Professional Guidelines for Christian English Teachers : How to Be a Teacher with Convictions While Respecting Those of Your Students [1 ed.] 9781645080572, 9780878084975

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Professional Guidelines for Christian English Teachers: How to Be a Teacher with Convictions While Respecting Those of Your Students Copyright © 2016 by Kitty Barnhouse Purgason No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except in connection with brief quotes used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (NIrV) are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION®, Copyright © 1996, 1998 by Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (RSV) are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Published by William Carey Library 1605 E. Elizabeth St. Pasadena, CA 91104 Aidan Lewis, editor Janna Christian, design William Carey Library is a ministry of Frontier Ventures | www.frontierventures.org

Digital eBook release Bethany Press 2016 ISBN: 978-0-87808-654-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Purgason, Kitty Barnhouse, author. Title: Professional guidelines for Christian English teachers: how to be a teacher with convictions while respecting those of your students / Kitty Barnhouse Purgason. Description: Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016031722 (print) | LCCN 2016042974 (ebook) | ISBN 9780878084975 (pbk.) | ISBN 0878084975 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780878086542 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: English language–Study and teaching–Foreign speakers. | English teachers–Training of. | Theology–Study and teaching. | English language–Religious aspects. | Language in missionary work. Classification: LCC PE1128.A2 P85 2016 (print) | LCC PE1128.A2 (ebook) | DDC 418.0071/073–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016031722

To my students: Those learning how to be teachers, who have fueled the ideas in this book and those learning English, who have inspired this book

CONTENTS

Abbreviations and Definitions Preface

PART 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction CHAPTER 2 Biblical Foundation CHAPTER 3 Goals and Models: What We Teach and How We Teach It at the Program Level

PART 2 CHAPTER 4 “This Is Who I Am”: Being Transparent about Our Identity as Teachers CHAPTER 5 Going Deep: Questions about What’s Important ADDITIONAL RESOURCES A: Resources for Conversation ADDITIONAL RESOURCES B: “Dark Side” Lesson CHAPTER 6 “Who Are You and What Matters to You?” Getting Students to Communicate ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: What Do You Believe? CHAPTER 7 How We Relate to Each Other: Cultivating Respect

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES A: Principles from I Beg to Differ ADDITIONAL RESOURCES B: Respectful Disagreement CHAPTER 8 Good Teaching: Balance and Excellence ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Three Lessons That Illustrate Balance CHAPTER 9 Good Teaching: Critical Thinking ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Two Lessons That Encourage Critical Thinking CHAPTER 10 Power Dynamics: Appropriate Teacher-Student Relationships CHAPTER 11 Outside the Classroom ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Four Examples of Real CETs Having an Impact Outside of Class CHAPTER 12 Spiritual Reality: Nurturing Our Spiritual Lives and Praying for Students

PART 3 MORE TEACHING IDEAS 1. “Love One Another” (Song) Lesson Plan 2. “Love Remains” (Song) Lesson Plan 3. Kindness (Video) Lesson Plan 4. Julia Alvarez’s “Snow” (Short Story) Lesson Plan 5. Teaching Ideas for Poetry: Edwin A. Robinson’s “Richard Cory” 6. Teaching Ideas for Sayings, Proverbs, or Quotations 7. Published Textbooks: Adding More Notes

References

ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS CEFR

Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Describes proficiency levels from A1 (beginner) to C2 (mastery).

CET

Christian English teacher

CLIL

Content and language integrated learning. A program or class in which students learn school content such as math, science, and history along with language.

EFL

English as a foreign language. English language programs in nonEnglish-speaking countries where English is not widely used.

ELT

English language teaching

ESL

English as a second language. English language programs in Englishspeaking countries where students learn English as an additional language.

IELTS

International English Language Testing System. An international standardized test of English language proficiency for nonnative English language speakers. The test is jointly developed and administered by the British Council, Cambridge English Language Assessment, and IDP Education.

TESOL

Teaching English to speakers of other languages. The professional activity. Also used to refer to the TESOL International Association, as well as its signature event, the annual TESOL International Convention.

TOEFL

Test of English as a Foreign Language. An international standardized test developed by ETS (formerly Educational Testing Service) used to measure English needed for higher education, especially in the US.

PREFACE I have tried to illustrate the principles in this book with accounts of and by real teachers in real classes. When a story is about or in the words of an actual person, or when I can trace an idea to a single individual, I have indicated so in the endnotes (though often with a pseudonym). If there is no reference to the person in the endnotes, it is the composite of several different people I have known. I have included in the endnotes my sources (of ideas as well as quotations). Readers will also find in the endnotes suggestions for further reading on some topics.

