To help students grasp Biblical Life and Worldview concepts, Year 7 students had to cooperate to build a tower together – but without talking.
Actually, to be more accurate, they could talk, but only in a foreign language.
Year 7 teacher Mr Sam de Vries set the task to illustrate part of the narrative in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, focussing on the Tower of Babel.
“Over the first semester, we learnt that God created the world and everything in it to be perfect, but humans rebelled and stuffed up. God tried a reset with the great flood that wiped out all but Noah and his family in the ark,” he said.
But again, the people tried to be like God and began building a tower to reach the heavens. So, God confused their language so they could not understand each other.
“The Year 7 activity was to build a tower with pop sticks and blue tack. After two minutes, students could only communicate using sign language or a foreign language.
“Some spoke Afrikaans or Chinese, and some tried to use Indonesian. It helped students to understand the cycle where God intervenes to try to bring people back to himself.”
Mr de Vries said there is a wide range of levels of knowledge and understanding of Christianity among his students, so he works hard to choose activities that cater for all levels.