Una historia de dos pueblos

Querido lector,

Probablemente estás leyendo esto porque obtienes información a través de las palabras escritas o puede que hayas hecho un “click” en el enlace equivocado. ¿De cualquier manera, me pregunto si en algún momento has pensado en cómo piensas? ¿Cómo procesas la información? A lo mejor seas como yo y prefieres leer o eres de los que aprende escuchando.

Me gustaría contarles una historia sobre dos pueblos cercanos que están separados por un río. Uno de los pueblos, fue fundado sobre un documento escrito. Un mundo de la palabra escrita. Aquí es donde vivo. En mi pueblo lo vemos como un mundo de orden y de estructura. Construimos nuestra comunidad con nuestros teclados o con un lápiz y papel. Bajo una ley: La palabra escrita dura más. El otro pueblo que está fundado sobre la palabra. Un mundo que parece caótico y desordenado. Esta comunidad se construye viviendo la vida y con la palabra hablada. Bajo una sola ley: Recuerda que fue dicho.

Soy ciudadano de la palabra escrita. Muchas veces he pensado que tenemos la forma correcta de aprender. Pero no es tan simple. Siempre que estoy junto al río, me sorprende la facilidad con la que las personas del pueblo cercano recuerdan los discursos, canciones y las acciones de sus héroes. Lo hacen sin tener que leer la información de algunas páginas. Me parece algo extraño. Lo admito, siento más envidia que asombro. Porque a mí también me encantaría poder recordar cada palabra pronunciada por un orador, la letra de una canción y los pasos de baile de una canción con solo escucharla y verla.

Nuestros padres fundadores nos advirtieron sobre los peligros de mezclarnos con las personas de otros pueblos. Pero me he estado reuniendo en secreto con una persona del pueblo vecino. Estamos aprendiendo sobre nuestras culturas. Planeo visitar su pueblo pronto. Deseo experimentar la vida en su mundo. Si nuestro plan tiene éxito, escribiré sobre lo que he aprendido.

Hasta que volvamos a leer, 

Songz.

Spanish Coming Soon

This semester we have the pleasure of working with a Student Serve intern. Rebeca Martínez García is translating material into (Latin American) Spanish. She is a native of Puerto Rico, in her last semester of a master's degree in nursing, and also a member of the National Guard. But first of all, she is a child of God and a fellow sister in the Lord. Here is more about this in her own words: 

God’s Plan

“You receive your calling in ministry in many ways,” Sandra Dorsainvail told us during our Student Serve discussion sessions. She was our coach from March to August. We had the opportunity to do spiritual, mental and physical preparation with her. Since starting Student Serve, I have been learning to see what God wants in my life in many ways. Even though there are times when I don’t understand or don’t have the slightest idea where I’m going, He’s still there. At times, I have felt very afraid and insecure. But thanks to God and the support of people along the way, I have been able to learn to let go and learn. This has been especially true in this internship. I’m translating literacy materials from English (my second language) to Spanish (my first language). Sometimes it can be crazy. God and His ways. God and His perfect plan will always be better than ours. In this experience I have been able to mature, learn, grow, improve in the language, be patient with myself, and enjoy the process with God. I have no doubt that God wanted me to be part of this wonderful experience. I trust that this is only the beginning of what I can see of His plan, even though I don’t know the rest of His plan. I pray to the Father to continue showing me the way in His time. May I continue to bless every person who has reflected His love in my life. To conclude, as our coach Sandra Dorsainvail always told us, I will continue “planting seeds of hope.”

A Widow Gives; Luke 21:1-4

Here is another story with suggested activities centered around four words from the story. 

This can be used as a mini-preschool, with one word per day, or with a Bible club for children. (Illustration by Richard Gunther, Lamb Songs.)

Watch/see

·       Play “I spy with my little eye” also known as “I see something” or “20 Questions”(Ik zie ik zie wat jij niet ziet). One person sees something. Everyone else tries to guess what they see. The person who “sees” something can only answer “yes” or “no”.

·       Leader leads the group in “seeing” by asking questions like:

• What do you see that is ___________ (a certain color, such as green; red; etc.).
• What do you see that is  _________ (a certain shape, such as round, square).
• What do you see that is __________ (living. Answers might include a tree; a bug).
• Can be made into a team game. The two teams take turns answering the questions & naming what they see. The team that “sees” the most (has the most answers) wins.

·       Scavenger hunt. (Being aware of your environment; watching) See Davar Start Game: Spot the Shapes.

• Let’s find something that is a circle . . .
• Let’s go find something that is . . . heavy
• Can you find something that is . . . smooth

·       Any game from Davar Start Games: Visual Skills.

