Giving that sense of “normalcy” back to the children who fell ill, from the Newspapers, translated…
“The Wards are Not Just Wards”, the Art Classes, the Body Movements Courses, Playing Dress-Up, the Young Girl with Leukemia “Looks Forward to Class Every Single Day”
In order for the seriously ill children to get a chance to attend the classes while they were hospitalized, the city government of Taichung pushed forth the “Bedside Lessons”. Yesterday, the terminally ill children from the VMH in Taichung dressed up as little devils, witches, vampires, with their pumpkin baskets, asked the bedside teachers for their treats, turning this children’s ward into something more.
Every child loved bedtime stories, but, there is a group of special kids who can’t make it to school to hear them, what they looked forward to the most was the once-a-week bedside class sessions.
A young girl in the first grade, Chen, was hospitalized for her leukemia, and, the three-times-a-week bedside lessons were what she looked forward to the most. She said, that the teacher used interesting methods to teach, she had the chance to ask a ton of questions, and she could also collect the points she’d earned, and get cards, secret presents from them too; she also took art lessons, exercises classes too, and made a rabbit mask for herself, “I really do love the classes, every day, I’d hoped that the class day is now.”
The director of the city’s Department of Education, Peng said, that in order for the seriously ill children to get educated, for them to catch up to the regular school works, to help them fight to live longer, started in 2013, they’d pushed forth the bedside teaching programs.
There were, a total of twenty-eight young children from Taichung’s VMH, with the four special education instructors from Fuke Middle School and Shang-An Elementary School, to give one-on-one lessons to the children, and, developed the individualized education plans, based off of each child’s learning needs.
The Fuke Middle School special education instructor, Chang said, that bedside teaching is designed specifically, to fit the needs of learning for each individual child, like for Chen, she’s scheduled for three Chinese, math lessons three times a week, each class is forty minutes, that they would adjust the time and frequencies of the courses, based off of her physical conditions; like for right after her treatments, she’d become weakened, needed more rest, and the courses would be shortened, or delayed, if her health permits, she could have two courses a day at the most.
photo from online…
“The bedside teaching program turned the wards into something more!”, Chang-Chien pointed out, that a lot of the kids cherished the time in class, like the students in regular classrooms, they have a ton of questions, the love for learning, and, the courses would not just be on the academia, but there would be exercise courses, and art lessons, to increase the desires to attend classes too.
Chang-Chien said, that a lot of the children who’d gotten better and released from the hospitals, would come back and say “hi” to her as they come back for follow-ups; seeing the children who are out of the hospital get taller, becoming stronger, learning well in their regular school, that, is what she loved seeing the most.
So, this is an education program set up privately by the hospitals and the school instructors, to give these children who are ill, to have a chance of learning normal in a classroom setting, and, these kids looked forward to these classroom sessions, as that, is how they’re able to stay connected to the outside world.