Woman’s hands: over my life I have learnt…

Exercise/Path

The meeting will begin with a brief getting to know each other within the group. Then the facilitator will present the workshop course as a whole and the theme planned for the first meeting. This will be followed by exercises.

During the first one, the facilitator will ask each participant to write down a list of ten words relevant, from their point of view, to the word “work” and, once written down, they are read out orally and written on a blackboard, highlighting those words which several participants share in common ( there are always a few), then, together, they try to group these words according to their intrinsic consistency (e.g.: effort, fatigue, sacrifice in one group, rules, orders, tasks in another, relationships, sociability, etc. in yet another, etc.). This simple exercise has a twofold purpose: on the one hand, it serves to make people understand how even the words in everyday use have such a plurality of meanings that they can create confusion in communication, especially in the presence of participants belonging to different cultures (you think you are talking about the same thing but you actually mean different stuff); on the other hand, the groupings of words taken together will form a “”concept map”” of the significant extent work can take; such a map will provide a shared basis for discussion.

For the second exercise, the facilitator invites each participant to narrate without interruption (with some translation for those who are unfamiliar with the language of the host country) their training background and also to describe their expectations with respect to the current training course as well as identifying their training needs. This exercise is used to position oneself in relation to the present and in relation to the group by identifying similarities and differences with regard to institutional training in different countries. For the third exercise, “the job I wish for”, the facilitator asks participants to reflect on their own deepest desires, imagining that they can be fulfilled, and to write down individually, even in their first language (to be translated by a participant’s or an online translator) the characteristics of the best possible job; Each one will then read, without interruptions, what they have written; when they have all concluded their reading, a group discussion will begin in which each one will identify, also from the others’ wishes, what they consider feasible and what they consider unfeasible according to their knowledge of their living and job search context. This exercise is aimed at having as realistic a view of one’s expectations as possible, i.e. neither excessively optimistic nor excessively pessimistic. In the last twenty/thirty minutes the facilitator, using slides, will provide a theoretical overview of labour market dynamics in advanced capitalist countries, highlighting the resource/trap role played by individual wishes.

Objectives

Providing information on current labour market dynamics in Italy and Europe, in particular regarding the ‘performance society’ that leverages on people’s ‘desire’. Enabling participants to achieve a vision of their work as realistic as possible, albeit starting from their own aspirations.

Duration: 3+ hours

Exercise/Path

At the beginning, the facilitator will explain, using slides what soft skills or transversal competences are and their importance, as pointed out by the European Commission, in the current labour market, and will offer a description of their different categories and characteristics (relational, organisational, reflective, etc.).

A first exercise, “the things I know how to do”, on “self-efficiency competence” will then follow; the facilitator will ask each participant to write down a list – even in their own first language – of activities, in any field of their life, in which they feel particularly skilled; at the end each participant will read their list to the others without interruption; at the end of the reading there may be a moment of mutual sharing and feedback. Aim of this simple exercise is to help participants become aware of “how many” things they can already do, but also of how many “skills” they apply in order to do them and how these skills are ” transferable” to different situations (e.g. being able to cook includes the ability to organise and plan work, being able to iron well includes precision, etc.).

Then, the facilitator will ask each participant to choose just one activity from their list and to write down how they learnt to do it; at the end of the writing exercise, each participant will read, without interruption, their recollection. Aim of this second exercise is a biographical recollection of the learning context in order to identify the existing features, the people, the feelings that contributed to the skill’s acquisition, which will allow them to become aware of their own learning process and to be able to recognise, and hence to choose, the positive learning settings. 

We will then move on to the “I can’t do …” exercise, for which the facilitator will ask each participant to identify and orally describe (with the help of translation if necessary) something that they would have liked to do but which they perceive to be beyond their abilities; when each participant has expressed their ” incompetence”, the round will begin again so that each participant, invited by the facilitator, will orally describe the situation in which the “belief” of their lack of ability arose. In conclusion, the facilitator will highlight the learning context features and how they are linked to a specific negative situation which blocked new learning efforts. Aim of this exercise is to understand how often the ideas we have about what we can or cannot do depend on “beliefs” shaped during childhood and which no longer hold true in adulthood and actually prevent us from taking on what we would like to be able to do.

Objectives

Explaining what soft skills are and why they are extremely important for nowaday’s labour market.

Developing self-awareness and own’s competences self-assessment ability. Being able to transform soft skills into job skills Learning how to perform a “competences assessment” to become part of participants’  lifelong learning  process

Duration: 3+ hours

Exercise/Path

After a short introduction to the meeting -listening/dialogue soft skill- the facilitator asks participants to chose and write down the Italian “most beautiful” and “most ugly” word as well as their own language “most beautiful” and  “most ugly” word. Each of them will then read such words aloud, explaining their choice; participants can ask each other questions to better understand such choices.   Aim of this exercise  -by singling out the “best/worst” aspect of the Italian and own’s culture- is to reflect together on the fact that no culture can be considered completely free from negative sides.

Discussing together participants’ choices motivation would also trigger an intercultural dialogue  which allow them to appreciate their own culture downsides. The second part of the meeting would be more devoted to theory, as the facilitator will show slides to introduce to language main features, focusing in particular on active listening/dialogue soft skills. She will then submit to participant a listening skills self-assessment grid.

Objectives

Main objective of this session would be to improve dialogue soft skills, which, being migrant women involved, it would extend to intercultural dialogue. Dialogue competence entails several skills: listening skills, being able to state one’s arguments and to convince, empathy, and so on.

Duration: 3+ hours

Exercise/Path

In the first part of this last meeting, the facilitator presents the European CV format and explains how to fill it in. The facilitator, using Wisława Szymborska’s poem Writing a CV , will encourage a shared reflection on the autobiographical elements that such an apparently very ‘bureaucratic’ document contains and how to make the most of them. More specifically, we will have a collective discussion on how to turn ‘informal’ competences – learnt in non-formal training contexts and throughout one’s life – into valuable competences for developing one’s professional profile by presenting the ‘reasoned autobiography’ as a tool for assessing one’s own competences. (Duration of 1st phase: 1h 30min)

During the second part of the meeting, the facilitator suggests an exercise on ‘team working’. Using a photo as a cue, the facilitator will first ask each participant to individually write a story inspired by the elements and characters in the photo; once this first phase is over, the facilitator, also considering language mediation options, will form small groups involving an ‘outside observer’ ( she will not take part in the story writing, merely observing how participants in the small group work together) and will ask each of the groups to write a ‘group story’ by putting together their individual stories (the observer will note how each participant tells her story, who would lead and how this leadership is acknowledged, the degree of reluctance or willingness to give up parts of one’s story, how many and what questions are asked, etc.).

During a final phase, in plenary, the facilitator asks participants to merge all stories drafted by each group into a single common story. In the final step we will evaluate together how much the resulting story has been improved or (more likely) impoverished throughout the process, then observers will step in and report on the dynamics they noted to explain the strength/weakness of the final result. This complex exercise helps to understand how to negotiate in a working group to achieve a shared result; usually, in large groups, the result is poor because of negotiation difficulties, fear of being ‘too’ assertive in order to avoid conflict. This exercise helps to understand that one can have creative and positive conflicts, to develop positive collaboration. (Duration of 2nd phase: 2 hours)

Objectives

Phase 1: Learning how to write an effective CV; turning life skills into job skills

Phase 2: Learning about team working, identifying the key elements of effective cooperation and leadership

Duration: 4 hours