Fun, Games and Learning in Bodhgaya, India
Fun, Games and Learning in Bodhgaya, India
In January 2023 FDCW Facilitator Ceci Buzon travelled to Bodhgaya, India to train school teachers in the 16 Guidelines. The training took place over 4 days with 17 teachers and staff from Akshay School and Maitreya School participating. Raquel Mason, Director of Akshay School, shares how teachers responded to the training:-
“Teachers at Akshay School have been learning about and applying the 16 Guidelines for some time (see our earlier Article), but we wanted to build on that experience and develop new skills in sharing 16G with children. We had heard about FDCW’s 16 Guidelines for Children and Teenagers course. This course trains parents, teachers, educators and carers to explore mindfulness and ethical values with children and teenagers. Our teachers wanted training on how to share the values of the 16 Guidelines with children each day in a fun, playful way.
Ceci presented the program in an instructive, fun way, and with numerous games to play with children and teenagers to teach them about values, wisdom and compassion. The games that she presented served as examples so that teachers could later adapt to make their own versions.
We were encouraged to be creative and to experiment to see what the children would best respond to. Games were structured to allow teachers to use their own imaginations and be creative. Teachers were encouraged to develop new similar games based on the physical materials (crayons, paper etc) that they had available.
The program consisted of a bit of theory but it was mainly practising the games so it was very enjoyable and great fun!
In the end, teachers commented how it had opened their eyes to the many possible ways to share the 16 Guidelines with children and teenagers.
The other great benefit was the training allowed each teacher to explore the Guidelines more deeply. We learned more about the 4 wisdom themes (how we think, how we act, how we relate to others and how we find meaning). This resulted in a deeper, more meaningful experience of the Guidelines. It’s so important that the values of the Guidelines are embodied by the teachers so that the children can learn by the way the teacher is being with them as well as the fun activity of the game itself. The teacher is learning to “model” the values for the children.
The course lasted 5 hours each day (including a lunch break) and it was never boring because there were so many interesting activities to discover and practice each day.
Ceci’s good humour and lovely character made everything easy. She is a great communicator and easily captures the participants' attention. The way she taught was very inspiring and teachers loved the 16 Guidelines for Children and Teens program.
I think that perhaps it would have been interesting to have extended the training one or two more days so that teachers had the opportunity to prepare some classes to demonstrate to other teachers what they had learned.
I would like to thank all the team of FDCW for this very special opportunity we had and a very special thanks to Ceci Buzón for her volunteering work helping to make the 16GL reachable to so many people. It was a privilege to have this course taught in Bodhgaya. Thank you.”
If you’re looking for ways that you can bring ethics, wisdom and compassion to children around you then why not try out some of FDCW’s free resources
Happy Toolbox for Kids
The Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) has a range of free tools available for you to teach compassion, values and altruism to your children.
The 16 Guidelines Happy Toolbox for Kids contains a selection of mindfulness exercises and an activity idea for each of the 16 Guidelines for Life to playfully explore the Guidelines with children in their daily life.
Ready, Set, Happy
Ready, Set, Happy is another resource offered by FDCW for teaching compassion to children. It includes a collection of songs, poems, plays, games, and scientific experiments for children, families and teachers, based on the 16 Guidelines for Life.
Whether you are a teacher, parent or caregiver these tools are an invaluable start for teaching compassion to your children.
16G to Live By for Teens
16 to Live By is a project that supports young people aged 14 - 19 years in their own lives and communities in taking unified and courageous actions to help others. The free pack aims to teach teens compassion and wisdom, by breaking it down into 4 main themes: How we think, How we act, How we relate to others and How we find meaning.
Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW)
At FDCW we are committed to a more compassionate, wiser world. We provide resources, courses and training to develop qualities such as kindness, patience and courage - qualities which are essential for meeting the challenges of the world we all share.
The Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) was established as a global charity based in London in 2005. Since then we have provided secular training, programmes and resources across many sectors of society – schools, universities, hospices, workplaces, healthcare, youth groups and community centres. Our courses have reached thousands of people across the world through our dedicated and growing network of facilitators in more than 20 countries.
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