From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


Church Trains Children to Diminish their Study Blues


From Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date Tue, 01 Mar 2005 12:04:59 -0800

Taiwan Church News 2764, 14-20 February 2005

Reported by Chen Yi-shiuan. Written by David Alexander

Apart from offering English classes and arts camps, what can a church do to
establish good contacts in its neighborhood? Sung-an Presbyterian Church in
Taipei held a 5- day course to train children in skills of memorization and
invited experts in the field to teach ¡§speed memory.¡¨ The course was
arranged by the church¡¦s Sunday School Superintendent, Ms. Wang Ran-ling,
who said, ¡§A course in practical training enables family heads and
children in the neighborhood feel that the church has some usefulness to
the community. It helps them to establish good feelings about the church
and afterwards they are more likely to participate in other activities here.¡¨

In the past churches often offered winter-break English, arts and drawing
courses. This is the first time that Sung-an Church has attempted the
memory training route. Ms. Wang said she got the idea when she watched her
own children prepare for exams in junior middle school. Their need to
memorize large amounts of material increased, and their enjoyment of books
in general decreased. She thought that offering this course would be seen
as useful and beneficial to children.

The class was led in a cooperative atmosphere. Methods of imagery and
symbolism were presented to help children to structure information into
patterns that aid memory. The power of a child to learn is amazing. Many
were able to remember things after only one reading!

The Rev. Yang En-su, pastor of Sung-an Church, described the course as a
natural part of his congregation¡¦s transformation into a community work
agency. He praised Ms. Wang for the idea and noted that two-thirds of the
participants in the course were children from outside of the church¡¦s
membership rolls. He hopes that the exposure will draw them gradually into
the fellowship of the congregation, and onward to faith in Christ.

For more information: Sung An Presbyterian Church sung-an@ms21.seeder.net

Taiwan Church News is published weekly in Taiwan¡¦s local languages.

Visit our web site: www.pctpress.com.tw


Browse month . . . Browse month (sort by Source) . . . Advanced Search & Browse . . . WFN Home