Children from Buddha’s Light Toronto Children Dharma Class who successfully completed the 2022 Fall semester at both the Markham and FGS Temple of Toronto campuses attended the graduation ceremony at the respective locations. Various certificates were presented to the children, such as the Lion Award for being fiercely diligent, Bodhi Award for persistent diligence, awards for children who excelled in both academics and exemplary behavior. At FGS Temple of Toronto, 26 children had the wonderful opportunity to learn Buddha Dharma with the monastics, teachers and youth teacher assistants.

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Besides FGS Temple of Toronto in Mississauga , the 2022 Buddha’s Light Children Dharma Class was also conducted at the Buddha’s Light Centre in Markham so that families who live on the East side of Toronto are able to participate too. The first graduation ceremony was held on December 3 in Markham where the families were invited to attend. Besides presenting the various awards, there were video recaps of the semester, quiz and games for everyone to enjoy. 30 parents, children, teachers and teacher assistants attended the event. On December 4, a second ceremony took place at the FGS Temple of Toronto with 20 children, parents, teachers and teacher assistants.
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The students, looking back at the semester through the video presentation and seeing their photos brought back fond memories and laughter. Their advising Venerable Ru An encouraged the little Bodhisattva to practice the Three acts of goodness, be filial and grateful to the teachers and teacher assistants for their dedication.
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After the awards presentation, parents and children were divided into 2 groups for the Dharma quiz and games. The children were very enthusiastic in completing the puzzles and answering questions, demonstrating that they did not forget what was taught in class and this made their teachers very happy. Following the quiz, there was a treasure hunt and games. Everyone enjoyed the time where they fully displayed the 3 acts of goodness in action, helped each other throughout and showed off the team spirit.
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A feedback from a very pleased and grateful parent Jennifer Zheng who sent her two kids to the Dharma Class, “Hello all teachers! Thanks very much for your dedication to our children’s Dharma class and your kind support to Hana and Ryan! It was an amazing experience for both children to learn the Buddha’s enlightened story and Buddha’s spirit! Children will learn to apply Buddha’s teaching to our daily lives! Thanks again for the wonderful work you did! Hopefully our path will cross again in the next term!”

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Parent Jade Lin added: “Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words for my girls. They had so much fun in your classes. Ella said she would attend your lectures for 4 years like another student in the classI hope they learn good, do good and have a good heart for good. Thank you and all the volunteers for the wonderful work.”

James Lin is very impressed with the quality of the curriculum and content of the Dharma Class. He thinks it is excellent that his children could learn Buddhism at the Temple. “Thank you for all your encouragement and great organization of this class. Both Leo and Sophia love the class and the volunteers. We all appreciate your great work. We look forward to having them participate in the next class.”

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Linda also expressed gratitude that her son Ethan is having fun learning Buddhism through different media and games which helped him to deal with practical daily problems. She
especially mentioned the tasty and healthy snacks that volunteers helped to prepare at each class. Rosetti Choy, the junior group teacher, feels grateful that she has gaining much from spending time with the kids. It is a meaningful way to spend her time too. She is extremely delighted to interact with these pure and adorable children. She believes that she benefits as much as the children since she gains an even deeper understanding of Buddha Dharma so that she could impart the knowledge more effectively to her students.
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Heidi Sorokowski, teacher assistance, said, “I think the children’s class is a really great thing for the kids. It is important to teach children at a young age to understand the importance of good deeds, politeness, etiquette and overall how to be a good person. I'd like to improve in the future, it might be beneficial to include more fun games to keep children engaged. I found that sometimes the videos and questions can be a bit boring for them so we see that some kids don’t participate. For example, on Saturday , the ping pong game was a hit. I think that taught teamwork and positivity as they worked together and cheered each other on. So perhaps in the future we can find more games like that and explain the purpose of the game beforehand so that they can have fun while learning!”

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