Turn up the Color, Turn on the Excitement!
by Suzanne Malone, RD
San Francisco Department of Public Health
Nutrition Services, Feeling Good Project
San Francisco, CA
Welcome to the “FLAVOR of Nutrition” train-the-trainer series. As you walk into the regularly drab windowless conference room, I invite you to take a seat and enjoy the juicy red strawberries and the combination of soft, crunchy, sweet and salty trail mix placed on the bright yellow cloth on the table before you. I encourage you to take a look at the gallery of images on the once bare walls that include quotes and tips to emphasize the importance of safety in the learning environment. There are neon colored sheets with quotes such as, “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care”-John Maxwell. And two-toned construction paper with tips such as, "TIP #4: Thank Learners for Participating."
The “FLAVOR of Nutrition” is a visually stimulating, hands-on nutrition education curriculum that I had the honor to develop and implement July through August 2007. This curriculum was created to train community providers how to provide nutrition education to their clients with the goal of promoting increased intake of fruits and vegetables, daily physical activity, and nutrition assistance programs, especially Food Stamps.
Knowing that color greatly increases interest, I made sure to add as much color to as many visuals as possible, which included colorful PowerPoint slides, multicolored handouts, and apple and broccoli shaped paper used as S.N.O.W. (Sticky Notes On Wall)
The “FLAVOR of Nutrition” train-the-trainer was a six-part series that took place for two hours on Fridays for 6 weeks. Each class began with a warm-up exercise linked to the class topic, and was immediately followed by the class outline, which was provided to each trainee as a handout and displayed as a PowerPoint slide. Each class included an activity to model how the trainees could find out what their clients already knew about nutrition. One example of such activity was having the trainees write down what they knew about the benefits of fruits and vegetables on apple and broccoli shaped paper and tape their answers on an apple tree or broccoli row posted on a wall.
Each class ended with a skills-practice activity. The instructions for these activities were always provided as a handout and displayed as a PowerPoint slide for the trainees to refer to as they practiced the activity. One example of a skills-practice activity included the use of paper food models and paper plates to create a three-dimensional healthy low cost meal
The “FLAVOR of Nutrition” was developed using skills and knowledge gained from participating in various trainings including the “Learning to Teach, Learning to Listen” training offered by Global Learning Partners. I completed the training one month before implementing the first “FLAVOR of Nutrition” train-the-trainer class. The course was an invaluable experience that provided me with the knowledge and skills to help finalize the design of a curriculum that offered a wide array of visuals to support the principles and practices of the “FLAVOR of Nutrition”.
