[Video] Afterschool Moral Education: Learning Through Fables

Here is a look at a lesson at CGK Afterschool.

The Project Work subject that day was:

Moral Education

This subject explores values and how we treat other people.

Science and Social Studies are enjoyable subjects that capture children’s interest. We introduced Moral Education as well because we want children to develop compassion and personal qualities as they prepare to engage with the wider world. It addresses somewhat abstract themes such as peace, respect and happiness. These can be difficult to explain in words, so children experience and explore them through stories and drama.

That day, we learned about fables and discussed the messages in two stories: “The Lion and the Mouse” and “The Hare and the Tortoise.”

Fables feature animals and teach us something important. Each story has a beginning, a middle and an end. We also discussed folktales: stories passed down through generations by family members and relatives.

Each child put these story-related terms into their own words.

It was a little challenging, so the children asked Bobby questions such as “What should I write?” and helped one another.

By the end, they could present and clearly explain the term they had been assigned. Even adults can find words such as “fable” and “folktale” difficult to explain!

We then read the stories again and discussed their messages.

For “The Lion and the Mouse,” one idea was, “You can help someone even if you are small!” For “The Hare and the Tortoise,” it was, “You can win even if you are slow!”

These were some of the ideas the children shared.

There may be more lessons to discover as we read more deeply. It would be interesting to return to these stories with the children after some time has passed.

We finished by reviewing the lesson.

This Moral Education lesson gave us another opportunity to see the children grow in expressing their understanding and interpreting stories. We will continue to explore values in enjoyable ways.