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NUMERACY is important when dealing with dates, ages, timings and the sequencing of events. I needed dates of birth, marriage and death, which gave me ages for some and others I had to make guesses for. Numbers of children, house numbers, post codes, the registration numbers for certificates etc., It was not as easy to find some people on the indexes as they may have told a few fibs about when they were born – all women were said to be 21 in my childhood. Also, numbers and text are often in scribbly Victorian cursive.

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Photograph of our old photos - meta, huh?

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The source material for many stories is a photograph. You can see how small and damaged many photos were but carefully scanned or restored they proved invaluable prompts for writing creative non-fiction. The photographs are a valuable record in themselves. A set showing women who picked potatoes in the 1960s prompted many memories on a home town group on Facebook. People recalled names or pointed out family members to round out the stories.

The text produced varies depending on its end use. We know that Barton & Hamilton (2012, p253) believe 'vernacular literacy practices can be contrasted with other, dominant literacy practices.' Below I will provide a few examples of the varied use of family history.

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The image shows seven types of Literacy from Birmingham (n.d), while Lynch (2019) lists 13 types. Let's explore how some of these were used in planning and writing, including...

DIGITAL LITERACY now that all records are online. This involves consideration of census data and records held by the General Registry Officer such as births, marriages and deaths. I was able to find out who had married a shade too close to their eldest child being born, occupations and addresses at the time etc., I can look up old maps, companies and work places, go to discussion groups dedicated to areas I lived. In addition, I used technology to share my findings with others including family.

CRITICAL LITERACY to decide whose voices are being heard or silenced. All stories are told from someone’s perspective but needs to be fair to others and one-sided reports from others that might need consideration – what was meant by what was being said? What matters to the individual? Are we typical or atypical of our community? Vernacular or common English may be used in oral history so when I transcribe it do I tidy it up or leave it raw? Critical literacy considers the underlying messages once texts are analysed.

CULTURAL LITERACY to understand the stories in relation to the Welsh/Irish context – how do we raise children or care for older people in Wales. What was different in the fifties or sixties? What do we consider ‘at risk’ or ‘vulnerable’ to mean now compared to how we treated older people in the seventies?  ‘The culturally literate person is able to talk to and understand others of that culture with fluency, while the culturally illiterate person fails to understand culturally-conditioned allusions, references to past events, idiomatic expressions, jokes, names, places, etc.’ (Birmingham Public Schools, n.d.).

Examples:

I used the word ‘mitched’ to mean bunking off school in Wales and my tutor had never heard of it. The Model School is simply a grammar in Ireland not somewhere that teaches how to pose and catwalk.

I had no idea why so many people were employed as Tea Makers on farms in Pembrokeshire at the beginning of the 20th century.  Damned cursive scribbles!! Turns out they were men who drove wagons pulled by oxen etc, "Teamsters."

Until recently, no family had Welsh names nor spoke Welsh. Most family have biblical names and often recycle names in every generation. One has to ask if you mean my Aunt Jean or Aunt Jean’s Aunt Jean, Nanny Lilian or Aunt Lilian, etc. The addition of Alys, Cerys and Megan in the youngest generation, (alongside Poppy and others) makes life simpler and more colourful.

MEDIA LITERACY to analyse and evaluate how individuals and families may see things as opposed to how newspapers reported it in real time. I took out a subscription that allowed me to view old papers and it was interesting to see how mundane the headlines, and how commonplace the adverts were during the height of the troubles. When pubs were being blitzed the papers reported on a couple who had eloped to Gretna Greene.

FINANCIAL LITERACY not only to gather figures about wages and prices in past times but to help budget for buying certificates and employing researchers when necessary.

HEALTH LITERACY as defined by WHO according to NHS Health Education England (2020) refers to the personal characteristics and social resources needed for individuals and communities to access, understand, appraise and use information and services to make decisions about health. Health literacy includes the capacity to communicate, assert and enact these decisions. I had been told that my mother had died from Leukaemia six months after my youngest sister was born, but the death certificate tells me it was just three months and the cause of death was cervical cancer. It was important to share this information with my sisters.

