Theory on Life Skills Education for Students in Primary Schools

Education organizes and designs rich and diverse educational activities that link school activities with life, creates diverse connections between scientific knowledge and practical situations, gives students the opportunity to practice and experience in real life, thereby helping them to master themselves, behave positively with people and effectively solve situations and problems in practice.

1.3. Theory of life skills education for students in primary schools

1.3.1. Characteristics of life skills education for primary school students

According to author Nguyen Thi Tinh, life skills education has the following characteristics [17]:

1.3.1.1. GDKNS is an educational process with specific purposes, contents, plans and measures.

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The ultimate goal of life skills education is to help learners have a successful and effective life when participating in daily activities. Therefore, life skills education is a long-term, complex process, requiring many forces to participate. The content of life skills education is very rich, it can be associated with education so that people can have self-control actions; adapt to changes in life; educate how to live, behave with others; educate an optimistic and confident lifestyle...

The content of life skills education is very rich. In addition to the general life skills necessary for everyone such as: self-control skills, communication skills, value determination skills, perseverance skills..., it also has life skills related to specific issues of daily life such as: hygiene, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention, population issues, reproductive health care... For different subjects, the content of life skills education is different, it changes and depends on geographical characteristics, culture, age...

GDKNS is a long-term, complex process, requiring the combination of many educational forces and many participants. It cannot be carried out in just a few days but requires clear content and planning, on that basis, specific measures are carried out.

1.3.1.2. GDKNS must be based on the foundation of value education.

Life skills education aims to equip learners with appropriate knowledge, values, attitudes and skills to form healthy and positive behaviors and habits; eliminate negative behaviors and habits surrounding relationships, situations and daily activities of people. Therefore, life skills education needs to orient and form children with correct life values so that children can perceive and evaluate right/wrong; know how to set correct goals and ideals in life to train their ability to stand firm against the enticements and enticements of friends and bad people; behave properly, communicate effectively with people around them; the ability to observe, analyze, think, evaluate to cope with and solve different situations in social life effectively...

Thus, life skills education and values education have a close relationship with each other. Value education will create the foundation and orientation for expressing attitudes and behaviors of each individual. It affects the actions of the subject, the subject's decision making to solve problems in daily life. Therefore, it can be said that all human decisions are based on values. Life skills education is a process that must be carried out in parallel with values education, and it also follows the principles of values education.

1.3.1.3. GDKNS has high flexibility

Life skills education is always associated with human actions in real life with different movements and changes. Therefore, life skills education is not static, it changes and moves flexibly with the developments and movements of society. Depending on the space, time, objects, and different circumstances, the purpose, content, and measures of life skills education are also different: life skills of people in mountainous areas are different from life skills of people in coastal areas; life skills of primary school students are different from life skills of high school students.

1.3.1.4. GDKNS is associated with experiencing and using active teaching methods and forms of organization.

GDKNS is not simply the teaching of general theoretical and theoretical issues, but is a very complex process, requiring learners to be provided with opportunities to experience and apply the knowledge they have learned to solve specific practical problems. Through experiential activities, learners will be trained in life skills, thereby having a clearer awareness of their own role and position; drawing on many life experiences when interacting and relating with others; solving problems arising in daily life in a more flexible and positive way.

Unlike other educational processes, the use of active teaching methods and forms of organization plays a huge role in educating life skills through teaching subjects. It not only stimulates interest, helps students develop their self-study ability, and independently explores subject knowledge, but it also creates opportunities for learners to "learn how to learn", thereby practicing some general and basic life skills such as: Communication skills in presenting and expressing opinions; Skills in listening to others' opinions; Skills in working in groups; Skills in critical thinking when facing a problem; Skills in making decisions...