I would like to thank my parents, whose commitment to God allowed me to spend significant growing up years in India, laying the foundation for my career and ministry. My mentors Tom Scovel and Herb Purnell contributed in countless ways to my professional development. This book would not be possible without the many people who sparked my thinking, contributed ideas, or tried out lessons; some are named in these pages, but others are not. I am very grateful to them all. My husband, Lee, contributed to this book with daily practical help and with the more profound kind of help that comes from encouragement and support at deep levels. Thank you!

PART 1

1 INTRODUCTION Mei had been to the Urbana missions conference as a junior at a state university where she had majored in English and public policy. She was thrilled to be accepted as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant to Kazakhstan, where she was spending a year after graduation. She cared about missions and hoped she would have some positive impact for Christ, but she was also conscious of her role as a representative and employee of the US government, so she avoided talking about anything related to religion. At the same time, she began to realize that her resource materials from the US included values such as human rights, women’s rights, the environment, and civic education. She wondered how teaching this content differed from teaching the values and truth that she cared about as a follower of Jesus. Ann, a Christian ministries major from a US Bible college, loved being a missionary in Cluj, Romania, teaching EFL. Students of all ages flocked to the center where she and her teammates taught conversational English and led Bible studies in English. She felt that she was meeting a genuine need as students told her how important English was for their study and jobs. However, when students asked her grammar questions or requested help with IELTS test preparation, and when she compared what their center was offering with what other English language programs in their city offered, she wondered whether they were really doing a good job or whether students were just coming because classes were free. Jordan is an ESL teacher in an intensive English program at a university in Kansas, with students from all over the world. He recently took the class Perspectives on the World Christian Movement and began wondering how

he could be part of God’s global purposes. His church sponsors volunteertaught conversational English classes, and he hoped that inviting his students to them would do it. After all, he has lots of students from China studying business and students from Saudi Arabia in engineering. It would be wonderful to connect those students with his church. However, the only students who have come to the classes have been Christians from Korea, Mexico, and Ghana. Andre just got a nice severance package when the company where he worked as a computer programmer went through some changes. He thought he’d try something new for a year before looking for another job—and ended up in Korea as an English teacher. “I’m not a missionary; I’m not really into evangelism. I just want to live as a Christian and give God glory in what I do,” he says. This book is for Mei, Ann, Jordan, Andre, and teachers like them. It is for people who are looking for ways to be effective Christian English teachers—effective both in their professional lives and as Christians. But before we look at how Christian English teachers can do this, it’s helpful to examine some recent history. .

A BIT OF HISTORY Since the early 1980s, Christian English teachers (CETs) have recognized that the world’s hunger for English language instruction offers them an opportunity to teach more than English. A number of organizations were formed to this end. ELIC, committed to sending Christian English teachers to China and elsewhere, was founded in 1981, the same year that saw the birth of ESEC. ERRC followed in 1986. In 1992 Evangelical Missions Quarterly published “Teaching English Feeds a Worldwide Craving.” The director of an evangelistic conversational English program wrote in 1993, “There are simply more people interested in learning English than there are people interested in learning about God. Therefore, you offer them what they want and package it in such a way that they get more than what they expect.” A handbook for current and future missionaries published in 1997 includes articles titled or subtitled “Use Your Native Tongue as an Evangelistic Tool,” “English Opens Doors,” and “English May Develop an

Interest in Christ.” “Teaching English May Well Be the 21st Century’s Most Promising Way to Take the Gospel to the World” was the subtitle for a Christianity Today cover story in 2002. But soon CETs began facing a backlash from their secular counterparts, forcing them to examine issues such as transparency and professionalism. “Imperial Troopers and Servants of the Lord,” published in 2003 in the main professional journal for the field of TESOL, sounded the alarm. In that article, the author expresses distress that the field of English language teaching may now be tainted by the “material and spiritual aspects of imperial acquisitiveness” associated with the American invasion of Iraq and covert evangelism done by Christian EFL teachers. An article in a lesserknown journal, but by a scholar known for his work on imperialism and language teaching, examined in disapproving detail the scale and cultural politics of those “teaching English as a missionary language.” He decries covert agendas, inadequate teacher training, connections between Christian missionaries and particular views of money and politics, and the lack of adequate ethics. At the same time, Christians began to articulate ways to be a Christian working with integrity and respect in an intercultural context. Smith and Carvill wrote in 2000 The Gift of the Stranger, looking at foreign language education in general. A key work in 2001 was Don Snow’s English Teaching as Christian Mission. This well-respected and widely read book describes how CETs can engage in witness through both language learning and teaching. Snow elaborates how teaching can be not only witness but also ministry and service. Chapters on English teachers as peacemakers and agents of reconciliation between churches round out his views on the special role of CETs. Recent publications have further explored being a CET with a strong vocation to integrate faith and job. Christian and Critical English Language Educators in Dialogue includes articles by both Christians and others, shifting the tone from the somewhat acrimonious one of the articles earlier in the decade to a more respectful exchange of views. Christian Faith and English Language Teaching and Learning, from the same publisher, presents empirical research about Christian teachers and programs. Jan Dormer’s Teaching English in Missions: Effectiveness and Integrity is a

more practical book designed for mission-committed individuals and organizations. I highly recommend it as a companion book to this one.