EMOTIONAL LITERACY is linked to emotional intelligence to comprehend the situation in a holistic way. Also, it helps deal with discussing shared histories that may feel uncomfortable or be remembered by others differently. Younger generations were unaware of how socially unacceptable it was to discuss divorce, child deaths, disease or homosexuality.  ‘Living in sin’, ‘having a child on the wrong side of the blanket’ or ‘marrying a black man’ were knowing asides said in whispers.

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As the theme of my assignment, I will examine the texts, events and social practices involved in the art and act of storytelling within the genre of Creative Nonfiction (CNF). Writing creative nonfiction requires special attention to perspective and accuracy but allows writers to use the full range of creative techniques used by poets or novelists to engage and connect with the reader. It is more than just the facts, more than a Wikipedia entry, more than mere reporting in the dispassionate way of the bystander.

Gutkind (cited in MasterClass 2021) defines the essential elements of creative nonfiction as five “R’s”: real life, reflection, research, reading, and (w)riting. I will examine these in the next column. CNF is about real-life experiences, and like journalists, CNF writers go to places and people, immersing themselves in new experiences. “Reflection” means the writer finds a universal theme beyond self and connects with the reader.

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Proof of Card and Poem for Christmas 2018

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My family is sentimental and loves nothing more than a story with them as the main characters - much as children love those books that include their names.  For several Christmases, I found old photos I coloured and made into cards, adding rhyming doggerel (I would hardly call it poetry!) to tell the story behind the image. This one proved a great hit as it included two great aunts, two aunts and my mother. Over mince pies and sherry, they kept rereading it and adding to the story, remembering the excitement of Christmas when they were a child. They sat with young grandchildren reading it aloud, answering the obvious questions: "Who's that? When was it? Why didn't you have knickers on?" You know, obvious questions!

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Until 2008, I cared for my father-in-law who had dementia. In the odd moments that he slept, I recorded brief moments from our life for Facebook, Twitter and a blog, relying on short, catchy pieces to grab the reader’s attention. The writing was immediate, vernacular using everyday speech and direct quotes. They were slightly arch and satirical making fun of a situation in public which was nearly killing us with exhaustion and frustration in private. Turning those ideas into spoofs of Ladybird books, I gave them away as Christmas presents for close family who knew the situation, hoping it would allow for the release of tension and a shared laugh at the absurdity of life.

I had to be careful because while controversy may be good for funneling traffic to your website, I have a responsible day job and must ‘act with integrity and uphold public trust and confidence in the social care profession’ (Social Care Wales, 2017). I stopped blogging when my father-in-law became too ill to understand what I was writing.

There were many shocking or humorous stories to tell but I cannot; not about him and not about the families I currently work with. Adam Kay (2017, 2019) wrote books about working within the NHS, but I noted he changed dates, times and names as in dealing with childbirth, he realised most parents would remember when their child was born and be able to identify themselves. Even anonymised, I am betraying a trust which could destroy a family’s faith in the services trying to help them. Not everything should be copy.

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JACK - a life in tweed and baggy y-fronts - 00

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Two early pieces of writing involved my life in Belfast and Wales and how my interactions with each family differed. ‘On lessons learnt when buying shoes’ necessitated conversations with family to help my thoughts coalesce. My Irish family love talking about what the younger generation calls the “olden days” i.e., the 1970s. However, their memory is faulty; I needed to research further on a few details such as:

How old was Gramps in 1972?

Explain his ‘fashion’ choices – dead men’s suit, mutilated slippers and jumpers with sleeves cut short.

Legal basis for Direct Rule in NI and closure of Stormont;

uniform and role of the Corps of Commissionaires,

police radio broadcasts, NATO alphabet, semaphore and morse code.

The Austin 40 car, Haines Manual, Araldite.

Trips to Bangor.

Bloody Friday. The “ring of steel” security measure around the city centre.

Clark’s dance school.

Judo and Boxing.

Fashion tips for safety and personal safety for pretty young boys!

Boys’ fashions – corduroy, Beatles haircuts, Donny Osmond caps…

These details were woven into the text for verisimilitude but only covered the first 500 words of the story. Any one bullet point resulted in meandering conversations about Belfast right back to the aunts’ younger days in the 1950s, creating triggers for future pieces of writing.