1.3.2. Principles of life skills education for primary school students

1.3.2.1. Ensure high interaction for learners

Life skills education must create conditions and opportunities for learners to operate in a learning environment with active communication and interaction. Life skills education must create conditions for children to observe, play roles, and create interactions between learners and with other individuals in society. Through the process of interacting with classmates and those around them, students will have the opportunity to express their ideas, consider the ideas of others, and develop their own ideas.

others, to evaluate and self-review personal life experiences. Therefore, organizing highly interactive activities in schools creates important opportunities for effective life skills education, especially communication skills groups, value identification skills, decision making skills, and problem solving skills.

1.3.2.2. Ensure students have experience

The content of GDKNS focuses on educating learners on the ability to apply knowledge and express their own values in specific daily situations through the process of personal interaction with others. GDKNS must create opportunities for children to express their existing experience and knowledge around solving life problems. From there, children know how to select and inherit the right knowledge and experience to change negative behaviors and form positive behaviors.

Therefore, in the process of GDKNS, teachers need to design and organize activities that are connected both inside and outside of class time, in order to create opportunities for students to express their personal ideas, experience themselves and know how to analyze their own and others' life experiences. For high school students, the experience can be carried out in class through participating in handling situations, performing games (especially role-playing) related to real life. It can also be organized by asking students to perform specific actions at home, in the locality related to the content of the lessons.

Through performing activities and solving practical problems, learners express their feelings; analyze what they have done and what they see; speculate about alternative actions to solve problems more reasonably and effectively in accordance with the actual situation.

1.3.2.3. Ensuring implementation progress

The essence of life skills education is to train skills. Therefore, it is not simply about forming knowledge for learners about relationships and activities in life; understanding the relationship between personal values and common values, but more importantly, forming and training learners to have skills to perform positive actions in relationships with themselves, others and the community. Therefore, life skills education needs to ensure the process of forming skills, that is, it must go from students forming knowledge, recognizing values to practicing, applying and training in reality.

1.3.2.4. Ensure behavior formation and change.

Each person's behavior is the result of knowledge, attitude... and can be considered the highest and most difficult result to achieve in life skills education. Life skills education needs to be defined.

aimed at forming correct life values for students, thereby helping them to be able to stand firm against the enticements and enticements of friends and bad people; behave properly, communicate effectively with people around them; The ability to observe, analyze, think, evaluate to deal with and resolve different situations in social life effectively... The results of life skills education are shown through the behaviors of the subject when they participate in different situations of real life and effective life skills education must make the subject know how to analyze right/wrong; good/bad correctly, thereby forming desires and making behavioral adjustments towards positive behaviors.

1.3.3. Paths to life skills education for primary school students

Life skills education in primary schools is not organized into a specific subject or field of study but is carried out through the following basic ways:

1.3.3.1. Education of life skills through teaching subjects

To implement GDKNS through teaching subjects, teachers can follow two approaches:

The first is to exploit the subject content, choose lessons suitable for the students to educate life skills. Based on the objectives, subject content; learning and living characteristics of the students; local environment... teachers choose lessons with content close to the students to educate life skills.

In primary schools today, some subjects such as Ethics, Natural and Social Sciences (in grades 1, 2, 3), Science (in grades 4, 5), Vietnamese are considered subjects with great potential for teachers to exploit to educate life skills. Ethics, based on the ultimate goal of forming for primary school students the knowledge, skills and correct attitudes related to ethical standards of behavior, almost all ethics lessons have the potential to educate communication skills, value determination skills, decision-making skills... Natural and Social Sciences, Science are built on the perspective of integrating the content of natural sciences with science of health, population, and environment. The subject content is selected to be practical, close and meaningful to students, helping them to apply scientific knowledge to their daily lives. Therefore, these are also subjects that focus on educating life skills: self-awareness and self-assessment skills; self-confidence and persuasive problem-solving skills; perseverance skills; goal-setting skills; decision-making and problem-solving skills related to self-care, building positive living behaviors for oneself, family and community... Vietnamese subject in primary school has the task of forming and developing in students the skills of using Vietnamese (listening, speaking, reading, writing) to study and communicate in the active environments of their age. Through

Teaching and learning activities of Vietnamese language contribute to expanding understanding of nature, society and people, and at the same time develop in students communication skills with the community and society; skills to perceive the world around them; skills to identify and build their own value system; skills to make decisions and solve problems.

