Greg’s Blog: Volume 2: Number 80
How can we spread the Gospel to creative access countries? First, a creative access country is a country where missionaries or an expatriate cannot get a visa. These countries are hostile towards Christianity; they might not let you evangelize or start a church. So, how can we fulfill the Great Commission in a creative access country?
This may be a challenging task, yet not impossible with some creativity. God is a relational God and Christianity is built on relationships. We just have to look for a way to build relationships. Some ways are: Christian business people or students who go to such countries to work or study, teachers whose subject(s) are in demand, people could work whether menial or professional which are in need, and communication through the internet and radio. In each one of these scenarios the individual could demonstrate their Christian character. Where there is an access point, there is a way to build relationships and introduce the love of Jesus.
Today, I want to introduce to you what it would take to prepare for teaching English with the Alliance in a creative access country. First, we may need specialized training in areas such as Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language (TESOL), and Intercultural Communications. Second, we would have to setup a curriculum. Third, we would need to build a budget.
SLA and TESOL classes can be found onlinei. These courses will prepare an English speaking person to be better language learners and receive tools that will help them effectively teach non-English speaking people to speak English. Many software programs and apps are available to assist English Language Learners (ELL)/English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)/Limited English Proficiency (LEP)/English as a Second Language (ESL) to learn
English. Several software programs are: Rosetta Stone, Simon & Schuster’s Pimsleur, Rocket Languages, Babbel, Fluenz. Several mobile apps are: Living Language English Mobile, FluentU, Mindsnacks, Lingoda, Open Language Memrise. Another course of interest would be on International Communications which prepares people for cross-cultural living and ministry. This course will help you understand the background information, history, customs, holidays, and lifestyles. The more you understand about a culture and its language, the more you can build relationships through them instead of against them.
Setting up a curriculum would help to prepare for classroom teaching plans, books, and a set of courses to followii. Knowing which books will be taught will help set up beginning, intermediate, and advanced English classes. Books that show duel languages are very helpful too. A couple Spanish English Bibles are ESV Spanish/English Parallel Bible and Biblia Bilingue RVR 1960 (Spanish Edition). When developing a curriculum, one must establish a nurturing environment, utilize as many of the senses (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting) as possible when presenting/teaching information to students, link new information with students’ prior knowledge, try to use cooperative learning groups to do small discussions and talking activities that permit students to practice their new verbal skills, assign buddies and peer tutors to assist with the ELL/ESOL/LEP/ESL student(s), and allow ELL/ESOL/LEP/ESL students to use bilingual dictionaries or translators. It will also help establish a budget which is the third point.
In addition to these requirements, it is necessary to have personal information ready, passports, visas, and outfitting (other costs to setup and establish a school, vehicle, Et cetera).
Therefore, it might be easier to find an established school in a creative country than to try and set one up from scratch. Next week we will look at starting an English class in our own community.
In Christ,
Greg & Suzanne