Please read this tiny extract from a story about Boz and Jaz, two children who are in the same class at school:

Jaz brought a swimming medal into school that day to show everyone. Boz thought Jaz was showing off a bit about winning the medal but didn’t want to say anything.

After school, Boz was online on Chatbook, (the latest social media site they were all using) and saw that Jaz and some other people from their class were chatting on Jaz’s profile page. One of them made a silly joke about Jaz turning into a frog with all that swimming and someone else added that Jaz already looked like a frog. Boz wanted to join in and so wrote that Jaz was a show-off and added some even nastier things to try and make the others laugh.

Please answer the following questions:

 Why do you think Boz didn’t want to say anything about Jaz showing off whilst they were in school but did say it online?

 Do we sometimes say things in texts, emails, or chatting online that we would not say to someone’s face?

 How do you think Jaz felt reading the nasty comments? (How many words can we think of to describe those feelings?)

 Thinking about when Boz was reading the other children’s comments, how many feelings words can we think of to describe Boz’s emotions at that time?

Even though we cannot see the other person, when we say things online, the emotions felt by the other person are the same, which is why it is so important to behave online as you would offline. It is easy to forget someone else’s feelings when in front of a computer – but the person is still affected in the same way.

 Can you think of a text or email they could send to either Jaz or Boz giving them some advice on managing their feelings in this situation? Please type it out below (or on the next page if you run out of space).