baha’i children’s class ideas.

just a little note to let you all know that the new year of children’s classes has begun here, so I’ll be posting reflections again after an unjustly long hiatus. as always, go nuts with leaving comments! I’d really love to see as many people posting their thoughts as possible, so that we can all learn from each other. one interesting feature this year will be that I’ll be going over the curriculum we used a few years ago—so you’ll see a lot of old lessons popping up with new reflections added to them. hopefully this will help me (and you) better reflect on how children’s classes change as the children get older.  Since most of the lessons are already somewhere on this blog, I’ll be bumping them up in advance so that people can have a chance to look at them and leave comments—for instance, this week’s class was on obedience to parents (I’ve added some wrap-up comments to it already), and next week’s class is on kindness to animals, which you’ll find below. if you’re up to follow the whole curriculum as it happens, you may also want to check the class calendar in the sidebar, which will give you a glimpse of what’s coming for us in the next few weeks—surprise me by looking ahead and leaving comments on upcoming lessons!

learning concepts
We follow God’s commandments out of our love for Him.
When we love someone – a parent, a guardian, a teacher – we do what they ask so that they may be happy.
Even when we’re asked to do unpleasant things, we must be patient in our obedience.

activities
story of Lua Getsinger: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asks Lua to take care of a sick man. Ruhi Book 3, Lesson 5.
story of Bahá’u'lláh and the hunter: Bahá’u'lláh asks an expert hunter not to kill innocent birds… Ruhi Book 3, Lesson 13.
simon says: the classic game. a teacher (or a child) is ’simon’ and everyone must do as simon says, as long as simon says ’simon says’ first.
circle, triangle, square: a memory game from Ruhi Book 3, Lesson 10.
‘blind man’: one child plays a blind person, and another acts as a guide. the guide must help the blind person navigate safely through obstacles from one end of a course to the other. var 1: the guide holds the hand of the blind person. var 2: the guide does not touch the blind person and only gives verbal commands. Ruhi Book 3, Lesson 13.
crafts: cards or gifts for parents – works well on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, parents’ birthdays… something that shows the love and appreciation towards those who we obey.

reading/prayer for study
O Thou the Compassionate God! Bestow upon me a heart which, like unto glass, may be illumined with the light of Thy love, and confer upon me thoughts which may change this world into a rose garden through the outpourings of heavenly grace.
Thou art the Compassionate, the Merciful. Thou art the Great Beneficent God.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Baha’i Prayers)

reference
O SON OF MAN! For everything there is a sign. The sign of love is fortitude under My decree and patience under My trials. (Arabic Hidden Words, no.49)

Say: From My laws the sweet-smelling savour of My garment can be smelled, and by their aid the standards of Victory will be planted upon the highest peaks. The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven of My omnipotent glory, addressed to My creation these words: “Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty.” Happy is the lover that hath inhaled the divine fragrance of his Best-Beloved from these words, laden with the perfume of a grace which no tongue can describe. By My life! He who hath drunk the choice wine of fairness from the hands of My bountiful favour will circle around My commandments that shine above the Dayspring of My creation. (Kitab-i-Aqdas, para.4, page 20)

experience
September 27, 2008: 1.5 hours, 3 children, average age 8-9. we’re back to one teacher again (me). got off to a bit of a rough start (wow, how many times have I written that) and had to go over the rules with the kids. now that I think of it, I totally should have expected to spend this class going over ground rules. one of the children was especially impatient, “we already know the rules!!” (yet was throwing pillows and sitting improperly, etc). so we ended up spending a fair bit of time at the beginning just trying to get ready for prayers, which is never much fun. same child also wanted to read “the longest prayer in the prayer book”; had to reason with him a little on that point (we don’t want to discourage children to say prayers!).  so I asked if the children knew people that they really loved talking to and listening to—conversing with—someone to whom they could feel comfortable telling anything.  then I explained that praying is the same, but conversing with God.  God listens to us, and we are able to tell Him anything that’s on our minds or on our hearts.  if we pick a prayer from the prayer book and recite what it says, and yet our minds are elsewhere being silly and not paying attention to what we’re saying, then God wants to hear us and listen to us, but there’s nothing to listen to.

