ESL training - seeing God at work

Six months ago when it came to planning for ESL training, the hope was for 10 maybe 15 people to come.  This weekend, we had 27 people come.  27!!!  Ages 14 to 84. From 10 churches. 10!!! 5 of which work with our ESL ministry; others came for their ESL certification in order to carry on ESL ministries in their own churches or vocations.  This fills my heart with so much joy.  27 people wanting to help immigrants speak English and share the gospel.  Several churches who have partnered together across denominational barriers.

It was a long 11 hours, but it was educational and also fun. Here are some pictures of our weekend (some of which I stole from others on Facebook.)

27 people!; 10 churches!

Role playing - because Lori is shy.

Flyswatter game.  Eden is lording her victory over Juliet

Fun learning exercises

Lots of food and my scrambled egg salad was a success

Many of those at the training have visions for reaching international college students, ESL Bible studies, relationship building, or seeds of the Gospel being planted.  God is at work.  I don't know what the plans hold - more than I can imagine I am sure.  A year from now I am excited to see where we are.  

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or can imagine according to His power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20

Conversation Hour

This summer, we are trying something new for our ESL ministry.   We have invited all of the students to come and speak English with fluent English speakers for an hour.  The hope is that we can give them the opportunity to just practice speaking English in a low key setting and to build relationships.

It is the same night and time as classes during the school year for a sense of regularity.  The first 2 weeks we didn't have anyone come.  In wondering why, we realized that the church appeared unopened and the cars were out of sight so the church looked deserted.  Live and learn; the third week, we made it obvious we were there and 6 people came!  And this week, 6 people came.  I think both weeks have gone well with lots of good conversation.

This sometimes surprises me.  While I am social with people I know, it is often painfully awkward for me to converse with those I don't know well.  But God is merciful and overcomes that.  I have been able to talk about any number of things and we laugh a lot along the way.

One of the reasons that I love ESL is seeing the joy as people "get it" and speak with more and more confidence. Also I love the people I work with.  Thursday, one of the girls in my group was a young teen.  She came to classes too, and I loved having her in class then too.  She is just fun and full of life.  After class as we were leaving, she proudly announced she can now pray in English and did so.

A month into summer conversation hours, I am so glad we are doing these sessions.  I pray for relationships to grow and English to be improved.  God is good all the time; all the time, God is good. May His goodness flood this ministry.

Kingdom Partnership

"When the world sees diverse churches working humbly and joyfully together, many people are led to give glory to the Father in heaven."  - Bruno & Dirks

A year ago, I didn't even know that a local church had an ESL ministry. Yet here we are preparing to share with my church a plan to partner together in this ministry. God is amazing and works in unexpected ways.

Sunday, my friend, Faith, and I share at my church a plan for the churches to work together to share the gospel and help the practical needs of non-native English speakers in our community. We are combining two things that I am passionate about- working with immigrants/internationals and crossing denominational barriers. It is a bit overwhelming when I stop and think about it and know Faith thinks the same way.

But here is the cool thing- we don't have to be able to join churches together. We don't have to find helpers in this ministry. We don't have to be able to make the ESL ministry a success. All of this can only be accomplished by God. There is a quote in Churches Partnering Together that I love.

"Ministries should have goals that can be accomplished, but still, if it can be done without God, let a local club do it."  -  Bruno and Dirks

We are about kingdom business being lead by God. And He will enable and guide us and open doors for us. I can rest in that.

What is also exciting is that even without formally partnering together, 6 people from my church are already involved in the ministry in one way or another- whether it is assisting, childcare, or snacks. (I wrote this earlier this week- the count is up to 8 thanks to two of my favorite people helping out at the last minute.) I am specifically praying God raises up new teachers out of my church (or really any church.)

This winter, I needed a co-teacher and got my mother, something I wouldn't have anticipated. Seeing how unexpectedly God answered that need, how will he meet our needs in even more wild and unexpected ways?

Practice makes comfortable

I don't necessarily believe the saying practice makes perfect.   Really how often are we perfect?

