THE PROBLEM OF BIBLE TEACHING The urgent necessity of carrying out a good plan of Christian nurture is fundamental. The well-being of society as well as the individual depends on it. The imperative demand for it is becoming more evident every year. It will cost some effort, and the sacrifice of some recreations and trifles. But it will go far to make life really worth the living. The moral strain of carrying out this plan will not come on the children, for they respond to it with enthusiasm, whenever they get a fair chance. The strain will come rather on parents and teachers, in keeping up to its simple and regular duties, year in and year out. And with them the two points in gravest danger of neglect are, the keeping up of reviews, and the preparation of lessons by the teacher. If teachers will conscientiously practice aloud the stories before presenting them to the class, and consistently keep the pupils up to their reviews for eight years, the results will be surprising and gratifying. It should again be made clear that this series of Bible stories for the eight grades is a part of a larger program of religious education and Christian nurture. It prepares the pupils according to their years with material which they will not have to get afterward. This preparation gives both the ability and the clear opportunity after the Eighth grade to take up a variety of intensive forms of Bible study. These are of great value, but are beyond the reach of average people brought up under the old conditions. There should also go along with this Bible study through all the grades, and even through life, a study of Christian history and biography, of the missionary and beneficent enterprises of the churches, and of the world as influenced by the gospel. This has been accomplished by using forty-five minutes in Sunday school for a double class period with two regular courses of study. It has also been accomplished through the religious day school, conducted during the long vacation every day for two, three or four weeks. Still another plan, which requires legislation to give it authority, is to allow all children who desire it to substitute for the regular work on Wednesday afternoon a course of religious instruction given by a com petent teacher in the school, or in their own churches. Such a broad curriculum of religious instruction in some form, either at home or at school, is necessary in order to give youth a true appreciation of the place of religion in the world's life, and a vision of what one's own life may be come. The chief cause of decadence of religious life wher ever it exists is the lack of such an educational basis for the spiritual life. THE ORAL METHOD OF BIBLE TEACHING SUMMARIZED THE ORAL METHOD OF BIBLE TEACHING 1. The aim of the oral or story method of Bible Teaching is the mastery of the narrative contents of the passage selected. Only in a slight degree is interpretation or application attempted. If the former is well done, the two latter will follow easily in their proper time. 2. Explanations of words, customs, or ideas, are necessary, but only as a means of getting clear mental images of the story, not for general information. With a rigid grading of the lessons the amount of explanation needed is greatly reduced. 3. Nothing else can help so much to master a story as the practice in telling it. It is essential to the success of this method of teaching that pupils shall have drill in the telling of each story. With classes small enough, and time long enough, each pupil will have a chance. 4. The manner in which the pupil learns the story is less important, but the way here proposed is to hear it told by the teacher. Much depends on the good presentation of the narrative. If it is told in a natural, orderly and straightforward way, once is enough. The more life and interest the teacher shows the better. It is a great drawback if the teacher has to read it, and has not mastered it so as to tell it offhand. 5. The reproduction of the story should follow as quickly as possible upon the first hearing of it, while the details are fresh in the memory. For this reason the story is divided into its natural units, so that a single incident can be treated by itself, although there may be several incidents or units in the story. 6. Pictures, maps and hand work must have the definite purpose of helping to form or fix the image in the mind, or else they must be omitted. They must not be so numerous or complex as to be distracting, and generally they need to have the principal point in them mentioned, to make sure that it is not missed. 7. In all story work it is important to avoid memorizing in a verbal way. Details of the story are to be remembered in the right order, and described with much freedom in the choice of words. 8. A text, maxim or verse which is worth carrying in the memory, and which crystallizes a point or portion of the story, may well be memorized as a means of preserving and making educative the story. 9. Some few stories may be dramatized in the most simple and informal way, without costumes or stage settings, and mostly in class without an audience. 10. A review should be taken after every four or five stories. Besides this, there must be a frequent recall and retelling of the old stories from months and years ago. A little care and effort in this way saves the results of former work, which will otherwise be mostly lost. 11. The very best kind of home work consists in the telling of the story of the previous lesson, or of preceding lessons, to other hearers, with the help and correction of the family. Public or semi-public occasions for the telling of stories are very useful, such as the general exercises of the school. No preparation for the next lesson is required of pupils, but the home work on previous lessons takes its place. This home work will consist in practice in the telling of the stories, reading the portions of scripture in which they are found, mapmaking and notebook work, and in special tasks and topics assigned by the teacher from time to time. FIRST GRADE SHEEP STORIES 1 1. A MAN WITH A HUNDRED SHEEP. Luke 15:3, 4. One of the stories which Jesus tells is about a man who has a hundred sheep. The man loves his sheep, for he has known them all since they were little lambs; and they are all that he has. He leads them out in the morning to the hills. He lets them feed or lie in the shade all day. At night he brings them all back, and puts them in the fold. If some of them were left out at night on the hills, a wild animal might get them. So the shepherd is very careful not to have any of his sheep lost on the hills at night. Memory Words. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Psalm 23:1. This story is intended for children beginning the first grade. Such children are generally unable to tell a story connectedly. They must not be pressed unduly into this work. Yet from the start the teacher has this in view, and the stories are made with reference to this. They are short, simple, and concrete. They are told by the teacher with the constant expectation of having them reproduced by the pupil. It will be only a short time, until some of the first grade pupils begin to tell the stories connectedly after the teacher. Until then the teacher must cautiously and patiently draw out from them one or two words at a time, by telling most of the story again and again, leaving the children to supply only the important words, and those best understood by them. Some will be unable to tell a story connectedly until they reach the second, or even the third grade. But they must be practiced the same as the others, giving them more or less help as needed. After telling the story once or twice, begin to draw the children out gradually in such a way as this. |