we’ll have to revisit this concept with the children, but especially with that one child—the concept that prayer is not just parroting the words in a book, but is something you genuinely feel.  perhaps we should devote a part of one class to “how to choose a prayer”; is this an issue that others have had? how did you deal with it? is it something that becomes clearer to the children as they grow older? is it better to deal with it when they become junior youth? dunno, lol.

craft went very well; we made cards for our parents—I did a run to the new art superstore that opened up close to here, and picked up some really nice materials and stamps for the kids to use. it was genuinely fun to do for all of us—we weren’t many, of course, so that probably helped things go smoothly. kids were very excited to hear that there would be more art projects. need to fit in more games, though, especially for the one child who seems to have a lot of trouble learning without them. it almost seems like we should be taking more time for the class, that an hour and a half isn’t enough. now that our kids are older (8-9) they should have the capacity to keep their attention on the lesson as long as it is reasonably varied, and today’s experience seems to have borne that out.

October 21, 2006: 2 hours, 8(?) children, average age 6-7. (…)

June 17, 2006: 2 hours, 3 children, ages 4, 6, and 7. Another class that went well, especially since I didn’t really take all that much time to prepare. Before the class, we (the teachers) had a little time to chat and determined that we should focus on having each of the children say a prayer, or at least participate in the prayers. Some of our kids don’t really like saying prayers – we haven’t quite figured out why. I’ve been wondering whether it might be related to the atmosphere we create surrounding prayers – perhaps they need some quiet-down time before starting with prayers, or perhaps we just need to be firmer. Anyway, we took advantage of the class’s theme, starting the class by telling the kids we would be talking about obedience today, and that one way we show our obedience (to God) is by praying. One of the kids was more than happy to recite prayers, but the other two (the younger ones – not sure if that’s relevant?) didn’t want to. One of them eventually lip-synched a prayer and we ended the prayers by singing a prayer together, so we left it at that. I’d really appreciate feedback from people who’ve had similar issues surrounding prayers… we’re trying to understand what we might be doing or not doing that is keeping certain children from participating in the prayers (to the point of consistently refusing!)

The other point of revisiting obedience is because this week’s class falls on Father’s Day weekend – you know, obedience to parents and all that. After reading a story about Lua Getsinger and her obedience to ‘Abdu’l-Baha and performing some skits comparing obedience and disobedience, we set to work on Father’s Day cards. These were sheets of paper folded in 4, on which the kids drew and wrote “Happy Father’s Day” type messages. We had planned several other things to work on (such as prize ribbons made by paper-folding) in case we had extra time, but ended up finishing on time without having gone into the extra activities. The activities went well because folding paper is just fun, but I think the kids found it difficult not to have an example already finished to guide them. We’ve come across this before… food for thought! All in all, the class flew by (which is a good sign, I suppose). We seem to have some pretty good luck with this topic – every time we talk about obedience, the kids are more obedient. Maybe we’re too soft the rest of the time! Actually, that’s another thing we’ve discussed – we tend to be soft on discipline and not to push too hard when the kids don’t want to do something. That can be a big problem though, especially when it comes to prayers – God tells us to pray, so we can’t just not do it.

Thoughts about all this are greatly welcomed!!!

April 8, 2006: 1.5 hours, 4 children, average age 6-7. This class went well – better than we had expected! It had been a while since we had revisited the topic of obedience and it was long overdue. Most of the children had just come back from a birthday party (one of them was the birthday boy) so they were a bit rowdy and undoubtedly full of sugar, so it took a little while to get them calmed down, but miraculously, it happened. We said prayers (with some difficulty) and sang some songs, after which we had a talk about obedience. I think the children were able to catch what we were saying on some level; we gave all sorts of examples, and even asked them if some of the things they were doing (for example, writhing on the floor or sitting quietly, being loud or showing reverence during prayers, etc) were examples of obedience or not. Their conduct seemed to improve during the colouring period / artistic activity, where we used the drawing from Ruhi Book 3 – of a young boy kneeling to pray. We explained the connection between the drawing and the content of the lesson. They were even sharing pencils and felt pens while colouring, and patiently waiting for their turn with certain colours (with minimal grabbing)!

