YOUTH WORKERS’ INSTITUTE

Evening Star, Issue 18263, 1 May 1923, Page 10

YOUTH WORKERS’ INSTITUTE

The seventh annual Otago Youth Workers’ institute opened in ttic Waddell Ugll. Carroll street, last evening. The institute is conducted under the auspices of the, .Dunedin Presbytery, which has the eo-oponiLion of Miss I, I ’. S. AV timer, the agent of the Otago Council of Sunday , School Unions. The object of the in- j stitute. which lasts for five evenings, is to provide definite instruction and inspiration to those engaged in Christian work among young people. . : The Rev. G. if. dnpp presided and cx- ' pressed pleasure that so many of the I speakers were comparatively new to them. J He heartily congratulated one of the ' speakers, the Rev. Ur S. F. Hunter, on the honor that ha£ come to him in winning the degree of Doctor of Divinify. Dr Hunter, who is giving a series of five half-hour addresses on various aspects of the life of St. Paul, spoke on ‘ Paul: The Boy, Student, and Pharisee.’

Afterwards the institute divided into two sections, one for Sunday school workers and one for those specially interested in Bible class work. To the Sunday school section, which remained in the Waddell Hall, Miss Dick gave a demonstration of a primary teacher’s preparation class. With her class she occupied a table on the platform and studied and prepared a lesson on Peter and John healing the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. The lesson was carefully planned out for the following Sunday. and the work of the past Sunday was helpfully reported upon. The demonstration concluded with a brief practice of an appropriate hymn and the exhibition of posters and handwork for the children.

Mr G. T. Palmer, who met Bible class workers upstairs, gave the first of a series of studies based on ‘ The Teaching of Bible Classes,’ by See, taking .os his subject ‘ The Art of Presenting.’ He showed that the vital element in teaching is the teacher himself. What the teacher is counts far more than what he says. Some teachers were naturally endowed for their work, but it was also true that -teachers could be made by study and training. He emphasised the importance of having a personal knowledge of the members of the class and of their homes. By giving heed to the lawis of teaching a great deal of unnecessar work and of disappointment was avoided. Prominent among the essential requisites in a teacher he placed earnestness and uprightness of personal character.

For a final ten minutes both sections reassembled for a concluding devotional session.

The institute will bo continued till Friday evening. The session will begin each ovenintr with an address on Paul by the Rev Dr S. F. Hunter, delivered to the whole institute. Thereafter it will divide into Sunday school and Bible class sections. The" latter will be addressed each evening bv Mr G. T. Palmer on some phase of the art of teaching. The chief speaker to the Sunday school section will bo Miss Warner, who in this institute is giving most of her attention to the intermediate department