Return the textual content of the element and its children

def _get_element_text(self, element):
        """
        Return the textual content of the element and its children
        """
        text = ''
        if element.text is not None:
            text += element.text
        for child in element.getchildren():
            text += self._get_element_text(child)
        if element.tail is not None:
            text += element.tail
        return text