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On Lessons Learned when buying shoes (PDF)

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The enjoyable part of biography for me is the social activity – reminiscing, learning new things from others or research, checking out that learning with family or friends. When I wrote my final 15,000-word piece for the MA, I concentrated on the years 1977 to 1981 when I was living with my father and his wife in Milford Haven. I changed some names for their sake and had to play down events – fact is stranger than fiction and to be believed it needs the colour turned down from eleven. This was a different experience as I had been estranged from my Irish family at the time. I couldn’t use them to bounce ideas or chat about that time. I don’t speak with my father; my sisters try not to engage in conversations that force them to confront the truth. Research was more about the time setting and a bit of soul searching on my behalf. The event or social practice was different, isolating and it made me think how lucky I was to have my mother’s family in my life for most of my sixty years.

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Gramps regaling Nanny with a tale about milking 

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It helps that my family love a good story. At gatherings, they tell and retell tales, honed over time, details exaggerated, funny lines sharpened. Quick on their Irish tongues, loosened by alcohol and laughter, their quips lay bare the foibles of others, or offer confessions of past mistakes softened and excused by the passage of time. There is almost a competition for who will speak next. They love talkers, entertainers, people who pay for their supper with a tale.

In one interview, Maeve Binchy stated that ‘Irish people in general have a talent for storytelling because they’re such wonderful talkers. It’s never a compliment in Ireland to be called a good listener, we prefer talkers and people who can tell us a tale,’ she says. ‘As a child I was the eldest and quite petted and spoilt. I was always encouraged to tell long, rambling stories.” (Pellegrino, 2010)

I am also the eldest and have told stories for most of my life but never shared them on paper until recently. The concretisation of words, solidifying a story in black and white, excites but scares me, especially as some are not my stories to share. I was always the enfant terrible, the one that asks embarrassing questions or tells awkward truths at parties, who wants to understand the truth behind the silences, the one to whom secrets are confided.  ‘People tell you things, Rob. You have that sort of face,’ say friends.

Therefore, I know more about my aunts and uncles, more about my grandparents’ lives than my sisters do. I know more about my father-in-law’s family background and his stories in WWII in Africa than his sons who tuned out when he began to ramble. I like rambling … I pick up the pieces of stories each time they are told, hold them, examine them, see if they fit, look for consistencies and inconsistencies and finally put the puzzle back to construct a cohesive picture.

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Belfast Family Visits - 50 - Party at Hill Street, Hakin

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Barton, D & Hamilton, M. (2012) Local Literacies: Reading and Writing in One Community. London: Routledge.

Birmingham Public Schools (no date) Types of Literacy. Available at https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwijwcbOtvz6AhVRZ8AKHfmkChQQFnoECBgQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.birmingham.k12.mi.us%2Fcms%2Flib%2FMI01908619%2FCentricity%2FDomain%2F994%2FTypes%2520of%2520Literacies.pptx&usg=AOvVaw1haV1eFSWDC14bdJQTWKwK (accessed 26 October 2022)

Brice Heath, S. (1994) What no bedtime story means: narrative skills at home and school. In Maybin, J. ed. Language and Literacy in social practice. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters., pp73-95

Kay, A. (2017) This is Going to hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor. [Kindle] London: Picador

Lynch, M. (2019) What Are the 13 Types of Literacy? Available at https://www.theedadvocate.org/what-are-the-13-types-of-literacy/  (accessed 26 October 2022)

Martin-Jones, M. (2009) ‘From life worlds and work worlds to college: The

bilingual literacy practices of young Welsh speakers.’ Wales Journal Of Education 14(2) , pp45-62. Available at https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwinorub4pL7AhWURUEAHcCKDPoQFnoECBMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjournal.uwp.co.uk%2Fwje%2Farticle%2F286%2Fgalley%2F305%2Fdownload%2F&usg=AOvVaw0dC2gIvxQRdSmQyEatQAri (accessed 02/11/2022)

MasterClass (2021) A Complete Guide to Writing Creative Nonfiction. Available at https://www.masterclass.com/articles/a-complete-guide-to-writing-creative-nonfiction (accessed 02/11/2022)

NHS Health Education England (2020) Health Literacy 'how to' guide. Available at https://library.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2020/08/Health-literacy-how-to-guide.pdf (Accessed on 26 October 2022)

Pellegino (2010) An interview with Maeve Binchy. Available at https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/celeb-news/an-interview-with-maeve-binchy-2482 (accessed 30 Oct 2022)

Social Care Wales, (2017) Code of Professional Practice for Social Care [online] Available at https://socialcare.wales/cms_assets/file-uploads/Code-of-Professional-Practice-for-Social-Care-web-version.pdf (Accessed 11 July 2021).

