Civics Form One Notes – Promotion of Life Skills
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+The Tanzania national flag has four colors:
flack represents vmnnvnnnmeme
+ Yellow represents nen
+ Blue represents –neensnene
Green represents mn nene nnn
+ Why sit important to respect national symbols?
+ Mention three uses of coat of Arms
+ Why do you think itis important to have the union government of Tanzania and Zanzibar?
‘+ When the first constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania was written?
TOPIC 2: PROMOTION OF LIFE SKILLS
‘The Meaning and Types of Life Skills,
A skills the ability of an individual to apply his/her mental and physical power to contol the
environment. It involves things like thinking, playing and implementation so as to solve social,
political, economic and culture problems. These skills are the ability to understand one self, build
sound relationships with others, survive under difficult circumstances, act responsibly and safely,
and solve problems. It addresses the balance between knowledge, attitude and skill
[Need for life skills
‘As children develop, their life begins to change. Adolescents may develop a variety of life skills
to prepare them to face challenges, take up family responsibilty, make decisions and think about
‘hat they want tobe inthe future. Life skills education addresses these issues forthe benefit of
the individual and society at large. Life skills equip adolescents with knowledge and attitudes
that should lead tothe requirement behavior. They reduce health risk and raise awareness on
health and related behavior such as sexual abuse, drug abuse, violence, drunkenness, unwanted
pregnancy, sexual transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. Life skills play a decisive role in
haelping to prevent these behaviors and enlightening teenagers about these challenges so that they
can protect themselves.
‘Types of Life Skills
‘There are three major types of life skills. These are: individual life skills, social skills and
effective decision- making skills.
Individual life skis
‘The ability of person to know and understand personal feelings, emotions, strengths,
‘weaknesses as well as the position in life and society. Itis also the ability of an individual to
have a clear visio of self-identity of where he/she come from and culture which has shaped
bine
‘The importance of Individual life skills
Individual skil is very important in building self esteem and self-confidence as a person
becomes aware of his/her own capabilities and positon inthe community. The more individual
i aware of personal capabilites, the more capable he’she is of using those skills effectively and
bbe able to make choices which are consistent with the opportunities available in the society
which one lives. Individual life skills include self-awareness, ability to cape with stress, with
emotions and assertiveness
(2), SelE-awareness
Awareness isthe ability of knowing things. Thus self-awareness isthe ability ofan individual to
‘know himself or herself, his or her feelings, emotions, strengths and weaknesses, This skill
enables a person to ask important questions about himself or herself.
Evaluate yourself
‘Ask yourself the following questions and try to answer them
+ Who am Land what is my role inthe society?
+ What do Ike, what are my dislikes and why?
‘+ What makes me happy, what makes me unhappy and why?
(), Copying with stress
‘Stress is a mental, emotional or physical tension or pressure. It ean be eaused by the events such
as examinations, divorce, death of a family member or a ftiend or problems in the Family. A
person needs to develop skills that help him or her to cope with stress. Evaluate yourself: Let’s
say you have filed in your annual examinations
+ Would you be happy with th results? Why?
+ Would your parents be happy with the results? Why’?
‘+ Would you be able to explain the results to other people? Why?
+ How would you cope with this situation?
(©). Copying with emotions
Emotions are strong feelings such as love, the desire to be accepted, fear, anger shyness and
disgust. The ability to handle emotions enables a person to control his/her strong feelings and
actions. Evaluate yourself. Let’s say you are too shy to ask or answer questions in class
+ How would you feel about this situation? Why?
+ How would your fellow students react to this behaviour during the lesson?”
+ How would you overcome your shyness?
(@, Assertiveness
Assertiveness i the ability of person to know what he/she wants and why, and be abe to take
necessary steps to achieve it. An assertive person is able to express his or her opinions or desires
strongly and with confidence. However in achieving what helshe wants the person has to
consider rights of others. Evaluate yourself; Let’s say you are having a debate session in school
‘The motion is, “Teachers should build laboratories for practical training in the school.” You are
proposing this motion, How can you convince the other students to support your side?
