ESL Update

I ain't gonna say ain't no more cuzz me and Joebob is gonna learn you some good English.

If you don't have a problem with that first sentence ESL probably shouldn't be your first ministry choice. Just thinkin' out loud... haha.

I'm very excited about our new ESL Ministry. We have around 20 people who are part of our team. We have had some great responses from people in the community.

For example - I was at one of the local restaurants last week and gave a poster to the gentleman at the register. He said, "I'll have to tell everyone about it." I was thinking, "I know. That's why I gave you the poster." As I was leaving one of the employees came over to see what we were talking about. I heard her say - very excitedly - "Oh! English classes! We have to go!"

We have decided on a curriculum that looks very good. It's called "Side by Side." When I ordered the teacher books the lady at Delta Publishing said it was their most popular product and always had the most orders. I was happy to hear that.

On Sunday afternoon, September 26, we will have our first ESL class. The first day is just an informal getting-to-know-you type meeting. We'll have refreshment, fill out enrollment forms and everyone gets to take a test. A test? Yes. We need to know how many need to be in a beginner class and how many in an intermediate class. We probably need an advanced class too, but we need to have some more teachers trained.

Speaking of training teachers... we're working with the Language Missions folks at the TBC (Tennessee Baptist Convention)TBC Language Missions to have an ESL training here in Clarksville next winter. This will allow several on our ESL Ministry Team to take the training so they can be certified ESL instructors.

So what can you do to be a part of this ministry?
Pray for us as ESL Ministry Team members that God will guide us in what we do and that we will be effective in our new ministry..
Pray for our students that they will come and not only learn some English, but will see the love of Christ and want to know more about Him.
Pray that in the weeks to come that we will have opportunities to share our faith with our students.
Tell others about this learning opportunity. Are there people you work with that would benefit from English classes? (and I don't mean your Southern friends who say "ain't" and use double negatives. They had their chance in 8th grade to learn English. haha)

Maybe there are parents of some of your child's classmates whose first language isn't English. They may be very excited to know that they could improve their English with free classes. (And we'll tell them they ain't suppose to say ain't.)

I'll keep you updated about how our ESL ministry is going. We're all excited! Woohoo!