A reading comprehension activity with a cultural twist

#1 · September 21, 2003, 4:44 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on September 21, 2003, 4:44 pm
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

Dear Hope Chest readers,

Since I just sent an article on reading comprehension, here is a little extra related activity for you, with a slight cultural twist! Show this sentence to your children, and see if they can guess what it says!

"Koma mwa chifundo ndi chikondi cha Ambuye wathu Yesu Khristu lero lino ali kuitana kuti tisalandile imfa."   Aroma 6:23

~*~*~

If they are good with clues, they will figure out that this is a Bible verse that has something to do with Jesus Christ (Yesu Khristu).   They may guess that it is Romans (Aroma) 6:23. If they look this up in their own Bible, they will be able to "translate" the sentence easily!

Can you imagine always having to read a Bible verse in a different language? It would be so hard to understand if you didn't have any way to decode it! That's why it is SO important for each people group to have the Scriptures translated AND DISTRIBUTED into a language they can read and understand. Can you guess what language it is? I bet you won't, though some of you may get as far as saying it sounds African. It is in the Chichewa language, which is one of the languages spoken in Malawi.   Now, can you imagine being in a little village church. The pastor, who preaches in many different villages, must walk for hours to get to your church.   You can't study Scripture on their own, so you have to wait until the preacher comes around to your village again. It might be weeks or months! Now imagine the pastor comes to the village with a box full of Bibles you can understand, and gives one to YOU. How happy will you be?

Pastor Headson Makazinga, based in Nsanje, Malawi, is one such pastor. He is fervently requests Chichewa Bibles, which cost about $3.50 per copy. He could easily give out over a hundred Bibles every month. He has also written a four page page Bible tract, which I am typing and copying for him. (That's where I got the Bible verse!)   So far, he isn't getting any help with other than from our family. We can't do it all by ourselves, so I'm asking for your help. This is something your children can get involved in, too! Please e-mail me if you are interested in helping finance the Bible and tract distribution, and I would be glad to send along copies of the letters he has written to our family.

Thanks!

Virginia

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

Dear Hope Chest readers,

Since I just sent an article on reading comprehension, here is a little extra related activity for you, with a slight cultural twist! Show this sentence to your children, and see if they can guess what it says!

"Koma mwa chifundo ndi chikondi cha Ambuye wathu Yesu Khristu lero lino ali kuitana kuti tisalandile imfa." Aroma 6:23

~*~*~

If they are good with clues, they will figure out that this is a Bible verse that has something to do with Jesus Christ (Yesu Khristu). They may guess that it is Romans (Aroma) 6:23. If they look this up in their own Bible, they will be able to "translate" the sentence easily!

Can you imagine always having to read a Bible verse in a different language? It would be so hard to understand if you didn't have any way to decode it! That's why it is SO important for each people group to have the Scriptures translated AND DISTRIBUTED into a language they can read and understand. Can you guess what language it is? I bet you won't, though some of you may get as far as saying it sounds African. It is in the Chichewa language, which is one of the languages spoken in Malawi. Now, can you imagine being in a little village church. The pastor, who preaches in many different villages, must walk for hours to get to your church. You can't study Scripture on their own, so you have to wait until the preacher comes around to your village again. It might be weeks or months! Now imagine the pastor comes to the village with a box full of Bibles you can understand, and gives one to YOU. How happy will you be?

Pastor Headson Makazinga, based in Nsanje, Malawi, is one such pastor. He is fervently requests Chichewa Bibles, which cost about $3.50 per copy. He could easily give out over a hundred Bibles every month. He has also written a four page page Bible tract, which I am typing and copying for him. (That's where I got the Bible verse!) So far, he isn't getting any help with other than from our family. We can't do it all by ourselves, so I'm asking for your help. This is something your children can get involved in, too! Please e-mail me if you are interested in helping finance the Bible and tract distribution, and I would be glad to send along copies of the letters he has written to our family.

Thanks!

Virginia