I was kind of getting excited about teaching English in our new language school. I have really enjoyed meeting the people and conversing with those who could converse, finding out what country they are from and talking about their kids. Wow! I almost feel like I'm working in a foreign mission field in the comfort of our own church building as the people flowed in the front door to register for classes. Some stayed for a plate of food and talked. Most were tired from a long day of hard work.
I looked into the face of one gal my age yesterday and thought, you know, I bet we could really build a neat friendship. She's just that kind of person that you want to get to know.. She's from Guatemala, she works nights in the fruit packing industry, and her pride and joy is her ten year old daughter. She believes this child has potential to be a great Christian singer one day. I'm as curious as anything to hear her.
It has come clear that my place is not teaching English, however. All these people have kids and the needs of the kids are as great or greater than that of the parents even if they speak better English. Delores simply would not be able to surround the kids on her own, or even with a couple of teen helpers. We decided to split the kids by ages and have two classes.Things have evolved.... a few kids have already started coming to church and are looking to join Reflections, our kids choir, not all the children can come on a Wednesday but they want to sing! The solution is to start a new choir with the ESL kids! We'll do more than that, though, we'll do a whole Bible School program.
Vanessa spent time with a 9 year old yesterday. The girl didn't so much as know the song Jesus Loves Me.Very bright and musical, she caught on to the simple piano lesson Vanessa gave her when they switched to the more familiar Mary Had a Little Lamb tune. The proud grandfather whispered his earnest thanks for the interest Vanessa showed in her. And it makes me want to cry because it was nothing really. Just a little time.
Our beginning ESL class is full to capacity. We have enough to start an intermediate class and even have some advanced students. Just think. What if we had not gone through the pain of expanding and developing our church building into a more useful place? What a missed opportunity we wouldn't even have known.
I spent 20 minutes shy of twelve hours at the church yesterday... We ended with a recording session of Echoes of Heaven. Funny girls. They think they still need me to direct them.
4 comments:
As an ESL professor, may I give a suggestion? I would let the ESL speakers be in the "regular" choir. They are isolated enough in their communities, it would be so much better for them to sing, communicate with, and have fellowship with native English speakers.
I do think an ESL Bible study would be wonderful, though. Remember, it's about providing support and focusing the content, not limiting the context. You may find that children's Bible materials may be easily adapted to ESL adults. Most of your migrant/menial task workers have limited literacy skills, so you can be teaching them useful reading and writing skills through your Bible lessons. It might also be good to practice real-life skills in these classes, too (or are you already doing that with the beginning ESL class?). Also, focus on what you can accomplish in one session -- every class meeting should be complete, no carry-over to next week. You may have spotty attendance, because of the nature of their work and lives, so don't feel bad. As long as every lesson is in a package they can learn and take with them every session, they will be great.
You can email me directly, if you want any ESL suggestions. I think what you're doing is wonderful. Does my email show up on your side of the blog administration??
Thank you for the helpful comment. Your email is not showing up anywhere for me.
Certainly the children who can be a part of the regular choir are more than welcome, for the ones that can't come on Wednesdays afternoons I am working at starting a Tuesday night choir. We'll use the same music so that we can combine or integrate when possible.
The gal in charge of the whole program has done this before and seems to know what she is doing. She is from Columbia and is a real go-getter. She is very focused on real life skills. We have 5 teachers lined up. At least one has taught in an ESL school before.
We are excited about it and looking to enjoy the process.
Blessings,
angela
Hi Angela,
It sounds like you have everything very well organized! But if there's anything I can do to help out with your ESL groups, please don't hesitate to ask! My email is fraujoolie (at) gmail (dot) com. :)
Julie
ESL is such a great outreach opportunity. We have a Korean congregation that join our Bible study classes and then have their service in another area of the church in their native language. We tried to start ESL classes, but there were better ones in the city and we didn't continue after the first one. We also have/had many Mextico children in our AWANA program, but with the new immigration law in Alabama many of them have left for other states. We will miss them dearly.
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