PROFESSIONAL GUIDELINES Teachers may wonder if any professional guidelines exist to guide CETs in their activities. The Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief wrote ground rules for missionary activities in 2009. Another set of recommendations, “Christian Witness in a Multi-religious World,” was published in 2011 by the World Council of Churches, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and the World Evangelical Alliance. The First Amendment Center, with support from Christian, Jewish, and Muslim groups, as well as education groups like the PTA and the American Federation of Teachers, wrote The Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools. This guide says that “public-school teachers are required by the First Amendment to teach about religion fairly and objectively, neither promoting nor denigrating religion in general or specific religious groups in particular.” It distinguishes between exposing students to religious views and imposing a particular viewpoint, between informing students about beliefs and seeking to conform students to a particular belief, and between teaching about religious holidays and celebrating a particular holiday. Thiessen’s work on the ethics of evangelism and on what he calls “teaching from and for commitment” is also relevant. Among his points are: • Protect the dignity and worth of others—they are not merely objects of proselytizing • Care for the needs of the whole person—physical, social, economic, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual • Allow freedom for the other to make a choice; avoid coercion • Avoid psychological manipulation, especially when dealing with the young, the vulnerable, or people facing personal crises • Don’t exploit power imbalances • Be truthful, without deception or hidden agendas • Be humble—not arrogant, condescending, or dogmatic • Love and respect those with different opinions

• Respect the other’s identity, including their family, community, and religious or non-religious affiliation There have been some general attempts at codifying ethical behavior in TESOL, especially for foreigners working abroad, and TESOL professionals sometimes refer to the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, unlike some fields, TESOL does not have a statement of professional ethics. In his new edition of a widely used methodology book, H. Douglas Brown offers three principles for “teaching with social responsibility”: (1) “Give students opportunities to learn about important social, moral, or ethical issues and to analyze all sides of an issue.” (2) “Create an atmosphere of respect for each other’s opinions, beliefs, and ethnic or cultural diversity.” (3) “Maintain a threshold of morality and ethics in the classroom climate.” But what exactly does that look like?

THIS BOOK This book attempts to fill a gap in the literature by being a practical handbook for CETs who want more ideas at the level of methodology and classroom techniques. What do “teachers with convictions” or “global Christian professional language teachers” actually do in the classroom? How do such teachers relate to their students and colleagues outside the classroom? What community activities are such teachers involved in? How can we treat students as whole people, with spiritual and religious identities? How can CETs set a high bar for ethical teaching? This book seeks to answer those questions. It is written specifically for Christian teachers of English as a second or foreign language, but I hope the ideas are also applicable to teachers of other subjects with other convictions. It has grown out of my experience as a practitioner with a deep concern for excellence and integrity. You might wonder who I am and what I bring to this endeavor. My international experience began as a missionary kid, spending key growingup years in North India, where my father taught surgery. Fresh out of college, I taught in Seoul, Korea, for two years. There I experienced the anxieties of teaching without much training but also had the joy of discovering a lifelong calling. I taught two years in the intensive English

program at the University of Pittsburgh, with international students from places such as Iran, Libya, Colombia, and China. I then spent two years in China’s Shanxi province, from 1980 to 1982, shortly after the US had formally recognized the People’s Republic of China. My educational experience includes secular colleges and universities (Oberlin, Pitt, UCLA) and my current Christian university home, Biola. My missions perspective is shaped by my childhood as a missionary kid from a mainline denomination with its emphasis on partnership, as well as my husband’s long association with Frontier Ventures (formerly USCWM) and its emphasis on people as yet unreached by a movement to Christ. In addition, I carry the perspective of “marketplace ministries”—Christians working internationally through a secular employer—because of the opportunities I’ve had with secular educational organizations and US government programs. Through these programs I’ve been able to train teachers in China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Spain, Turkey, Kuwait, Oman, Mauritania, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. My students in these situations have been atheists and religious, the devout and the secular, Buddhists and Muslims. I have worked hard to be respectful of my employers’ perspectives regarding religion. I have been training teachers for a number of years, and I have also learned from my former students. Through them I’ve had even more vicarious experiences—teaching adult immigrants and refugees, teaching high schoolers, and teaching kids. Through them I’ve learned about ELT in Japan, Russia, India, Poland, Thailand, Germany, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Albania, Kyrgyzstan, and more. I am grateful for this range of experience and trust that it makes this book relevant to many readers.

