→ Watch the Disney movie "Soul "
Watch the Disney movie “Soul” with children to understand the importance of different values in perception. Is it about choosing to enjoy the process or focusing on a specific goal or dream? The musician spends his whole life pursuing a definite life goal—to become a pianist in a touring band. However, his student, Soul 22 from a different world, believes that the meaning of life doesn’t lie in the end result but in enjoying the process, such as savoring the taste of pizza, appreciating the autumn sunlight through maple leaves, and listening to the experiences of various characters.
After watching the movie summary and exciting clips, the children also make their own judgments, realizing that these two values are not absolutely right or wrong. After contemplating for a while, one of the children feels that they personally prefer and lean towards embracing a life pursuit of enjoying the process, like Soul 22, but they also acknowledge the importance of striving for life goals.
They also design a values-oriented mini-game, using vocabulary choices to help children recognize the values that are most important to them and engage in reflections on their life perspectives. Among the forty or so selected values, the children choose “kindness,” “sincerity,” “friendship,” and many other values that they personally resonate with. They are also invited to interpret and relate their chosen values to their own life experiences. When their classmates choose values that are completely different from their own, the children demonstrate strong acceptance and curiosity.
→ Watch When Yogurt Takes Over
By analyzing a sci-fi short clip called “Love the Robot,” we can contemplate how humans should respond after yogurt takes over the world.
The seven to eight-minute short film approaches the story from a highly innovative perspective, immediately capturing the attention of the children. According to the child’s account, she has had little exposure to science fiction works and has rarely been taught related content in school. However, she expresses a strong interest in this genre filled with imaginative ideas. We guide the child to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of yogurt ruling the world from different perspectives. We create a table and list the arguments from both sides, helping the child learn to weigh different viewpoints and make scientifically reasonable decisions, thereby fostering critical thinking skills. This activity, resembling a debate between opposing viewpoints, has been well-received by the child.
Following this activity, we also share a popular science video about critical thinking with the child. Starting from concrete examples and gradually moving towards abstract concepts, we help the child further understand the meaning of critical thinking through professional terminology and explanations.
→ Read the picture book The Cat Who Died a Million Times
By watching explanatory videos of picture books, we have encouraged children to have new thoughts on the heavy topic of death. In the story, the immortal little cat inevitably faces death, but it does so without fear because it has encountered loved ones and done beloved things in life, finding great fulfillment in simply having lived. This touching story has deeply moved the children, and they adore the cute voice-over and heartwarming illustrations. With great interest and open-mindedness, the children have engaged in discussions with us about the weighty topic of death. We have guided them in contemplating death and exploring the meaning of existence. Through our back-and-forth conversations, the children have found their own answers.
Additionally, we have used interactive games to guide the children in creating a bucket list of things they want to do before they die, encouraging them to think about the five most meaningful and desired experiences in their lives. Their innocent and adorable responses, such as “spending time with family,” “becoming a language teacher,” and “going to an amusement park with friends,” reveal their care for friendship, family, and their aspirations for their dreams.
→ Exploring the discursive bias behind the news
Reading news headlines about food delivery riders from different media sources together, we can identify the different perspectives of each media outlet. For example, we can recognize the official discourse of Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily, as well as the intellectual social concerns unique to magazines like Southern Weekly and New Weekly. This exercise aims to enhance critical thinking skills.
We can explore the issue of media bias through a small game, where we collectively examine the issue of media bias and take on different perspectives and tones to write headlines for the same news event. By altering the tone of language, using different vocabulary choices, and experimenting with punctuation, we can explore how the media’s stance can influence the neutrality and objectivity of news reporting.
→ Math Games
After discovering the children’s interest in mathematics, we introduced them to some fun math games such as Twenty-Four Game, logic puzzles, pattern recognition, and strategic games. These games helped the children exercise their mathematical thinking skills. The children showed great enthusiasm for these challenging math games. Although we were not fully aware of the children’s level of mathematical knowledge, and some games may have been a bit difficult for them, hindering their ability to complete mathematical deductions independently, the children always approached the games with a strong desire to learn.
