[REFiend]

This is a hymn to the Nativity with art and images that enhance the words that are being sung. The whole thing comes across as both a prayer and worship and as a testament to a people’s celebration of their faith.

Arabic is now often thought of as the language of Islam but it isn’t exclusively so. Christianity is a world faith and, as the subtitle of the film announces, Arabic is also ‘A voice from the unheard voices of the Christians of the Middle East who have been witnessing to faith in the Saviour since His incarnation in their midst’.

This Youtube film is long – 7 mins 30secs, but 5 mins 22 secs is the presentation and the rest is credits showing where the art comes from…

Pupils could listen to a 30 second clip (WITHOUT THE IMAGES) and conjecture in pairs what they are listening to, what kind of images could be accompanying the text…

They could then view part of the film and see how accurate their conjectures were, what possible prejudices or ideas their own contributions might reveal…

Are they aware of Christianity as a world faith – integral to the regions where Arabic is spoken? Are they aware of Christianity as a part of the context in which Islam was born and flourished?

If they were going to choose to make a film similar to this but reflecting beliefs and traditions around the Nativity in another area of the world where Christianity is present – but perhaps surprisingly so to the students? – what would be the appropriate language, music, images?

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