In one of my Grade 5 groups, while facilitating a session on Empathy, Rashida(name changed) asked, “Bhaiya, could you just tell me what is the literal meaning of Empathy?”

I explained to her the meaning with an example. Next week, she came to the class with this beautiful poem-


एम्पथी जब मैं दिखाती हूँ, तो बहुत खुश हो जाती हूँ।
जब मुझे लगता है कि मैं सबको समझ पाती हूँ,
तो बहुत खुश हो जाती हूँ। दोस्तों के लिए मॉनिटर के रूप में,
उनकी थोड़ी स्ट्रिक्ट दोस्त बन जाती हूँ। जब मेरा कोई गिर जाता है,
मैं दुखी हो जाती हूँ। जब हमारा पेपर आता हम खुश हो जाते हैं।
जब मेरी चीज़ घूम हो जाती,मैं रोने लगती हूँ ।
किसी को समझना आसान नहीं होता,फिर भी कोशिश करती हूँ।"


(When I act with empathy, I feel very happy.
when I feel I am able to understand others, I feel very happy.
In the form of a monitor, I become a little strict friend to my friends.
When someone falls, I feel sad.
When our papers come, We feel happy.
When I lose something, I start crying.
to understand someone is not easy, but I still try.)

On this day, the poem became the syllabus for my class to unpack the concepts of empathy. Together as a team, we tried to understand in which line has the poet tried to show empathy and how does it look. Some of my students answered, "Bhaiya when she says that we should understand and respect each other, that's empathy"