WHAT CONTENT? WHAT CONVICTIONS? Language cannot be taught without some content. The content may be a major part of the curriculum, as students learn academic subjects such as history or math along with English; this is known as content-based language teaching or content and language integrated learning (CLIL). The content may focus on the culture(s) associated with the target language. The content may also be implicit, buried in sentences exemplifying vocabulary or

grammar. It’s the latter that can be problematic. In their helpful chapter “Images of Others, Images of God: The Content of the Foreign Language Course,” Smith and Carvill ask, “Are the strangers who walk the pages of the textbook … merely consumers with shallowly materialistic agendas, or do they hope, fear, suffer, rejoice, believe, or pray like the rest of us?” A similar perspective comes from a researcher who examined four textbooks published for the global ELT market for their representations of the world. He writes about one of the books: “What is overwhelmingly highlighted [here] is the … unbridled individualism of those who are motivated by choice and the quest for sensation and success and the identity of the student as consumer. What is overwhelmingly neglected is the range of other affiliations students might be expected to have or to identify with.” This is especially important in light of what students might think about English speakers. That they are “slaves of sex, money, and alcohol” is a common view of some Moroccan college students, for example. Some teachers and materials writers deliberately choose content related to certain values. Argentine teachers created a supplementary curriculum based on secondary students’ desires to discuss divorce, single parenting, eating disorders, the Catholic church, and politics. Teachers in Southeast Asia examined the coverage of environmental issues in ESL textbooks. Social justice is the focus of several ESL professionals’ teaching. A teacher in South Africa describes how she includes social justice in her business English class. Racism, AIDS, the death penalty, and child labor are topics in an ESL book called Global Issues. Oxford’s ESL series for children, Everybody Up, features “fun stories from real life highlight[ing] universal values such as being kind and polite.” The book Social Justice in ELT has chapters on healing colonial pain, gender sensitization, and combatting prejudice. Among the many resources for English learners and teachers published by the US State Department is a ten-chapter volume on civic education, with chapters on topics such as individual freedoms, citizenship and responsibility, and cultural pluralism. Not only can such content be valuable from the perspective of a writer, publisher, school authority, or government; it can also be very motivating to students. A Russian student in England appeared very weak in writing, as judged by the usual assignments on family, favorite film, or weekend activities, but he came alive as a writer when given the assignment to write

about whether it was acceptable to assassinate evil political leaders. Earl Stevick reminds us that “the deeper the source of a sentence within the student’s personality, the most lasting value it has for learning a language.” Deep ideas and big questions can thus both motivate students and also support their language acquisition. (Students may also get tired of heavy topics, it should be added, and hope for some lighthearted lessons, or prefer lessons related to everyday concerns and language needs.) Christian teachers who want to include serious questions and values in their classes can be assured that all teachers have convictions, favorite causes, and passions. Many materials have content that expresses these passions, and even materials that try to be neutral still convey values. In addition, the spiritual dimension of life is important for many of our students, who may be deeply religious. Even those for whom it is irrelevant can benefit from learning how to discuss something controversial with respect. However, all of this should not keep us from working hard to meet the language needs of all students rather than insisting that our interests are important and that all students will find them engaging. It should not absolve us from the responsibility of creating excellent materials. The aim of this book is to help teachers balance these opposing forces. As Pennycook and Coutand-Marin write, it is not that “the ELT classroom should never be a place for the discussion or presentation of moral and political views. Indeed … it is always, inevitably, precisely that.” Instead they call for “frameworks for considering how ELT is being used to promote particular positions.” It is my hope that this book provides such frameworks. I also want to add that even though I’ve been talking about what we say to our students, either through the materials we choose or the conversations we have, being a CET is not just about words, but also about who we are. “It would be a great loss if CETs were to limit their understanding of Christian witness to direct and explicit forms of Christian outreach,” says Don Snow. Rather, our witness emerges from who we are. For Tom Scovel, this includes being “coherent”—our behavior aligned with beliefs; reflective—both professionally and spiritually; and faithful/faith-filled—in ways that give us hope and joy.

