Rotation.org Writing Team

JACOB AND ESAU

COMPUTER WORKSHOP

PART ONE

PASSAGE

Story

Genesis

Key/Memory Verse

Genesis 28:16
Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place -- and I did not know it!"

Translation

"Now I realize God has been with me."

PURPOSE

Lesson Goal

"God is working out his plan through imperfect people just like Jacob and Esau, and just like you and me." His plan is to spread the message of salvation and forgiveness to all.

Objectives for Rotation

Students will be able to:

1. Tell the basic outline of the story in order. (This is a critical objective)
2. Discuss the good and bad points of each character (what they did right/wrong)
3. Point out the character of God in the story.
4. See themselves as Isra-el "the one who wrestles with God"
5. Understand the synonyms for wrestling in spiritual/moral terms.
6. Be able to identify how they might be wrestling with God in their life, and what direction God may be trying to move them.

Objectives for the Computer Workshop

If you are using Awesome Bibles Stories CD, it will tell the major parts of the story and allow you to focus on the episode of Jacob wrestling with God.

If you are using Bibleland.com CD, it will primarily focus on the "character" of Jacob.

PREPARATION

Materials List

Software Recommendations

Only Awesome Bible Stories CD from Sunday Software tells the story of Jacob & Esau at length with multimedia, storytelling, and learning activities (ages 5-16).

Jacob and Esau's 'character profiles' are also found in Bibleland.com CD (ages 8-12) and the birth of Jacob and Esau is covered in Play & Learn Children's Bible CD (ages 4-7).

Advance Preparation Requirements

Read through the scriptures on this story. Not every part of the story is to be covered in your lesson, but it will be a good refresher.

Read the Bible background.

PRESENTATION

Open - Introduction (10 minutes)

See how much of the story of Jacob and Esau your group knows. Draw words and symbols to represent the different parts of the story as they are offered.

Ask preliminary questions about what they know about Jacob's character.

Introduce the Story

Ask them which BOOK of the Bible the story is found in.

Have a race to see who can find all the chapters in the Bible which have the story of Jacob in them. (There are a lot)

Dig - Main Content (15 minutes)

If you are using Awesome Bible Stories CD, it's Jacob & Esau material retells the story with animation and discussion questions. Work through the story. It is your "Bible" for the day.

Open the Awesome Bible Stories CD and go to the Jacob & Esau menu. Tell the students which things you'll be doing and in which order.

Now go through the story in groups of two and three, with a teacher/assistant going along with them. Stop to answer questions you find along the way.

DEEPER Learning Activity (15 minutes)

After viewing and discussing the story, play the "Midnight Wrestling Federation Game" ... it's about God wrestling with Jacob. The game will ask them questions in between rounds. There are additional study questions and comments at the END of the game.

Make and discuss the point: Jacob wrestled with Esau, Isaac, Laban and God. We wrestle with others and with God. Why?

At this point, work on some synonyms for "wrestling" ("understanding" "knowing" "struggling" "having difficulty with"). We are Isra-el, those who wrestle with God. Is wrestling good? God is a big subject! It is good to try and grapple with important things.

Reflect - Closure (15 minutes)

There is a sign of GRACE at the end of the Jacob & Esau story. Jacob humbles himself before Esau. Reconciliation is a lesson learned by Jacob. Notice that it happens AFTER Jacob has encountered and been blessed by God!

Using the "Gabby Talker" reflection exercise built-in to the story in Awesome Bible Stories CD, assign one of the following to your different computers: Create a "FORGIVENESS DIALOG" between Jacob and Esau, between Jacob and God, and between YOU and God. Give them 5 minutes to create it, then as a group go and listen to each one.

(Gabby Talker offers students a palet of words to pull into a sentence form and play back for all to hear.)

Closing Prayer (3 minutes)

If you have time, use the Gabby Talker to offer your closing prayer as follows:

Turn down the speaker volume on each computer and have each computer group create a sentence of prayer about today's lesson using the words they can select from Gabby Talker. Give them one minute to select their words. When they're done have them turn their speaker volume up and play their words outloud for everyone to hear. Finish with "Amen."

* * *

PART TWO

First, you might consider using the Awesome Bible Stories CD again for Computer Part Two. If so, perhaps you should not do the "Gabby Talker" activity during the first rotation, and save it for the second pass. Because it is somewhat of an open-ended activity, you can pose many different questions to the students and have them assemble answers using "Gabby Talker's" pallet of pre-recorded words. The program itself, and its study guide have several suggestions about how to use "Gabby Talker" in an extended fashion.

On the other hand, it's quite possible that many of your students will have missed Computer Workshop Part One, and therefore Awesome Bible Stories CD will be brand new to most of them.

There are numerous discussion questions in-between scenes throughout the story presentation in the CD. For Part Two you could focus on particular discussion questions which you did not do the first time.

You might also use the "alternate software" recommended above and look more closely with your older students at the character bios in Bibleland.com. Younger ones can use Play & Learn CD mentioned above.

Other Part Two Options/Suggestions

Focus on the Story of Jacob's wrestling with God. Use Kid Pix 3 CD to illustrate and create dialog between God and Jacob as they wrestle.

What would God want to get your attention about? What would you say to God?

Have the students come up with a name that would describe THEIR relationship with God. "She who tries to pray," "He who needs to read Bible," and so forth.

Finish by playing the Jacob vs God wrestling game -again- in Awesome Bible Stories CD. It's the sort of game they will enjoy playing over and over. The game also contains quiz questions between rounds.

CONTRIBUTOR: Neil MacQueen