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Why Social-Emotional Intelligence?

 

Social-emotional skills explained...

 

Having social-emotional skills (EQ) means knowing how to manage our feelings and actions, and imagining how others feel, so that we can interact with others positively and effectively.
 

Having well-developed social-emotional intelligence means we can:

  • Build positive relationships at school and beyond
  • Feel confident in diverse and new social situations
  • Make ourselves understood clearly and politely
  • Negotiate and solve problems effectively
  • Cooperate and collaborate with others

Our fast-paced and competitive world puts excessive emphasis on measurable results and we tend to focus on how well children do academically. However, as adults, we know that good grades alone seldom guarantee success in life and that being likeable, knowing how to deal with people and situations, and having good judgment are more often the things that get us ahead.

 

That's why social-emotional skills matter for children.  Being polite, considerate, socially intelligent, and confident are intangible skills that are far more important than papers, projects, and tests.  To successfully navigate situations they will face at school and beyond, children need to be equipped with well-developed social skills starting from a young age.

 

Some key things that all children need to learn include how to:

  • Understand and manage their feelings and imagine how their actions might affect other people’s feelings
  • Communicate clearly and confidently with other children and adults
  • Behave appropriately and considerately in diverse social and cultural situations (use good manners)
  • Listen to others
  • Overcome shyness and engage in conversation
  • Use polite and considerate body language
  • Take turns and share with others
  • Conduct themselves appropriately in different types of situations (e.g., at a meal; at a party; on the subway)

 

These skills need to be not only learned, but also practiced. Research has shown that when teachers model specific social skills and set up situations in which children can practice those skills, the children’s social skills improve significantly.  Research has also revealed that children with good social-emotional skills do better academically, are able to understand others more accurately, and have better relationships.

 

Find out more about our evidence-based curriculum: About Us

 

 

A crucial supplementary activity for schools (and students)

 

We enable schools (and parents) to offer students a structured, comprehensive social-emotional learning course, designed to complement and extend any existing social-emotional learning a school may have in place. This allows schools to offer students an activity to enhance depth and breadth in social-emotional learning. We are able to work together with your school to offer the program in ECA/ASA/CCA format, camp format, or during-school-hours format. Please contact us to arrange a meeting to discuss.

 

 

See what children learn in our classes.