Polite Greeting

GOOD MANNERS (Section #4) – Week 1 – Teacher’s Script

Start the lesson by gathering your students into a tight huddle and ask these three questions:

What does it mean to have good manners?
Why is it important to have good manners?
Can you give me an example of having good manners?

Then share the following story or lesson and ask the questions listed.

This week we are going to talk about the value of a polite greeting. It was once said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

Often, the first impression is made when we are being introduced or are introducing ourselves to someone. Therefore, it is very important to deliberately go out of our way to make our greeting polite. Even if we have met them before, a polite greeting sets the tone for this meeting.

Do you want other people’s impression of you to be:

“That kid is a brat”?
“That kid is a wimp”?
“That kid is a liar and a cheat”?

A polite greeting is important, not only because it shows good manners, but when you look someone in the eye, give them a firm (but not too tight) hand shake and confidently say your name, your behavior says “I’m a nice, honest, trustworthy and confident person, and don’t pick on me.”

Let’s get two volunteers up to demonstrate. One will demonstrate a polite greeting and the other will demonstrate a not-so-polite greeting.

(After the demo, have everyone demonstrate a polite greeting on each other. Mix it up with an attention stance to make it an enjoyable drill. )

So let’s practice how to do a polite greeting. Remember to look them straight in the eye, give them a firm handshake, and confidently say. “Hi my name is ____________.”

(For fun, you can have them introduce themselves as their favorite character, such as, “Hi, I’m Batman, or, “Hello, I’m Captain Midnight”, etc.)

This week go out of your way to practice your polite greeting every chance you get. In fact, try to be the first one to offer your hand for a handshake!