A Letter To The Girl Who Was Not Satisfied With Simple Things

Dear Girl,

How are you? I hope you are really enjoying your time with your grandchildren.
From your story, I know what you have gone through and you have learnt your lesson. You have finally contented with a simple life and married a good-hearted man.
Actually, in present society, there are many young girls who are ignorant and very materialistic. In the pursuit of expensive lifestyles, they are easily lured into immoral activities. We can read from newspaper news such as young girls forced into vice.
In order to address this issue, concerted effort is necessary. Parents must play their roles in nurturing their children to have self-respect and the values in life. Society should have more organization to offer counseling and help those who have fallen to these traps to regain their normal life. Authority should impose adequate laws to protect young girls and eradicate these syndicates that preyed on young souls.
It is my sincere hope that you will continue to have the power to be with your grandfather and help him clear the world of evil creatures.
Goodbye. Send my best regards to you and your family.

Yours sincerely,
Yoke Chin

The Thirty-Six Filial Children

Just the day before Chinese New Year Eve, I was in the class of 4T for the English lesson. I was thinking of doing some revisions with the students regarding the English Test, which will be held after the Chinese New Year holiday. But, it seemed that they were not in the mood of study as their minds are already in holiday mood.
So, instead of telling something that nobody was going to absorb, I decided to tell them one of the stories in the book extolling the virtues of filial children and young adults, “The Thirty-Six Filial Children”.

I had told a story regarding a boy named Min Zhen who lost his parents when he was twelve. After he reached adulthood, he began to wonder why was that on every New Year others would hang up posthumous portraits of their parents and perform rites in front of them. He realized how he did not have such portraits of his own parents. It pained his heart terribly that he couldn't likewise pay respects to his parents. So he decided to do something. He plunged into the study of portrait painting.He then set about to paint portraits of his parents. His memory of their appearance was fading, but he tried his best to paint them as they had looked. The initial paintings weren't very satisfactory, but he kept painting. It took several years before he was able to paint any portrait, in his estimation, that was able to resemble to any degree of his parents. As his skill deepened, his portraits took on a more and more lifelike quality.Min Zhen later gathered all these portraits together in an album and thus mourned his parents and kept their memories alive as he reviewed these pictures. In time he became a renowned painter, and others seeking to develop the craft of filial posthumous paintings would seek him out as a teacher.He was very well known for doing his utmost to help other bereaved children who were too poor to pay for the accouterments needed to perform filial rites, painting for them posthumous portraits and helping them with burial fees. Eventually, the filial son Min Zhen became well known to the whole nation.

Unexpectedly, the students kept silent quite a while. Then suddenly, one of them put up his hand and told me that he wanted to learn portrait painting so that he could paint his parents well. Another student told me that he would take as many photos of his parents as he could in order to keep their memories alive when they are not around. And the most touching part was about a girl who said that she wanted to be as helpful as Min Zhen so her parents would feel happy and gratify even in heaven.

Much as I anticipated, it is indeed a blessing after learning that many of them will ask their parents to buy this book for them. They might have missed the revision for test but I felt they had gained something more worthwhile as they had learnt to be filial and at the same time instilling them with the good habit of reading.

The Selection of Folktales As Teaching Tools

A folktale or a fable with a strong metaphorical meaning could symbolically describe an era in history. For example, Aesop's fable" The Sun and the Wind" contains value of gentleness, and could be used to discuss pacifism and violence in either history or current events. In addition, folktales told by African captives during the time of slavery in the United States can reveal the struggle and bitterness of thier lives in American society.

As in a Chinese folktale "The Son of The Turtle-Spirit" describes the custom and culture of the Chinese in those days. Actually, the nobleman's daughater character reflects most of the Chinese women who have been cultured to be always faithful to their husbands in any circumstances. She also has shown her motherly love to her son although his father is a turtle spirit. Despite these good values, I am of the opinion that this folktale is not that suitable to be introduced in the class because it is expressly clear that she is not an honest being and is ethicaly wrong for her to ask her son to commit breach of trust.

It is essential for teacher to choose a more suitable fable or folktale to teach in the class so that it can promote good values among the students.