The Dramatization of Bible Stories: An experiment in the religious education of childrenLobingier, Elizabeth Miller
Philosophy
The Dramatization of Bible Stories: An experiment in the religious education of children
Lobingier, Elizabeth Miller
Children's plays; Drama in education; Religious education
The kind of dramatics described in this book may be undertaken with
success in connection with any Sunday school. The most necessary
element is a leader in charge who is wide awake to the aims and
purposes of such work and who has the ability to deal with little
children. A trained teacher is preferable.
This dramatization can be most effectively presented to children
between the ages of six and thirteen. In case the Sunday school is very
large and more children join than can be easily managed by one leader,
it would be best to divide the members into two or three smaller
groups, each with a competent leader in charge. One person should be
able to handle well from twenty to twenty-five children.[2]
This training ought not to stop with younger children, but may well be
carried on with pupils of high-school age. This would involve problems
slightly different from those here presented, but on the whole the
same aims may be achieved.
It is sometimes the case that a few of the children outgrow the club.
They begin to realize that they are much larger than the others, and
they decide that they do not care to take part in the acting, yet they
are still interested enough to come to the meetings. If there is no
other dramatic club into which they may go, then they may be used as
assistants in the younger club and made to feel that they are a
necessary part of it. There are many ways in which they can be of
valuable help to the leader, at the same time experiencing a
development through the training.
During one year in the history of the dramatic club here described
three girls of fourteen came regularly to the meetings. They could not
be persuaded to take part in the dramatizations, but they expressed an
eagerness to help in the direction. They entered into the discussion
and criticism of the plays that were being acted each Sunday, and their
suggestions were always very much to the point. They had the ability of
explaining what they meant to the children so that it was easily
understood. These girls would write out the scenes, sometimes while the
children were actually giving them; or, again, they would write them at
home and bring them for discussion at the next meeting. They took
entire charge of the costuming, and would meet outside at sewing-bees,
where they mended, pieced, or made over the costumes on hand. Then at
the plays they always took the responsibility of dressing the little
children, putting on their headdresses, tying their sashes, and seeing
that their costumes were draped in the right way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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