 Okay, good morning everyone and welcome to class, welcome to another new week, thank you all for joining class this morning, we'll begin with a word of prayer, so can I ask Susan to lead us in prayer please. Yes ma'am. Thank you. Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord, thank you for this wonderful day you have given us Lord Jesus, thank you Lord we welcome you in spirit, we welcome you Jesus you come in our midst and help us to understand and give us knowledge and wisdom Lord to grasp all things whatever ma'am teaches us and also fill fill Selena ma'am also with your abundant wisdom Lord help her to teach us whatever you want us to learn Lord, Lord Jesus also I pray for every students also who have joined here Lord Jesus let your blessings be each one on each one of us asking the precious name of Jesus Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you Susan. So last week we, in our last class we looked at the qualifications of a teacher. Basically we said in children's ministry, the messengers and the methods are needed to proclaim the message, of course through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. So we looked at what a messenger should do to effectively proclaim the message or the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this lesson and then we of course we began looking at the methods a messenger or a teacher or a children's church minister should incorporate to effectively communicate the message in a very relevant in a very productive way to children. So we began looking at the methods and the first thing that I mentioned last week is to choose or to prepare a relevant curriculum. So to prepare a relevant curriculum, you know, we need to choose relevant topics for the children that are age specific children that you are teaching and prepare those the curriculum or choose a topic space on the developmental needs of children in that age group. And we went through, you know, specifically we looked at the developmental needs of children in different age groups. And last week I also ran you through a list of topics that we could choose or a list of topics for the curriculum that, you know, we could use for grades or ages five to seven. Okay, so I just ran you through basic topics in a curriculum that you could use for children in ages five to seven. And I chose those topics based on the developmental needs of children in that age. So, you know, how did I choose the topics. Basically, I looked at the, the spiritual messages that the children in that age group need to hear so if you look back at your notes. And if you look at the developmental needs of children ages five to seven. You will see a section there which talks about the spiritual messages that children in that age group need to hear. So based on that, you know, the spiritual messages that children in that age group have to hear. I basically listed out the topics which I ran through last class. I said that, you know, we'll talk about creation that God loves them. He loves everyone. God knows you. God hears our prayer. God is dependable, trustworthy, always good. The next topic is there's a difference between right and wrong. And then talking about sin and salvation where we said that, you know, how the topic can be like, you know, all of us have sin or we are sinners. Jesus came to pay for our sins. You know, God, everyone has sin. God sees our sin. What is the consequences of sin and that Jesus is the answer for the consequence for our sin or the sinful actions or the results of what, you know, our sinful actions get healed. So those are the topics that I had listed out for grades or ages 5 to 7. And then, you know, once you have the topics for that specific age group, the next thing that you need to do is, you know, write out the learning objectives for each topic. Okay. Now the learning objective, why do you need to write the learning objective for each topic is because once you have a clarity about the learning objectives, then you will be able to choose the relevant narratives or the stories in the Bible that will help bring out the learning or understanding of that specific topic. So once you list out the topics, you know, write out the learning objective for each topic. Now the learning objectives should be brief, clear. It should be specific statements of what you want the learners to be able to learn or what you want the learners to do at the end of the lesson as a result of your teaching, as a result of their learning, as a result of their learning. As a result of all the activities that has taken place. So the learning objectives should be maximum two or three objectives for each topic. And it should be specific catering to the needs of the children in that age group. So you've chosen the list of topics based on the developmental needs. Now when you're listing out the objectives for each topic or subtopics, you know, you need to ensure that the learning objectives for each of the topics or subtopics should be specific to catering to the needs of the children in that age group and don't have more than two or three objectives for each topic. Now, based on the objectives, you know, you have a clarity about what you want to teach in that specific topic or in that specific lesson that can address that topic that you have chosen. It becomes much more easier to choose the relevant narrative or the relevant biblical narrative, which can bring out the learning or the understanding of that topic. Okay. Now, for example, if the first topic that you have chosen is Jesus is the creator, then you could have these three learning objectives. The first learning objective can be that he created everything to his spoken word. So how God created everything he created everything to his spoken words. That is the first main objective that you want children to learn and know how God created everything. The second thing, second learning objective can be that he created everything beautiful, perfect, and in