| Aim | Self-definition. The purpose of the exercise is to define yourself and to determine your current emotional state. |
| Learning Objectives | To develop skills in self-defining oneself in various ways
To foster curiosity about other participants’ personalities and perception of themselves To develop communication and presentation skills |
| n° participants | Between 6 and 10 people |
| Duration | 35 minutes |
| Materials | The trainer must have self-descriptive questions that are tailored to the competencies and experiences of the participants. These questions may focus on people’s memories, emotions or personalities, and could relate to music, food, smells or sounds.
Some examples are: What colour represents you the most? What element represents you the most? What kind of fruit are you? What kind of music do you listen to when you are at home alone or outside by yourself? What kind of superpower would you like to possess? Where do you want to spend your dream vacation? What would be your dream day? Participants are allowed to use digital devices to express themselves. |
| Implementation | 1. Allow participants to sit in a place and position that is comfortable for them. You can also form a circle.
2. Tell them you will ask self-descriptive questions for which they will have to identify an answer. Then everybody will share their answer, one by one. 3. Start the first round and ask the first question to all participants (for instance, “what colour represents you the most?”). Tell the participants they can also use their mobile phone to play music or represents a sound. Give them a couple of minutes to think about their answer. 4. Ask the participants to answer, one by one, the question and to then explain the reasons behind their choice (for instance, “I feel that green represents me a lot, because I immediately feel comfort when I look at it or I am around it”). Ask the other participants to respect their turn and to not speak while others are. 5. Repeat step 3 and 4 with all other questions. |
| Debriefing | Take notes of the similarity between participants’ reasons for choosing their answer. Once all questions have been answered, facilitate a debriefing session with all in a circle. |
| Tips and hints | During the debriefing, invite participants to come up with their own questions and encourage them to ask others.
Determine together whether the question refers to their self-definition or their current emotional state. |
| Safety measures | If participants use mobile phones or other devices/objects, make sure the participant takes care of them and does not leave them around. |
| Added value | The list of diagnostic questions enhances our ability to self-identify. It also allows us to play with associations, preferences for sounds, sights or natural experiences (type of rain, type of wind). It can be a good way for alternative forms of self-presentation. |