10月30日

Dear all parents,

---Homework:

Since we already have dedicated Chinese class,  the homework for DiZiGui class will focus on the behaviours. For example, how to respect the parents (孝) and how to follow some etiquette (礼), etc.

This week's homework is:

-- 晨省昏定。 I asked students to greet their parents (you) after getting up in the morning and before going to bed in at night.

-- 电话礼节。Some of our students starts to answer phone calls for their parents now. In the class, we showed how to politely answer the phone call. Some phrases like "请您稍等一下"，“请问您找谁？”etc. are encouraged to used. If your child has chance to answer the phone, please monitor him or her to see if the politesse is applied.

In the class, we shared the homework feedback from some students. we felt that it is very lucky to be the parent of 栾茗荃. Before sleep, she prepared water of teeth brushing for her dad and mom, served the water of washing feet,  and warmed the bed for her parents. Annie Wang warmed the soothing bag in microwave for her grandma every night. 程迪's mom enjoyed passionate hugs from her daughter before sleep..... Maybe all these are little kindness. But they can contribute to happy families and eventually a beautiful world.

Please fill the feedback form so that we can share more in the class. I understand you are busy. If you write some notes on how your kids behave during the past week, they will be quite happy when I share your positive comments in the class.

-- 在爱中行走:

We continued the uncompleted topic of last week -- Love. Teresa's life demonstrates the unconditional love:

其中有个老人，在搬到「垂死者之 家」的那天傍晚即断了气，临死前，他拉着德兰的手，用孟加拉语低声地说：「我一生活得像条狗，而我现在死得像个人，谢谢了。」

.......

当她获得诺贝尔和平奖之后，一天，黄昏时分，她听到有人敲门，打开门看到一个可怜的麻风病人。他衣不蔽体，饥肠辘辘，在寒风中瑟瑟发抖。她立刻给了他一张毛毯和一些东西吃。

不过，那个可怜的麻风病人却诚恳地说：

「嬷嬷，今天我来这里不是来索取什么的。我听说你获得了大奖。因此，我今天早晨也决定将今天讨来的东西都送给你。我从早晨一直乞讨到现在，所得到的东西都在这个碟子里了。嬷嬷，请一定收下我这个微不足道的礼物。」

.......

德兰修女在出殡的时候，印度总理跪在地下，印度阁员跪在地下，德兰修女的遗体走到印度大街上的时候，两边高楼上的印度人都统统下来跪在地下，没有人敢站的比她高。她的坟墓上写的是「伟大的印度圣母德兰修女」。

Please refer to the following link for more detail: http://www.dfg.cn/gb/cszd/shzr/48-ajx.html

--- Halloween:

Thanks the parents for bringing us candies for Halloween.

If you have any good material, stories, suggestions, comments, please let me know.

Yours respectfully,

Fan

10月24日

Dear parents,

Hope all of you are enjoying the nice weather of this weekend.

Starting this week, we move to a  new section of Dizigui {泛爱众 }. I would like to introduce the new component in the Dizigui class and need your support on this practice. My idea is every week in the class I will ask your lovely children to cultivate a good habit and do one special thing for his or her parent.

每周一孝：

For example: this week, for next 7 days, you kids will serve you the water for washing the feet before sleep (倒洗脚水). Maybe your children is too young to do it now. Please do  not discourage them. More wisdom on how to encourage young kids to do this, please refer to <<细讲弟子规>> -34.

A good example  for this is 大导演和老妈妈 (http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/kiS5MItf8H8/) A famous director over 60 years old is doing this service for his mom. Please review it.

Maybe you don't have the habit of washing feet now. There are lots of benefits to do so. Please check this link (http://blog.zol.com.cn/287/article_286546.html). You may like to do so. More importantly let's:

-- 享受为人父母的幸福

-- 长养孩子的孝心

每周一习：

This week, I will ask students to arrange personal stuff after returning  home from outside:

-- Hang up the coat properly

-- Arrange the shoes

-- Put mittens, scarf, hats in the right place (天凉了， 望珍重加衣）

-- Arrange School bag /back bag

Please make your closet/storage kids-friendly in the entry area so that your child can easily do so.

