Introduction:

Body language plays a crucial role in our everyday interactions, often conveying more meaning than our spoken words. In this blog post, we will explore an engaging activity that helps students develop their body language awareness and understand how it can affect social situations. This activity, called “Guess What Happens Next,” encourages students to focus on people’s body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice to predict their reactions to different scenarios.

No-Prep Activity: Guess What Happens Next

In this activity, educators can use a series of video clips or scripted scenarios to present various social situations. After each scene, students are given three possible reactions and must guess which one will happen next. The goal is for students to focus on the body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice to make their predictions.

Here’s how to conduct the activity:

1. Choose a set of video clips or create scripted scenarios that depict different social situations. Make sure to include a variety of emotions and reactions.
2. Play the video clip or read the scripted scenario to the students.
3. Pause the video or scenario at a crucial moment, and present students with three possible reactions.
4. Ask students to guess which reaction will happen next, based on the body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice they observed.
5. Reveal the correct reaction and discuss why it occurred and how the body language cues led to that conclusion.
6. Repeat the process with additional video clips or scenarios.

Discussion Questions:

After completing the activity, use the following questions to stimulate further discussion among students:

1. How did you use body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice to make your predictions? What specific cues did you notice?
2. Why is it important to be aware of body language in social situations? How can it help us better understand others and communicate more effectively?
3. Can you think of a time when you misinterpreted someone’s body language? How did it affect the situation, and what could you have done differently?
4. How can we improve our own body language to better convey our emotions and intentions to others?
5. Why is it crucial to be empathetic and considerate of others’ feelings when interpreting their body language?

Related Skills:

Beyond body language awareness, there are other essential skills that contribute to effective communication and social-emotional learning. Some of these related skills include:

• Active listening
• Empathy
• Emotion regulation
• Assertiveness
• Conflict resolution

Next Steps:

Now that you have learned about the “Guess What Happens Next” activity and its benefits in teaching body language awareness, it’s time to put it into practice in your classroom. To access more resources and activities that support social-emotional learning, sign up for free samples at Everyday Speech. These materials will help you enhance your students’ communication skills and improve their social interactions both in and out of the classroom.