White, D.S. and Le Cornu, A. (2011) Visitors and Residents: a new typology for online engagement First Monday 16 (9) available at http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049 (accessed 02/11/2020)

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Considering Gutkind’s 5 R’s (Real life, Reflection, Research, Reading, (w)riting) the event of producing CNF begins with real life, whether one-to-one conversations or large family gatherings. These seem natural and free flowing, but Gee (1990, cited in Barton & Hamilton, 2012, p253) argues that vernacular literacies are not unencumbered by social institutions. They remain ‘subject to the social pressures of the family and other social groups and they are regulated by them.’

My family promulgated a shared understanding of our lives but, as with many mystery novels, those stories were told by unreliable narrators who sometimes told half-truths or made facts palatable to avoid any issues that were distasteful to older generations: adoption, alcoholism, cancer, child deaths, etc.,

Some stories were never told fully, such as Gramps’ ship being torpedoed in WWII – he never told us fully about the bodies of comrades floating in the dark freezing waters which upset him, preferring to concentrate on the funnier moments (when they thought white uniforms signified a trip to the tropics only to find themselves running back and forth to Iceland) or neutral moments such as teaching me how to do semaphore or morse code.

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Lewis Carroll (originally published in 1865) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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Years of counselling practice and social work have helped me to listen closely to the stories people say aloud, and the ones that are put together from what is not said. It also helped me know what not to tell. When in despair or going through hard times, Gramps would say, ‘This will be good for a story, someday,’ but how long must pass before it is the right time to tell all. I realised that some family stories did not fit together. How can Gramps’ father die when he was young, but he has a sister 30 years younger than himself?  Ask which are the real siblings and you will be told they are all his sisters and brothers. Ask twice and you risk a swift slap! It is noble but a nuisance if you are considering who to approach for a spare kidney.

Truth is subjective and more than mere facts, it is what one believes, and people are willing to believe all sorts of lies if they are told convincingly and often. The “Big Lie” was defined by Goebbels in WWII and propagated by Trump in the 2020 US elections. For me, it is little white lies that have become embedded over years. Robert Breault (n.d.) is quoted as saying, “Somewhere between the honest truth and the deceptive lie is the deceptive truth and the honest lie.” My reflection on these issues led to more questions so I knew I had to do some research but still worried about countering the dominant story and falling out with family.

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I began my research by asking family about the past and sifting through photographs. I think their approach to the past is summed up by I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname. ‘That’s Mrs… thing, you remember her, from down, ooh you know…, by the factory.’ No, I don’t know.

Some photos dated back to the 1930s and were not always crisp and bright. Gramps had taken up photography in the fifties but was mean with paper and solutions, producing tiny prints that quickly turned brown. Finding them in old handbags and biscuit tins, it took me ages to scan and process them, guessing whose head had been cut out to place in a locket or which photos went together based on size or framing. This contrasted sharply with my partner’s family who kept excellent albums, collating photos based on events or holidays and adding handwritten notes and dates explaining who was present and where it was taken. His parents were both university-educated librarians and were early adopters of new technology. Mine are blue-collar workers who still haven’t had cinefilms from 1962 transferred to video.

I did my best to sort and collate them before scanning and storing them online with all my photographs on Flickr and external hard drives. I gave the family access to Flickr and a DVD containing a copy of all my grandparents’ photos – hundreds of them all indexed for ease. I hoped my aunts would join me in my research, but they are mostly digital visitors rather than digital residents (white and Le Cornu, 2011). Some can use one app in some basic way such as eBay, Skype, Facebook.

I produced a comprehensive family tree, joining Ancestry.com and gathering many records of births, marriages and deaths. I loved tracking down records, but I recognised some of my limitations. I employed a researcher to find out more about older family members in Belfast learning in the process that my family had included people who did not read or write – making Xs on documents they couldn’t read, leading to people using names that were not correct.

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Aunt Lilian and her granddaughter reading our family book.

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I knew when I was beaten and ended up producing a large format photobook for each of them, then sat and talked through the photos, revising what I knew based upon their conversation and corrections. I made it jokey and personal, writing from my point of view. I was worried they might feel I was hijacking our history, but I presented them with a copy each at Christmas and they loved it.