The simple nature of this lesson seems to be what made it so successful (at least in our eyes). In fact, most of the lesson was taken straight from Ruhi Book 3 – you can’t get much simpler. As well as being simple, the lesson was also focused – since the Ruhi lessons are designed to reinforce the theme of each lesson in many different ways (through memorization, songs, stories, games and art).

learning concepts
Baha’u'llah teaches us never to enter a person’s home, or lay hands on his or her belongings, without that person’s permission. this is a mark of courtesy and respect towards others.

activities
story: any story about asking permission may do; the story of the fish inside the reservoir from Ruhi Book 3 might do in a pinch.
maze: “Obtaining Permission” (Obtenir la Permission) (PDF); children must navigate a maze that seems simple to complete, but before they are able to complete it, they must first “obtain permission” (in the form of a detour).
drama: children act out situations where they share their possessions with friends—for example, playing together with toys, sharing crayons, etc. how do the children feel when someone takes something of theirs without their permission?

reference

experience
Dec. 8, 2007: 1.5 hours, 6 children, average age 7-8. I was skeptical about how this class would turn out, because, to be honest, the topic seemed bizarre at first—how do you explain this Bahá’í law to children? Of course, the curriculum we’re using is quite clear—when we observe this law by asking permission before entering a home or laying hands on someone’s belongings, we are showing them courtesy and respect. So we spoke to the kids about this during the lesson; they seemed to get it, but in retrospect, I think I may have spent too much time talking. we could have integrated some sort of activity to help the children understand, for instance, a short dramatic exercise. that’s for next time, maybe. All in all, this lesson went well. the children found the maze challenging, which was the point behind it—I designed it from scratch to illustrate that we need to have the presence of mind to ask permission before impulsively infringing on someone’s property. in retrospect, this kind of thing applies in many different situations in class—sharing crayons during the colouring portion of class, respecting the property of the Baha’i Centre where we hold our classes, asking for permission before taking snacks out of the cupboards, and so on.

learning concepts
Baha’u'llah teaches us that when we are sick, we must seek the advice of competent physicians. Prayers are important for healing, but are not sufficient.

activities
story: the children write their own story! ask the children about a time when they paid a visit to a doctor, either because they were sick, or simply for a check-up. help them to describe their visit by asking questions: what season was it? was the doctor in an office building or a house? was the doctor a man or a woman? Did he or she give you medication? A shot? Did you lie on a table, or sit on a chair? then, ask the children to draw a picture of their visit, and to write a few lines below it to tell the story.
game: help the sick, aka learning rescue carries.
drama: Ruhi Book 3A (the old book 5) often has the children performing skits, and this would be a perfect opportunity for one—one child plays the doctor, one plays a parent and another plays the child. they can act out a story told by one of the children during the lesson, or make up a scenario about a visit to the doctor.

reference
Resort ye, in times of sickness, to competent physicians; We have not set aside the use of material means, rather have We confirmed it through this Pen, which God hath made to be the Dawning-place of His shining and glorious Cause. (Baha’u'llah, Kitab-i-Aqdas, para. 113)

experience
Nov. 10, 2007: 1.5 hours, 7 children, average age 7-8. Great class! There is a lot to be said for team efforts. The class started with beautiful prayers—which the children love and vie with each other to say (!)—and continued with songs in which everyone joined in. We had four Haitian children (all related), so one of the songs we sang was “O God, Guide Me” in Haitian Creole, which is fun to sing and has a catchy rhythm. All the kids like singing it. Then we continued on with the lesson, which I had read a few times the night before—I still found I needed the sheet in front of me, though, and I still started to waffle on at some points (caught myself before losing the kids’ attention, though). The children had so much to say about visiting the doctor that we had to moderate the conversation a lot. It was really a topic they got into. So much so, in fact, that while we were working on the activity later on, they were so focused that you could hear a pin drop. Part of that, of course, should fall onto the skill of the teacher who animated that part of the class.