·       Play Red Light/Green Light or similar game.  Players have to watch to see if someone is moving. The game is also about self-control, because players practice controlling their own bodies.
One person is the caller or “traffic cop”. They stand at the end goal. Everyone else stands behind the starting line. The goal is to get past the caller.
The caller stands with their back to the rest of the group. When the caller says “Green light,” everyone can run towards the goal.
When the caller says, “Red light,” everyone freezes. The caller immediately turns around. If they see anyone moving, that person has to go back to the start line.
Children do not need to be familiar with traffic lights to play this game, as long as the words for moving & for freezing in place are explained to them.

Give

·       Make something & give it to someone else (put a plant in a pot; bake something; make a card; make flowers . . .). Doesn’t have to be physical things. Could also be helping to pick up for other people. (Davar Letter Games: E3 and E5)

·       Discussion:  what can we give? See what kids come up with. Time, possessions, praise (songs, to God), being nice, pat on the back . . ..
Giving, not keeping for yourself.
Also discuss: How do you give? How did the widow give? What was good about how she gave?

·       Give compliments. Discuss what a compliment is. Model giving compliments. Then have the group practice this. Go around the circle and take turns giving the person next to you a compliment. Or turn to the person next to you and exchange compliments. Model this.

·       Find a Coloring page of woman giving the coins. Everyone colors the picture, then gives it to someone. Reinforces that the children are doing the same thing that the woman in the story did. (Many fun coloring sheets available on Lamb Songs, www.lambsongs.co.nz.)

·       Affirmation. You can give a handshake or a pat on the back. Might do this as a group with each other.

Coins

·       Davar FUNdament Thick, Thin, Thickest: 6.7 

·       Learn the names of coins in local currency. Show kids different local coins & teach them the names for them.
Or find worksheet online which teaches local currency.
OR Practice counting with the coins.
Might demonstrate that 5 of this coin = 1 of that coin, etc.

·       Stacking coins—see how high we can get them without tipping them over. (Could be done in teams.) Shows that the more coins you have, the better material standard of living you have.

·       Playing store. Set up small store with, among other things, healthy treats (apples, etc.) which the children can ‘buy’. Each child has same number of “coins.”
Have some items cost 2 coins. That’s what the woman gave—she gave all that she had to live on.
With the coins you can get something—food, what you need to live.
(For an older group, you might make a sample budget.)

Extra/all

·       Dramatize the story (“Jesus”, “widow”, 1 or 2 “rich people”; everyone else “disciples”). First give a visual of all vs extra. Give the person playing the widow 2 “coins” (blocks, nuts, buttons, play coins); give the rich person a lot more coins. Have the group count the coins that each person is given.

Then have the group watch and count as each person gives into the treasury (a box or something). The rich person gives a lot, but not all of their coins.
Which person gave all?
Which person just gave extra? (if give 50% of what you have)
Compare & contrast the idea of all and extra. Everybody gave—but who gave all and who gave extra (had extra for themselves)? How much does the rich person have left? (Count as a group.)

·       Discuss a team game the group is familiar with that only has a certain number on the team (football, baseball, cricket). If we play this game, can everyone play? Can all the people in the group play this game? Or do we need some to sit out as extras?
Which games can everyone (all) play? (example—Red Light, Green Light).

·       Dress up. Have a set of oversized clothes so that the children can easily put these on over their own clothing; make sure to have one extra of something that there should only be two of. Have a volunteer put on all the clothes. Maybe have 3 shoes instead of 2. That would be an extra. You can’t put on 3 shoes (if you put on all the shoes, you’d have to put them on your hands).

·       Play a relay game with oversized clothes.  The teams run to one end of the playing field where the runner has to put on all the clothing (maybe just mittens & a hat? A large t-shirt & a scarf?), then take it all off & run back.

 We look forward to hearing feedback when you use these four words with this story!

Suggestions by Crista Smidt & Mary VanRheenen

Fun at Summer School!

Summer school doesn't necessarily sound fun. But the month-long summer school in this Romany village in Romania will be. 

Last year children who did not normally go to school enjoyed making, listening, and learning through games like this one (Darts Without Darts, Davar Math Game 19). These children also learned that they could successfully learn. For example, by the end of last year's summer school, the younger children succeeded in writing their first names; the oldest children succeeded in writing both their first and last names. (More photos and details on the site of Stichting Aria, the Dutch non-profit which organizes these summer schools.)

Pray with us for this year's summer school. It will begin this coming Monday, July 29. Pray for encouraging results, unity within the team, God-given strength and energy for the leaders. And praise God for each child who comes and learns!

P.S. Leave a comment if you would like to see the outline for last year's summer school. It might stimulate you or someone you know to do the same.

4 WORDS: FLEXIBLE BIBLE LESSONS/EDUCATIONAL LESSONS

People who work with Romany children need to be flexible. Sometimes 30 children come; sometimes only 3.
Sometimes most of them are preschool-age; sometimes half of them are preteens. These suggestions are also flexible.