order. And then you, of course, you'll go on to share or teach them how God created everything beautiful, perfect in order. But why do we see a lot of imperfection, disorder or chaos in creation or in the world that we live in? Okay. And the third learning objective can be that because he created everything, you know, all creation obeys him. So these can be your three learning objectives. Now, if you're having a learning objective for ages five to seven, then you can just keep it very, very brief, minimal to two points. I would just choose to keep the first two that he created everything to his spoken word and he created everything beautiful, perfect, and in order. Now, if you're teaching children, you know, grade five, six, seven upward, then you can even add, you know, because he created everything, all creation obeys him. Or if you choose to have this also as a part of the learning experience for children ages five to seven, then you can have two parts for your, this whole topic on Jesus is a creator. One part of talking about how he created everything perfect and beautiful through his spoken word. And then this part two can be that he created that because he created everything, all creation obeys him. Now, since I have my objectives in place for this topic that Jesus is the creator or God is the creator. I can choose the relevant Biblical narrative. So what do you think would be a good Biblical narrative for children ages five to seven? You know, talking about Jesus is a creator with, you know, having these first two objectives that he created everything through his spoken word and he created everything beautiful, perfect, and in order. Which Biblical narrative would you choose? Any thoughts, any ideas? I am conferring with you that setting the objectives for each topic would be very, very helpful because when those objectives are set, then it is from such objectives that you can develop perhaps topic themes, typical themes like if you are speaking about Jesus who heals, Jesus who saves, maybe are talking to a group of saved children, then the saved child will be able to recognize that Jesus heals. Then the saved child will be able to recognize that Jesus can heal them in such a way you will be arriving at your target. Thank you. Thank you Charles. So my question again, I'll repeat that. I was saying that, you know, I chose this topic as Jesus is a creator for ages five to seven. And I've written out, listed out my learning objective for this specific topic, which is he created everything through his spoken word and he created everything beautiful, perfect, and in order. Okay, so which Biblical narrative would best suit children in this age group and would also achieve the learning objective. Thank you Rupa. So Rupa says Genesis chapter one, which is talking about how God created the world. Okay. So if I add on this learning objective because God created everything all creation obeys him and what, which Bible narrative would best suit this learning objective. She talks about how God created everything, but all creation obeys him, which biblical narrative would best suit this learning objective. Yes, same. I have to God telling the will to give up Jonah and then also Jesus Christ have stealing the storm when he was on the boat. Okay. Thank you. Jesus is the storm. God tells the big fish to swallow Jonah and you know to throw him out on the shore or to vomit him on the shore. Okay, that is two narratives. Another narrative anyone else can think of. Let's see. Okay. Sam 19 one. We're choosing narratives. Shri Koma stories for children. 10 plagues. Okay. Thank you Rupa. Yes. And also the flood of know the flood that that have destroyed the world. The flood destroying the world and then the flood receding for Noah to come out that we came to this narrative that shows God's control over nature and creation. Okay. Thank you. King says. Yes, God causing the sons to stand still. Okay. Elijah fed by the Raven. Susan story of Neiman. Okay. Noah story and the animals coming. Yes. Good. Okay. So you could choose any one of these narratives. I would just go with Jesus still system and God causing the son to stand still. You can also use the other narratives. Okay. Okay. So, you know, once you choose your topics, you write down your learning objectives and then you choose the relevant narratives that best suit the topic that you have chosen. So, once you have this in place, then, you know, when you're, you know, choosing the topics of the whole curriculum, you could see, okay, now I put Jonah here in this vocation, but Jonah would, you know, suit well for another topic. I would kind of remove Jonah from, you know, from using it in the topic for Jesus as a creator and maybe use it for, you know, you know, another lesson like when you're talking about disobedience or, you know, sin, not obedient disobedience as consequences, whatever you could use that. Anything, you know, you. So once you have this whole curriculum in place, all the learning objectives, the topics, the narratives, you can miss, you can see what suits best in which topic the narrative suits best in which topic, and you can move things around. And then you'll have a good curriculum that you can begin working with the children for a year. Now I'm, you know, spending time on, you know, discussing about how to prepare a curriculum because this was one of the questions that our e-learning students asked me. And also it's very, very important, you know, just can't think of something that, you know, okay, Saturday night I think of some story which I'm going to tell the children the next day and then just go and, you know, narrate the story to them. It's really not going to work that way. It's not going to be very effective. And, you know, we serve a God who's a God of order and discipline. He plans everything beforehand. And so he wants us to work in the same way, even as we minister in his house, even as we minister to the body of Christ, there has to be some