Literacy/RE activities: The Kind Stranger

‘The Kind Stranger’ the title in The Lion Storyteller Bible by Bob Hartman and Krisztina Kállai Nagy (Lion Children’s Books, £14.99 HB) or ‘The Good Samaritan’ (its more familiar name) is one of the most famous stories that Jesus told. It is also a great tale to share aloud with your class. There are many ways that you can encourage your class to tell it along with you. For example, you could have them play the part of the crowd, with you playing Jesus, the storyteller. Whenever they hear a line like “Oh dear’, sighed the crowd”, have them say ‘Oh dear’ with a big sigh. (There’s an ‘Oh my’ and an ‘Oh no’, for them to do, as well.) You could take this a step further. Since the children are playing the crowd, when you come to the part of the story where Jesus asks his crowd what the first two passers-by did when they saw the wounded man, you could ask for your crowd’s honest reaction, and then follow it up with Jesus’ response to the answers he got.

Historical drama