The Dramatization of Bible Stories: An experiment in the religious education of children — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
The Dramatization of Bible Stories: An experiment in the religious education of children
John Stuart Mill · en
Descriptions and pictures of the kind of tent the people lived in are
necessary. It is important that children should get the idea of the
correct shape of the Arab tent and not confuse it with the Indian
wigwam. No stage scenery need be used; it is best to leave that to the
imagination. A curtain may be put up to represent the front of the
tent, but nothing more.
There is much of this incident that should be left out in the telling;
by no means should it be read directly from the Bible to children. The
story may be told so that the following points are emphasized:
Abraham is sitting at the door of his tent. Three men appear; he runs
to meet them and bows to the ground. He invites them to rest under the
shade of the tree and offers to get food and to have their feet washed.
The strangers sit and talk together, then Abraham comes with the food.
They all eat and are rested, and as they rise to depart they ask for
Sarah, Abraham's wife. The strangers tell Sarah and Abraham that they
are to have a son whose name shall be Isaac and whom God shall bless
and who shall be the father of many people. Abraham and Sarah are
greatly astonished and pleased. They fall upon their knees to thank
God, and when they arise they find that the strangers have departed.
The scene closes with their exclamation, "Surely these were angels from
the Lord who have visited us!"
This story was dramatized by the children of the dramatic club after
they had had experience with many other dramatizations. During the
first hour after the story was told the children succeeded in getting
the play into very nearly its final form. Two of the older girls,
undertaking to write out the scenes as they thought they should be,
brought in their versions at the second meeting. Each one was read
aloud, the other children being asked to remember the parts that seemed
especially good. Then by combining, adding to, or taking from, a
composite result was obtained. Several children wrote down the final
decisions at the dictation of the group.
Below is given the version which one child worked out by herself, and
following that is the final form of the play which the group as a whole
decided upon. The leader purposely left this play entirely in the hands
of the children; the product is wholly their own.
THE PLAY EXACTLY AS ONE CHILD WROTE IT
_Abraham:_ The day is hot and I am weary. I will rest myself
from the heat of the day. [_He seats himself in the shade of
the tent._]
_Sarah:_ It is indeed hot, and I will bring thee food and
drink that thou mayest refresh thyself. [SARAH _retires into
the tent._]
_Abraham_ [_rises to his feet and shades his eyes with his
hands_]: Sarah, come hither! Yonder are strangers who are in
need of rest. [SARAH _comes out, and she and_ ABRAHAM _kneel
before them._] Welcome, strangers, seat yourselves that ye
may rest. My wife, Sarah, will bring you food, and water
that you may wash your feet.