Who Are Our Partners in the Czech Republic?

 

Goal: To learn more about the history, customs, beliefs and practices of Unitarians in the Czech Republic.

 

Materials:

  1. The Partnership Suitcase filled with materials for the lesson.
  2. Game boards and card sets: one for every 4-6 children you expect to attend the lesson.

Game Board PDF file 780KB

Game Flaps PDF file 963KB

Card Graphics PDF file 2.1M

Beliefs and Practices Cards MS Word file 56KB PDF file 56KB

Customs Cards MS Word file 56KB PDF file 56KB

  1. Playing pieces from commercial game boards: one for each player. (Monopoly is good since there so many different pieces.)
  2. Dice: 1 die for each game board.
  3. Map of the world. Pushpins and string or yarn.
  4. Homemade passports for each participant (made in Lesson #1)
  5. Page of stickers to put in passports (MS Word file 1MB PDF file 811KB) . Date stamp (optional)
  6. Copies of the founder story (MS Word file 41KB PDF file 80KB) and the guided meditation to read aloud (MS Word file 34KB PDF file 59KB)
  7. Snack from Czech Republic (MS Word file 32KB PDF file 50KB)
  8. Black minister’s or academic robe for story telling (optional)
  9. Copies of “Under One Sky” (MS Word file 30KB PDF file 60KB)

 

As an alternative to downloading all these materials individually, you can save time by downloading a compressed file containing all materials. To do this, your computer must be capable of handling files compressed using WinZip or Stuffit. You have the choice of:


Introduction: (15 minutes)

"This morning we are going to take a trip to visit Unitarians in the Czech Republic. We’ll learn more about this later but for now, let’s find the Czech Republic on our world map.

[Tie one end of a piece of string or yarn to the pushpin marking Czech Republic and the other end to one marking your town.]

 

“Now that we know where we are going, we will all need passports.”  [Take the passports out of the Partnership Suitcase, and show them the Czech Republic “sticker” that they will receive when they return from their trip. Ask: “What should be done with the passports?” Ans: Keep in a clean pocket or give to you --their trip leader--until they're ready to return.]

 

“We decided to visit a Sunday school class in Prague this morning. The kids are learning about the Norbert Capek, who brought Unitarianism to the Czech Republic. After we hear a story about Capek, we’ll play a board game that tells us more and helps us think about how Czech Unitarians and US Unitarian Universalists are alike and how we are different.”

 

“A favorite snack of children in Prague is buchty, or buns stuffed with sweet cheese and jam. We’ll eat our snack while we hear the story.”

 

Founder Story:Take out of the suitcase and read aloud. (5 minutes)

Game: (take out of suitcase) Partners! in the Czech Republic (20-30 minutes)

Set up:

  1. Place the game boards on tables or the floor. Divide the participants into groups of 4-6 players. If you have a wide age range of participants, be sure to play the game with mixed ages so the older ones can help the younger.
  2. Note: the Customs cards and Beliefs and Practices cards are numbered and should be stacked in order in their own pile, face-down with the #1 card on top.

Object of the Game: To move along the path from Start to Finish.

Rules:

  1. Establish who will start by a roll of the die—high number goes first. Moving in clockwise direction, each player rolls the die and moves ahead the number of spaces shown on the die.
  2. Players lift the flap of the square they land on and read the words under it. Follow directions, ie: Move ahead, move back, pick a Customs Card, or pick a Beliefs and Practices Card. Read or answer the question on the card.
  3. The next player goes after all cards are read and questions answered.

 

Stop the game 20 minutes before the end of the session.

 

Meditation (10 minutes) 

We’re going to leave the Czech Republic after hearing a story about how freedom came to the Czech Republic.

 

Make yourself comfortable on the floor. Spread out so you can lie down. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Feel your body relax into the floor. [Read Guided Imagery Story.]

 

Conclusion (10 minutes)

Hand out passports and pass out stickers. “This is the symbol of Czech Unitarians. [Pass around a small role of scotch tape or a glue stick so participants can paste the sticker on to the Czech Republic page.]

 

Sing “Under One Sky.”  Then excuse the students one by one by stamping (or writing and initialing) today's date into their passports on the Czech Republic page.  Tell them next Sunday there will be a trip to __________ and show them that page in their passports.  Welcome them back to __________[their home country] and put all their passports back in the suitcase. Hand out fact sheet from the game for each child to take home, along with the website address from which they could download the game to make and play at home with their families.