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Learning and teaching English.
Keys to fulfilling the Great Commission.
Coming again to YWAM Discovery Bay
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Today, it is overwhelmingly clear that English is the number one "language to learn" in the nations of the earth. English dominates the global Internet, it is the preferred language of science and business, and it is the key in many nations both for human advancement and the sharing of the Good News about the death and resurrection of Jesus. If English is your first language, you are privileged to know the preferred means of communication in the 21st century. If your first tongue is another language, then learning English could be an invaluable key to your future.
An Incredible Key to Missions Advancement
Because of the universality of the English language in the 21st century, learning and teaching it has become an incredible key to missions advancement. It is the doorway to missions into many nations—a tool that can be used to make friends with people of other cultures, introduce them to Jesus and the truths of the Bible, and give them a skill that will help them in life. It is for this reason that YWAM Discovery Bay offers an annual TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) course. Our next school will be held in April, 2010.
Branching Out All Over the World
It was an incredible time of learning for our recent group of students and if the past is any indicator, it will help to thrust many of them to the forefront of God's plans to reach the present generation with His love.
Last year our students branched out all over the world. Four of them spent the last year serving in Asia. One permanently moved to India to do missions work with her new Indian husband. Another went directly to Mexico to teach English. Another taught ESL classes here in the States. This year appears to be equally diverse. Just this week our seven TESOL students returned to their homes to prepare for their next steps. At the conclusion of the course, they all expressed their joy at having completed a very intense five weeks and shared what they will take with them and how this will help them in the future.
Marianne from Switzerland
Marianne is from Switzerland and English is not her first language. She has worked with YWAM in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and most recently Denver. She really enjoyed teaching English on the mission field and decided to pursue more training. She expressed, “I gained a lot of new insights and saw more clearly how teaching English is a form of missions. I learned how professionalism in teaching is something that we owe to our students; it is part of our testimony. I want to serve my students by teaching the best that I can.” She plans to combine her heart for youth and kids ministries with her new teaching skills to serve overseas possibly in Russia again.
Ruth to Teach in Taiwan
Ruth found herself searching for direction when the program she had planned on doing was canceled. An opportunity to teach English in Taiwan surfaced, but she needed the TESOL certificate and had only a short time to obtain it. God opened the door by leading her to Discovery Bay. Ruth leaves in July to teach for a year. When asked how helpful the TESOL training had been, she replied, “This course helped to ease much of the fear and uncertainty for me. It was a huge learning experience! We spent half of our class hours doing student-teaching presentations. I now have the tools, the hands on experience, and a professor I can continue to call for advice. I never could have gotten that from an online course. It is very exciting to see the new doors God is opening.”
Sense of Community
It is amazing how God guides our lives as individuals and brings people together from very different places to gain common training to then use in a variety of different ways. Each one of the students when asked what they enjoyed most about the course described the sense of community and open supportive environment that really allowed them to grow. While the course is really intense, Cheramie described it well, “Yeah it was hard, but it is only five weeks of our lives, so we can push through the hard parts-- and we did!” Cheramie joined TESOL after working with YWAM in Switzerland, Lebanon, and Egypt. She plans to invest this next year by helping to start a café ministry in downtown Puyallup. Naomi is returning to Ensenada, Mexico to use her creativity and passion and new teaching skills to help others there. Rachel also leaves to teach in Taiwan this year. Carol and her husband will leave this fall to join mercy ships and Isaac and Katie leave this month to move to Columbia to work with YWAM. God truly is working all over the world and we are so privileged to play a part.
We Live in an Exciting Day
As the 21st century dawns, the learning and teaching of English is paramount to fulfilling the Great Commission. The world's largest democracy -- India -- is poised to become one of the great evangelistic nations of this era, and God has paved the way for the Indian missions destiny through her past relationship with England and the English language. Can you imagine thousands of Indian evangelists preaching the Gospel in English in various nations around the globe? And though the Chinese language will also figure prominently in this century (nearly one-fourth of the world's population speaks Chinese), it is China's ravenous desire to join the global community that makes teaching and learning English the key to a successful future. When China becomes a "free" nation and the Chinese Church "tithes" her followers to world evangelization, can you imagine ten million Chinese evangelists proclaiming the truth about Jesus in many strategic languages—including the global favorite of ENGLISH—in many of the 234 nations of the world? Wow!
We live in an exciting day--and English is the currency of the hour. Please pray for our TESOL students as they go forth to their various assignments. And ask the Lord what He would have you to do to use your English for Him. After all--you're reading this in English! That's both a privilege and a responsibility.
Perhaps He would have you join us next Spring at Discovery Bay? |
