Children's Sunday School

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).

[More:]

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?