每周一字：

爱：（http://www.dfg.cn/gb/mryz/dangri/29-ai.htm）

For the young kids, you can start teaching them to learn /write a new Chinese character per week. The information from the link above is very good so that you can introduce more background knowledge behind this beautiful Chinese word.

每周一句：

凡是人 皆须爱 天同覆 地同载

Love parent – 孝

Love elder brother and sister – 悌

Love your enemy – story  Martin Luther King Jr.

Love the helpless – Story of Mother Teresa and 许哲

Love animal – Story (see the end of this mail)

Love tree

Love even mineral (江本胜 – 水实验)

I have to stop here now due to lack of time. See you soon.

Your respectfully,

Fan

 =========Follow up  of the class ======================================

Dear parents,

The content of last class did not follow the plan exactly. We shared the a story of Ryan (http://www.ryanswell.ca/about-us/ryans-story.aspx). When we talked about the earth (地同载), one of students mentioned there was no much clean water somewhere in this planet. Ryan, this hero, popped into my mind. He demonstrated the love towards thousands of unknown needy people in Africa.

For Martin Luther King, we shared the story of bus boycott in 1955. When Martin was arrested, he said : "I was proud of my crime. It was the crime of joining my people in a nonviolent protest against injustice” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Bus_Boycott)  The story shows Martin’s special love towards wrong-doing people with nonviolent methods. Another story is related to restaurant boycott (Lots of laughter from Children when hearing how Negro politely demanded the service in restaurant which refused to accept black clients)

Also how Mother Teresa helped the dying people in India greatly moved kids. After picking up a dying man from the gutter and brought him home to her apartment, she said: "Such a beautiful day . . . to meet Christ face to face in the poor. He was there -- the hungry, the sick, the naked Christ -- and the thought of Him in this distressing disguise gave me great joy, peace and strength."

I did urge the students to serve you the water for washing feet before sleep. Not sure if you are enjoying it now. This is experiment to see how it works. Maybe your kid is forgetting this now. You can somehow remind him or her. Or if your parents are with you, you can set up an example. (Please note that by no means, I want to intervene your private life with this).

Also, as a homework, I asked them to arrange the personal staff after returning home and asked them to find a story related to “Love” with you so that we can share it in the class. Today, I found this touching short film (very short – only 1 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTn2iurL2cE&NR=1

Let’s end with a quote from Marin Luther King Jr.:

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right. I believe today that there is a need for all people of good will to come together with a massive act of conscience and say in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "We ain't goin' study war no more." This is the challenge facing modern man.

Wish we all do the right thing by following path of Dizigui.

Enjoy your week,

Fan

=================Story===============================

     在西藏草原上，有许多藏羚羊。有一天，一个猎人看到一只藏羚羊站在那里，他马上拿起了猎枪就做好瞄准的动作…这时，这只藏关头却一动不动地站在那里看着猎 人，突然它的双膝跪在了地上。这个猎人非常惊讶，他从来没有看过这种场面，不过他还是扣了板机射死了这只羊。然后他把羊的肚子剖开一看，原来这只羊怀孕跑 不动了。它这一跪是祈求猎人饶了它的孩子。这个猎人看到这一幕，自己的内心相当震撼和后悔，从此他就把猎枪丢掉了，再也 不杀害动物了。凡人之所以为人者，惟此恻隐之心而己。
       有一个猎人瞄准了一只老鹰正要猎杀，这只老鹰把食物获取后并没有吃，飞到巢里放下食物就飞了出去，这个猎人很惊讶，就等它回巢。后来这只老鹰飞回来时带着 一只年纪很大的老鹰，一看就知道是它的母亲，入巢后这只老鹰就含着刚才获取的这些食物，一口一口地喂它的母亲。这个猎人本来要射杀它，看到这一幕，他从此 也往下了。
     又有一个猎人，他往下一个捕兽器，要捕黄鼠狼。一天，他看到已经捕到了，但走近仔细一看，原来捕兽器上只剩下黄鼠狼的皮，而黄鼠狼却撕开自己身上的皮逃走 了。这个猎人很惊讶，这只动物到底上哪里去了？他顺 着血迹跟踪过去，当猎人找到黄鼠狼居住的地方，就近一看，它倒在了洞里已经死了，而它的孩子正在吃它的奶水！
       白居易曾写了一首诗：“谁道群生性命微，一般骨肉一般皮，劝君莫打枝头鸟，子在巢中望母归。”古 诗云：“爱鼠常留饭，怜娥不点灯。”何其仁也！所以，我们绝对不能因为自己的欲望，自己好玩，就去玩弄动物、伤害动物，果报怪惨烈。

