Volunteer As Pre-School Dharma Teacher
Guest contribution by Stella Cheang
One year and five months ago, I was plunged into close contact with pre-school children for the very first time in my life. It took quite a bit of courage on my part to take on the role as volunteer teacher. The initial reluctance came from my lack of interaction with very young children of the age 2 to 4 years old.
During my moments of hesitation, I came across a sharing1 by His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche which reminded me that how lucky I am in this lifetime. I do not have to work 17-18 hours a day and can afford to put food on the table with time to spare sometimes. As I contemplated on what have I done to deserve this luxury, I realized that I can expand my role into bigger scheme of things, reach out and help spread Buddha Dharma to people instead of focusing on the enjoyment for just ourselves. And so the journey began.
Two months into teaching, my classes were frozen by my method of communication with the children. As simple as the lesson module might sound, the children were not following me. Most of the time, I found them incredibly excited to tell me something totally irrelevant rather than being engaged by the lesson. I had no choice but allowed them to butt in even though we were in the middle of something. But I quickly realized this was a way the children sought attention.
Many a time, they also exhibited tantrums and disappointments during social conflicts with their peers. It was hard to calm them without being a disciplinarian, and by being one, I quickly lost their trust because it was evidential that they plead for guidance rather than being reprimanded. This was when I discovered each and every one of the children felt very strongly about their sense of entitlement. It was really disheartening because each week felt like a blow of failure to the perfectionist in me who wanted very much to instill Dharma values in the little ones. I felt I had let everyone down.
When the lesson is not interesting, children will display unwillingness to cooperate at class
Then, I read that “A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard”. I took a step back and analyzed the situation. I was being reactive most of the time, lacking in the correct composure when interacting with children. I also realized the fact that I was always thinking in my adult capacity and trying to project my thoughts and communications onto 2 to 4 years old. I did research and proceeded to confirm my comprehension and ameliorated methods with seniors.
And so, in the following months, a variation of enriched methods were applied during the classes.
One of the most important adult-children interaction is to be at the same level as the child. During class activities, I started looking for natural openings in children’s play and then join in at their physical level, perhaps as a pretend play partners. One game I found very handy was letting the adult played patient while the children took turns to play doctor. This removed the barrier rapidly because the children were suddenly placed on a levelled position with an adult and of one that they can relate to.
Joining the children at their physical level
It was correspondingly important to focus on helping children become familiar with words and language that project Dharma value. I found role play an effective way to accomplish this. Role play is deemed as the safe way to explore strong emotions, which directly help children understand frightening events like sickness, pains and even death in mock up circumstances. Acting out the emotions and overcoming it through rationalization is, in my opinion, the foundation to building emotional resiliency in the future.
As educator, the children naturally looked up to our words for instruction and guidance. Aware of the impact, I started making conscious effort to only use encouragement instead of praise. I avoided statements that evaluate or judge, but focus on making objective, specific comments that encourage children to continue their good effort, or halt their bad behavior. The main objective is to expand their descriptive language and let them think about what they are doing.
It is good to always thrive to use vocabularies that the children are comfortable with, it helped make the reading, singing, storytelling and role play more fun for both adult and children. Pre-school children tend to learn better with singular words that are made up of different letters, syllables and sounds, and the words should be accompanied by colorful pictures.
Using simple vocabularies help with children’s learning
Knowing when to stop and how to stop the lesson is significant as well. I had learnt to pay attention to children’s reaction to the lesson, and stop when I noticed many of them are not enjoying it. I like to play bubble games or balloons with them when the energy level dropped and attention wandered. It is helpful to make a simple routine on when and how to stop the lesson, the children will gradually grow to follow the pace of the lesson.
The biggest joy is knowing the children are improving and they have Dharma values in them now
Now, looking back, I am glad that I took on the role and did not give up. We can all make a difference in the lives of children, through perseverance, innovation and consistency. My heartfelt gratitude to His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche, Kechara Pastors, kind sponsor and all Kecharians; without which, I would not had this opportunity to contribute for such a wonderful cause.
Note1: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/current-affairs/8-years-in-burger-king.html
Stella Cheang works as a corporate strategist, and is a teacher at Kechara Sunday Dharma School (KSDS)
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Thank you very much for the wonderful sharing of your experience.Education is extremely important industry because through education we can influence the choices and decision of the future.
