"One String Braided with Others is Strong Enough to Tie Down a Lion"

This past week, our Edot students focused their attention on proverbs - specifically, those of the Beta Yisrael. We reviewed how proverbs are statements using symbols meant to teach a life lesson. Every culture has its own proverbs, and the symbols used in those proverbs come from the environment in which the people using the proverb live. Thus, the proverb in the title of my post reflects the African environment of the Beta Yisrael.

Once the students became familiar with several proverbs, I divided each session into 4 groups, each of which was assigned a specific proverb. Their mission was to determine what the lesson was that the proverb was trying to teach, and which symbols it used to convey its lesson. Once this was accomplished (using a worksheet I designed), I asked the members of each group to imagine they are members of the Beta Yisrael still living in Ethiopia. They were then asked to make up a short skit in which the action leads up to one of the characters in the skit having to say the group's assigned proverb.  These skits will be performed by the students during our upcoming Sigd Festival. I've just been typing up the skits, and am so impressed with how each group went to the heart of the lesson, and created situations and conflicts reflecting their understanding of the lesson being taught.

Ideas were thrown back and forth, then put to paper with the guidance of a TA or teacher working with each group - here, Michael is working with the boys

Each group chose a recorder  - thank goodness they all had legible handwriting to make my job easier typing them up!

Every member of each group had a chance to contribute their ideas

Once the groups completed their skits yesterday, it was time to move over to our second classroom where Joel was ready to teach us how to play the African and Yemenite drums that we'll be playing in drum circles during our Sigd Festival. 

Tilt the djembay (African drum) away from you to get better wrist action.

If you're right-handed, hold the doombek (Yemenite drum) on your left thigh; vice-versa if you're left-handed. 

When Joel says, "Doom" hit the center of the drum with the palm of your hand...

...when he says "Tek" hit the edge of the drum with your fingers.

We have 3 doombeks and one djembay in our classroom, so everyone at each table had a chance (for at least 30 seconds each!) to practice drumming

And while they waited for their turn, some practiced on the table

We then all sang "Al Tir'uni" from the Song of Songs, as the drummers sounded the beat of the song.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS YOU CAN - HOPEFULLY NOT LATER THAN OCTOBER 28TH - IF YOUR CHILD CAN JOIN US FOR THE SIGD FESTIVAL. IT'S JUST TWO WEEKS AWAY!