sense of perfection, order, discipline in which we go about doing. So preparing a curriculum is very, very important and anyone has any questions on this about how to prepare a curriculum. Basically, you have all the developmental needs of children of different age groups, just look at them, make a list of, you know, you have the spiritual needs listed out there. Just list out everything or list the topics that will be relevant for that age group. List out the learning objectives relevant again for that age group and then choose the best narratives that will suit that topic. Okay. Any questions? I need to know that learning objectives differs based on specific age groups and also the felt needs of children in that specific age. Okay, so your learning objectives should basically be not what you want to communicate, what is your need, what you feel like communicating to the children or what you sense is the need. Because sometimes when we are writing, we will bring in our needs, our thoughts, but it's important that we base our learning objectives on the developmental needs of children in that age group. And what is their felt need? What is their need in that age group for those children? And based on their felt needs, you know, you'll need to list out the learning objectives and choose the narratives. Okay. Now, once you have listed out the topics, listed out the learning objectives for each topics you've chosen the narratives, you can begin writing the lesson plan for each topic. Okay. Or for each lesson. Now, you might be wondering, why do we need to write the lesson plan? I will, you know, by the end of, you know, two or three classes, you will come to know why it's important for us to write a lesson plan. Okay. Writing a lesson plan will basically help us prepare well for our class. There is no substitute for a well prepared teacher. You will notice that if you're well prepared with your lesson, you know, classroom control could improve significantly. Because in most classes, you know, you have prepared effectively and you have, you know, what you have to say, and it would just, you will be able to communicate well to the children and also be able to control the classroom. The children in the class. So classroom control could improve significantly to effective preparation. If you're spending adequate time preparing, it also means that the time that you are going to be spending is going to be more productive. Children are going to enjoy the class. They will basically just learn, receive and soak in all that you are teaching them, telling them, you know, communicating to them. And they will also be motivated to learn. Now, a good thumb rule is that, you know, you spend no less than four times the length of your teaching time in preparation. Now, for example, if you have a 30 class of 30 minutes, you are going, your lesson time that has been given to you that's been scheduled is 30 minutes, 30 minutes of teaching time. It means that you must, you know, plan to spend no less than two hours of preparing the lesson. Okay, so it is, you know, if you have 30 minutes, you spend no less than two hours because a good thumb rule is to spend no less than four times the length of your teaching time. So if your topic is difficult, you know, and it needs a little more explanation, detailed explanation, then you will want to spend some more time just preparing that lesson during the week. Now, if you are teaching on a Sunday, usually, you know, we have children's church or Sunday school on Sunday, but some of you have a kids club or you do things during the week, then it would be best if you begin preparing from the previous Friday. Now, suppose I'm teaching next Sunday in church, I'm teaching or I'm teaching this coming Sunday, then I should have started preparing my, for my class last Friday. Okay, so, you know, you can start preparing from today, which is Monday. So if I'm teaching this Sunday in children's church on Sunday school, I start preparing from this Monday. So start preparing a week in advance. Why is it important to start preparing a week in advance? Or, you know, so many days prior to your class is so that when you come across, you know, different stories, incidents, you know, or you just look at objects and, you know, there pops an idea about how you can use that object to communicate the lesson. Or, you know, you're basically, you know, mulling over the whole or thinking over the whole lesson. And then, you know, suddenly this, what happened in your life in the past, how you dealt with this problem, or how you understood this, or how God communicated this truth to you. You know, you could narrate it to the children, or you could look for creative activities, creative object lessons, gives you time to think through the lesson and how best you can communicate. And also it helps you to, you know, write out your lesson, the lesson plan and, you know, remove things that are not required, that are not necessary. And just put in the important things that are important to communicate to the children. Okay. So, if you begin, you know, preparing your class a week prior, and I'll just help you to, you know, look at relevant stories, incidents, object lessons, demonstrations that you could use for your class, and which will help bring out the lesson more clearly, give more clarity to the children. It will be very, very interactive, interesting, and children will just enjoy your class. Now, if you prepare your class a day or two prior, it may not be too effective or helpful or beneficial because you might not have sufficient time to think through to prepare the object lessons to get the objects or relevant stories. But if you do this, you know, a week in advance, you have time to prepare through to think through the lesson. And, you know, once you do your part, your best, you know, God is faithful, he will do the rest. Now, it's important to write down everything that you are going to teach the children. Why is it