The Friendship Kiosk - a playmate for everyobody | Rita Kannisto | TEDxOtaniemi

What would it be like, if every kid could find a friend at school when they want? Here’s a story from one such school in Finland. Rita Kannisto has been a teacher for 20 years and she has supervised too many recesses to count.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx.

Hello everybody.

I come from the small
municipality Janakkala

and I work in Tervakoski.

I'm a class teacher
in a fairly big school with 400 students.

I've been doing this job
for nearly 20 years,

and I've made some calculations:

during 20 years,

a teacher does 800 hours
of break supervision.

Just imagine spending
800 hours on the schoolyard.

During breaks, you can discover
a lot of interesting things.

One of the discoveries really bothered me:

there are always kids

who seem to be lonely
or kind of outsiders.

Around those kids,
hundreds of kids can play,

although they themselves
sort of hide behind an invisible wall,

far away from everything and everybody.

In the worst case,
the break develops in such a way

that some kids just look at the clock
and hope that the break is soon over.

Of course, we teachers
try to help those lonely kids

find their way to other kids.

But it's not always that easy.

Some of them have probably been
lookers-on for a long time,

and they are not able to approach others.

Others have been rejected so often
that they no longer have the courage

to join in a game or ask for a playmate.

In such cases, I feel
totally incompetent as a teacher.

Falling into a deep feeling of inadequacy,

my colleague, Milena Komulainen,
and I, together,

came up with the idea
of the "Friendship Kiosk."

What would it be like if there were
a kiosk on the schoolyard

where the kids could find a playmate?

And if the kiosk looked attractive enough,

the kids would bustle
about it all the time,

and even the shiest kid
could go to this "Friendship Kiosk."

Soon afterwards, we set up
a "Friendship Kiosk" on our schoolyard.

The students were allowed
to paint it a fun color,

and then we opened it officially
together with the whole school.

We announced that this kiosk

would always be open
during breaks at 10 a.m.

Every student could find
a friend during the break.

We recruited our six graders,
who became volunteer playmates.

Starting out, we wondered

how much they'd want
to participate in this project,

but despite our concerns,
we found plenty of volunteers.

We provided them with colorful T-shirts,

and we had them write "friend"
on them in big letters.

Then we bought balls,
hula hoops, soap bubbles,

games and other things
to generate enthusiasm.

Finally, we gave the volunteers
the most important guideline:

Take part in every game.

If a little kid asks you
to build a little hut with him,

then get going building the hut.

Or if they want you
to work a skipping rope,

then work it for them.

Or if they need someone to talk to,

then go listen to them,
chat with them a bit."

The playmates were supposed to be happy
and get enthusiastic about everything.

From the first day, the "Friendship Kiosk"
was a great success for us.

At the beginning of break, the kids
would always rush to the kiosk window,

and the playmates seemed
to be having quite a lot of fun too.

We didn't expect that the youngsters
would soon start asking

when they could become
the playmates of the "Friendship Kiosk."

Before we opened the kiosk,
we'd prepared the volunteers for the task.

In our opinion, the most important thing
is to know how to deal with the customer.

I really like watching
how people interact with one another,

and what happens when they meet.

In my adult capacity,
I'm in a prime position

to observe the kids at school
and also adults during meetings.

It doesn't always work out well.

We meet a number
of different people during the day,

and it's important

that both sides leave the meeting
with positive feelings.

However, it needs to be practiced
from an early stage,

and hopefully they practice
with adults' help.

In fact, in the hectic
of everyday school life,

they forget about practicing.

Today, children and
young people of the world

have shifted meetings to social media.

And in real life, meetings seem
to be going downhill somewhat too.

The "Friendship Kiosk"

provides for playful practicing
of meetings behavior.

We realized soon

that our customers
needed to be trained too.

You can't just go to the kiosk
in order to gather toys

without saying a word,

or just by snarling: "Pass the ball!"

Throughout life, the kids are going
to deal with service counters like this.

Here we've a very nice exercise
that shows how to go to such a counter.

You always receive better service
when you a) smile, b) greet,

or c) present your case in a sensible way.

Our "Friendship Kiosk" has exceeded
all our expectations,

and I'm very happy
that I can tell you about it here.

There are numerous opportunities

to develop things further
and improve them.

Suppose pensioners had
a "Friendship Kiosk" at the market square?

Many of them might well want
to find a friend to talk to.

In this way, an immigrant
could find someone

to go jogging or have a coffee with.

You will be able to come up
with a lot of possibilities yourselves.

Our project has attracted attention
in many kinds of local media.

We were even shown on TV
in the main news program.

(Video starts)

[At the Tervakoski school
in Janakkala, there's a unique kiosk.]

[In the queue, there's
no anger, no quarrels.]

[At the" Friendship Kiosk," it's possible
to find a playmate during the break.]

[There's a list of friends who play
football, skip, play marbles,]

[build huts, play on the seesaw,
make soap bubbles.]

Nes Selkämaa, friend:

Kids now feel free to come to us,

also from other schools, for example,

to cuddle, make friends,
or skip with a rope.

Erika Hinnosaar, friend:

Last week, everybody was standing around
and nobody was moving in any special way.

Everybody would just stand around
in their small groups and talk,

but now everybody
makes all things possible.

For example, they make soap bubbles
with kids they don't know at all,

or they skip with a rope.

They just feel free to ask here.

(Video ends)

Rita Kannisto: And now the best news:

in the yard, just beyond
the entrance door,

real "Friendship Kiosk" friends
are waiting for you.

We set up a small
"Friendship Kiosk" for you.

My students Juho, Aada and Rebekka

are waiting for you to play with them.

Take the risk,
just try it out and have fun.

If, through the "Friendship Kiosk" game,

only one kid finds its way to other kids,

that means this project
was worth all the effort.

If, in doing so, one child learns
how to approach other kids,

that will mean we've achieved our goal.

And if only one kid finds a new friend
through the "Kiosk game,"

we'll be able to shout
"Hooray!" to the world.

Hopefully, the next 800 hours
of being a break supervisor

will be a bit easier for me from now on.

Thank you.

(Applause)