The different approaches to communicate with the children instilling discipline and dharma in them.Best wishes for your commitment and hard work in learning how to deal with children.
Judging from the comments below and the article that you’ve written, I could see that your effort paid off. I am not sure if you’re still with KSDS, but wherever you go I wish that you may have a smooth and successful Dharma journey. Thanks for sharing on how we can actually think of ways in getting the result that we wanted & make our way to the top without excuses.
Congratulation stella and thank you very much for your effort in ksds for the past years! As a mother of 2 of the younger age, i know is not easy to dealing with the child especially between 2-4yo. Although we joined ksds quite late in June 2016, but under your guidance, love and care for the past 6 months, my kids have a wonderful time in KH every sunday. Early wake up and distance never let them skip the class every sunday. Perhaps they like every teachers in ksds and they learned a lot. Thanks once again
Rejoice for you Stella, kids that young have a lot of energy and think logic and rationale may not appeal to them. Rejoice for the growth in dharma in you that has allowed you to share the dharma with young children.
Well done. You have put aside your fears and insecurity to make a difference to the lives of the young children.
Thank you for your commitment and hard work in learning how to deal with children instilling discipline and dharma in them. I can see that you carry the dharma in you as you can remember Rinpoche’s teachings at times of need.
May you continue to grow and help the children find themselves in a life with dharma.
Thanks for your inspirational sharing of your journey and experience.
Education is an extremely important industry because it forms the thoughts of our future generation. Through education, we can influence the choices and decisions of the future through people.
Dharma education is bringing education many notches up and I thank individuals like Stella who dedicate time, care and effort to be with the children to impact on them values that will truly make them better people.
Thank you Stella for sharing your experience with us on your journey in Dharma by contributing to the Kid’s class on Sundays. Indeed I can share your feelings of wanting to impose our adult thoughts into children and expect them to behave a certain way, our perception. However, children are the most vulnerable and will not hold back their feelings and will express out at the spur of the moment. They are unclouded by judgments, perceptions and expectations.
The saying that goes “Live the child in us” is true to the point where when we are being a child, we tend to live the moment and that moment is our true self . Does not mean that we are being childish.
I applaud you for taking this bold step to contribute your time and effort in bringing out the best in the children.
Dear Stella,
Children are not easy to teach as they think and act with different levels of maturity. Everyone of them have their unique disposition and character.
I can relate to your initial reluctance to take on this role as it requires from us a great amount of love, patience and care for these children. Though this is a daunting task, it is a fulfilling one as you are instilling in them the values and practice of Dharma at a young age when they could be trained and conditioned easily than when they are adults. Good habituation should start when young.
In the process of imparting knowledge to these children, you are learning to become a better person and a better spiritual practitioner. We are the role models for these young children who act like a sponge that absorb liquids rapidly. In other words, we need to behave appropriately as our actions influence the children! These children are the Dharma mirrors for us, they reflect our actions!
I am glad you were creative, flexible and innovative in teaching the children. You tried to use different approaches to communicate with the children and to handle the situations when things became challenging.
We have our own projections of how things are; similarly the children. Hence the role play which you had adopted is a good way to gain the trust of these children and to understand their needs better. The children can then better appreciate the role everyone plays in life including your role as a teacher!
Correct use of speech is indeed important as you said when teaching the children languages. Four of the ten non-virtues relate to speeches. Right speech is what we need to impart in the minds of these children. In fact it is never too young to teach the children The Noble Eightfold Path!
I rejoice in your tireless effort and perseverance in this period volunteering as a Preschool Dharma Teacher. The best gift from you to the children is the gift of Dharma. You will be most delighted when the children put into practice the Dharma values that you have instilled in them. Eventually, these children would grow up with positive virtues and Dharma imprints. You are actually making a huge difference in the lives of these children.
Thank You Stella for sharing your thoughts and experience here. I hope you will continue to inspire the parents the importance of educating their children from young with Dharma. Also may more people be inspired to join Kechara as educators or teachers to spread the incomparable teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa. Lastly, may these children continue their studies in Kechara and be guilded along the path to enlightenment.
Thank you Stella for sharing your experiences with all of us here. Through children we are able to learn so much yet we always think that we are better then them and we try to teach them things that they do not know.
