This weekend some of the kids' families and us will be visiting the Hwa Tsang Monastery in Homebush. I really look forward to meeting them outside School. I am hoping that going to a temple can help those who are graduating so they can follow up afterwards.
Scripture classes only exist in Primary School and some of them will be going to secondary school next year.
Tomorrow I going to Chinatown to get some special bean curds to make a curry.
For the kids mac and cheese :-)
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Playing 'Freeze and the Distractors'
I had to travel overseas for business so I was not able to teach (or post here).
Somehow the week before leaving I made an unexpected discovery, maybe even an invention :-)
The kids were a bit more restless than normal on the weeks leading to my trip. Somehow I think it is related with my own personal state of mind. They can pick up every detail on how we feel. And on those days I was very restless, working 70hrs a week and still trying to keep up with my own baby.
So here it is. The game is very simple, and they love it:
'1,2,3 Freeze' and they all have to stop moving, stay in the position they are until disqualified or until we finish. Of course, a number of kids are too restless to do this, so they become self made 'distractors' that go around ... distracting people, trying to break their concentration, trying to make them move. In some sense they act like the nimphs sent to distract the Buddha when he was under the tree.
While they are mostly still I get a chance to talk and be listened. In fact, although it has a competitive aspect that help make it more interesting for them, I can discuss about the important of sitting or being n a comfortable position, on focusing on something like the breath, on not paying attention to those who (for their own weaknesses) can not stop bothering others.
They liked the game so much that now they ask for it every time.
I did not play it with the older ones, but on the last week of the term they also wanted to play it....
I guess that next year I will have to keep learning on the balance between play and work on the Buddhist scripture class.
Somehow the week before leaving I made an unexpected discovery, maybe even an invention :-)
The kids were a bit more restless than normal on the weeks leading to my trip. Somehow I think it is related with my own personal state of mind. They can pick up every detail on how we feel. And on those days I was very restless, working 70hrs a week and still trying to keep up with my own baby.
So here it is. The game is very simple, and they love it:
'1,2,3 Freeze' and they all have to stop moving, stay in the position they are until disqualified or until we finish. Of course, a number of kids are too restless to do this, so they become self made 'distractors' that go around ... distracting people, trying to break their concentration, trying to make them move. In some sense they act like the nimphs sent to distract the Buddha when he was under the tree.
While they are mostly still I get a chance to talk and be listened. In fact, although it has a competitive aspect that help make it more interesting for them, I can discuss about the important of sitting or being n a comfortable position, on focusing on something like the breath, on not paying attention to those who (for their own weaknesses) can not stop bothering others.
They liked the game so much that now they ask for it every time.
I did not play it with the older ones, but on the last week of the term they also wanted to play it....
I guess that next year I will have to keep learning on the balance between play and work on the Buddhist scripture class.
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