In Savremena, another workshop was held as part of the Life Skills programme, which aims to improve students’ life skills. This time the topic was communication during conflict and conflict resolution in an optimal way.

In the introductory part of the workshop, Biljana Manić, the educator, encouraged the students to introduce themselves and say something more about themselves, what they like and what they don’t like in order to get to know each other better and bond. Through a conversation about what is important to them and who they like to hang out with the most, the children also tackled the topic of conflict. Biljana spontaneously directed them to recognise what is something that most often leads them to conflict with their friends.

After determining the most common causes of their conflicts, as well as the people with whom they most often come into conflict, the children learnt how they can express their anger more effectively and resolve the conflict successfully. They learnt about non-verbal communication and practised emotional literacy by naming feelings according to facial expressions from pictures. They also learnt what speech culture is and how it is nurtured.

In the final part of the workshop, the children had the task of proposing solutions to some conflict situations and giving examples of good behaviour, based on everything they learnt at the workshop. They were very creative and they offered some excellent, practical ideas about which position to take in an argument and reconcile with friends, so we are sure that our students will be able to solve any challenge in communication either with children or with adults.

Conflicts are always an important issue, but they are especially important during growing up, and the way we resolve them greatly affects our overall satisfaction with life and professional success. That’s why at Savremena we pay special attention to the socio-emotional development of children, nurture and encourage their natural assertiveness and help them acquire communication skills that will be useful to them in all areas of life.