Social skills
“This is the ability to understand and live in peace and harmony with others, These are skills for
the development of positive interpersonal relationships with friends, family members, peers,
people in authority and adults. Socal life skills can be developed through the following:
(2), Building postive relationships with others
This is the ability ofa person to meet and relate with others in various places such as schools,
playing field and social gathering. Relationships can be between children and parents or students
and teachers. They ean also be between relatives, neighbours or peers. Being able to form
hnalthy relationships enables one to know how to behave properly in each relationship
(), Peer resistance
er pressure is when one’s peers/fiends influence another person to do something, Our friends
can influence us to do good or bad things. For example, positive peer pressure can lead t0 you to
‘work harder in school and improve your grades. Negative peer pressure can cause you to engage
in wrong activities, such as drug abusing and escaping from school. Such bad behavior will get
‘you into rouble with your teachers and parents. No one wants to havea friend who can lead one
into problems. Peer resistance helps an individual to take control of him/herself by resisting
negative influences from others. Evaluate yourself
+ Have you ever been influenced by your friends to do something? Elaborate
+ Was it good or bad?
+ What did you do when you were influenced to do bad things?
(©). Empathy
This is the ability to understand other people’s feelings and to feel concerned about their
problems. When you empathize, you imagine yourself in the other people’s situation. This skill
enables us to share our friend’s problems. Evaluate yourself:
‘+ How do you feel when your bestfriend is faced with problems?
‘+ Imagine your friend has failed the civic test. Say how you would feel and what can you do to
help him/her?
(@), Negotiation
‘This is the ability to agree on issues without undermining or going against one’s principles. It is
an important skill when disagreements occur. Negotiation skills build good understanding
Evaluate yourself Imagine your friend wants you to discuss mathematics with hinvher while you
wanted to discus civies. How would you negotiate with him/her so that both of you can agree?
(€) Effective communication
This is the ability ofa person to communicate with people according to their mood, age and
background. It includes speaking, reading, listening and writing skis. This skill is very
{important in maintaining good relationship with other people. Speaking correctly means saying
‘What you want in a way that can be easily and cleatly understood. Evaluate yourself
+ Do you talk to your parents the same way you talk to your younger brother or sister? Why?
+ How do you talk to your best fiend when he/she is happy? How do you talk to inher when he
or she is sad?
Effective decision-making skills
‘These skills enable a person to make good decisions. The following are the aspects of effective
<ecision-making skills: Critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving and decision
making,
(2)Critical thinking
‘This is the ability of a person to develop a deep understanding of something. It helps a person to
understand the environment in which he/she lives and problems which might prevent him or her
from making proper decisions. Before making a decision, a critical thinker considers the
advantages and disadvantages of various ways of doing something. Critical thinker helps a
person to come up with ideas to solve problems. Evaluate yourself What problems does your
school face? Can you find out their cause? Have you ever thought of how to solve them?
(), Creative thinking
This is the ability to think and come up with new ideas and ways of doing things. In life, creative
thinking helps an individual to come up with solutions that other people had not thought of,
Evaluate yourself
+ Have you found problems at your school or home which other people did not know of?
+ Were you able to suggest solutions that other people had not thought of?
(6). Decision-making
This is the ability to make the best choice out of many available options. The choice is made
after considering its results. In fe, itis important to think about consequences before making a
<ecision. Evaluate yourself; Imagine your pen cannot write and you do not have money to buy a
‘new one, How do you solve this problem?
Sources of life skills
People learn life skils from different sources. The following are the major ones.
1 Family: Parents, guardians and other relatives are primary source from whom we learn different
life skills
2. Neighbors: We lear the different ways that people live from our neighbors. Good neighbors
baelp us to behave well
3. Friends: Friends helps us to acquire various life skills. Exchanging good ideas with friends help
{to mold us in to well-behaved individual,
4. Schools: The good education we get at school enables us to develop skills for life.
5. Society: the way people live in the society allows an individual to learn what is expected of
bhinvher and how he/she should behave in diferent circumstances.
