"Come and buy" "Buy something to help the poor children in need" Hey, where is this voice coming from? Let's go and find out!
Step into the atrium of BMH Kapok Building and you'll be greeted by a 'Children's Market'. Outside the U-shaped table with 15 long tables, the Prep 2 children were dressed as little salesmen and were concentrating on the products in front of them: some were shouting, some were excitedly selling and collecting money, and some were quickly taking the money they received to the "treasury"......
Inside the U-table, students and staff from all over the school came in groups to our market to 'shop' for their favourite items.
For an hour we welcomed the whole school, which brought us $5, $10 and $20 pocket money, took away toys, books and stationery that our Prep 2 children had sorted out from their own homes, as well as jewellery boxes, pencil holders, money jars, environmental bags and fans that they had decorated in the MH craft factory and art classes.
If you ask why Prep 2 teachers and students organised this charity sale, it starts with our Prep 2 inquiry lesson. The theme of our Prep 2 Unit 1 enquiry was children's rights, and during the enquiry we wanted to show the children that through the efforts of all parties we can alleviate inequalities in the world and that we can also physically support children's development.
We started by exploring the needs and rights of children as they grow up and gradually looked at the inequalities that children experience in the world, such as differences in the ownership of toys, school conditions and transport, access to water and personal safety.
The students were able to learn about the existence of these inequalities through a wealth of video and photographic material, to analyse and talk about the reasons for them and to show their love for taking practical action to alleviate them. We also invited Headmaster Dr. Wall, Ms. Cai and Ms. Hu to talk to us about their personal experiences with the charity, which reinforced our determination to take action.
So all Prep 2 teachers and students organised and planned this meaningful bazaar with the support of Ms Cai, Head of Inquiry.
*Dr. Wall sharing with the children
In the end, the sale raised over $5,600 and over 50kg of used clothing (which was delivered to those in need by the Flying Ants platform). A small portion of the fund will be used to buy fruit from the "Chasing Farmers' Dreams" WeChat platform, which is dedicated to helping farmers in mountainous areas sell their produce, to give back to the whole school; the rest will be used to buy stationery to help poor children in Dafang County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province.
Teaching children knowledge and skills is not the most difficult part of the education process. About love, compassion, international perspective ...... It is these values, which cannot be learned in a single text or training session, that are the most difficult and important. We hope to be able to teach an entire unit of inquiry that will allow children to sit in the classroom and still be reminded of endless distances and countless people.
