Hope – your experience

1. A. Think privately of a recent occasion when you felt hopeful of something. B. Continue thinking about: whether you realised at the time that you were hoping for something how you felt, later, when the hope did or did not ‘come true’ 3. whether you have lots of hopes every day, or whether days go by without your hoping anything. C. Share your thoughts about 1, 2 and 3 with a talking partner. Hope – your experience

2. As a whole group, discuss: 1. Can hopes be divided into ‘big’ hopes and ‘little’ ones? (If so, give examples of each.) 2. Can you think of other ways of dividing hopes? 3. Do you think it is better to have little hopes that are quite likely to come true, or bigger hopes that might be less likely to come true? 4. Do you think most children hope for the same things in life, or that there is a wide range of children’s hopes? 5. Is hope more important to some children than to others? If so, why? Hope - sorts

3. An ‘optimist’ is someone who usually hopes for better, whilst a ‘pessimist’ is someone who usually expects worse. A. Think quietly to yourself: whether you are an optimist or a pessimist what reasons or examples made you decide which one you were. B. Share your thoughts with a talking partner about these questions, and about the part that hope plays in your life in general. Hope - optimism and pessimism (1)

4. A. As a whole group, discuss: 1. the advantages and disadvantages of ‘optimism’ and ‘pessimism’. 2. Could it be best to be optimistic at some times, and pessimistic at others? 3. If so, how could you know which to be at different times? 4. Does it make any difference to how you feel about yourself whether you are generally optimistic, or generally pessimistic? Put your thoughts about all this into a few lines of writing, particularly commenting on times when you are optimistic. Hope - optimism and pessimism (2)