The activity itself worked out quite well; since they seemed to have a natural interest in the topic, it was perfectly natural for them to express their own experiences visiting the doctor’s office. We put together a sheet similar to the one provided in the Alaskan Materials for the Furutan lessons, with a quote at the top, an empty space to draw, and a few lines at the bottom to tell the story. We noticed a few things during the activity: the children shared limited materials together (pencils, markers, etc), which is important for them to develop collaboration skills, and, thanks to having three teachers on hand, we were able to give at least a little time to help each of them bring out their ideas and nurture their own creativity. We focused on getting some of the younger children to practice their handwriting skills, and allowed them to finish by colouring their drawings.

learning concepts
The best way to attain nearness to God is to serve Him; we can do this by serving humanity. We should serve everyone, without considering their race, nationality, religion, status, or sex.

activities
projects: The children can be encouraged to take on a service project to learn about the importance of serving humanity. Examples could include putting together care packages for disadvantaged families, weeding and/or planting a garden, cleaning the local Baha’i centre or other gathering place, and so on.
story of Lua Getsinger: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asks Lua to take care of a sick man. Ruhi Book 3, Lesson 5.
song: “Look At Me, Follow Me”.
drama/skits: The children can act out different scenarios of service, including the story of Lua Getsinger (without attempting to portray ‘Abdu’l-Baha, of course).
game: “Help the Sick”. one child pretends to be sick, while two others clasp their hands to form a chair and carry the “sick” child over to the “health center”. children can be taught various rescue carries in this way. Ruhi Book 3, Lesson 5.
drawing: “Tending the Garden”. Children can either colour a black-and-white drawing of someone tending a garden, or draw themselves tending a garden. The teachers may accompany this drawing with the quote of ‘Abdu’l-Baha given below.

reading/prayer for study
“That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race.”

reference
That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens. (Baha’u'llah, Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p.250)

“To one who visited in Haifa, ‘Abdu’l-Baha said substantially, in likening the Cause of God to a Garden: ‘At the gate of the garden some stand and look within, but do not care to enter. Others step inside, behold its beauty, but do not penetrate far. Still others encircle this garden inhaling the fragrance of the flowers, having enjoyed its full beauty, pass out again by the same gate. But there are always some who enter and, becoming intoxicated with the splendor of what they behold, remain for life to tend the garden’.” (“The Garden of the Heart”, a compilation by Frances Esty)

experience
August 4, 2007: ~2 hours, 2 children, average age 8.
With a little maternal help (thanks mom!) we weeded the garden inside the patio at the Baha’i Centre and planted a beautiful row of geraniums there. To give a little bit of context, we looked at a photo of the terraces at the Baha’i World Centre beforehand and explained how the Baha’is had created the beautiful gardens there for the entire world to enjoy.

our garden supplies.

weeding the garden.

mom gives the kids a botany lesson.

our kids with a stubborn root they helped dig up.

after weeding and planting.

August 16, 2007: ~1 hour, 4 children, average age 6-7. Outreach class. Our last outdoor outreach class during the two-week pilot phase. With a week and a half’s worth of experience with these children under our belt, we were able to manage the class better than before. We used lots of movement-based activities to accommodate the uppity ones; they all enjoyed learning the “rescue carry” maneuver during the game. The entire class was basically taken straight from Lesson 5 of Ruhi Book 3, including the song (“Look At Me, Follow Me”), the quote, and the story. I think the children liked it, although there was an incident where I had to physically restrain one of the children while telling the story to avoid allowing him to fight with others. I took him aside afterwards, before we played the games, and told him firmly that he was welcome to stay in the class as long as he cooperated in the activities and respected the other children in the class—meaning no more fighting. It seems to have helped, even though we still had to monitor him very closely to curb any further outbursts.