But I do believe that practice makes us comfortable.  And that is true with teaching ESL this year.  I am not a teacher and, 8 months ago, I did not know how to lesson plan and the idea of filling a class with material for 2 hours overwhelmed me.

7 months of teaching and I have come far.  I realized that last night.  Granted I couldn't find the scissors, half of my word pictures had gone missing, I forgot to cut word slips for games in advance, and we got into the classroom late. Some days, I wonder at me.   But despite the chaos (mostly in my head), I was able to pull together the plan and teach a decent lesson.

With practice, I have learned flexibility and can modify my lesson if it isn't working.
With practice, I have learned to recognize if students are understanding what I am teaching.
With practice, I have learned to minimize my words and slow down how fast I talk (well slow down somewhat.)
With practice, I have learned how to lesson plan more effectively.

I still have a long way to go.  I need to continue to slow down my class pace and my speech.  I need to work on having my students speak more.  I need to work on introducing on new words.  And there are so many other things to work on.

But practice does make me more comfortable and I am hopeful I will continue to grown and be more comfortable as I teach.  But I am loving teaching and being with the people who come to my class - truly loving it - and can't wait to see where I am in teaching skills a year from now.

Helping those at your doorstep

I think it is fascinating that after 2 years of looking, God lead me to an ESL ministry at the right time and has show me over and over that this is where he wants me.  And it is exciting to see what God is doing and will be doing.

Last Thursday night, I stopped at the library to pick up books. (Shocking, I know.) Waiting in line, I heard the woman ahead of me ask about ESL classes for her mother-in-law.  I, of course, invited her to our classes and they came!  And they were in my class.  She is my first student to not read or write which is a new challenge. But after discussion with the family member who came with her, she is hoping to just build some basic conversation skills so that takes some pressure off.  I love my class and the people who come each week.  They work hard and, though they have different skill levels, they all cheerfully practice and learn.  They are so much better at language learning than me.   

Looking to the future, I am excited.  Three people from my church are helping in the ministry now as well as my parents and more are talking about helping.  This weekend, I am talking to the mission team about plans to join forces with the other church.  I am so excited to think of churches, from different denominations, joining together to meet a real need in our community and share the Gospel. Who knows that these people were placed in our community for such a time as this and we are place here to work alongside them.

I am overwhelmed at all that is ahead.  (Ok, more often than not, I am overwhelmed to teach on a given night.)  But God delights in using the unexpected and weak for His glory.   He wants us to rely on Him and trust Him to use us.  He wants us to be in prayer and dependence on Him.  And this is where I am at- depending completely and utterly on God to use me and build my faith in Him.

In Partnering Churches Together, there is a quote I love.  "Ministries should have goals that can be accomplished, but still, if it can be done with God, let a local club do it."  Civic organizations are good and do good work.   However our ministry can't be accomplished by civic organizations, only God can bring the churches together, fulfill the visions, and use us to reach people with His Word.  

I don't know what the future holds.  But I know He is in control and will use me for His glory if I let Him.

More Than Expected

This fall, I wrote about how I had been looking for an ESL ministry and God opened the door to a ministry at a local church.

As with everything, I had certain expectations.

• I would have to learn to teach and lesson plan- something I have never done before.
• I would meet new people from all races and cultures.
• I would have to be flexible.
• I would share the Word in class.
• I would build relationships.

Half a year later,  I have realized all those expectations.  And more.

• I lost my co-teacher for my class.  There was a little panic I will admit.  But I have a new co-teacher- my mom.   I honestly could have said last summer that I would never envisioned teaching with my mom. Neither of us are teachers by trade, so we are doing a lot of sinking or swimming and a lot of reliance of God- well I am at least.
• I have seen my family come alongside and get involved in the ESL ministry and that makes my heart happy.
• I see people in my church and others beyond that excited about ESL and reaching people in our community with the Gospel and fulfilling a practical need.
• I have grown in confidence and defied my expectations on lesson planning and teaching.  I have alot of room to grow/. But I am growing more and more confident about teaching.  (And if I can do it, so can you. :)  )  
• My Japanese friend came all fall and we got to spend time together going to and from class building a deeper relationship.  

God is good.  All the time.   He took my expectations and exceeded them.  I am excited to see how He continues to do that.