Four concrete words have been chosen from each Bible story. These words aid in remembering the story.

There are suggested activities to go with each of the 4 words. These Davar: Bridging to Literacy activities also practice school-related skills and help people of any age be more ready to read and write.

Each leader chooses how to tell the Bible story. Perhaps existing Bible lessons are used. Perhaps the leader has to make up their own Bible lessons. Perhaps the leader simply tells the Bible story. Every leader will change and choose from these suggestions for their own club.

Here is one example. Feel free to contact us for more information or more suggestions!

Esau and Jacob are born – Genesis 25:19-28

Nothing  - Rebecca had no baby, nothing happened (prayer)

Twins  -  Rebecca had twins, two babies (answer to prayer)

Different  - the boys were totally different, with different futures.

Tent - Jacob stayed home, in the tents, and helped his mother.

Suggested activities:

Nothing

FUNdament 11 Missing/Gone. Give everyone a folded paper, some have a little sweet in it, others have nothing.

Nothing, a bit, enough, much, too much. Explain the meaning of these words. Have each word written on a separate piece of paper. Put these at one end of the room. Also have smaller pieces of paper for everyone in the group with one of these words written on it. Hand the papers out, so that each person has one.
At a certain signal, everyone runs to the word on the floor that matches the word in their own piece of paper.

Nothing, something. Use words for amounts in both school language and home language. Everyone can increase their vocabulary.

Cook something together. Together, measure the right amount of ingredients. Or together feel/stir/taste and see if there is enough or too much.

Twins

FUNdament 9 Two - activities

Nice name? Parents choose names for their children. Discuss which names the group like. (This gives insight into the way the group thinks, and what they find important.)

Have each person make a paper hat with one of their favorite names written on it. Talk about a letter in that name.

Letter Game B8, variation 4. Everyone with an “A” in their name goes . . . (over by the window or stands by the red chair or . . . ). Everyone with a “J” in their name goes . . . .

Different and the same are words used in education, We need know these two ideas in order to do well in school. We play games to teach or practice both words in the school language and the home language.

Start Game B3 Mosaic, B5 Statues.  Are all the statues (or mosaics) the same?

FUNdament 10 The Same.  Make it fun, choose one person to do everything DIFFERENT while the others do the same

Draw differences. Everyone draws their own human figure. Then they draw another one which if very different than the first drawing.

Do a “see the differences” worksheet (Example with 2 houses, available via link).

Tent

Make a tent out of cloths or blankets. Eat a snack in the tent.

Take turns acting out some task that is done in the house (cooking, washing, etc.) The rest of the group has to guess what is being acted out. 

Connect the dots to draw a tent.

Marleen Schonthaler and Mary van Rheenen

 

 

 

Games are an important part of learning. Olesea Ciochina plans at least four games or activities for each of the mother/child clubs she leads. 

But something extra fun happened recently. One of the children came up with a game . . . which they all played enthusiastically. The crayons and colored pencils were lined up in the middle of the work table. Then each child chose three . . . while blindfolded. The others watched attentively to see which three would be chosen. They each used their three random colors to "draw something beautiful." 

(Skills practiced:  creativity, cooperation, waiting ones turn, fine motor skills (drawing) also used in writing.)

Other activities included musical chairs (a favorite)

making and decorating the first initial of their names

and making a family tree. This boy put God in the middle of his family! 

Note that some of the children are using the Cyrillic alphabet. Russian as well as Romanian is widely used in Moldova. And just to make the linguistic situation more fun, at home the children speak their own Usari Romani. Olesea is extremely grateful for the mothers who translate into Usari so the youngest children will understand the Bible lesson AND the instructions for the games & activities.

The Bible story focused on Jacob marrying Leah and Rachel. Family and the names of Jacob's (many) children figured into the story. It took awhile for Jacob to put God in the middle of his family. May these children . . . and their parents . . . learn this lesson early on.

Learning by Doing: Mug Cake Lesson

 What can you learn by making a mug cake together? LITERACY, of course. We read the recipe--or we see someone reading the recipe. We see literacy in action. We see the value of being able to read. But we also practice:

HYGIENE:  we all wash our hands before beginning. 

MATH:  we measure carefully. We count the number of spoonfuls of oil (or cocoa or . . .) need to go into the cake.

WORKING TOGETHER: we all take turns stirring the cake batter and decorating the cake.

FINE MOTOR SKILLS:  necessary for writing. (See how carefully we decorate with these tiny stars!)

PATIENCE:  we have to wait while the cake bakes.

TAKING TURNS/SHARING:  we all get a taste of the cake we helped make.

We also have the SATISFACTION OF A JOB WELL DONE!

(Davar: Bridging to Literacy Letter Game E3. Click on link to see versions in English, Romanian, or Dutch.)  

A big thank-you to the children, moms, and leaders of the Mother-Child Club, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Moldova.