A teacher in Trinidad and Tobago shares her joy at teaching Zippy’s Friends

‘I am elated to be a Zippy's Friends teacher and my school Couva South Government Primary is truly blessed to be participating in this programme. My students look forward to Zippy's Friends sessions every week. Because of this programme I realised how little I know about the children in my class. Children have the same need to talk about their feelings as adults. They are encouraged to talk about their emotions after seeing and hearing the characters in the stories.

I try to create an atmosphere of safety and mutual respect in the classroom. This surely improves their self-esteem, gives feelings of competence and makes them realise they have a choice of coping options that increases their range of possibilities for dealing with any problematic situations they have.  I am definitely seeing an improvement in the children's behaviour and the way they talk about their feelings. I think the children and I are all gaining from this programme. May those who introduced this programme to the primary schools be totally blessed. "Hats off to you all." ‘