Empathy Lab event for reading helpers

At Coram Beanstalk we provide a continual Learning and Development programme for our reading helper volunteers, often covering topics that regularly come to the fore on our volunteer portal.

We try to offer external authors and experts whenever we can to extend knowledge, offer advice and help with much-requested book recommendations.

So, we were delighted when Imogen Bond, Managing Director of EmpathyLab offered to host a session to explore how reading builds empathy skills and how demonstrating empathy can support better reading. 

Imogen spoke initially about the mission behind EmpathyLab and their annual Empathy Day and Empathy Festival and the EmpathyLab programme for schools. She then demonstrated reading a book using questions to understand how characters and the reader might be feeling, and shared an 'emotions wheel' to be used as a tool to help children develop their vocabulary around their emotions.

It was a fantastic session with so much positive feedback from our volunteers:

Imogen was very good. The session had clarity and engagement. As she said, we all have a point of view or a way of seeing things - that is the beauty of getting to engage with diverse cultures!

The reading of the story and range of questions asked served as an excellent model and I found this very valuable. The slides were clear and concise and the emotions wheel will be a very helpful aid to develop an emotional vocabulary. The value of reading and the use of sensitive, open questions to develop empathy skills was incredibly helpful and I enjoyed the opportunity to explore a range of book titles and diverse stories available. Thank you for an inspiring session.

Reading helpers are able to access the recording via the volunteer portal should they wish to watch the session back or if they were unable to attend. 

Explore the Read for Empathy recommended book collections