August 18, 2007: 1.5 hours, 8 children, average age 8. Our last regular children’s class before school starts again! We had five of our usual kids and three cousins, and the group dynamic was great—although there was a little too much between-cousins tousling for the spiritual atmosphere of the children’s class. After two weeks of daily outreach classes, though, I had gotten used to playing kindergarten cop, so it was manageable. Most of the children said prayers, after which we memorized “O God, guide me” for the sake of our new students (and to refresh the memory of the kids who hadn’t been around during the summer) and then sang the same prayer in Haitian Creole (since several of our children come from Haitian families). We used the “step game” to help memorize the quote, but we noticed a couple of problems with it: 1) the game doesn’t work so well when there are lots of children (say, eight or more) in a line; 2) the game doesn’t work so well when the children can’t read well. We may adapt it for use with this class, which typically takes place indoors rather than outdoors and has fewer high-energy children than the outreach class. One nice thing is that we involved the children in snack time more than usual; for example, one set out a plate of cookies and poured juice for the others, while another helped wash dishes afterwards, and others helped to put away the colouring materials before we went outside for the end of class. The child who washed dishes—usually a rather distracted child—even thanked us for letting him serve in that way. nice :)

learning concepts
Our love should be like the rays of the sun: we should love everyone, even those who mistreat us.

activities
story: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the unkind man, Ruhi Book 3, pp.45-46. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá shows love to a man who reviles and curses him for twenty-four years.
handprint flowers: trace your hand and turn it into a flower! a lily, to be precise.
rose tag: played much like freeze tag, except that when a player is tagged, he/she must sit down; a player must untag them by kneeling, touching the ground and saying (planting) “the rose of love”. helps the related quote (see below) to sink in.

reading/prayer for study
In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love.

reference
O FRIEND! In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold. Treasure the companionship of the righteous and eschew all fellowship with the ungodly.
(Hidden Words of Bahá’u'lláh, Arabic, No.3)

experience
May 13, 2006: ~1.5 hours, 2 children, average age 6. Mother’s day. The class started late, but we managed to hit on most of the main activities. We practiced and sang prayers with our two participants: “Blessed is the Spot” and “Say God Sufficeth”. We read the story of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the unkind man and had a good conversation about love and gratitude, which segued very well into the handprint flowers – the children’s Mother’s Day gift. Gotta go – more soon.

August 15, 2007: ~1 hour, 3 children, average age 8. Outreach class. We began with a new format for this class, to accommodate our group’s high energy level: colouring first to calm the kids down. So far, it seems to work like a charm – it may take a few minutes to convince some of them to colour instead of playing games, but once they’re convinced, they’ll be able to concentrate enough to say prayers together. We also created a new movement-based game for this lesson, called “rose tag”; it’s explained above.

the past week, I’ve been involved with a neighbourhood teaching/outreach project that’s endeavouring to offer all of the core activities in tandem to the local community. some of us are looking after junior youth activities, home visits with local residents, and study circles; I’m helping to look after a children’s class. After teaching a couple of classes to an enormous ring of kids the first few days, we split the class into a younger (5-9) and an older (10-11) class, with the younger children studying lessons from Book 3 of the Ruhi curriculum and the older children studying lessons from Book 3A (aka the old Book 5). As reported tonight, we’ve had an average of 8 children in both children’s classes together, and an average of 5 junior youth—and that’s only in one part of the neighbourhood.

learning concepts

God loves justice. Justice means that we must respect the rights of every human being and make sure we do not take away from anyone what they deserve.

activities

story: pp. 43-44, Ruhi Book 3: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the stagecoach.
games: we often play games as examples of justice… is it just to break the rules? how can we ensure that we can be just while we play games?

reference

Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path. (Gleanings, p.250)  

The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes. (Hidden Words, No.2, Arabic)  

“The light of men is Justice,” He moreover states, “Quench it not with the contrary winds of oppression and tyranny. The purpose of justice is the appearance of unity among men.” “No radiance,” He declares, “can compare with that of justice. The organization of the world and the tranquillity of mankind depend upon it.” (quoted in Advent of Divine Justice, p.28)

experience

May 6, 2006: ~2 hours, 6 children, average age 6-7. The class went well. I was able to consult with the children to see what sort of games we could play, and we ended up playing a game called "tic-tac-toe" which is basically a variant of "hot potato" – we passed a ball around in a circle while one child repeated "tic, tac, tic, tac…" and whoever was holding the ball when he/she said "toe" would have to leave the circle and replace him/her counting. The kids loved it.