I want to emphasize that I am strongly in favor of all teachers having suitable training and qualifications. For volunteers in a well-designed and well-supervised conversation program, good training might be a few days’ workshop. Other teaching contexts, however, will require teachers to have a high-quality certificate, a credential, or an MA. This is not just a matter of getting a job or a visa. As Mary Wong says, “Those who use teaching and do not engage in it devalue the profession, their students, and their primary calling as Christ followers.” In other words, we serve both Christ and our students by having the best possible preparation for our teaching. I am not writing primarily for teachers in institutions where there can be a thoroughly Christian curriculum and explicitly Christian goals (though perhaps the suggestions would still be useful there), but for teachers in secular schools, institutes, universities, businesses, neighborhoods, and nations around the world. In addition, since most of my experience is with students who are older teens or adults, the examples I give are primarily for that audience. The next two chapters in this section continue to lay the foundation for the practical suggestions that follow. Chapter 2 examines what the Bible has to offer teachers with Christian convictions working in secular contexts. Chapter 3 describes goals CETs might have and models of work they might adopt. The second and third sections of the book elaborate practical ideas.

2 BIBLICAL FOUNDATION Several biblical passages underlie and shape the ideas in this book. As CETs take the Bible seriously as a guide for life, including profession and ministry, these words of Scripture can direct and mold us.

WHO IS THE BOSS? One important biblical teaching is Paul’s reminder that all our work is done for the Lord. “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.… Work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.… It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Col 3:17,23–24). This means that whether we are paid teachers or volunteers, whether our teaching is for a week-long summer camp or a career in a university, it must be done with the knowledge that we are supervised by Christ. When we work in the name of Jesus, we work as he did, trusting in his heavenly Father, sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and compassionate towards the people around him. When we work for the Lord, we have the ultimate boss—unlike our human directors, who might be unaware of what good teaching really entails, likely to cut corners, culturally insensitive, or unfair to their employees. Regardless of our human leadership, we seek appropriate training. We aim for quality, wholeheartedness, cultural awareness, and justice. This does not mean that our teaching always ends up being perfect. After all, we are frail human beings and we often go through seasons when we are even weaker than usual. Rather, it means that our goal is to do what a perfect master would expect.

In Colossians, Paul uses the image of a servant working for a master. Other biblical images also help us keep in mind whom we are working for. One is the picture of an ambassador presenting the statesman’s plan for resolution between two warring parties (2 Cor 5:20). This reminds us that diplomacy rather than battle should be our mindset. Another picture is of a garden where we may plant or water, but where it is God who makes things grow (1 Cor 3:5–7). This reminds us that it is God who is responsible for spiritual fruit in those we interact with.

THE GREAT COMMISSION Another biblical principle relates to an element of our identity as Christians. Jesus says his followers are to let others know what God has done. “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19). This is not the place for a complete explanation of the motivation for or strategies of church planting, missions, evangelism, and witness. I only want to note that I assume readers of this book are seeking to follow the Matthew 28 Great Commission.

DEEDS AND WORDS What do witnesses and disciple makers do and say? Two biblical injunctions provide answers. The first is, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:16). The second is, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 3:15). In other words, our witnessing should involve positive actions and winsome words. Jesus’ statement about good deeds can be elaborated by looking at his own life, certainly one that glorified God. We let our light shine when we engage in what Jesus did and taught: healing, being merciful to those in need, making peace, loving our neighbors near and far, welcoming strangers, doing justice, and being humble. These are all acts that demonstrate we have hope —hope in eternal life, hope in a kingdom that is not yet fully here but of

which there is evidence sprouting in many places. However, our witness is not just in how we act. Peter’s letter to Christians in Asia Minor assumes that they will be engaging in conversations with non-Christians and that people are going to ask the believers why they have hope. “Be prepared to give an answer,” he says. A gentle, respectful answer to questions about a life that exemplifies hope—that is the kind of witness we aim for.

THE GOLDEN RULE We are people who follow not only the Great Commission but also the Great Commandment—“Love the Lord your God … and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37–39)—and the Golden Rule—“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matt 7:12). The directive to love others shapes our actions and speech. We try to put ourselves in the shoes of those receiving our good deeds or listening to our testimony. People in general don’t like being interrupted, talked at rather than conversed with, bored, threatened, or insulted. People like to know who is behind an event or who is funding an organization. People want to be told if there are strings attached, hidden costs, or surprise turns. People try to avoid “free dinners” when they learn from experience or read in the small print that they’ll have to listen to a long presentation followed by a high-pressure sales pitch. People get irritated when their children’s schools push philosophies that they are not comfortable with or don’t believe in. In other words, an important way to treat others as we would like others to treat us is to practice integrity and transparency. “We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception” (2 Cor 4:2). This means that Christian organizations that sponsor English classes or teachers should make it clear when, where, and in what form students will encounter a religious message. They should be willing to serve others without requiring that students take part in anything explicitly Christian. Chapter 4 goes into depth on this topic. Another way to live out the Golden Rule is to get to know our context and our students. “Everyone should be quick to listen [and] slow to speak” (Jas 1:19). Understanding our context means finding out what local

