S1: Importance Of A Good Teacher

In this session, the Secondary 1 youths watched a 'The Story of Angulimala: A Murderer's Road to Sainthood'. This story teaches them that people can and do change and that people are best influenced by persuasion and above all, by example. In this case, Buddha has set good examples for Angulimala to follow.

Following that, the youths understand that it is important to find a good teacher to learn from, since everything that we know, most likely it is taught by someone, or learned by watching others. For example, Confucius was a wise teacher who gave advice on how to face difficult people.

After watching another video 'At The Supermarket', the youths are aware that although there are people who exhibit bad qualities, they should avoid following them and do what is right instead. Everyone would not instinctively think of people with bad qualities as their teachers.

In the next segment, the youths played some activities where they must guess the sentence through looking at some actions and draw a picture by listening to some verbal instructions. They could see that it is not easy to communicate while not being able to see or hear.

They were then introduced to Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing at nineteen months old. She was fortunate to meet a very good teacher, Anne Sullivan, whom she believed in wholeheartedly. If Helen did not meet her teacher, she would not have been able to accomplish so much in her lifetime.

We hope that the youths have realised the importance of having a good teacher to guide us, one that sets good examples and exhibit good qualities, allowing them to see much further.