Are you comfortable talking about loneliness? Lesson Plan

The lesson plan, designed for Primary 5-7 students, addresses the sensitive topic of loneliness and its impact on mental health, coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week. The lesson begins with a short, two to three-minute starter activity where students pair up and share their immediate thoughts on the word "lonely," potentially creating a mind-map on the board to visualize their ideas. This interactive approach sets the tone for an open discussion, encouraging students to express their feelings and perceptions about loneliness.

As the lesson continues, students are introduced to the concepts of mental health and loneliness in a whole-class setting, establishing the importance of the discussion. They then engage in a fact-finding activity, examining various statements about loneliness and indicating whether they believe them to be true or false with a simple thumbs up or down gesture. This segment, lasting three to six minutes, helps to dispel myths and establish a factual basis for understanding loneliness. Following this, in pairs, students explore different scenarios where children might feel lonely, discussing their personal reactions and considering what could be done to help those in the scenarios. The lesson moves towards a reflective phase where each student individually considers their stance on the topic in preparation for a vote. The lesson concludes with the whole class reviewing arguments for and against the topic before casting their votes. Throughout the lesson, keywords such as 'loneliness', 'mental health', and 'wellbeing' are emphasized, with the learning objectives focusing on the consideration of how loneliness affects people and the discussion of comfort levels when talking about loneliness.