Weekend Entry
March 09, 2008, 21:18
Sat:
I just found the perfect house. Was part of A's wedding entourage of brothers which were responsible for picking up the bride. The bride's home was located in Seletar, a neighbourhood of black-and-white colonial houses that was used by members of the British RAF in the years prior to indenpendence. Unlike most parts of Singapore, the Seletar area remains largely rural. One could even imagine, sitting in the house, surrounded by swathes of bushland, that one was in Australia.
The wedding ceremony went well. Being the first time that I attended a traditional Chinese wedding, it was interesting to witness in person the rites and customs which one thought had died out with urbanisation and modernisation.
In the evening, I attended MT's wedding banquet at the Marina Mandarin. It was a well-choreographed event, with most of the guests turning up all dressed to the nines. Some of the guests were also evidently starstruck as famous TV Stars from Mediacorp were also in attendance.
Was surprised to see an ex-JC classmate whom I had not met for over ten years at the banquet. Was also nice to catch up with some of the other guests who were in my university orientation group. The chemistry was still there. Some things never change.
Sun:
Had a seder meal with my P5 catechism kids. Over a meal of naan and ribena, the Last Supper was re-enacted with yours truly playing Jesus and 12 of the kids as apostles. The boys were especially excited when the character cards were given out, with the boy playing Judas especially being in character. As usual, the girls were very subdued (some of them were given the roles of apostles as well).
The format of the entire activity was strutctured as a dialogue where questions and answers were exchanged. I was impressed that the kids were able to take time to think about the importance of the Last Supper,the significance of the Eucharist and asked very good questions and offered some very smart answers, though some were goofy. I even made two of the naughtiest boys in my class do the opening and closing prayers, which they seemed to take pride in. Interestingly, these boys who are so chatty in class clammed up the moment they were asked to lead in prayer. Overall, my feel was that unlike most classes where we had trouble controlling discipline and the children were unable to absorb much of the lesson, today's interactive activity was helpful in getting them to understand the Last Supper.
Perhaps, as I told some of my partners, our role was not to pontificate and teach in a one-way manner, but to act as facilitators to guide the kids to form the right conclusions through questions and dialogue. This would help them appreciate the faith better rather than having it stuffed down their throats.
Well, it will be two weeks before I see the kids again because of Palm Sunday and Easter.
Looking forward to the vacation.
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