Manners and Politeness 1: Please and Thank you

(This will need two secret pupil stooges, organised before the
beginning of the session)
Aim
Objective
Intro

Looking
deeper

Plenary

Meditatio
n
/ Prayer

To explore the idea of verbal politeness

Each pupil will role-play being polite and rude!
Do the How am I feeling? exercise, with pupils showing you
their hands, awarding themselves scores out of 10 with their
fingers. (Ask why that score?) Ask two volunteers (your
stooges) to come and sit on chairs nearby with one, use the
words Please and Thank you as you do it, but NOT the other
speak to them abruptly. Ask your class what do you think
each of those people is feeling? (Show of hands out of 10
again then discuss why.
Ask: In the way I spoke, did you notice any differences in my
choice of words? Why do you think I spoke differently to
them? (Explain that youre not really cross thank them for
their help, and sit them down again.)
Our choice of words can be very important. Who remembers
the phrase...Sticks and stones can break my bones...? Its not
true. Words can hurt or words can heal. Which words did I
use to show that someone is important? (Please and Thank
you.) When do we use those words? (When we want
something, and after weve been given something.) This is how
we show respect for someone by speaking politely.
Role-play in pairs: a shop counter, with one pupil as a customer
wanting to buy a gadget that is difficult to describe, and the
other, an assistant trying to understand what it is but with
no politeness at all (no shouting). Ask for two performances
do these characters respect each other? (No.)Then reverse
the situation, with the pupils playing the alternative
characters, but this time politely. Afterwards, ask for
demonstrations and comment on the difference in tone.
Who here likes to be spoken to, politely? Why? (It makes me
feel good.) What do you think of people who are polite to you?
Do you want to be treated with respect? Then you know its
important to do the same to others. Speak as you wish to be
spoken to. Father God, please help me to think of others when
I speak and thank you for all those people who treat me with
respect too. Amen.

Manners and Politeness 2: After You

(This will require an alphabetical order class list)
Aim
Objective
Intro

Looking
deeper

Plenary
Meditatio
n
/ Prayer

To explore non-verbal ways of being polite

Each pupil will have the opportunity to practice politeness.
Were going to be doing something special. Ask 6 children to
line up at the door. Ask the people at the front and back
how do you feel about being there? (Do the show of fingers
trick.) Reverse the order at the door. Ask how they feel now.
Why?
Why do so many people want to be at the front of a queue?
(To get things first, to not have to wait.) Whats the problem
sometimes when people are asked to line up? (Pushing in,
squeezing at the front.) What sorts of people tend to be at
the front in that kind of situation? (The biggest, strongest
and the most rude!) Is that fair? Does it have to be like that?
Can you think of fairer ways of lining up? (Register order,
Surname order, height, etc. Boys/girls not allowed!) Why is
this more fair? What happens about the people who are
always at the back? (We could try reversing it sometimes!)
As a class exercise, practice lining up in a fair way such as
register order. Time it. Ensure that those at the back leave
space for those in the middle. In small classrooms, having two
lines may be helpful. Can they do it absolutely silently? Praise
them if they can. Then try it in reverse order. (Its hard first
time!) Agree to line up like this in the playground or in class
for the next week or month then agree to reverse it after
an interval.
Can you think of other situations where not going first shows
respect for others? (Opening doors for others, saying After
You, moving to one side when meeting in a corridor...) As an
exercise, set pupils the task of politely walking around the
classroom, silently showing with gestures that they are letting
someone else through first before proceeding.
How do you feel when someone else lets you go first?
Jesus once said something really strange. God sees it like this
the first will come last and the last will come first. What do
you think he meant? (Discuss) Father God, Im not the only
one here. Everyone is important. Help me remember that when
Im moving around the school. Amen.