baha’i children’s class ideas.

learning concepts
Shoghi Effendi was the grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, who appointed him as the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith in His Will and Testament. Shoghi Effendi worked very hard throughout his life, translating many of the Baha’i Writings into English, designing and building the gardens around the Baha’i Holy Places in Haifa and Akka, and administering the affairs of the Faith until his death in 1957. We owe Shoghi Effendi a great debt of gratitude for the many great things he did.

activities
story: Explain the story of Shoghi Effendi’s life: his childhood and youth, his appointment as the Guardian, his life and achievements during the Guardianship. It might help to have a few pictures of Shoghi Effendi, along with photos of the Gardens at Bahji and surrounding the Shrine of the Bab.
games: Directions or Blind man. ‘Directions’ is similar to Blind Man but without the blindfold. One (or more) children stand at a point in the room (say, the middle) and the rest stand at the wall. The children along the wall take turns calling out directions such as “two paces north” or “three steps west”, etc., guiding the children in the middle to an objective (such as a piece of furniture).
drawing: Maps. Shoghi Effendi surrounded himself with maps; they helped him understand people, where they were and what they did. Ask the children to draw a map of their surroundings, including where they are right now (i.e. location of the neighbourhood children’s class), along with other important landmarks such as their house, the post office, their school, etc.

reading/prayer for study
Review from previous classes.

reference

experience
June 9, 2007: 1.5 hours, 8 children, average age 7-8. A simple, effective class; could have been better, but we did well with what we had. I wasn’t too worried about this class because the lesson was very straightforward: share the story of Shoghi Effendi. We reviewed the lesson on ‘Abdu’l-Baha before starting and launched straight into Shoghi Effendi’s story afterwards. We had examples of books he had translated (The Dawn-Breakers) or written (God Passes By) and showed the children; I had also prepared photos of the Shrines and the gardens surrounding them, but I forgot them at home (doh). We had the usual issues with discipline but were able to handle them satisfactorily and had more than enough material to last for the entire class. Shortening the class to one and a half hours has certainly given us a lot of breathing room; it’s not a lot of time to get concepts across, but we avoid a lot of breakdowns since the children’s patience and concentration naturally seems to dissipate after an hour and a half. Oh well.