Reading is their dominant and preferred form of literacy. Deafness means they even read TV programmes with subtitles on and sound off. My mother’s side of the family are big readers and instilled this in me, so much so that I could read and write before school. Great library goers, they ensured we read what we wanted and were always happy to read with us.  Gramps’ valued knowledge and was interested in the history and science of his hobbies.

By contrast, my father’s family never read anything harder than the Sun or Daily Mirror. My stepmother owned two books. A copy of Enquire Within Upon Everything from nineteen-nought-spit told you how to address a letter to a Bishop or remove stains from woollen carpets. She’d never written a letter to my knowledge, nor allowed stains on the foam-backed nylon shagpile. The more recent Dairy Book of Home Cooking was purchased on the doorstep from the milkman at my urging. My dad enlarged this library by fifty per cent when he moved in with his Observer’s Book of Dogs. They were all stuffed into a drawer of the kitchen cabinet. Photos are hidden away, going mouldy in an attic or stuffed to the back of cupboards; there are none of those mementoes you see in other homes – school photos, wedding albums etc.

I found it interesting to read Brice Heath’s (1994) notion of differing literacies practised within families in Tracton, Maintown and Roadville.  I could see how the storytelling of my mother’s family, and their interest in literacy for education and social capital as well as pleasure had given me a resilient approach to continue reading, writing and drawing even when those around me only valued active and social pastimes such as fishing or gardening.

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I will address the various ways that I used the research and family history in the next column. Some predate doing a creative writing course, were naive attempts and written for different audiences. Throughout the period there was a blog, some parody children's books, poems used for Christmas cards and long-form stories written both as fiction and non-fiction. The common theme was the copious note-taking and planning on index cards, post-it notes and notebooks before branching out to include spreadsheets and online plotting devices.  During a telephone conversation with a great aunt, I covered 22 index cards as she regaled me with comical stories of a friend of hers I had known as a child. It took me much longer to wrangle my notes into a short story "May McBride on trial: the fur coat and the chip fat"

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https://www.theraplatform.com/blog/486/what-is-emotional-literacy

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Emotional literacy is a concept underlying an individual's understanding of emotions. At its most basic, it involves the ability to identify and label feelings in ourselves and others. In addition, emotional literacy incorporates the coping and expression of emotions in appropriate ways. The term is thought to have been coined by psychotherapist Claude Steiner. He describes emotional literacy as "the ability to understand your emotions, the ability to listen to others and empathise with their emotions, and the ability to express emotions productively".

1. Knowing your feelings

2. Having a sense of empathy

3. Learning to manage your emotions

4. Repairing emotional problems

5. Emotional interactivity

Additionally, he believed that it was key to the formation of successful relationships, enhanced problem solving abilities, and improving overall quality of life. We mostly discuss emotional literacy in terms of children, but it has essential value across the lifespan.

It is important to note that many people use emotional intelligence and emotional literacy interchangeably, or at the very least, they have considerable overlap. Emotional intelligence may be an overall broader concept but it is made up of self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy, all critical aspects of emotional literacy. It is probably fair to say that emotional literacy is a building block of emotional intelligence and that the benefits of possessing emotional intelligence are shared with emotional literacy.

To accurately measure the importance of emotional literacy, you have to think about the role emotional understanding and regulation play in all facets of our lives. If you can't identify the emotions you are experiencing, you can't properly understand your feelings or control your behavior. You are more likely to be frustrated and confused and express yourself inappropriately. That means more impulsive and destructive behavior as well as an inability to self-soothe. Problems with emotional literacy may lead to anger management issues and contribute to a lack of frustration tolerance. What's more, if you are stuck in emotional turmoil, you can't concentrate on school or work responsibilities, causing you to be less successful. And what happens when you are less successful? You become upset and act out. It is a vicious cycle.

Maybe most importantly, emotional literacy affects your relationships with other people. It allows you to accurately interpret other people's feelings and act accordingly. That means you will get in fewer fights and are more likely to have friends and be popular. Additionally, if you can "read the room" that puts you at a major advantage in social and work situations. Emotional literacy is directly related to the development of empathy. Understanding how someone else may be feeling is essential to all interpersonal interaction. Further, people with empathy get along better with others and are viewed more kindly.