authorities or school administrators expect. Would they be happy that volunteers from a nearby church come to participate in the conversation club or do they wish to shield students from any interaction with religious people? Have they warned students not to associate with teachers outside of class time or are they open to teacher-student participation in extracurricular activities? Knowing our students means finding out about them as a cultural group and as individuals. Do they respect people of faith or find religion bizarre? Are they interested in talking about religion or would they be bored by it? What do they think of when they hear “Christian” or “Jesus”? What questions and concerns are at the front of their minds? Jesus models for us how to listen first and be sensitive to who people are. The Gospels show him speaking to crowds and also meeting one-onone; he has close friends with whom he interacts in depth and he also has single encounters with people he’ll likely never see again. His messages range from tender encouragement to challenge. He interacts with men and women, children and adults, rich and poor, the educated and the working class, the ill and the healthy, devoted followers and skeptics, cultural insiders and outsiders. Inspired by Jesus, we should also listen to our students, get to know them, and look beyond our cultural and experiential blinders to see our students’ dignity, worth, individuality, needs, goals, and gifts. Chapter 6 elaborates on how we can do this. Finally, living the Golden Rule means being aware of the power dynamics inherent in a teacher-student or foreign guest-host relationship and avoiding arrogance. “Be completely humble and gentle” (Eph 4:2). “In humility value others above yourselves” (Phil 2:3). Jesus provides a model for Christians who have potential or actual power over others. His human life was that of a child born into poverty, an ethnic minority under a foreign power, a political refugee, a working class adult, and an itinerant preacher. Jesus’ teaching, as well as his life, deals with this issue of power. He tells his disciples who are arguing about positions of influence and power, “The greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.… I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:26– 27). He, the master teacher, demonstrates service by washing his disciples’ feet (John 13)—the task of a servant in the dusty Palestine of their day. We can do the equivalent when we consider our students’ goals, prepare a lesson well, mark papers conscientiously, listen empathetically, work

collaboratively with colleagues, and in other ways try to put others before ourselves. Paul reminds his readers, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant … [and who] humbled himself” (Phil 2:5–8). We can paraphrase this for teachers: Although you may be in a position of power because of your citizenship in a powerful nation, your higher education, or your role as a teacher, don’t take that for granted or try to hold on to that power; instead, be like Jesus, who relinquished power and came to serve. I write about this in more detail in Chapter 10, on power dynamics. To sum up, CETs who choose to be guided by their Master, Jesus, and by the Bible’s Great Commission and Great Commandment will engage in good deeds and gentle conversations. They will speak plainly, listen carefully, and serve humbly.

3 GOALS AND MODELS: What We Teach and How We Teach It at the Program Level GOALS As Christian English Teachers (CETs), we often have multiple goals for our students. We might want them to improve their score on the TOEFL, be more comprehensible in their conversation, or be able to read the instructions in a new job manual. We might hope that they learn something about Jesus or recognize that the Bible is a source of truth. We might be eager for the people in our business English class to act more ethically or for the college students in our university EFL class to make wiser life choices. In this section we will talk more about setting and navigating goals.

Language and Content Goals First, as teachers, we should be thinking about possible language and content goals. These goals will be manifest in the scope and sequence of a textbook (often visible in the table of contents), a curriculum, or set of standards. Goals related to language include the following: • Linguistic skills: pronunciation (e.g., the difference between /l/ and /r/ or the intonation of yes/no questions), grammar (e.g., past tense or prepositions of time), and vocabulary

• Listening: aural comprehension skills (e.g., listening for gist, listening for an invitation to take a turn in a conversation) • Speaking: oral skills (e.g., carrying out a conversation, giving an oral presentation) • Reading: understanding written texts and learning reading skills (e.g., predicting, understanding the main idea) • Writing: producing written texts and learning writing skills (e.g., writing a topic sentence, editing one’s work) Goals formulated in terms of content in language classes for adults might include: • Topics/themes/ideas: what the language is about (e.g., family, jobs, culture) • Situations: the contexts in which language is used (e.g., at the bank, at a party) • Communicative functions: what the language is used for (e.g., inviting, apologizing) • Tasks: what one accomplishes with the language (e.g., planning a trip, designing a brochure) • Competencies: language and behavior to perform tasks, especially those needed for real life in an English-speaking environment (e.g., opening a bank account, renting an apartment) Classes for young learners can also have topic-, situation-, function-, or task-related goals, though geared for different ages than the examples above. Courses for students in English-medium schools or universities will include a focus on: • Content: academic subject matter (e.g., science, sociology, art) • Genres (discourse): spoken and written texts designed for a given purpose in a given context (e.g., persuasive essay, summary) Goals related to the learning process and to learners themselves might also be included: • Affective goals: attitudes toward learning, language, and culture (e.g., becoming confident, enjoying English)