In my opinion, when we teach children we are actually the ones that the children are teaching new knowledge to. They have so much to offer yet as the adults we are constantly the ones that are polluting them.
It is because we think that we know so much. In Dharma, I have learnt that everyone of us is considered as ‘damaged goods’. We all have our problems and when we do not let go of them, we ‘damage’ the next generation as well. Reason to this is because we think that what we have went through is correct and the pain and abuse that we go through is normal. Thus, we place the same pain and abuse to the next generation that they will too grow up with similar damage that we went through.
Thank you Stella for showing that children are just mini adults that have not grown fully, but they too came with knowledge with some baggages that they have gotten from their previous lives. But, as a person that is suppose to be more ‘mature’ we should be the ones that are guiding them to the correct paths to not suffer just like what happened for us and not to damage them any further.
Thank you Stella for being a teacher for KSDS, it is definitely not easy especially first time teaching kids at this age, but your perseverance has made all these challengers become nothing.
Kids are very sensitive, they can feel that you really care for them or not, and your success today has said it all, your care and dedication has made you a great teacher, even it is just a volunteer, you still put all your heart and soul in it to bring Dharma to young kids.
Thank you for your inspirational sharing, you are not just a Dharma teacher for kids, but also to the adults, from what you shared, there is already so much to learn from it.
Dear Stella, you are a great inspiration to many who may be restricted by self-imposed fears and self-limiting beliefs which can result in many missed opportunities. Whatever it is, we can, if we put our minds to it. It takes a lot of patience to keep all these young children of differing personalities attentive and interested! It’s a mindfulness practice! But by your care and effort, these young minds can receive the imprints of the dharma at an early age which could be the basis for their practice. So beneficial and highly meritorious.
Dear Stella,
Your article on what you’ve learnt and how you’ve adjusted yourself in teaching children is insightful and powerful. We can all apply this to not just children but to adults and animals. All it takes is care and mindfulness.
When we focus out on others and not on our own projections on how others should be, we will find solutions to helping them.
I visited the children exhibition during Wesak Day and you showed me around. The amount of love and care that our teachers put into the children were reflected in the art work produced by the children.
Congratulations for putting aside your fears and focusing on benefiting the children in accordance to our guru’s teachings. Looking forward to more sharings from you and the exciting programs you all have for the children.
I’ve attached pics of some of the art work at the exhibition.
Regards,
JP
Thank you Stella for telling your story and sharing your experience of teaching Dharma to pre-school kids. You are a good teacher, in this short time you are able to understand the children so well and find methods to attract their attention.
Parents are aware that Dharma education is essential for kids of today especially when both parents are working. Children are taught discipline, self-control and learn to appreciate parents better who work so hard to provide all their necessities to their children who are enjoying now.
KSDS of Kechara House headed by Pastor Adeline is to teach Dharma to the young so that they learn and grow with it. This is to follow the instructions of H.E. The 25th Tsem Rinpoche instruction.
Thank you Stella Cheang for being so kind to volunteer your time time and effort to discover how this young children learn , it is not an easy task especially the young kids because their attention span is very short and they are very playful but once you have learn how to handle them it be fun to learn from them it kids do teach us a lot of value like patient and kindness keep up a good jobs.
Thank you for the sharing really admire your encouragement. We all know is not an easy to teach kids but you have doing with pure motivation and dedication to bring kids in dharma.. Your action will inspire many others do the same , this way the Dharma will grow..
Dear Teacher Stella,
Indeed its a great experience shared in which I will learn from time to time on how to manage and communicate with the kids.
Its always good to kick start Dharma teaching from young as they will grow up with an imprint in their mind. Besides that, learning Dharma will also enhance their social etiquette.
KSDS won’t exist without everybody’s effort ….’It won’t happen if we don’t make it happen’.
Thank you
I have been once being an assistant in Teacher Stella’s class and I noticed that Teacher Stella is a caring, passionate and patience teacher. She is creative and enthusiasm made every kid interested and pays attention to her teaching. As I saw, Teacher Stella loves the kids very much and I think the kids love her too.
Thank you Teacher Stella for all your effort and commitment to teach dharma for this youngest group of Kechara Sunday Dharma School (KSDS). It is not an easy task, but you have done it very well with your pure motivation just to impart dharma to them. We are fortunate to have a volunteer teacher like you. Please keep it and let KSDS growing with much flourish.
