Remote School Service－Piecing fragments of memory
This time, DENER’s remote school service at Zhong Zheng Elementary
School brought a different picture book. “Old Mr.” is a story about dementia.
The old man in this book is an energetic old man. Suddenly one day, his
memory seemed to have left him. The old man forgot about his wife, the
cutest granddaughter, how to do a lot of things, and even how to be happy.
Before the story began, Teacher Jing Rong gave a lot of information, asked
the children to quickly memorize them in a short period of time and to
experience the feeling that they could not remember.
Then officially entered the picture book course, “Old Mr.” depicts the appearance of an old man who has dementia. using the simplest narrative method to tell an old man’s life from enjoying a happy retirement to not recognizing everyone’s life after dementia. Teacher Jing Rong asked the children to recite it separately, and their little fingers pointed at each word of the picture book earnestly. Even if it wasn’t your turn to read the text, the children would still follow the progress in a low voice.
Piecing the fragments of memory
Teacher Jing Rong compared the lost memory to fragments, and asked the
children to try to piece together the things they don’t want to forget the most.
A boy carefully put together a big heart and said, "I don't want to forget the
love my grandparents gave me." Next to the big heart, he drew grandpa and
grandma. For him, his grandparents are everything to him. The teacher felt
very touched.
The family structure in remote mountainous areas is very different from that in
the city and many children are raised by grandparents. Because of this, they
have a strong relationship with their grandparents. The topic of "dementia"
might be a bit heavy, but it may be a problem lurking around the children.
Through this service, children recognized the signs of dementia. If one day
there are elders around them who need help, we hope the children can recall
this story and know how to deal with them.