If you can't identify and understand emotions you are at a severe disadvantage in life. It is not an exaggeration to say that people with emotional literacy are going to be happier and well-adjusted than those with emotional deficits.

Challenges in the Development of Emotional Literacy

We are not born with emotional literacy. It needs to be developed over our lives. As with many aspects of development, however, if it does not emerge when we are young, there is a danger that it will never sufficiently develop. That is why there is such a focus on increasing emotional literacy as a child. Unfortunately, several factors may intercede to prevent its advancement:

One factor is biological. Some children have a difficult temperate that does not lend itself easily to introspection and regulation. Other children, such as those with developmental disabilities, simply don't have the same aptitude to become emotionally literate. Another major factor is environmental: parental and family support. Do the people in your house promote the expression and identification of feelings? Many families are more detached and have problems showing their emotions. Other families have trouble regulating their feelings and have frequent arguments or problems with anger management. When you aren't surrounded with emotional literacy it is much harder to develop. That makes what happens outside the home more important. And children spend most of their time outside the home at school. So, it begs the question: are teachers promoting emotional literacy? Although some teachers and child-care workers are aware of emotional literacy, it is not a topic that has received as much attention as some other aspects of development. As a result, it may not be promoted as much with children as would be necessary to make up for any deficits from their home life.

An additional problem is the nature of social interaction today. In today's world, we are buried in our phones, tablets, and computers. We spend more time texting and on Zoom than we do in the same room. As a result, there is less opportunity to engage in meaningful face-to-face interactions with others. Overall, we are living in a less present society than in the last century.

Further, our expectations for boys and girls differ. Because of societal gender norms, there is the belief that boys and men should not express their emotions. Therefore, boys do not receive the same opportunities to develop emotional literacy, giving girls the advantage in understanding feelings and developing empathy.

Finally, children are busier than ever. Activities certainly have their advantages but a downside is that being so busy frequently prevents normal socialization. Remember when you were a kid and you had free time to hang out with friends? You talked to each other and devised your own activities. Now, children are lucky to have any significant unscheduled time. And when they do, they are often messaging each other from afar.

What Does the Research Say?

The research on emotional literacy and emotional intelligence points to its crucial role in life satisfaction.

The following are research results that illuminate its role in our success:

A common theme of emotional literacy is how it helps children succeed in school. Research findings suggest that emotional literacy prepares students for an optimal learning environment and increased academic success,

Students with emotional intelligence do better at school than peers who show less literacy; they exhibit higher grades and standardized test scores, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

In addition, students with higher emotional intelligence appear better able to manage negative emotions, such as anxiety, boredom, and disappointment. Also, these students seem to better manage relationships with teachers, peers, and family. All of these strengths lead to better academic performance.

Children who have emotional literacy skills are better able to self-soothe which means they experience negative emotions for ashorter period of time.

Emotional literacy does not just help children. According to a 1994 follow-up study, emotional intelligence abilities were approximately four times more important than IQ in determining professional success.

Similar to what children find with academic success, adults find emotional understanding leads to several advantages with their jobs. Emotional intelligence has been found to have a positive impact on project success, job satisfaction, and trust.

Another example of how valuable emotional literacy can be to creativity in the work environment. Emotional intelligence is a critical factor in driving innovation and entrepreneurship.

Financial security makes all our lives easier. Luckily, emotional intelligence has a positive correlation with making money.

Resources for Teaching Emotional Literacy

There are numerous tools available to help people work on emotional literacy.

Here are some examples of the most effective resources and where to find them:

Emotion Faces are probably the most common tool used to promote emotional literacy. You can find them almost anywhere on the internet. They are simply worksheets with faces of different feelings. Below the face is the name of the emotion that is being illustrated. Clients are usually asked to use the faces to express how they feel. This helps them to both identify and label their feelings. Another variation of this concept is a list of emotions worksheet which lays out a variety of emotion words clients can identify with. An added element of emotion faces is emotion cards. In addition to the emotion face on each card, they ask a question about the pictured emotion that is meant to further understanding.

Friendship Cards (FC) are a set of cards designed to help children understand feelings and appropriate responses in different situations. Generally, the cards are used in conjunction with stories or video clips on a chosen topic. They depict different feelings and possible responses to interpersonal problems. The cards are used to help children to understand feelings and explore why certain reactions are more appropriate than others. As a result, they learn the best ways to resolve conflict with others.

