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Here is an e-mail I received recently. I'd love to hear any ideas you have for her. Also, please keep her in your prayers.

Q: My name is Naonga. I am a 23 year old lady. I'm a Zambian(Africa). I am a sunday school teacher. I have been teaching sunday school for about 1 and a half years. Iit has been a challenge for me, I have often felt like quiting but my love for the children and the strong call of God in childrens ministry has kept me going. The challenges I have had are that; the children are about 200 or more, we have only two teachers (the others who volunteered have all quit, none of them have lasted more than four sundays).

The older ones(11 and above) have lost interest in sunday school because they dont want to mix with the younger ones. The babies(4 and below) dont come for sunday school. As a church we have no material for the ministry,due to financial constraints( we do not have a church building so most of the finances go into the building of church. We meet in a tent on a piece of land we are renting). The kids meet just outside, no shelter. This makes it very difficult to keep them from moving around. When it rains, there is no sunday school.

A: Since the students are going to move anyway, use movement to your advantage. Incorporate lots of movement into the lesson. For example, when I use true and false questions, I mark one side of the area as the true side, the other as the false side. Then the students move to the side they think is the answer. Another, less chaotic, thing to do is have them make movements during the lesson. So when a story character is praying have the students hold their hands in prayer, when an animal is mentioned, have the students make the noise the animal makes.

Use a lot of song with movements, use movement and noise to serve the lesson rather than wait until the students decide how to move or talk. Perhaps separate the older kids into boy versus girl teams to distract them from the age issue. Or have them participate in teaching the class by leading a song, telling part of a story, or reading scripture to the rest.

Having the students re-inact a story can be quick and basic. You don’t need props or costumes. Just give them a role and have them repeat lines after you. It doesn’t have to be long or involved, just one memorable scene from the lesson.

Anyone else have ideas for this dear teacher?

Q. I teach Sunday School, and the age group of the children are 6 thru 8 years of age. I only have one child that is willing to read the others are not able to read. What would you recomend as a way to teach?

A. I taught a mix of readers and non-readers for years and while it means a change of style, it can be a lot of fun.

My strategy included:

a) Read selectively. I would pick the most relevant verse or two to the story, and either I would read it or I would have the willing reader read it aloud. I would stop after every half sentence or so and check to be sure everyone understood what was going on by asking questions about the verse.

b) Mix images with text. I had lots of flashcards for things I wanted the kids to remember, that included an image with each word. The pre-readers memorized the images and would at least become familiar with the word’s sound and look even if they couldn’t read.

c) Allow activity during storytime. For longer stories, I would break the story into small sections. Frequently we would get up and act out a short element of the story, or I would allow them to color a related image while I was telling the story. Or I would have dolls acting out the story and the kids take part by making sound effects or telling me what would happen next.

d) Use movement and song to reinforce memory. Having students make up hand motions to memory verses, or make their own song to describe a story helps reinforce learning when they can’t read to help them remember.

Even for kids that can read, these are good ways to reinforce learning in non-verbal learning styles. I have a whole page on the different learning styles and various ways to incorporate at http://www.ebibleteacher.com/children/learning_styles.htm that may give you some more ideas to incorporate into lessons. There is more info at: http://ebibleteacher.com/children/Teaching.htm

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Enthusiasm- the word literally means to be inspired by God. What works best for teaching is when instructors and teachers are the living example of enthusiasm, because; if we don't seem interested in our lesson who will be? You can sense enthusiasm for God's word in a winning instructor and you can feel there inspiration. Enthusiasm begins and grows with good leadership in the presbytery. There is a four part formula for enthusiasm and it is as follows:
1. Inspire Curiosity
2. Spark Interest
3. Gain Knowledge- the more you know the more you grow"
4. Have Faith

Which is of course good advise for all walks of Christian life.
special thanks to Brother Roy Beasley for providing content.

A visual stimulus can be a very effective teaching aid if it conveys worthy content to the children. Some examples of visual tools are: any object, symbol, illustration, or electronic aid used to clarify abstract ideas more clearly. God used many visual aid through-out the Bible and so did Jesus. Visual stimuli get results because, they appeal to our five senses and this is a very effective way to keep your students attention focused on the matter at hand. Consider using figurines, graphics or plays in your classroom teaching curriculum. Visual tools only promote learning and can never replace a well though tout lesson plan from God's Word.

Q. I started teaching Sunday School about a year ago, we have a very small church, in grades 1-5 I only have 3 sometimes 4 children. We attend a church where the children sit through the entire service with their parents, and Sunday School is after fellowship time.

Any ideas on how I can get the adults to see to it their children stay for Sunday School? I give little object lessons at the beginning of the worship service and I'll have sometimes 12 children come up for that, but still only 3 come to Sunday School.

A. First of all, thanks for your efforts in teaching the children! I have worked in mostly smaller classes and it can be very rewarding because you really get to know the kids well.

Your object lesson strategy is a great one – you are reaching the kids where they are. My thought would be to hand out something to the kids after the object lesson – maybe a worksheet that they can work on during the service. And tell them that if they come to Sunday school they get a special incentive – a prize or trading card. (I have free trading cards on the site you can print that can match the lesson). The idea is to get the kids to convince their parents to stay, not you.

Another idea would be to do a monthly or quarterly push with a specially themed class, and do an all out blast in the bulletin, object lesson, etc to advertise it. Maybe some families will get their feet wet if they don’t feel like it’s a weekly commitment. And if the kids enjoy it and want to come back – they can convince their parents to stay. They know all the tricks.

The problem is each family has their own reason for not staying and unless several families have the same obstacle you can address, your battle is uphill. It’s awesome that you’re willing to go beyond your class hour to try to reach the kids.

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