11月14日

Dear parents,

Soya bean

The half of this class became a workshop. I brought a box of soya bean so that children can make the soothing bag for their parents in the class. Also we made the soy milk with 豆浆机. Almost every student had a chance to serve his/her parents with hot and fresh soy drink. We showed how to hold the cups with respect and carefulness (执虚器 如执盈).

Also, we took this chance to let student understand that soy bean plays very important role in Chinese food and culture. In 2007,  Montreal botanic garden (梦湖园) held a special exhibition to show that how soy bean influenced Chinese and served the largest population in this world. From environmental point of view, soy bean has much less impact on the environment than the meat while providing nutritious food. Our students listed the food made by this small yellow bean: 豆腐，豆腐乳，豆皮，腐竹，豆腐脑，豆腐泡，素肉，臭豆腐, 豆浆 。。。

经文学习：才大者。望自大。人所服。非言大

We shared the following story:

Twenty five years ago there was a famine in Bangladesh. Yunus was teaching economics in a local university. He felt terrible teaching elegant theories of economics while people were dying on the streets. Yunus then began to understand how people in nearby villages lived and if he could do something to help them. One particular incident took Yunus in a new direction. He met a woman who made bamboo stools for a living.  ... ( http://championsclubcommunity.com/covey/2010/01/10/muhammad-yunus-%E2%80%93-an-example-of-leadership-and-greatness/ )

Muhammad Yunus is an example of greatness and he was the only economist who earned Nobel Peace Prize (2006). In the class, I had more detail of this story than the content in the link above. The story is fully described in the book “The 8th Habit” written by Stephen Covey. It shows that no matter how little things you do at the beginning to help others, if you keep doing it, it can grow to something big.

Another story: 渑池之会

Parent Class:

We had discussion on how to conduct the parent class. We agreed that every week we focus on one topic. This week, 赵斌老师 will lead the class. After watching TV (http://www.dizigui.cn/xijiang35.asp), the discussion will focus on "己有能。勿自私。人所能。勿轻訾。"

Home work:

孝行: 父母呼， 应勿缓

From you feedback, I know this is a challenge for the parent. Some kids seem not follow this well. As Annie Wang said: "如果这是作业，我死定了"。 I will do the follow-up next class on this.

常礼举要: 双手奉接物品

Thanks,

Fan