Dear Stella,
Thank you so much for your efforts and sharing of the journey! It’s very inspiring to read about how you learn to communicate with the kids better and better.
From the article, I can feel how fulfilling it is, although the process go up and down and there are many internal voices to answer, by getting through it one by one, I believe everything worth than giving up.
Thank you Pastor Adeline for leading this meaningful education project! Thanks again to Stella and all the caring teachers in Kechara Sunday Dharma School. I found things become beautiful not because of the physical look, but the internal happiness that cannot be described by words when everyone is working towards the same goal.
Please keep up the good works! 🙂
Thank you Stella for sharing your experience. I am very happy for you that you have overcome your reluctance to teach young children. To me it is a great breakthrough.
You have proven that perseverance brings positive result. Your action surely inspire me and others to work harder for dharma.
In addition, I would also like to thank all the KSDS teachers for working so hard to bring dharma to children.
Most importantly thank you Rinpoche for building Kechara so we are able to practice and learn dharma here.
Dear Teacher Stella,
I’m happy to have a good read from the articles which shared by you on the educating experience with the kids from Kechara Sunday Dharma School.
Plants the seed for the young kids are so importantly and generate the education and the right guiding are very important. The kids are so luckily to have with Dharma. To have dharma and practice Dharma during their young age, they can practice to become a better person when they grown up.
The kids easily find their outer and inner strength of their personalities on their likes or dislikes during the class and some events from Kechara Sunday Dharma School (KSDS) like arts, interactions, presentations skills, to get more knowledge on Dharma, act on the role play for Graduations. There are some kids which are not interested on art, but some teachers find a creative way to applied on the kids to built their strength and confidence.
The kids can practice not easily to gives up on something which they are not confidence with, but from the practice and teachers support, the kids are transform to be more practically and be more confidence from the results.
May KSDS growth with success and may the kids become a better person in the future and benefits to others.
Thank you.
Thank you Stella for the time and effort that you have put in to all the lovely children with one direction and that is to instill dharma in these children at an early age.. It is definitely a very challenging task for you, to handle a group of young children as compared to sitting in a corporate office. Young children are like sponges. They absorb readily and eadily. During their growing up period, it is very important to instill positive teaching in them. You have done it well and heartiest congratulations to you for another milestone achieved. Kudos to all the KSDS voluntary teachers and pastor Adeline as well for their hard work done for the children. Most people agree that raising and nurturing a child is not an easy task. We parents can’t issue a rulebook or guidelines which guarantee raising a child into a well balanced adult. However, I definitely believe dharma can help us to achieve this. Without the voluntary teachers, pastors, contributors, and most important H.E. the 25th Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, our children will not have an opportunity to get near to the dharma teaching. The children are blessed to have you all.
Dear Stella
Thank you for volunteer yourself at KSDS. The kids are very fortunate that their parents are able to send them to Dharma class. They are also lucky to have you as their teacher. To handle human being is an art not to mention kids however you managed to go through the hurdle by using your skillful means, observation and perseverance. Nothing is impossible if you set your motivation to benefits others
Thank you Stella for sharing your enthusiastic in getting close to the small kids.
For me teaching small kids need a lot of patient and passion. Kids are very sensitive and they shows their respond in very genuine ways. Congrats to you Stella, another milestone for you and our younger kids. As a parent, I would like to say it is very fortunate for the kids who have you as their teacher.
Thank you Stella for your effort and patience to teach the kids. It’s not easy but you push yourself to manage what is unmanageable and turn them around for one reason, is to develop the young generation with dharma that you believe is important for their growth. You are a committed teacher and caring enough to even share how the kids does in the class with the parents. As a parents I really appreciate that.
Kechara Sunday Dharma School is a success and will definitely keep growing due to their compassionate and caring teachers.
Thank you Stella, your story of how you transformed to be an educator to the children brings to mind Rinpoche’s book of ‘NOTHING CHANGES AND EVERYTHING CHANGES’.
It is your perseverance and tenacity to teach the children that made you a good teacher. Otherwise nothing changed but because you did, everything changed and having good results.
Congratulations and may your contribution of the Dharma be the greatest gift to these children.
Dear Stella,
Congratulation.
Thank you for the sharing, really admire your encouragement and persistency volunteering as the pre-school dharma teacher to help and educating children.
