Developing vocabulary of green cog words by focusing on one emotion and the behaviours that are associated with that emotion.

When learning about the different cogs and what they represent it is good to explore the vocabulary that pupils already know and can identify with.

In this example, groups of pupils were given a different emotion word to explore and discuss. Firstly they acted out the emotion and their partner had to try and guess the emotion they had on their card. Then on post-its they recorded words and images that showed what their bodies did when feeling this emotion. It might have been a gesture, facial expression, a motion/act or a vocalisation.They were able to refer to the interactive display boards for ideas initially and to extend the vocabulary further, pupils could also be issued with the training manual (given to teachers during the initial training) and directed to the word lists in the green cog section.

It is important to note that different people react and behave in different ways when feeling certain emotions, there are no right or wrong answers. However, misconceptions will be apparent at this stage and can be addressed. There are also a lot of behaviours that over lap, for example, when we are excited we can be loud and shouty, likewise when we are angry or frustrated we can be loud and shouty. When thinking about behaviours, useful questions to ask can be ‘what can you see the person/character is doing with their bodies?’ or ‘how do you know that person/character is feeling upset?’ Useful statements can also be built into the language of the classroom ‘I can see you are feeling sad because you are welling up and your head is down. 

Story books and short film clips are a great for drawing out behaviours of characters in a non-threatening way, allowing the pupils to reflect on their own behaviours in relation to a character… are they the same or different?