Andrea Nicolle Calderon

LEI 4724
Title: Connecting People
Citation of Source: Dattilo, John. (2012). Inclusive Leisure Services.
State College, PA: Venture Publishing Inc.
Equipment Needed: Paper and pencils
Number of Participants: 10+
Activity Description: Choose an agency with which you are familiar
or imagine an ideal job. List at least five different ways you could
encourage participants to get to know one another and promote
friendships between participants. Move about the room with your list,
find a person, and introduce yourself. Discuss one idea you had about
encouraging friendship and have the other person identify one
different idea. Record the persons name and his or her name on your
list. Once you have discussed the information, move to another person.
Continue this process until you have shared all the items on your list.
See how many items you can list by talking to as many people as
possible.
Proximity of Facilitator: Facilitator takes on an observatory position
and lets participants talk with one another and discuss ideals in a
welcoming environment. Facilitator is expected to explain the activity
properly and encourage participants to speak with one another,
without interrupting or forcing conversations. Safety considerations are
minimal, although include having aids available to handle any fights
that may break out (depends on population greatly). Discussion
questions and debriefing is done after session is over and includes
question such as what participants learned from one another, did the
session help facilitate conversations, and how they think friendships
can be made in a general context. This activity can be adapted for
various people with disabilities. For those with mobility issues,
participants can walk up to you or you are more than welcome to use a
wheelchair or mobility device to speak to someone. For participants
with hearing impairments, participants can have an interpreter present
to facilitate conversations or participants can write letters to each
other or write on notebooks. Participants with social anxiety will
experience a certain amount of stress due to the nature of this activity
and may not enjoy having to speak to so many different people. These
participants can have the amount of people they encounter reduced as
well as the amount of time they will have socializing. This is ideal for
this population because they have to work on small interactions to

build up their confidence enough to be able to speak with greater

amounts of people and for longer periods of time.