Isaiah 53 has a lot of hard words, especially for fourth graders. Fourth graders are pretty quick, though. They're at one of those stages of life where they are learning new terms every time they turn around. It just takes a few tricks, and a little repetition, to help things stick.
One of the things that works for us in Sunday school this year is adding a little bit of silly to our explorations and explanations. After a few kids have given ideas for word definitions - or researched them for us - it is time for the goofy definitions to roll in.
For example, the word "oppression" contains the word "press." So, I might reach over and press down (gently) on the kid/s nearest me and explain that oppression means that someone bigger - a grown up to a kid or a boss to an employee - or with more power is doing something unfair to someone smaller than they are, holding them down or "pressing" them down.
Then, I might let a few of them "oppress" me in return.
We pictured "afflicted" by my reaching over and repeatedly "flicking" the kid beside me (Yeah. I know that the spelling doesn't match up, but it sounds right to them, and that is what most of them need to be able to remember). Affliction is something painful - like being flicked - done to you by someone else - like Jessica.
Ask them those two. They remember them. Actually, they remember a lot of words, but those two were/are their favorites, because I let them do them to me in return.
Every week is something a little different, depending on the kids who show up and 98% off the cuff, but, if silly can help make crazy/hard words memorable, then that works for me.
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