S'porean teacher uses MH17 to teach students a valuable lesson
A local teacher Matthew Zachary Liu used the MH17 tragedy to teach a heartwarming, valuable lesson to his primary 3 students.
After overhearing a conversation between two poly students joking about MH17 on the way to school, he decided that his class would not be a typical one.
He posted on Facebook earlier today: "As I walked into class today, I told my students not to take out their textbooks just yet; that we're going to have a chat instead.
"I then wrote MH17 on the board and asked the class of 40+ nine-year-olds if anyone knew the significance of it."
Liu said that only a handful knew about the latest aviation tragedy so he informed them about the flight that was shot down in eastern Ukraine.
The mood shifted noticeably when he informed them that close to 300 people died.
When he asked them how they felt, a few students stood up and said they felt sad because people have lost their love ones. They also acknowledged that it could have easily been a Singapore plane.
What if it was an SQ plane?
Liu asked them to imagine how many would care if this happened to a Singapore Airlines flight. Every single student raised their hand.
The students said: "Someone we know could have been on that plane... my father, my mother, my cousin..."
Liu said: "This was when I got them to think about a scenario where one of their classmates weren't in class today because he/she was on the plane and the last thing the class said or did to this now missing classmate was bully/tease him or her. How much would they feel now that they're never going to see this missing classmate again?"
He then asked the students to turn to the person beside them and give them a pat on the back and tell them you cherish them.
The class did as he instructed while breaking out into smiles and laughter.
"One kid even walked across the classroom to give her friend a hug," said Liu.
Source: Facebook
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