The
group activities are tools used to deal with determined topics. They
help member of the group make their own conclusions in a practical and
pleasant way. They can be used for different aspects but are very
useful to deal with tiresome and difficult subjects.
Carrying
out group activities is easy in friendly atmospheres, were generally
people want to learn about their colleague. The activities should be
voluntary (never force participation).
The
group activities should be simple and entertaining. This should be
clear from the start of the activity so as to avoid going off course
and people loosing interest in the activity.
Therefore,
the coordinator, or the person in charge, has to know the aim of the
activity (and possible variants to use according to how it develops)
also how to use and develop the activity. The leader should always
direct the activity towards achieving the main objective.
The
coordinator should not only influence the achievement of a specific
objective but lots of different objectives. The coordinator should also
bear in mind that certain techniques are not valid for all groups. We
can classify the group activities according to the followind conditions:
-
The objectives.- there are a great variety of activities which we will see as this course progresses.
-
The
maturity of the group.- for groups that have recently been put
together, it is essential to carry out simple activities, whilst with
groups that have been together longer (used to carrying out activities
together) you can use more complex techniques.
-
The
size of the group.- it is very important to consider this, as it will
be a lot easier to reach conclusions with a small group. It is also
important that the leader knows how to maintain the intensity of the
activity at all times, something quite difficult to do with large
groups, as they tend to get distracted.
-
The
environment.- as with everything in life, the environment conditions
the activity's succes. Internal or external space, necessary materials,
meteorology, time needed (avoid making the activity shorter or longer)
yhese are all aspects for the leader to consider when preparing the
activity.
-
The characteristic of the group members.- ages, interests, experience, abilities, possibilities, maturity.
-
The coordinators.- ability to carry out activities.
