When the teachers first started the project, writing content to teach students, there were so many things of SDG 10 – Sustainable Development Goal 10, about reducing inequality in society, that made them feel uncertain. How will students learn and feel about groups of people in society who have to work hard, alone in a foreign land, or in extreme poverty without enough food or clothing. Since understanding their situation is only part of the goal, empathetic values are more central.
We draw pictures about the situation of people having to leave their hometown, which gives us the freedom to show what we know about this group of people. Perhaps later on, we will understand more deeply about the situation of having to leave our hometown, but when our teachers look at the pictures, she knows that we understand the sadness and difficulty of having to search and wait for a train. (Although you are surrounded by strange people, you’re alone in this journey.)
When the wind howls, we draw scenes of people panicking to catch an oncoming train, scenes of people in the same situation acting frantically without time to think.
Anh Quân uses cartoon characters to create a scene of migrants running to the train, hesitating for a moment, knowing that the train is a means to travel to a new land, but catching the train is dangerous and requires sacrifices
There are people who fell off the train, there are people who got on the train, but were still not safe
Now we understand why the story gives the train another name, “The Beast”. Because it is tons of steel that rushes past mercilessly, expecting it to be the means for them to leave, they tried to capture The Beast but many of them failed. At this time, we ask our teacher: “Why don’t they buy a train ticket and get on the train like everyone else?”. The question shows naivety and also compassion. Those who had already boarded the ship could not help them, but even once on it, there was no safety. (If you managed to get on it, you were not safe up there.)
Ở những cảnh cuối của truyện, con phác họa được khoảnh khắc khi họ – những người đã kém may mắn, sinh ra ở vùng đất không có công bằng – đánh đổi mạng sống để đổi lấy chính cuộc sống. Chỉ khoảnh khắc ấy đến – khi nhảy lên con Quái Vật lao vun vút – ta mới nghe được câu hỏi trong đầu: Ta là ai? Sao ta là ta mà không phải họ? Sao ta lại làm điều này? Đây có phải là cách duy nhất để có một cuộc sống ở một vùng đất khác . . .. . . nơi có bữa cơm, có mái nhà, có cứu thương, và có công lý.
I sit somewhere on the roof of tons of rushing steel, like sitting on/in what is considered a beast, and much more happens before I set foot in the new land – the place that gives me a more equitable life.
Thank you for an effective lesson 💝