Don't worry, be happy!

It's been a long time since I last wrote in this blog. I've been very busy with my work in the school, and now that I'm on holidays I expect to have more time to develop all the ideas and experiences I've been collecting to share them with you.

I would like to start by recomending a book if you're dealing the subject of worry and anxiety with children:

"What to do when you worry too much: a kids guide to overcoming anxiety", by Dawn Huebner, Ph.D. and Bonnie Matthews (Magination Press).

“Did your know that worries are like tomatoes? No, you can’t eat them, but you can make them grow, simply by paying attention to them.” (Excerpt from the cover).

It can be used in your tutorial sessions, since it follows a step-by-step guide starting from recognizig what’s a worry and how many we may have, to the point of putting into practice several exercises to keep your worries away (or make them smaller/less important). Or you can take some of the activities as ideas to be implemented sparingly during the year. It is up to you!

The level of English required (if you want to use it in your ESL classes) is, for the most of activities presented, intermediate or 5^th 6^th level of Primary Education (in Spain). As always, you can adapt some of the proposals to lower levels of proficiency.

I’ve been reading this book to take ideas and implement some of them in my classes. This year, I didn’t use it but I dealt with the subject of “Worries” and we played and learnt the fun song “Don’t Worry, be happy”,  which seemed very attractive for children and invited them to put their worries away! Here is the video, although I'm sure you already know it!

Do not hesitate to comment anything you may came up when using this books or to share your own activities and suggestion of this subject.

Enjoy your summer and… keep in contact!