Read the stories and say what pedagogical wisdoms each story contains.

A Coffee Quote

I heard there was this wise teacher who took all his students for coffee. They were surprised that all the cups on the table were different. They all took a cup and started drinking their coffee, each looking at the cups of others. The teacher let them do that for a while and then said: “Do you notice your behaviour? You all are looking at each other´s coffee cup and I can see some of you with the chipped ones are even envious of the finer cups of others. Is this not so?” The students agreed, amused of their own behavior. “You may have wondered why you all had different cups, but I put them here on purpose. You see, they represent life itself. Life is like that coffee and the cups are like the physical circumstances of your life. You all got the same thing in your cups – coffee. And yet you cannot truly enjoy it in your envy of another´s cup. It’s just the same with life. You forget to enjoy your own life when you concentrate on envying the circumstances of someone else´s life. So now, close your eyes, and taste your own coffee. Really taste it. And tell me – did it matter from which cup it came from?”

They all sat in silence for a while, savouring their coffee. A sleepy fly buzzed past, a bird sang in the tree. And it really did not matter one bit from which coffee cup they drank.

 

The Shout

 

One day, a wise teacher asked his students, “Why is at the time someone angry, he will speak loudly and even shout?” One of the students, after thinking quiet long, raised his hand and then answered, “Because at that time he has lost his patience; that's why he shouts.” The teacher asked again, “Just at that moment, the person he speaks to is in front of him. Why should he shout? Can't he speak softly?” Most of the students gave the answers, which in their consideration were correct. However, there was no delightful answer.

The teacher then said, “When there are two people in an angry situation, the distance between their hearts becomes so far although physically they are close. Therefore, they have to shout to reach the quite far distance. The strange thing is the louder they shout the angrier they are. In that case, the distance of their hearts is automatically further. That's why, they then have toshout louder and louder again.” Next, the teacher asked, “Contrary, what will happen if there are two people who fall in love each other? They never shout. Whenever they speak, their voices are so soft and gentle. No matter how soft the voices are, both of them can hear each other so clearly. Why is that?” the teacher asked his student again while watching at his students.

They were seen to think very deeply, but none of them had the courage to give the answer. The teacher explained, “Because their hearts are so close, their hearts have no distance. Until at last there is no single word need to be said. One look is quite enough for them to understand on what they want to say.”

The teacher still continued, “When you are angry, don't let your heart create any distance. At that time, don't say any words, which possibly invite distance between your hearts. As possible as you can, keep in silent is the wise thing to do, because time will help you to hold your anger.”

Read the stories and say how they can be used in the class of English for the purpose of educating / developing / bringing up children.

Love, Wealth and Success

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said, “I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat.” “Is the man of the house home?”, they asked. “No”, she said. “He's out.” “Then we cannot come in”, they replied. In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. “Go tell them I am home and invite them in!” The woman went out and invited the men in.

“We do not go into a House together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she wanted to know. One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.” The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. “How nice!”, he said. “Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!” His wife disagreed.

“My dear, why don't we invite Success?” Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!” “Let us heed our daughter-in-law's advice,” said the husband to his wife. “Go out and invite Love to be our guest.” The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.” Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?” The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!!!!”

 

2) Wish

A Woman was out golfing one day when she hit the ball into the woods. She went into the woods to look for it and found a frog in a trap. The frog said to her, “If you release me from this trap, I will grant you three wishes.” The woman freed the frog, and the frog said, “Thank you, but I failed to mention that there was a condition to your wishes. Whatever you wish for, your husband will get times ten!” The woman said, “That's okay.” For her first wish, she wanted to be the most beautiful woman in the world. The frog warned her, “You do realize that this wish will also make your husband the most handsome man in the world, an Adonis whom women will flock to.” The woman replied,

“That's okay, because I will be the most beautiful Woman and he will have eyes only for me.” So, KAZAM – she's the most beautiful Woman in the world! For her second wish, she wanted to be the richest woman in the world. The frog said, “That will make your husband the richest man in the world. And he will be ten times richer than you.” The woman said, “That's okay, because what's mine is his and what's his is mine.” So, KAZAM – she's the richest woman in the world! The frog then inquired about her third wish, and she answered, “I'd like a mild heart attack.”

Moral of the story: women are clever. Don't mess with them.