Second, it is necessary to increase the use of active teaching methods and techniques in subjects to educate life skills. In the subject of Ethics, to form ethical standards of behavior for students, active learning methods such as brainstorming, role-playing, group discussion, case study, practice, etc. are often used, which contributes to making life skills education easier and more effective. The subjects of Nature and Society and Science focus on forming and developing learning skills such as observing, discussing, commenting, wondering, asking questions and expressing one's understanding of simple objects and phenomena in nature and in society. Therefore, when participating in activities in the subject, students will have many opportunities to practice communication skills, cooperation, teamwork... Vietnamese subject aims to organize students to practice communication, organize group activities, learning games, problem solving... Thereby, students are enhanced experience, practice cooperation skills, express personal opinions,...

1.3.3.2. GDKNS through extracurricular educational activities

“Extracurricular activities are activities organized outside of school hours. They can be considered as activities that are organically linked to educational activities during class hours”. They are the bridge between teaching in class and educating students outside of class. Extracurricular activities create conditions for students to practice and enhance life skills in ways appropriate to each group of subjects and each region. For example: activities to celebrate major holidays; activities to study and learn about the good traditions of the school and the locality; activities to establish friendship and exchange with other schools and military units; activities to learn about famous people and scientists; listening to talks about scientific and technical achievements and professions in society; trying to make learning tools, visual aids, etc.; including simple daily activities such as: cleaning the classroom and school yard; repair flower beds, take care of ornamental plants to decorate the classroom, participate in youth projects, etc.

Through extracurricular activities, every day, every month, every year, high school students are developed comprehensively. They not only receive knowledge, but also form morality, health, aesthetics and practice basic life skills in the community; adapt to the changes that take place every day in the family and modern society such as: Communicating and behaving with family members: grandparents, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters; with elders and friends at school, in wards, communes, hamlets, villages; knowing how to respect teachers; knowing how to

sympathize, share, help friends, etc.; know how to negotiate, share, cooperate, adapt to cultural diversity in family, school, and locality; form thinking skills such as creativity, criticism, problem solving, decision making, developing imagination, etc.

In today's primary schools, life skills education can be implemented through extracurricular educational activities with the following basic forms:

Firstly, life skills education is done through thematic activities with contents such as: competitions, group activities, cultural activities, performing "real people, real work" actions... thereby contributing to training students in teamwork skills, self-confidence skills, decision-making skills to solve problems...

Second, GDKNS through collective activities, including: class activities, flag salute, Team activities, Star activities. In primary school, these periods are clearly defined in the timetable. The content of collective activities is not only to evaluate the work and activities of the class that take place during the week, month, semester; disseminate school activities to each class in a timely and accurate manner, but also to organize public service activities, social activities, implement traffic safety education, environmental protection, prevention of social evils... Therefore, collective activities are very good opportunities for schools to train students in communication skills, planning skills, goal setting, teamwork skills,...

1.3.3.3. GDKNS through experiential activities

Experiential activities are optional, depending on the conditions of each school, each locality and the ability of the students, to choose appropriate activity content. The content and form of experiential activities must be suitable to the needs and abilities of the students, ensuring that they are interested and creative in their activities. Therefore, experiential activities can attract students' interest and help them practice their own life skills. Some forms of experiential activities have a lot of potential to educate life skills for high school students such as: Club activities by topic; Cultural exchanges between groups, classes or with localities; Entertainment with many different types of games such as: fun games, folk games...; Cultural activities, organizing competitions; Organizing sports activities; Participating in social activities with content on legal education, traffic safety education, population education, environment, propaganda activities, promoting local movements,...