• Interpersonal skills: interaction with others to promote learning (e.g., working effectively in groups) • Learning strategies and study skills: how one learns (e.g., selfmonitoring, memory techniques) and how to succeed in a given educational environment (e.g., being organized, taking notes, completing homework) • Critical thinking: processing information to critique claims (e.g., discerning bias, evaluating sources) • Cultural or sociopolitical skills: the role of language in assimilation, acculturation, identity, protest, etc. We might also have goals related to school standards or general education such as these six C’s from a blog about twenty-first-century education: • Think critically • Communicate clearly • Work collaboratively • Embrace culture • Develop creativity • Utilize connectivity

Goals Related to Other Changes Secondly, teachers—both Christians and others—have goals related to other changes they desire in their students. Bill Johnson, a self-confessed atheist who has written extensively and respectfully about morality and values in English language teaching, says, “All teaching aims to change people; any attempt to change another person has to be done with the assumption, usually implicit, that the changes will be for the better.” Various teachers hope their students will learn to avoid racial stereotypes, stop cheating, think before they toss a plastic bag out the window, refrain from domestic violence, and respect LGBT people. Their personal philosophies, which they hope students may learn from, include Marxism, feminism, and objectivism. Their interests, shared with students in all kinds of ways, may be animal welfare, triathlons, quilting, or anime. As Brad Baurain states,

“All teachers proselytize in the classroom, that is, whether consciously or unconsciously, they try to persuade students by words and actions to accept their beliefs and values.” Sometimes teachers from places with traditional educational values are more open about this than Americans. For example, a Chinese teacher wrote, “Language study can benefit [students’] personal development.” A Vietnamese proverb states, “A teacher is an engineer of the soul,” that is, a moral and spiritual guide. H. Douglas Brown (author of widely read books about methodology and second language acquisition, and not a Christian) writes, Your role as a socially responsible teacher highlights the fact that you’re not merely a language teacher. You’re much more than that! Our professional commitment drives us to help the inhabitants of this planet to communicate with each other, to negotiate the meaning of peace, of goodwill, and of survival on this tender, fragile globe. You are an agent for change in a world in desperate need of change: change from competition to cooperation, from war to peace, from powerlessness to empowerment, from conflict to resolution, from prejudice to understanding.

TEACHERS ON A CONTINUUM The practical results of interest in bringing “ultimate goals” into the classroom can be seen on a continuum. At the one end are teachers who try to avoid doing this entirely. In spite of claims that all teachers aim to change their students, some teachers work hard to avoid any kind of personal influence, let alone proselytizing. At the other end of the continuum are teachers who care deeply about ultimate goals and seek any and all opportunities to include them in the curriculum. A teacher on the “avoid” end is Dana Ferris, a highly respected teacher of ESL writing and a Christian. “I do not see myself as an agent of moral, social, or political change when I teach my courses,” she writes. She goes on to say,

I believe that it is my job to help students to think and read critically and to express themselves effectively in the target language, not to persuade them to adopt my worldview on any issue, whether it be care for the environment, equality for women or homosexuals, war, poverty, oppression, gun control —or my religious faith. As a Christian, I hope that I model Christlike behavior both in and out of the classroom through excellence, fairness, integrity, humility, kindness, and compassion, [but] I would probably only discuss my faith with students outside the classroom once they were no longer my students. The power differential and the possibility that students might express interest or agreement with my beliefs to curry favor with me are very legitimate concerns that I take quite seriously. In a survey of nearly 300 teachers, of all different religious beliefs, 42% (including believers as well as atheists and agnostics) agreed that “religion should be totally avoided in English lessons.” Moving along the continuum are teachers who are conscious about what they don’t want to promulgate. Chuck Sandy, a teacher, trainer, and textbook writer, says, “Walk into my office. Have a look around. Within a few moments you’ll see where I stand.… Ask about the peace symbol on my wall and I’ll tell you I am a pacifist.… This doesn’t mean that I use or design … pacifist materials and activities. It does mean, however, that I avoid anything that would promote conflict or glorify violence in any way.” These teachers pay attention to the content of their textbooks and the things that students are watching, listening to, and reading in English. They may decide, if possible, to skip the lesson on ghosts, aliens, or luxury living. In fact, most ESL textbook publishers are also aware of what to avoid if they want to sell their books around the world. They tell their writers to steer clear of PARSNIP topics: politics, alcohol, religion, sex, narcotics, -isms, pork. As we saw in Chapter 1, there may be other, more subtle values conveyed in ESL materials such as materialism, consumerism, and individualism that CETs would prefer to avoid. In fact, without discernment, English can carry along with it a lot of negative baggage. Ideally, CETs help their students leave this baggage behind or not pick it up