感恩節感恩

Dear parents,

I hope all of you passed a wonderful day at Saint-Bruno national park. Some of you had difficulty to find the place. I feel sorry for giving the address that is not very accurately. Also, I understand for some of you (especially for the parents with toddlers) the hiking was quite intensive. It took us about 2.5-3 hours.

I would like to share with you a story: about 7 years ago, my family visited this mountain with some friends. After enjoying the beautiful autumn scenery, we decided to return. Without following the sign carefully, we got lost in the mountain. After several hours of hiking, it seemed we could not go out. My younger son (江淮) was about 1 years old and elder one (江枫)was about 5 who used up his energy and did not want to walk any more. None of us had  mobile phone to call 911 and it became darker and darker. It was hard to follow the path due to lack of light. Finally we were able to leave the park and reached the city of Saint Bruno. But it’s not the place where we parked our car. Sitting on side of the street, totally exhausted, our legs refused to move a single step. A van passed by and stopped. We explained our situation to the driver (a lady). She told us she needed to return her kids back to home and then she would be back to help us. After about 15 minutes, she picked up two of us (the rest stayed because her van could not load all of us) and headed towards parking lot to find our two cars. Afraid of us lost again, she let us following her van to the original place. Around 10pm, we safely arrived home.

The experience strengthen my confidence to the humanity. And I know the best way to thank this unknown helper is to help the others even though she/he is stranger. Maybe the little kindness and help can leave the tremendous impact on others.

One year ago, my son’s soccer coach (who was a volunteer)  paid the group photo fee for us during our absence and delivered the photo to our house. When we expressed our gratitude and wanted to give him the fee, he refused and asked us to relay this kindness towards others who are under same situations. “Then we will create a better world!” he said so.

I may share this in the class. I know the experience is personal, but the underlying principle is universal.

Thanks a lot for your support and trust. Happy Thanksgiving holiday!

fan

感恩節秋遊

We will have an activity during the coming long weekend. On Sunday (10/10/10, what a special date and number!), we will go to Parc national du Mont-Saint-Bruno for apple picking, hiking and enjoy colourful maple leaves.

Thanks Mr. Gao’s suggestion. Gathering at parking lot is bit dangerous for young kids. Plus, St-Bruno Mountain has more than one parking lot, but only have one apple orchard. Let’s meet at apple orchard at 10:30am. Anyone arriving earlier can start and enjoy the activity.

Please note apple orchard is INSIDE National park (see apple sign of attached map) but park entry fee does not cover the apple picking fee.  It’s better to park your car near the orchard so that you can offload your apples before climbing the mountain. Thus, after entering , don’t park your car near entrance place. Continue to find the second park lot (refer to the map).

When you are approaching this mountain area, please pay attention to the park sign and follow it (the sign is normal tourism sign with brown background). The mountain is not very high and easily to climb. It’s suitable for the family with young kids. We can decide which hike path we will take on site. For me, the yellow line is practical, it’s near the lake and not very long (see map). Anyway we will discuss this later.