August 9, 2007: ~1 hours, 4 children, average age 8. Outreach class. We basically took this class straight out of Ruhi Book 3 with very few modifications, and it went alright. The boys in our class, including one who seems to have something similar to ADHD, had some trouble staying still—and hence participating—so it wasn’t perfect. To accomodate, we introduced a new type of movement-based activity to help them have the patience to memorize quotes and prayers: the "step game", in which children stand in a line and slowly advance one step at a time, each saying one word of a quote in sequence when they step ahead, continuing until they cross a finish line. We used bristol board to write out quotes and prayers in large print so that they can easily be seen from a distance; the kids love this game, and always want to take turns holding the bristol board for the others. We’ll be using this game a lot in future.

starting the step game.

let’s go!

sharing towel space (from Ruhi Bk 3).

learning concepts
Just as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá protected the Bahá’ís after Bahá’u'lláh’s Ascension, and as Shoghi Effendi did the same after ‘Abdu’l-Bahá passed away, The Universal House of Justice was formed after the passing of Shoghi Effendi to protect and to serve as the head of the Bahá’í Faith. The Universal House of Justice, consists of nine people who look after the affairs of the Bahá’í Faith. They do this important work from their Seat on Mount Carmel, in Haifa, Israel. Bahá’u'lláh told us that the Universal House of Justice would be infallibly guided by God; we can say that obedience to the Universal House of Justice is like obedience to God and to Bahá’u'lláh.

activities
drawing: Colouring page—The Seat of the Universal House of Justice on Mount Carmel.
covenant maze: Treading the Path of the Covenant. Create a maze (e.g.: covenant maze / labyrinthe de l’alliance) with four “rooms”: one for each of the Universal House of Justice, Shoghi Effendi, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Bahá’u'lláh. Children begin the maze at one end and follow it to the other end, going through each “room” in order according to the successive Heads of the Baha’i Faith. This illustrates the Covenant of Bahá’u'lláh.

reading/prayer for study

reference
The institution of the House of Justice consists of elected councils which operate at the local, national and international levels of society. Bahá’u’lláh ordains both the Universal House of Justice and the Local Houses of Justice in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in His Will and Testament, provides for the Secondary (National or Regional) Houses of Justice and outlines the method to be pursued for the election of the Universal House of Justice.
(Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Note 49)

This passage, now written by the Pen of Glory, is accounted as part of the Most Holy Book: The men of God’s House of Justice have been charged with the affairs of the people. They, in truth, are the Trustees of God among His servants and the daysprings of authority in His countries.
O people of God! That which traineth the world is Justice, for it is upheld by two pillars, reward and punishment. These two pillars are the sources of life to the world. Inasmuch as for each day there is a new problem and for every problem an expedient solution, such affairs should be referred to the House of Justice that the members thereof may act according to the needs and requirements of the time. They that, for the sake of God, arise to serve His Cause, are the recipients of divine inspiration from the unseen Kingdom. It is incumbent upon all to be obedient unto them. All matters of State should be referred to the House of Justice, but acts of worship must be observed according to that which God hath revealed in His Book.
(Bahá’u'lláh, Ishráqát — 8th Ishráq)

experience
June 23, 2007: 1.5 hours, 4 children, average age 7. Not bad for a class held right after coming back from a week-long road trip across the United States. All told, the lesson itself was what took the most time; one of the difficulties we ran into was getting the kids to be able to pronounce “Universal House of Justice”. We spent the past few lessons going over some of the Central Figures of the Baha’i Faith (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi) so this class was part review: what were the four main things we learned about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá? what were the two main things we learned about Shoghi Effendi? Then we asked: what did they both have in common? Answer: they protected the Baha’i Faith after the passing of the One whom they succeeded. That’s how the Universal House of Justice fits in. We brought a picture book with photos of the Arc on Mount Carmel, and explained the basics of what the Universal House of Justice is and what it does. As many times before, we also shared pilgrimage stories with the children—they always seem to have lots of questions when we do that, and since we know our own pilgrimage stories very well (we were there!) it’s not too difficult to tell.

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.