important to write down everything? Because sometimes we think, hey, you know, I'm just teaching children. It's okay if I just run through the whole thing in my mind. I can just communicate it, you know, we can forget some details of the narratives. We can forget, you know, there won't be clarity. There will not be a good thread of connection of what you are saying throughout the story. You can miss out some points. You can forget some things. So just writing down the whole thing also, you know, gives you clarity what you're going to say as a recap for the previous lesson, you know, you can also prepare your lesson based on the learning objectives. So you're having your, you know, you're running with your main truth throughout the lesson, you're dealing with the felt needs of the children throughout the lesson. You will not diverse. You will not, you know, you know, go take different parts or talk about different things can be very confusing for children, for adults, it's okay. But for children, you know, you need to keep it straight. You need to have the main truth running through just like a single thread throughout, which they're just holding on and they can just pass through very, very easily. Okay. It will also give you clarity what is your attention getter, what is, you know, the learnings that you're going to bring about what is the stories, what is the application. Also, you will know exactly what are the important points you need to say what is necessary, what is not necessary. If you write out the lesson plan, you will, you will notice that the lesson is too, you know, big for, for a 30 minute class. And the points that you have written down are all important. So, you know, it will just help you to know where to stop. Okay, where to bring that whole lesson to stop. So, I will stop at this point. What is my learning that I'm going to bring out what is the application. And then, you know, the latter half of the content that you have, you know, that you can use for the next class. So, you have more clarity on this. You don't prepare a big lesson and a long lesson, and then you go get to class and you realize, hey, I just started the lesson, you know, and I haven't finished it. And then, you know, children are just left without any learning, without any application, you just say we'll continue next class, which has not, you know, helped the children in any way it's not benefited the time that you're spending with them. So, once you write out the whole lesson, you know, where to start, where to stop, what is the important points you need to say, what is not necessary, what you can remove out. What is, if there are too many learning activities or stories that you are trying to bring in your own life example, everything, you know, you can know which to remove, which to keep, which is important. And also writing out the story will ensure that you're keeping the main truth running throughout the whole lesson. Now, we need to remember that children are not like adults, you know, who, for us adults, you know, we can, we can move from one point to another point, we can come back to the first point, we can go to the third point. And adults can kind of navigate their way through what you are preaching or teaching them, but not so with children. For children, you know, if you are talking about one main truth, you'll need to stick to that main truth. You can't bring out three, four truths in that main story, in that story, sorry, and the children will get thoroughly confused. So if your main truth is, you know, that God created the world through His Word and He created it perfect and beautiful, that is what you need to stress at every point, even as you are teaching them. That is what you need to reiterate every time you are bringing out what God created on day one, day two, day three, you know, He said it was good, which means it is perfect. And, you know, God said, so He spoke again and then, you know, there was light, He spoke and the light and the darkness separated. And when God looked at it, it was day one, He said it was good. So each day you're reiterating that same point, you're not going to move from that point to something else. And at the end of, you know, when you're finished talking about six days of creation, children would have, you know, this thought would have just been ingrained or imprinted on their minds that, hey, God created everything to His spoken word. He said, He came about, He said and everything happened and everything that He created is perfect and good, which they will never forget for the rest of their lives. So it's important to keep the main truth running throughout the whole lesson and please ensure that you have just one main truth for each lesson and not have five, six, which can be very confusing at the most one or two is okay for the older children. Also, once you write out your lesson plan, you will be able to include relevant activities, object lessons, ways to cater to children's different styles of learning. Remember, we learned that different learning styles, you know, and also the different intelligences or ways of learning, the eight different intelligences or ways of learning. So when you look at your lesson, you say, hey, did I cater to, you know, the learning styles, at least the five senses through which learning happens. Did I include most of the eight intelligences in my, you know, ways of learning? And if I missed out something, you know, what I could do, you know, simple and best to include that learning style, sorry, or the eight different intelligences or ways of learning. Okay, so it's so important that you write out the lesson plan so that, you know, you also know where you can appropriately put a full stop in the lesson where you can break the lesson where you continue on from next week. Now, if you're stopping the lesson here, what is the conclusion that you're bringing out so you need to stop in a place where there is a relevant conclusion that you can