learned how important friendship foundations are to strengthening our friendships. But how do we go about making a new friend or having a conversation with someone we don’t know or have just met? To make a new friend or talk to someone new, we need to know what to say and do!

Introduce key conversation skills:

  • Greeting: Smile, say hello and introduce yourself by asking a question or saying something about yourself: “Hi, I’m Leo. What’s your name?” or “Hi, I’m Leo. I like playing footy, do you?” or . This greeting lets the other person know we are friendly and interested in getting to know them.

  • Asking Questions: We ask one question at a time and then we make sure we let the other person share their answer or idea. Asking questions shows our curiosity to get to know and learn more about the other person. 

  • Active Listening: When the other person speaks, we need to pay attention - not look around the room or at the floor. Giving the other person a little bit of eye contact helps the other person to know we are listening to them.

  • Responding: We wait until the other person has finished speaking before we start talking - we don’t interrupt others! When the person has finished sharing their answer, we might choose to share our thoughts, ideas or information about ourselves, or we might choose to ask another question. 

  • Empathy: Sometimes we might share something we are interested in or like and the other person may not agree. It is important that we do not make the other person feel bad for not liking what we do and instead show empathy. This means understanding their point of view. We can be kind and curious and find out what they do like. 

Before completing the next activity, as a class come up with 5-10 questions students could ask someone they are getting to know. 

Some examples may be:

  • “What’s your favourite book or TV show?”

  • “Do you like playing sports or games?”

  • “Have you ever been on a fun holiday?”

Activity: question handshake (10-15 mins)

1. Ask students to sit next to someone they don’t usually speak to or work with in class.

Teacher tip: A random name generator could also be used to generate the pairs, provided that the pairs generated do not know each other well. 

2. Ask students to practice greeting each other. They can begin with just smiling at their partner before progressing to introducing themselves by saying their name and asking what their partner’s name is. 

  • Both students are to practice this step. 

    Teacher discretion: Allow 1 minute for students to practice this step. The step can be repeated and students can complete it again with different partners if necessary.


3. Next, students practice asking questions the class came up with. 

  • One student in each pair practices asking their partner a question, and the other student practices responding to the question.

  • Allow 1-2 minutes for this before swapping the roles. 

Teacher Tip: Encourage the student to continue the conversation by asking follow up questions and show empathy and kindness.

Teacher discretion: All steps of this activity can be repeated where students have different partners.

Debrief:

Great work everyone! 

It’s important to reflect on what we have learned from this activity. Using friendly greetings and smiles helped you to start your conversations. Asking questions showed your curiosity and helped keep the conversation flowing. By listening carefully, you made your partner(s) feel heard and valued.

These conversation skills (greeting, asking questions, and listening) are the same skills that help build and strengthen friendships in everyday life. The more we can practise these steps, the easier starting a conversation with someone new will feel over time.

Lesson Debrief:

The skills you practised today, such as saying hello, showing interest, and listening are powerful ways to create new friendships, as well as developing the ones you already have.

Optional: Ask the students to share their answers to the following questions with the class:

  • What is one thing you can do this week to start a conversation with someone new?

  • If someone comes up to you and starts a conversation, how can you use the skills you have learned today to help you?

Thank you!!

for spending time building fitter friendships