6. Religion: Good religion teachings help to get skills which enable us to live harmoniously in
society Note: The above mentioned sources of life skills are sources of positive and progressive
life sills
Importance of Life Skills
Life skills are very important because they help develop abilities which are necessary for making life
better. Some of the things that these skills enable us to do include:
+ Make proper decisions in life on different mater, like fiendships, which subjects to studying
school and what career to pursue
‘+ Develop good behavior. Through social skills, a person is able to avoid bad friends and anti-
social behavior such as smoking, drug abuse, abusing alcohol and getting into premature sexual
relationships.
+ Increase love and understanding for other people because of good socal skis,
+ Respond effectively to differnt situations. Through life skills, a person is able to handle
‘unfortunate occurrences such as divorce, death of friends or relatives, examination pressure or
any form of harassment or intimidation,
+ Maintain peace and order. Negotiation skills enable people to solve ther problems peacefully
‘This helps prevent conflict.
+ Understand the environment and ways to fit init because you have skills to solve any problem
around you. It also helps to maintain the culture of your community.
How to Use Social Skills
Socal skill help a person to know and live with others peacefully. They give a person
knowledge and ability to live a better life with other people in the society. Social skills consist of.
the ability to form good relationship with other people, make good friends, show empathy,
exhibit peer resistance, negotiate effectively and have effective communication, We can use
social skills in the Following ways
1. Forming relationship with other people, this skill enables one to know how to behave in each
telationship. It helps a person to behave properly according to the prevailing situation,
b. Making good friends, a person can use ths skill to make good friends. Good friends are those
who Respect and assist us, our parents, relatives and elders; Goto schoo! and follow school
rules; Assist each other when in problems and Correct each other when one misbehave
‘Showing empathy, this is the ability to fel what others are going through, especially when they
are experiencing problems. This social skill enables one to understand other people’s problems
and show feelings. It enables a person to take part in finding out ways to solve other people’s
problems.
44. Exhibiting peer resistance, a person who have proper social skills is able to resist bad influences
from hisher peers or friends. Such a person does not do things that are unacceptable to society,
{or example fighting, prostitution, theft and truancy,
Displaying effective communication, proper communication can be used to establish good
relationships with others people. It is through effective speaking, writing and listening that a
person can establish relationships with others
Problem solving, this isthe social skill that enables a person to make a proper decisions in
ifficult times,
Consequences of not Applying Social Skills
Failure to apply life skills can lead to problems. Some of these problems are:
+ Improper choices: People may make wrong choices in their education and future careers. A
person may find hinvherself make wrong choices by studying subjects which he/she cannot fit
+ Bad behavior: People may develop bad behavior. For example, the youth may not respect their
parents, teacher and elders, ue to negative peer pressure. They may also get into drug abuse or
stealing
+ Conflicts: Conflicts can occur due to lack of negotiation skill. Such conflicts could be among,
students, in families, in communities or between countries.
+ Poverty: Poverty may occur or increase duc to lack of proper decision-making inthe society or
country. Lack of creative skills to bring about development.
+ Poor leadership: Lack of good communication between leaders and the citizens can lead to poor
leadership
‘+ Lack of empathy: Lack of empathy may lead to increased suffering for those who have problems
as those who do not have problems may not understand ther circumstances.
Exercise 1
Write “T” for true statements and “F for false statements
+ Life skills enable a person to know what to do ata certain times and whatnot to do.
+ Individual ite kil is the ability of an individual to know himself or herself
+ Self awareness enables a person to understand others in various circumstances,
+ The ability to handle emotions which enables a person to control his or her feelings is among of
individual life skills.
+ Social skills give an individual the knowledge and ability to live according tothe needs of the
society
Exercise 2
Fil inthe blanks
‘+The ability ofa person to communicate with others while considering their mood, age and back
rund is ealleen meen meen
+ enn and —– are the primary source from whom we learn different life ski
+ +s the ability to make the best choice out of many available options.
+ The ability ofa person to resist negative influence