Please bring your lunch. We will have picnic either near orchard or near lac Seigneurial. Map shows these places have picnic table.

Voila. Hope we all will enjoy the day. Weather forecast shows we will have pure sunny day  on Sunday.

10月03日

Dear parents,

Last week, we kicked off our first session of parent class. We believe that all parents were enjoying the class. It lasted 2.5 hours. After that, all parents joined Children class, we sung together our national anthem. How long we have not sung loudly in a group and together with our lovely children? What a happy time we had!

The most touching moment in our Children class is when all of us shared a story:

                一封父親給女兒的遺書 & 十年後女兒的回信

給可愛的女兒：
  爸爸和妳玩了好多次躲迷藏，每次都一下子就被妳找出來。 不過這一次，爸爸決定要躲好久好久。
  妳先不要找，等妳十四歲（還要吃完十次蛋糕）的時候，再問媽咪，爸爸躲在哪裡，好不好？
  爸爸要躲這麼久，妳一定會想念爸爸，對不對？ 不過，爸爸不能隨便跑出來，不然就輸了。
  如果還是很想爸爸，爸爸就變魔法出現。 因為是魔法，不是真的出現，所以不犯規，爸爸不算輸。
  爸爸的魔法是：趁妳睡覺的時候，跑到妳夢裡大玩遊戲；
  在妳畫圖畫爸爸的時候，不管好不好看，妳覺得是爸爸，就是爸爸；
  當妳拿爸爸的照片看時，爸爸也在偷偷的看妳……。
  要記得，爸爸一直都陪著妳！妳已經是四歲的大姊姊了。 爸爸要拜託妳一件事，要妳照顧和孝順爺爺、奶奶和媽咪， 看妳是不是比爸爸以前做得好？ 有多好，媽咪會告訴你的。
  爸爸猜想，我們這一次玩躲迷藏要玩這麼久，爺爺、奶奶、媽咪有時候看不到爸爸，他們一定會偷哭。 偷哭就是犯規、就是失敗。
  他們偷哭，妳就要逗他們笑，不然遊戲輸了以後，他們一定會哭得更厲害了。好不好，寶貝？
  我們是同一國的，來比賽看妳厲害，還是爸爸？ 準備好了嗎，比賽就要開始了！
  ********************************************************************************
  十年後女兒的回信：
  最愛的爸爸：
  爸爸，我找到你了！
  爸爸你知道嗎？
  這些年，我很厲害唷，媽咪說我做得比爸爸你還要好呢！ 爺爺、奶奶和媽咪犯規時，我都很努力的逗他們笑。 而且爺爺奶奶需要幫助時，我都有乖乖聽你的話。
 
  爸爸……我是不是贏了？
 
  不要擔心，我很勇敢。 因為我知道爸爸永遠都在我身邊看著我， 陪我哭、陪我笑、看我鬧彆扭。
  你真的好厲害，你的魔法讓我變的很堅強，讓我變的更茁壯。 我很幸福，因為有爺爺、奶奶、你和媽媽陪著我！ 我不孤單，爸爸也不會孤單，因為有我陪著你。
  所以爸爸，你不用替我操心，我已經是個十四歲的大姊姊了， 我已經懂事了。
  爸爸你可以變作星星，在天上安心的看著我。
  爸爸，我畫了幅畫，是我們全家唷！ 你想我們的時候，就看著這幅畫， 你想我的時候，我就變魔法，讓你在我們的夢裡來遊玩。
 
  爸爸，我真的好愛你。
  可惜比賽結束了…。
  爸爸，我贏了……我是不是可以哭了…？

We felt a father's love towards his young daughter before his death.

The theme of last Dizigui class is how to differentiate good friends and bad friends and how to react to the criticism and praise. (闻过怒,闻誉乐,损友来,益友却,闻誉恐,闻过欣,直谅士,渐相亲). We shared the story of “八风吹不动，一‘屁’过江东。” (see attached SuDongPo.docx).

......