Emotion thermometers are another familiar resource to help clients understand their feelings. Although commonly used in anger management they can be used with any emotion. Feeling thermometers help people understand that emotions have different degrees of severity and some levels may be more adaptive than others.

Picture books are an effective way to help young children (or people with reading difficulties) understand emotions and how they affect interpersonal interaction. Any book with pictures will do, but there are many books created to illustrate feelings. A couple of examples of books that can serve this purpose are The Feeling Flower by Lean Dakroub andMy Heart by Corinna Luyken.

Over the past 50 years, certain researchers have attempted to create theories of emotion. More specifically, they use their theories to identify all the main and secondary emotions, how they are categorized, and how they become interrelated. Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions and Ekmans' Atlas of Emotions are two of these tools developed to describe feelings. They can be used with children and adults alike to identify emotions, further our understanding of how they are related, and figure out how they were created.

Websites With Emotional Literacy Resources

While the above tools are some of the most well-known to promote emotional literacy, the following websites have a lot of resources contained under one roof.

Therapist Aid is chock full of worksheets and activities related to emotions and emotional literacy. Some of the content is free but some requires a paid subscription.

Education.com has a bunch of free worksheets that focus on the development of emotional literacy and intelligence. Geared toward educators, it is free with signup.

Another site made by educators, Teachers Pay Teachers contains a variety of different exercises to teach emotional literacy. You have to pay for each activity separately but they are worth the money.

Psychpoint is a website that has worksheets for therapists working with emotional literacy and other issues. They have a particularly helpful worksheet that describes an art therapy mask project that will assist children in the expression of their feelings. You can have limited worksheets for free but you will need to sign up for a subscription if you want to use their full library. This site is only for licensed therapists.

You may not think about emotional literacy and Pinterest in the same breath but it has a ton of feelings activities/worksheets and they are free. You just need to be on Pinterest.

Emotional literacy has far-reaching consequences. It has been linked to improved academic performance, work success, and satisfaction in personal relationships. Therefore, the development of emotional intelligence in our children becomes critical to their present and future success. Helping professionals can use the many resources available to them to help increase emotional literacy in our youth. The proliferation of online communication has made telehealth platforms an ideal place to access these resources. TheraPlatform, for instance, has free worksheets that help with emotional expression and literacy. It also has resources to identify emotions and assess feelings, as well as interactive games that promote emotional understanding. So, don't get left behind. If you think that your patients could use your assistance with emotional literacy, take advantage of all of the resources available.

More resources:

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Emotional literacy is a concept underlying an individual's understanding of emotions. At its most basic, it involves the ability to identify and label feelings in ourselves and others. In addition, emotional literacy incorporates the coping and expression of emotions in appropriate ways. The term is thought to have been coined by psychotherapist Claude Steiner.

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Like most families, mine has secrets. For periods, I lived with my grandparents, aunts, or my father and his wife. The result is a fractured history. It has taken me time to piece certain facts together. Therefore, my use of vernacular or everyday literacy falls into two categories as delineated by Barton & Hamilton (2012, p249-250). One is documenting life, sifting through all the records available especially photographs and capturing oral stories onto paper. The second is sense-making, considering my experience alongside other similar perspectives of fractured childhoods including those written by comedians who use humour to overcome adversity alongside LGBTQ+ authors. These included:

Crisp, Q. (1968) The Naked Civil Servant. London: Penguin

Davies, A. (2021) Just Ignore Him. London: Little, Brown

Godley, J. (2005) Handstands in the Dark

James, C. (2015) Unreliable Memoires. London: Picador

Kay, A. (2017) This is Going to hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor. [Kindle] London: Picador

Kay, J. (1991) The Adoption Papers. Hexham: Bloodaxe Books

Liz Lochhead: 'Kidspoem/Bairnsang' (2010) YouTube video, added by MediaMattersVideo [Online]. Available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2PfrDrAIR0 (Accessed 10 July 2021)

Self, W. (2020) Will. London: Penguin

Sissay, L. (2019) My Name is Why. Edinburgh: Canongate Books.

Winterson. J (1985) Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. London: Pandora Press

Winterson. J (2012) Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? London: Vintage