English · Class 10

Active learning ideas

The Role of Empathy in Human Connection

Active learning helps students move beyond abstract definitions of empathy to real human experiences. When students practise empathetic responses in role-plays or analyse narrative techniques, they internalise how empathy shapes relationships, not just in stories but in their own lives.

• CBSE Learning Outcomes
• CBSE Curriculum: English Language and Literature (Class X), Section C: Literature, Understanding character motivation and empathy.
• NCERT: First Flight, Chapter 6 'The Hundred Dresses,II', Analyzing the development of empathy in characters.
• NCERT: First Flight, Chapter 10 'The Sermon at Benares', Exploring universal suffering and the need for compassion.

• 20–40 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Human Barometer
• 30 min · Pairs

Pair Role-Play: Empathy Scenarios

Select a story excerpt showing lack of empathy. Pairs act it out once with the original apathy, then replay with added empathy through tone and actions. Partners note changes in outcomes and share with the class.

Explain how an author develops empathy for a character through narrative techniques.

Facilitation Tip

For Pair Role-Play, provide scenarios where characters have conflicting needs so students must practise disagreeing empathetically.

What to look for

Present students with a short excerpt from a text where a character acts without empathy. Ask: 'How does this character's behaviour impact others in the scene? What specific words or actions reveal their lack of empathy? How might the situation have unfolded differently if they had shown empathy?'

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Human Barometer
• 40 min · Small Groups

Small Group: Character Empathy Maps

Groups analyse a character using a four-quadrant map: thinks, feels, says, does. They cite textual evidence and discuss narrative techniques that build empathy. Present maps on chart paper for class gallery walk.

Analyze the impact of a character's lack of empathy on others in the story.

Facilitation Tip

In Character Empathy Maps, require students to use exact quotes from the text to support their inferences about the character’s feelings.

What to look for

Provide students with a scenario where a character faces a challenge. Ask them to write two sentences describing how a character with empathy would respond, and two sentences describing how a character lacking empathy might react. They should reference specific feelings or actions.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Human Barometer
• 25 min · Whole Class

Whole Class: Prediction Chain

Read a conflict scene lacking empathy. Students predict aloud in a chain how one empathetic act changes the next event, building a class-altered storyline. Vote on most realistic predictions.

Predict how a situation might change if a character demonstrated greater empathy.

Facilitation Tip

During Prediction Chain, pause after each contribution to ask students to justify how a previous event led to their prediction.

What to look for

During a class reading, pause at a moment where a character expresses strong emotion. Ask students to write down one sentence describing what the character might be feeling and one sentence explaining why they think so, using evidence from the text.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Social Awareness

Activity 04

• Human Barometer
• 20 min · Individual

Individual: Empathy Journals

Students journal from a character's viewpoint in a tense scene, describing emotions and possible empathetic responses. Share select entries in pairs for feedback on authenticity.

Explain how an author develops empathy for a character through narrative techniques.

Facilitation Tip

For Empathy Journals, model how to write a short entry before asking them to try independently, showing clear connection between text and personal reflection.

What to look for

Present students with a short excerpt from a text where a character acts without empathy. Ask: 'How does this character's behaviour impact others in the scene? What specific words or actions reveal their lack of empathy? How might the situation have unfolded differently if they had shown empathy?'

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Self-Awareness
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should model empathetic reading by thinking aloud about a character’s hidden emotions. Avoid summarising empathy as ‘being nice’; instead, focus on evidence-based analysis of behaviour. Research shows students grasp empathy better when they connect it to their own experiences, so link activities to relatable dilemmas.

By the end of these activities, students will confidently identify how authors create empathy for characters, discuss why its absence harms relationships, and apply these insights to their own interactions. Look for students who can explain techniques like internal monologue or point-of-view shifts with text evidence.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Pair Role-Play, some students may believe empathy requires agreeing with the other person’s actions.

  Use the peer feedback round after the role-play to highlight moments where students understood a perspective without endorsing it, then tweak scenarios to include opposing views.

• During Character Empathy Maps, students might assume authors state empathy directly in the text.

  Ask students to circle words or phrases from the text that reveal emotion indirectly, like sensory details or dialogue tags, to show how empathy is implied rather than stated.

• During Prediction Chain, students may think only villains lack empathy.

  After each prediction, ask students to identify which character’s lack of empathy caused the ripple effect, using specific examples from their chain.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Human Barometer