Never a Failure, Always a Lesson

The other night, I was teaching a lesson on family and completely missed the mark on my plan.  I am new to teaching, so this was bound to happen. But failure is never fun; really, it just sucks.

But failure is good to as it teaches me what to do better next time and reminds me of my dependence on God.  I planned a lesson that was too hard and didn't have a good way to teach the concept of family members.   But through the lesson, I learned that having good co-teachers and helpers is key as they can give ideas to help get back on track and step in when you are floundering.  I learned to keep my lessons as basic and simple as possible.  I learned flexibility is key (I knew this but relearned this.)  I learned to have lots of backup activities even if they aren't related to the lesson.   Through this lesson failure, I feel more equipped to deal with a lesson that isn't working and have knowledge of how to prevent it from happening again.

Also I was reminded of my dependence on Christ.  Even with the best ESL teaching skills (which I admittedly lack), I need God.  Specifically, I think of teaching the Gospel.  How do you communicate the Gospel in simple English to someone who knows no English?  I am still working on that one.  But God is good and can divinely inspire me or divinely enable the listener to understand.  I am glad He is greater than me.

So maybe the other night was a failure in teaching on my part.  But the lessons learned were invaluable.  So I will go forth and continue to teach and learn from my failure.

The Tortoise and the Hare

If there are two things I know about myself, I go quickly and I speak fast.  Hmmm, those two things are interrelated.....

• If I teach Sunday School, it is generally done in half the time- ok sometimes in 1/4 of the time. 
• When I led youth group, my first lesson lasted 5 minutes- true story.   Talk about trying to fill up time.
• When I talk, I talk so fast I trip over names and always get them wrong.  I spent the evening with a Kristine and Kristin.  That was just an exercise in futility. Or working with a Megan, Melissa and Michelle? Too many M names for me to say the right one.

Me at any given moment

 And now here I am teaching an ESL class which last 2 hours and is filled with people who need me to speak slowly.  So I have to move slowly and prepare for 2 hours AND I have to talk slowly.   Did I mention my nickname at my first job was Speedy?  And that my mom moves fast too so it is ingrained in me?

Teaching ESL has been good for me.  I have only taught two lessons so far, but I have had more than enough material for the class and moved slowly through every thing.  (Granted some activities haven't worked quite as I envisioned, but that is ok.)  I also am able to slow down and speak slowly.  I don't know if it is because I just know I HAVE to or prayer or both.  But it is encouraging that I can teach and speak in a slower manner when I want to.

Who I need to be more often

I read somewhere that taking on a new task is hard and uncomfortable.  But being uncomfortable and doing hard things is good as that is what makes us depend on God and refines us.  We grow in our dependence on God and in our character.   And it is true. Teaching is uncomfortable for me; speaking slow is REALLY hard for me; lesson planning is hard for me.  But I am turning to God for strength and depending on Him more.   And hopefully developing my character as well.

New Challenges

10 years ago I was living in a foreign country.  I had to learn to pay bills, shop, navigate public transportation, and interact with others without being able to speak the main language.

I was not a good foreign language learner being the learner who was afraid to speak in case I said it wrong and being self conscious all the time.  Granted that was all my own doing and I should have and could have tried harder but I didn't.   And I understand immigrants in the States who struggle to speak and learn English.  I would be that person.  Actually, I was that person.  My desire has been to help these people for a while.

For the past 2 years, I have been looking for an English as a Second Language (ESL) ministry.   I had some leads.  But they weren't the right fit as I really wanted to do it in a Christian context where the gospel is also shared.  And then last Spring, someone posted about their church's ESL ministry.  I went to training this summer and my heart said "yes" this is the ministry for me- the desire for quality teaching, the desire to see immigrants speak English, and, foremost, the gospel to be heard.

We had our first official class last week. It was exciting and it was challenging. And it will continue to be challenging but rewarding.   I will be stretched as I have never taught ESL before - I have never lesson planned before.

So this year will be a year of challenges.  But I pray a year of growth, a year of reward in seeing people learn to speak English especially those like me who are self conscious of speaking a new language, a year of people learning of my God.