1.4. Basic issues of life skills education through creative experiential activities for ethnic minority students in primary schools

1.4.1. Characteristics of ethnic minority students at primary school level

1.4.1.1. Psychological characteristics

Because they live with nature and the vast space around them since childhood, the sensory perception of ethnic students develops quite well. Their feelings and perceptions have unique features, but they are still lacking in comprehensiveness, sentimentality, vagueness, and they cannot see the essence of things and phenomena. The process of perception is often associated with direct action, touching, and the attractive colors of objects that create emotional excitement in students. The objects of perception of ethnic students are mainly familiar objects, saplings, and nature. Therefore, in the educational process in general and GDKNS in particular, it is necessary to organize for students diverse forms of learning such as: field trips, extracurricular activities, document research, enhancing visual teaching methods, etc. to create a premise for the cognitive process at a higher and more accurate level [14].

In addition, the state of attention is not stable when communicating, especially in formal classes, attention is often formal, following discipline, but in fact students do not concentrate. In terms of thinking, the outstanding characteristic in the thinking of ethnic students is the habit of being afraid to think, afraid to use their brains. Through activities and communication in different situations, the emotions and attitudes of ethnic students are revealed quite deeply. In community relations, social relations, they value trust, frankness, love and hate clearly. Ethnic students' feelings are secret, rarely expressed strongly. Although influenced by difficult living conditions from a young age, ethnic students have their own personalities, love work, value teacher-student relationships, friendship, honesty, and courage.

1.4.1.2. Demand characteristics

Going to school for ethnic minority students in particular is a fundamental change in the main activity. At this time, their awareness has a positive change, they are aware of themselves as students, as future cadres of the locality and the country. Besides, external influences play an important role because they meet the needs of students. The need to be praised, to gain prestige in front of friends, or the need to play, extracurricular activities... all have a positive effect on the learning activities of ethnic minority students [14].

In the new learning environment in high school, students' own activities are the driving force to promote them to become members of society and develop their personality. Other forms of activities such as: studying, playing, social activities... are all through interactions with others (teachers - students, friends, family, society...). In which, the important characteristic of students is the need to assert themselves in learning and training, which is increasingly dominant. The development of the needs of ethnic students also follows the general rule: from direct to indirect processes and functions, from unintentional to intentional, from unconscious to conscious.

1.4.1.3. Communication characteristics

Due to their unique nature, in communication at home and at school, ethnic minority primary school students use both languages: their mother tongue and Vietnamese, of which their mother tongue is still the more commonly used language. Before going to school, ethnic minority students have been exposed to the ethnic community, absorbing the traditions and customs of their ethnic group. The communication environment is narrow, the main communication objects are in the family and village, but it has great appeal to students. Therefore, the way of speaking, thinking and behaving of ethnic minority students have their own characteristics.

Ethnic minority students are very straightforward and equal when communicating with relatives and friends. Their speech is less concerned with the subject, they often speak in the air, and they rarely say hello to teachers. When meeting strangers, they have difficulty interacting and are afraid to exchange, and are mainly curious to observe. Although they live intermingled with many other ethnic groups and are exposed to many sources of influence, there is no major change in the communication style of ethnic minority students. Therefore, the communication process of ethnic minority students (especially high school students) in the school environment in particular and the social environment in general still has many difficulties and limitations [14].

1.4.2. Requirements for organizing creative experiential activities in life skills education for primary school students

+ Direct participation of students in each activity: students transform themselves, enrich themselves by collecting and processing information from the surrounding environment. Students experience practical activities, directly participate in activities in specific teaching and educational situations.

+ Students' autonomy in personal planning and action: Through practical activities and specific tasks, students will develop their specific roles, positivity, initiative, self-awareness and creativity. They are involved in all stages of the process from design, preparation, implementation and evaluation of results.

+ Student collectiveness: Ensure an open and trusting psychological atmosphere in collective activities (It is an environment for freedom of thought, freedom of debate, encouraging the generation of ideas through interactions between individuals that take place during the learning or working process together).

+ Accessibility to the living environment inside and outside the school: To carry out creative experiential activities, the school must clearly define the goals of the activities so that each individual student can directly participate in various practical activities of family life, school as well as society as the subject of the activities.

+ Creativity to adapt and create new things, new values for yourself. Activities

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