World Smile Day
World Smile Day is on 7 October 2022
by Claire Law
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To explore the history of the smiley face emoji and how we can bring a smile to others.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (World Smile Day) and the means to display them.
Assembly
- Show Slide 1.
Welcome the students to the assembly. Explain that we are going to be thinking about different languages today, languages that are spoken all around the world.
Tell the students that you are going to show them some people speaking a language and you want them to try to identify which language they are speaking. - Show Slide 2.
Ask the students, ‘What language is this girl speaking?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Ask the students whether they can translate what she is saying.
Listen to a range of responses.
The answer is that she is speaking Spanish. She is saying, ‘Hello, how are you today? Nice to see you!’
Perhaps that was an easy place to start: Spanish is spoken in many countries around the world. In fact, there are estimated to be more than 450 million native speakers of Spanish, making Spanish the second most widely spoken language after Mandarin Chinese. - Now that we’ve got the hang of this, let’s try something a bit trickier.
Show Slide 3.
Ask the students, ‘What language is this boy speaking?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Ask the students whether they can translate what he is saying.
Listen to a range of responses.
The answer is that he is speaking Irish Gaelic. He is saying, ‘Hello, how are you today? It’s nice to meet you!’
Irish Gaelic is spoken by far fewer people worldwide than Spanish. Figures released by Ireland’s Central Statistics Office in 2017 indicated that just under 40 per cent of Ireland’s population could speak Gaelic, and only about 4 per cent used it daily outside the education system. - Here’s another example.
Show Slide 4.
Ask the students, ‘What language is this woman speaking?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Ask the students whether they can translate what she is saying.
Listen to a range of responses.
The answer is that she is speaking Arabic. She is saying, ‘Hello, how are you today? It’s nice to see you!’
Arabic is the official language of the 22 countries that form the Arab League, which includes Egypt, Sudan, Oman and Syria. It is the native language of over 200 million people in this region.
- Now we come to our final example.
Show Slide 5.
Ask the students, ‘What language is this man speaking?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Ask the students whether they can translate what he is saying.
Listen to a range of responses.
Explain that this man is speaking the universal language of the smiley face emoji! Throughout the world, people recognize this image and what it means. - In today’s assembly, we are going to explore the history of the smiley face emoji and think about the universal language of a smile.
It’s perfect timing, because 7 October is World Smile Day. Let’s see everyone’s best cheesy grins! - Show Slide 6.
World Smile Day was started by this man, Harvey Ball. He was born in 1921 in the USA and studied Fine Art, going on to set up his own design company. In 1963, an insurance company commissioned Ball to design a logo . . . and he created the smiley face.
The insurance company intended to use the image to boost morale among employees and remind them to smile when speaking with customers. The company handed out smiley pin badges to its employees, and the badges became very popular. Ball received only $45 (around $435 in today’s money) for the commission, and neither he nor the insurance company ever trademarked the design. This meant that the smiley face could be copied and used freely by others.
- Show Slide 7.
The smiley face image is now used worldwide, and has morphed into the emoji that we all know today. I wonder how many of us have already messaged someone today and included a smiley face emoji. - Ball didn’t mind that his design became so popular, but he was worried that its original meaning had been forgotten, and that people were only focussing on making money from it. To remedy this, he created World Smile Day, which was first held in 1999.
Ball intended to use World Smile Day to spread positive vibes and help people to feel more upbeat through his design. He hoped that World Smile Day would remind us to spread some joy, and lift people’s spirits by smiling and doing things to encourage others to smile. Any money that is raised by World Smile Day is donated to charities that benefit children. - So, how can we spread some positivity and bring a smile to others? I’m sure that many of us will have loads of ideas. The simplest one is to give someone a smile, and then see whether they smile back. We could also:
- compliment someone on something that they’ve done
- offer to help with jobs around the house without being asked
- leave kind notes for people to find to brighten their day
- surprise someone with an unexpected card or gift
- bake some treats for friends and family members
- give a book that we’ve enjoyed to someone we know - Show Slide 8.
It might sound simple, but often, the best ideas are straightforward. In the Book of Proverbs, which appears in both the Jewish scriptures and the Christian Bible, we read: ‘A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.’ (Proverbs 15.30) - Before we move on, it’s worth mentioning the difference between a fake smile and a genuine one. Some people might fake a smile to try to manipulate others, or perhaps just to hide their true feelings. When a smile is genuine, the person who is smiling is unlikely to be asking anything of us that is to our detriment. Their smile will match their kind and genuine behaviour.
Time for reflection
Let’s take a moment to reflect on what we have thought about today.
A smile can brighten up someone else’s day. It is a universal language that communicates to others that you like them and are glad to connect with them. A genuine smile comes from the heart, as well as the mouth. A genuine smile feels good for both the smiler and the receiver.
So, let’s think about what giving and receiving a smile means for us today. How do we feel about the idea of spreading some joy? Do we have any smiles to spare? Or are we in need of a smile from someone else today?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Let’s also pause to think about the practical ways in which we might help to bring a smile to others’ faces today. We’ve touched on some ideas in today’s assembly, so let’s take this opportunity to consider how we might bring joy to others’ hearts and smiles to their faces today.
Pause to allow time for thought.
Prayer
Dear God,
A genuine smile connects us to others in a way that brings delight and joy.
We are aware today that there is lots of pain and suffering in our world, and it can be hard to feel positive at times.
Help us to find creative ways to help others to smile.
In doing so, help us to feel more joy and positivity in our own lives.
Amen.
Publication date: October 2022 (Vol.24 No.10) Published by SPCK, London, UK.