bring about a good learning for them and a good application. As well. Now, when you have written all of your entire lesson, you know, it will give you more confidence to teach your class. It will also help you to handle the class because you know you have clarity. You know, there is no confusion. You're not thinking what to do. You know, you have everything ready prepared. There's no waste of time. There's no confusion. And there's a good flow of thought in your class. And you will just have the children absorbing just soaking in everything that you are teaching them. There will just be like a sponge, you know, a sponge just absorbing everything that you are teaching them. Now, when you begin to write a lesson plan, what are the things that you need to keep in mind? Of course, you need to keep in mind that you are following your learning objectives. You're not diversing from your learning objectives. Also, another thing which I'm stressing again and again is ensure that, you know, the main truth or the central point should be reiterated throughout the lesson. Don't deviate from the main truth, whether it's your biblical narrative, the object lessons you're using, the attention getters, the activities, all should reiterate the learning objectives and the main truth. Okay. And what do I mean by main truth or the central point of what you are teaching? Now, for example, if you're narrating Zacchus's story, you know, of course you have the topic, okay? So, if you're narrating Zacchus's narrative, what do you think can be the main truth or the main point you would like to focus on or bring about in Zacchus's story? Any thoughts? If you choose Zacchus's narrative and you want to, you know, what can be the main truth that you would want to run through out your lesson? Yes, Say? That anyone is welcome to Christ. Christ accepts all people's love. Okay. Jesus accepts everyone. Say, thank you, Kennedy, love. Srikuma says Jesus loves sinners. Okay. Susan Sarveshun is for sinners. Okay. Good. Ma'am, can I? Yes, sure, Rupa. In that story, towards the end, it is written that Jesus, his mission, that he has come to save the lost, if he can take that as a theme, and 10th verse. Okay. Yes. Yes, thank you. So, if a theme is salvation, salvation for sinners, or Jesus loves sinners, then you can use Zacchus. So, if that is your theme or the main point and the main truth, then you have to have it running throughout the story. Okay. Charles says, God has no respect if persons. Yes, quite an understand what you said, Charles. Asha says no matter what your condition, what you're facing, he just wants, Jesus wants to help them. The true work of the Holy Spirit. Okay. Yes, if you're talking about the work of the Holy Spirit, you can use Zacchus' story. Yeah. So, okay, these can be a different topics and then you are choosing Zacchus' story. So, if you are talking about God is not respected of persons. Okay. Thank you. So, if you're talking about sin and salvation, then yes, you can choose this lesson and you can talk about, you know, the main truth. How do you keep the main truth running throughout the story? As you can talk about, you know, how Zacchus, you know, what was his sin? His sin was, he loved money, he was, he cheated people, he lied, he was greedy. And what is the, you know, you can talk about sin. You can talk about the consequence of sin, you know, because of that, you know, nobody loved Zacchus, nobody wanted to talk to him. Maybe nobody invited him for any functions in that town. And Zacchus did not bother, he did not care for people. He was, you know, his heart was just for his love for money, so you can talk about, you know, how sin destroys our relationship with people, how sin takes us away, separates us from God, separates us from people as well. You know, and it gets us into such a place that we can, you know, keep doing things that are wrong and we would not even know that we are doing wrong. So we're just holding on to that main truth, sin, but we are talking about, you know, various aspects of sin. And, you know, you're talking about sin and salvation, you know, you can talk about how Jesus came and how he saved Zacchus. If you're talking about the work of the Holy Spirit, you can say, you know, you can mention that very presence of Jesus in Zacchus' home, you know. Jesus did not even have to convict him of a sin or did not have to speak about the sin or tell him all the bad things that he's doing. Just that, you know, the presence of God in Zacchus' home caused Zacchus to change. Or if you're talking about repentance, what is true repentance, then you can choose the story because, you know, you can talk about how he repented. No, it was not just something he said, you know, to do away with Jesus from his house or just to show Jesus that, yeah, you know, I changed. So, you know, we all can pray and say, Jesus, I'm sorry, please forgive me. But then we can go back and, you know, when we go back to the home or go back home or go through the week, we can go and do the commit the same sin. But here we see that Zacchus changed. There was a total change in his whole life. That is repentance. So, you know, when you're talking about a specific topic, you need to make sure that you are bringing about that, speaking that in different points in that story. You know, so that children get more clarity on what you are saying and what is the main truth. Okay, so if you choose love for Zacchus' story, then you can talk about, you know, how Zacchus, when he was a sinner, he loved only money. He was so greedy. He wanted more money that he was willing to cheat people, lie to people. And, you know, but you should talk about God's love, how God, you know, stopped, looked at Zacchus, came to Zacchus' house, you know, and met him at this point of his need. So, talk about how, you know, God loves a sinner, but does not love the sin that he does and what is the consequences of God's love, you know, in Zacchus' life that, you know, he