Pee Bee Chong
Stella is one of the many caring, committed and patience teachers at the Kechara Sunday Dharma School (KSDS). She always challenges her limits and ready to learn and excel. It is definitely not easy to take on a role to teach the youngest group of KSDS, yet she finds ways to succeed. She is versatile and takes her own initiatives to help in many areas in addition to the teaching role. She is an asset, to say the least.
It is teachers like her that keep the KSDS growing and continue to bring dharma to the younger generations.
Children are the future of our generation and it is important that they are educated well and using the right techniques.
If children are taught wrong things or even bad habits, those negative traits may stay with them for the rest of their lives. Therefore the art of teaching is very essential so establish a bright foundation among children. And so because of this i respect all hard working and devoted teachers, like Stella here.
What I respect the most from what Stella has done is that she pushed herself out of her comfort zone into a place where she did not feel completely secure or confident. She had never had much experience with children and yet she still wanted to teach, very inspirational. Thank you for sharing.
One thing I am very certain of, is that it takes a great deal of patience to be a teacher and even more, to work with children. And so, the very fact that Stella can work so successfully with the little ones and this not being a job she is forced to do, says a lot about her. It can only be a labor of love and driven by kindness and wish to see the children grow up on strong foundations.
I like a quote by George Bernard Shaw that says, “Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself ” and essentially, this is saying that we have to teach children only by example. The Kechara Sunday Class is a success story and Stella is one of the reasons for its success.
Thank you Stella,for volunteering yourself as a pre-school dharma teacher at Kechara Sunday Dharma class.These kids are so lucky to be conected with Dharma teachings at such an early age. Teaching kids requires extraordinary levels of patience and care.I think it’s quite enjoying and fun too to teach young kids cos they are so innocent and cute.Some times they will be too active and might test your limits but at the end of the day it is very fulfilling and happy … with these little kids learning and soaking up everything that u have taught them.
Thank you Stella for contributing articles to Tsem Rinpoche’s blog. It will indeed add variety to this ever dynamic blog.
I do send my kids to Kechara Sunday Dharma School, and it is heart warming to see the teachers, though they are not trained in teaching and have their own career, they took their time to volunteer in teaching the kids. In fact, not only did they take their time to teach the kids, they even took their time to LEARN, to me, that is really touching.
We at Kechara are indeed blessed to have people like Stella who would work to benefit others.
Dear Mr Lew,
Thank you very much for your kind comment. We are really appreciative of your continuous support to Kechara Dharma Sunday School. Many parents are not aware of the importance of letting young children receive Dharma values at the onset of life, to develop a proper sense of values that emphasis on self-effort, self-control, and respect for others. And it is precisely these sets of values that I have observed from your 3 beautiful, kind and gifted children. From time to time, I noticed they are not shy to focus out and help others during lessons and after classes. They are also polite and have good manners. Even the more timid little one has become cheerful and participates in activities.
On the other hand, Kechara Sunday Dharma School will not cease to bring Buddha’s Dharma that the teachers learnt from His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche to children in an innovative and unconventional manner. Learning Dharma can be fun and enjoyable too.
Many thanks,
Stella Cheang
Hi Stella, Even in responding to Lew you reflect your passion and enthusiasm 🙂 . In any event, thank you for a heartfelt sharing of your experience volunteering as a Dharma teacher connecting the younger generation with Dharma teachings. Reading about the challenges you had, how you find ways to overcome it and things you have learnt along the way is inspiring and really goes to show the extent of your efforts and sincerity in applying Dharma in your life and working for the benefits of others. Your kindness, enthusiasm and tenacity really shines through and same goes for all the other volunteer teachers too.
Great sharing Stella! It is great to see your article being posted. Like your heartwarming sharing about your journey of volunteering as a Kids Dharma Class teachers. I rejoice in seeing you applying Dharma and transforming you & your life throughout these years from the teaching from Rinpoche & the nurturing of Pastors.
Indeed it is not easy to teach children, especially pre-school children. They are cute, sensitive, and need lots of love and patience to bring Dharma to them. However, you and the team do not afraid of learning and keep trying out new ways to bring Dharma to the kids. Salute!
Lastly, thank you for all the effort especially to my little monster. She likes Teacher Stella very much! 😉