Bridge Plan

Helping Others

(From Learn English Kids-British Council)  

Parents should teach their children to help others in many different ways. They should be role models to their kids. As long as parents are helping others in front of their sons or daughters, as long as the kids are learning a moral habit that they would do till the end of their lives. I'd like to make a copy of this "fact file" example and hang on the wall or on the fridge in my house, so my kids will always remember it.

Learning is about People

So people are much more important that theories, methods, strategies, ways, researches…etc. before thinking about that, we have to think about the learners themselves. We know that people learn better when they feel positive about it. How do we as English teachers foster the students’ positive self-image?

One of the best things is to appreciate students work. Students would feel proud of their achievements and they would feel more confident, in addition they would give more. Also the teacher would praise a student among his/her friends. This would encourage competition between students and it would create a good relation between the teacher and the student. For instance, I’m a TD student and I love when a teacher praises me in front of my classmates, so how about the younger learners!

Hinduism

Hinduism is a name of a religion that encourages my curiosity to read more about. Hinduism is a religion of over a billion people and the world oldest religion. It is at least 3500 years old and it is the third largest religion after Christianity and Islam. Hindus consider that their religion is a way of life.

In addition, Sanskrit is the ancient language for the Hindus and they have a river was known by “Sindhu” but later they named it Hindu which is the name of the religion nowadays. So the people that were living around the river became Hindus. What is really interesting about this religion is that they have seven beliefs:

1.      Belief in a one universal soul: this soul is known as Brahman and he is the source of all reality as well as the material that made this universe.

2.      Belief in an immortal individual soul. This means when you die your soul moves to an another body. This is known as Atman.  

3.      Belief in Karma: They are actions that affect souls in the present and the future. For example, Karmic actions such as bulling, affects a person today and a 100 years later.

4.      Belief in Moksha: Hindus achieve Moksha when they realize their way to Brahman.

5.      Belief in Vedas: Vedas are their four books. The Rig Veda, The Samaveda, Yajurveda, Atharvaveda.

6.      Belief in cyclical time: for Hindus there are no beginnings nor endings. According to them, time is a cycle of four parts and they believe that we are now in the final part.

7.      Belief in Dharma: this maintains balance of the universe. Each creature has its own Dharma. For instance, the Dharma of a whale is to eat fish in order to survive. Or learners Dharma is to achieve success.

Hindus have no prophet, no ONE GOD and no holy books unlike other religions. On the other hand, a Hindu person should have four goals to achieve: Balance in the Dharma, true prosperity, pleasure in body and mind and Moksha which is the release of the soul.

Meanwhile, Hindus have to get rid of six temptations:

1.      Materialism

2.      Anger

3.      Greed

4.      Power

5.      Pride

6.      Jealousy

(https://www.history.com/topics/religion/hinduism, n.d.)

The Best Teachers

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Being a teacher is one of the important things that comes to mind. Every one of us wants to be in a community that gives us our rights and allows us to live with dignity. However this starts the day we are born. First of all parents guide their children to the right path. And then when they enter school it becomes the teachers’ role to continue this journey. Teachers prepare children to become men and women, fathers and mothers, and to have great professions. Teachers are considered as role models for the students so they have teach them from their hearts not only from the books.

"Simple Steam for Teachers"

In the webinar that I joined, there were two ladies who talked about ways that teachers can engage young minds in STEAM learning. These ways are to help them investigate questions, solve problems and think of potential improvements. First they started by asking us about jobs that no longer exist, for example they showed us a picture of a lamplighter that used long poles or ladders so they could light lamps. This job was no longer there because of the Electricity. Also they gave other examples such as knocker-upper. As well as, they asked the open-ended question "What should children experience to prepare them for future jobs and successful careers?" 
After that question the word "STEAM" was defined by a rap song video. It Says that S is for science, T is for technology, E for engineering, A for arts and M for math. 

They also discussed how STEAM is integrated. Integrate activities instead of teaching as individual subjects. Job are integrated, for example, an architect would use science, math, art and technology to do his job. 

An interesting activity was designed in this webinar to show us the integration was done between the STEAM categories.  
The activity was: Straw Rocket Activity
They introduced the steps and they made them. 

This activity might encourage the children's curiosity and raises these questions: 
*Why do you think the rocket falls back to the ground? 
*What do you need to do to make the rocket go higher?

Then they ended the activity with the STEAM example:
1- Science: I will experience and gain knowledge about air resistance, force, propulsion and gravity. 
2- Technology: Can I invent a creative method to launch my rocket? A bigger rocket? A smaller rocket?
3- Engineering: How will I build my rocket and what tools will I need?
4- Arts: How will I make my rocket look attractive and well designed? 
5- Math: How long will my rocket be in inches? How far my rocket go? How long can my rocket stay in the air. 
                            

This webinar and especially the activity and the ideas the ladies gave were so interesting and can be done in class. Students will feel interested and they will enjoy, plus they will be able to learn new things through playing. "When we play we learn". In addition communication skills are very important in supporting STEAM thinking. Also, STEAM thinking encourages curiosity and  provides multi-sensory. 

EDUC560 With Miss Amal

Dealing with technology is something essential nowadays, especially that we are surrounded by a massive exposure to network and social media. In this course we are sitting behind screens listening to Miss Amal and learning new terms in technology. Also we are applying many things that we didn't do before. Learning new things is something interested and enjoyable. However, sometimes I feel that there are some difficulties in remembering what we learn in class because we don't use it that much at our houses. So "technology is useless if not useful" is a correct and a logical saying.