changed. He totally changed. There was a total transformation. He repented and he, you know, he just did not act it out. But he, you know, he, but he went and, you know, he repented or he made right what he was doing. And that is what God's love does for us. So you can, you know, talk about or emphasize the main truth of the central point at various points in the story, reiterated throughout the lesson. When you write out the learning objectives and when you write out your lesson plan, it will help you ensure that, you know, you're following the main truth throughout the central point as you're teaching the story. Okay. And you can also think about how you can communicate the main truth throughout the story. Okay. Any questions so far? Any doubts? Okay. Things you all would like to add. Okay. If there's nothing we'll move on. So we looked at the learning objectives. And once you have that learning objectives, you know, what is your main truth. The next thing you need to write down in your lesson plan is a recap. Okay. So begin with a recap of what was taught last week. That's important. And if you're continuing so that it gives a good continuity to what you have thought last week and then what you are continuing to teach them in this class. Also, it's a good point to do a recap because you can ask them how they have applied or practice what they have learned last class. So you can hear different children, how they put into practice that will kind of motivate other children. Those who missed, you know, applying what they learned, you can encourage them and tell them that you will ask them next week or you can help them how they can apply what you have taught them last week. Okay. Then after recap, the next, you know, point in your lesson plan is introduction. Now, introduction is very important. It's important to begin your lesson well, because if you begin your lesson well, your, your task or your job is half done. And this is the best place to capture the attention and the interest of the children. If your introduction is good, you know, you will just get their attention, you will capture their attention and their interest, and they will be willing to listen to you for the rest of the 30 minutes. But if your introduction is poor, is boring, and you don't do well in your introduction is the worst place to boost the interest or the attention of the children. So if you don't have, you know, the children's attention, you cannot teach them, they will be playing, they'll be talking, they'll be disinterested, and you will have to, you know, spend a lot of time in class, classroom control. So important in your introduction is to establish a point of contact with the children. Now, you might have your learning objectives. Don't tell them, okay, today's, in today's class, I'm going to tell you, you know, these are the learning objectives. And this is the story I'm going to say. Now, that is a very poor way of starting your lesson. Because if your learning objective is, you know, children should learn to obey, or obedience is very important. If you don't, you know, if obedience is sin, or your third learning objective can be obedience has severe consequences. Now, if you're going to, you know, enlist the learning objectives to children, they'll say, oh my gosh, not again, you know, everyone's telling us to obey, obey, obey. I know it's sin, I've not been obeying, and I just don't want to listen, it's so boring. So don't list out the learning objectives, don't even tell them what is the narrative. Because if you tell them what is the narrative, then you'll have half the children say, I know the story, and they will not be interested because say, hey, anyway, I know the story. Now, what's the point in listening to her or him, you know. So it's very important in your introduction to establish a point of contact with the children. What do I mean by that, you know, you need to talk about something which is within their experience, something which will arouse their curiosity, something with which they can identify what you are going to say, you know. So when you do that, you know, they are just going to listen to you very, very, you know, attentively. Now, for example, if you're going to narrate to them David and Goliath story, which is a very well-known narrative in the Bible, or Zacchus, which is a very well-known narrative in the Bible, you know, you want to establish a point of contact with them or arouse their curiosity, or, you know, get them into a place where, hey, I'm going through this, I identify with what he or she is saying. So let me listen to know how I can help myself. So if you're talking about David and Goliath story, now how do you, you know, establish a point of contact with them? The best thing to do is, you know, talk about, hey, do any of you have problems, problems that are big, you know, just like a mountain in front of you, or like a giant, you're so scared of that. You know, any of you have any problems, difficulties, or, you know, you can just throw open the time for them to talk about it. Or if they are not able to understand, you can say, you know, what, when I was in school, you know, what was my giant, or what was my mountain? It was math, or it was science, or it was, you know, learning the specific language like Hindi or Kannada, which we have in our, in India. You know, in Bangalore city, we have these languages, Kannada and Hindi, it was very difficult for us, because that was not our mother tongue, or our language that our parents speak to us in. So it was very difficult for us to learn that in school. Or it can be math, or it can be anything else, science, you know. So I found that as like a giant in front of me, like a mountain, you know, which I just couldn't think of even climbing. It was so difficult. Or, you know, I love to sing and, you know, I had the stage fright and I just, you know, couldn't stand in front of people. So do any of you have giants like this in your life, or