Children Dharma Class – Concentration and Calmness through Zentangle
On the 13th of March 2022, FGS NZ YAD resumed the fifth online Children Dharma Class for the first semester with twelve students aged between 5 to 11 in attendance. The class was led by three teachers, including teacher Gwen, Manisha and Thomas. The class began with the chant of Giving Rise to the Bodhi Mind led by Manisha, in which students were actively and happily singing along.
Before the class started, Thomas introduced about the writing and drawing competition that was organised by Nantien Chinese School of Sydney to increase the awareness of students towards the climate change. During the first session of the class, Gwen introduced the class with Zentangle Pattern that required the students to draw the structured pattern on A4 paper. It was started with ruling out the square box by folding the A4 paper. This can train the students to be patience and follow the instruction. Gwen started showing the students the way to draw the first pattern – spiral. John, one of the students from the class mentioned that drawing Zentangle made him to be calm and collected.
Following that, teacher Manisha conducted an exciting game of "Kahoot", which the children enjoyed, and recap the basic Buddhism term and the Bodhi Light Tales that they learned last week. Teacher Gwen continued with the second session that let the students to be creative and draw up their own patterns. Lucas, one of the students also mentioned that he saw lots of similar pattern on his comic book and playing cards in his home. This shows that the Zentangle pattern increased the concentration of the students and making them to be more mindful about their surroundings.
Teacher Gwen summarized the class and mentioned that the Zentangle can be used to increase confidence, calmness, focus and creativity. Teacher Thomas also mentioned that the Zentangle can train them to be a tidy person. The class ended with an award ceremony for the students.