The Reward for being Helpful

Hello dear all!

I know I haven't been posting every single week, but here's a brief update on what's been going on and what I've learned.

2 weeks ago, Cynthia and I were tested, and it was a big, big test. We learned that being too nice backfires after awhile! One of our students tends to take control of the class, and always makes suggestions like "let's play a game" when we're about to start the story, and making frequent comments like "i'm bored" and "this is lame", knowing that Cynthia and I were too nice to get mad. After much discussion, we realized the need for a concrete structure to our weekly class so that the kids get used to it and don't complain. Also, when a student reacts that way, it just means that she's quick learner, and now I ask her to assist her other friends and she does it gladly!

We're still getting new students joining each week, so we still haven't been able to start the Ruhi syllabus just yet. Hopefully next week we can!

Last week, we did the theme of "helpfulness" and a friend of mine who was it town read the story of Lua Getsinger to them. It was difficult explain the Central Figures of the Faith to the kids who were in class for the first time- but I was very impressed at how the children who came from Bahai families sat patiently, while I explained for the 10th time that Abdul Baha was the son of Baha'u'llah and telling them how to pronounce his name correctly. It was just beautiful.

I'm also having another challenge- half my students speak mandarin. Well, they speak English well and understand it too, but they just feel shy to speak it cos they know I speak mandarin! So i have to translate everything I say cos 3 of the girls only speak English. Also, 6 of the girls are 9 yrs old this year, and 2 of them are 5. It's hard to split the class of numbers and me being alone sometimes, but I think I'll have to think of a way to give the younger ones simpler exercises to do. One thing is for certain though, the younger ones are learning from the older ones very very quickly. It's both good and bad, I'm learning to deal with it better :)

For today's class (still on the theme of helpfulness), I thought of a little activity for the kids to do to practice this virtue. I printed four sheets saying this :

The Helpfulness Surprise…


• 1 Banana
• 2 Cups of Milk
• 3 Spoons of Ice Cream



What to do? Help your partner to figure it out.

Good Luck!


As you probably figured out, we're making milkshakes. But the kids don't know this! I'm just gonna leave all the ingredients out on the table, split them into pairs and see what they do!

:)Think we'll also do the 3 legged walk game, and learn the song good neighbours :)

So far so good, I can't wait to start the Ruhi syllabus, it will make things so much easier!

Language Barrier?

From Maya, a children's class teacher in Malaysia:

just to share with you that in todays class i had 4 kids between the age of 6 and 7. trouble was they couldnt understand a word I was saying either in malay or english.. i only knew how to say the word Unity in Tamil and these kids were so adorable that they knew i was struggling with trying to get them to u/stand they kept nodding away..hahahaha... anyways found this website http://david-hunt-music.com/music/ruhi-book-3-songs.htm useful for me to teach the kids songs with music, it sure made a difference with the background music and I find using powerpoint slides to prepare for lessons is interesting too...

take care and look forward to more posts from teachers around the world :)