do you have a mountain like this, or a big wall in front of you, and then children can identify and say, yes, you know, what is this there? They'll all want to talk about it, but you'll have to, you know, control the discussion as well. And then you can say, okay, what do you do when you face a giant or, you know, face a mountain? What do you do? And then, you know, they can share, and you can share what you did, you know, how you let fear overcome and you never went on stage or, you know, you didn't want to study that subject and all of those things. Then you can say, today I'm going to share about, you know, one person who faced a giant and let's see what he did. So, you know, you know, once you say that children are going to say, okay, who is this person who faced a giant and what did he do? So, you know, now they're kind of, you know, you've aroused their curiosity and something that you're talking about what they're going, they are experiencing. And you're telling them about somebody who faced the same giant and what they did and what, you know, how, what we can learn to help us, you know, overcome our giants. Okay, so something that they can identify with something arouses their curiosity. So that is very important. Once you establish that point of contact, you know, they will be willing to listen to you for the rest of the class. Now your beginning should always have a clear link with what follows through the lesson. It's pointless to have an outstanding or a very good introduction, which does not lead to the rest of the lessons. So it's important that even as you now have a good introduction, you kind of made a point of contact arouse the curiosity, something that they identify. You know, the next step is lead them into things that will, you know, again, help them through what they are going through what they identify with. Okay, so you will succeed in getting the attention of the children, or you will lose it if, you know, you're not able to connect your introduction with the rest of the story. So you should make the beginning of your story as a good stepping stone to the rest of the lesson. Now you need to ensure that you keep the beginning of the story of your lesson very, very brief because you have a whole narrative. You have activity or you have an object lesson or an attention getter, you have learning, you have conclusion, you have learning, you have application. So, you know, just keep it very, very brief, very, very short, just like I said about David and Goliath, just a couple of lines, you know, and control the discussion as well. You know, because you need to remember that your introduction should be very brief because, you know, it's going to, you have a main lesson that follows. Okay, just two more points and I'll end this class today. Be careful not to give away the secret of the lesson or the narrative in the beginning in your introduction. Don't say today we are going to hear about a man called Jonah was swallowed by a big fish. Now that is a story or a full lesson that you have to say for 30 minutes, you finished it in just 17 words. Okay, so, you know, children say, we know Jonah's story, we know what happened, they're not interested in listening, tell us something new. Okay, so don't give out the secret of your lesson in the beginning. Okay, and avoid introductions like, you know, okay, now sit up, fold your hands or I'm going to teach you about the need to repent. You know, that might be what you are teaching them or, you know, the need to forgive others or the need to obey that you should obey. Now that is something that you're going to teach them that is your learning objective, but don't tell it out to them because they will get bored, they will not listen. You know, you must first what you need to do is get that attention, you know, get to a point of contact where you can connect with them, you know, where they identify themselves with what you are going to teach them, arouse their curiosity so that, you know, they will listen to you and follow through with the lesson of the lesson. Okay, to stop here, we'll continue with the rest of the lesson plan on Wednesday. Anyone has any questions? Any thoughts, any suggestions? No? Yes, Se? I've seen in some children material study where they have the aim of the topic or the aim of the lesson. I don't know if that is based on what they're saying. It looks like we shouldn't have that. If not, it just kind of kills the suspense and the expectation for the class. I don't know. What do you think? Aim is, okay, another word for learning objectives is aim. So it can be, can you either word it as aim or learning objectives. You have, you know what is the aim, you know what is the learning objective which you need to achieve that you need to bring about the children. But what I'm saying is don't communicate or tell it to them because, you know, that can bore them. Okay. Or, you know, if you're telling them, I'm going to teach you about sin. They will say, how boring about salvation. We've heard that so many times about obedience, about forgiveness. Hey, that is what you want to teach them. But how are you going to establish a point of. We are going to teach them that is ultimately what you want to bring out and then that would be bring come through in the lesson that will come through in your conclusion and your learning. Okay. How can you go back home and now since we learned about obedience, how can we practice what we learn. So that is all going to follow. But what I'm saying is don't, you know, list out your aim or learning objective in your introduction. You have that in your mind. It's there in your lesson. But, you know, how can you establish a point of contact with, with the children. That is what I'm trying to say. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Thank you everyone for joining class. We are three minutes past time. So we'll meet for our next class at 10 or three. Okay. Thank you everyone. Have a good break.