in the first place. When, for example, learners use American television series as their source for English, they are learning much more than language. It may be a simple thing for teachers to suggest to students alternative sources of English input, but that can be very important. A little bit further along the continuum are teachers who hope to include wholesome values in their teaching. They look for materials related to forgiveness, perseverance, courtesy, responsibility, generosity, contentment, religious tolerance as a counter to extremism, and so on. For example, a teacher in China noticed that her students (English teachers themselves) had been behaving in quite an egocentric way. They were afraid of looking bad and having their accomplishments overlooked; they forgot that their words might hurt others around them. Because this was getting in the way of the atmosphere of mutual encouragement the teacher wanted in her classroom, she chose the topic of empathy for the next class. The students completed and discussed an empathy inventory. They contrasted empathy and sympathy. They considered the opposite of empathy—indifference or even condescension. They pondered how to walk in another’s shoes. Katya, a teacher in an ESL institute in Minnesota, was given a curriculum that brings up a lot of controversial issues. One unit was on nontraditional families, especially same-sex couples. With a class of mostly conservative Saudi students, she knew it would be a difficult topic for them. As she planned how to teach the unit she set three goals: for her students to (1) realize how important it is that they understand the majority American view of this topic and the values that underlie it (individualism, pluralism, tolerance, freedom, etc.), (2) have the language to express their opinions without coming across as rude or negative, and (3) realize that the US is not monolithic and that “American” is not synonymous with “Christian” (and that she personally believed that God’s original plan for his good creation is a man and a woman in a committed marriage relationship). A CET teacher in a San Diego high school with a lot of ethnically based cliques and even gangs was concerned about how newly arrived students from Burma, Iraq, and Sudan were clashing with older immigrant groups from Cambodia, Vietnam, Samoa, and Mexico, as well as with white and African American students. She had them read about Wei Chen. Chinese students new to the US had been beaten up by African American students, but instead of forming a protective gang in response, Chen targeted those in

authority who had allowed this culture of hostility. He organized Asian students in a boycott of the school. His nonviolent response made him the winner of a 2013 Peace First Prize. CETs in Asia have noticed the challenges young people in their classrooms face and try to include materials that help students manage stress, build self-worth, cope with an uncertain future, and set meaningful goals. Materials they have used include Big Questions, Worthy Dreams and The 6 Most Important Decisions You’ll Ever Make. These “wholesome values” are very important. They may be welcomed by governments, schools, or parents who hope their students will somehow learn to be less greedy, prejudiced, rude, irresponsible, and ungrateful, as well as to be more ethical, self-controlled, respectful, persevering, neighborly, and so on. CETs know that true personal change can’t happen without the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, but we still pray and live lives that try to bring about these words from the Lord’s prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Still further on the continuum are teachers whose ultimate goals are related to their faith. They hope to convey accurate information about a biblical worldview and Christianity. They would love to give students an opportunity to consider the claims of Christ. They are eager to encourage or mentor Christian students. They may be part of a group that hopes to plant a new church. One educator writes, “What better gift can we offer than teaching that makes sense of life and the universe, which values all people because they are made in God’s image, that realistically acknowledges the ravages of sin in God’s good world, and that offers hope for the present as well as for eternity?” Many CETs are sacrificially working in areas where there are few qualified English teachers and few high-quality schools precisely because those are also areas with few people who know Jesus and without a culturally relevant church. Their goals include seeing those realities change.

FAITH-RELATED GOALS “Faith-related goals” is a general term for a wide range of what CETs might want to see among their students. An inspiring program called “What If

Learning” suggests goals related to faith, hope, and love. Inspired by Stassen and Gushee’s Kingdom Ethics, I’ve put goals into three other categories—kingdom, virtues, and ethics. The first is giving students a taste of the goodness of God’s kingdom by means of some of the marks of God’s reign: justice/righteousness, joy, healing, peace, and community/return from exile. Let me give some examples related to TESOL, focusing on both the practice and the content of teaching. A teacher who creates community in her class is giving her students a taste of the kingdom. Students know each other’s names, care about each other’s lives, celebrate each other’s achievements, and grieve each other’s losses. Engaging students in their community—for example, with service learning—is also a way to do kingdom work. A teacher who makes the arduous task of language learning more joy-filled is advancing the kingdom. This is accomplished not just by telling jokes during class, but by anything that delights students, from soft music playing while students do in-class writing to fun prizes for students willing to take risks in a new language. ESL classes in immigrant-receiving nations like the US and Canada are often places where people from disparate, even antagonistic, backgrounds come together. EFL classes in multiethnic nations like Indonesia or even in classes where rural and urban students come together also include students who are not always accepting of their classmates. A teacher who helps Serbs and Albanians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Sinhalese and Tamils, and so on, live more peaceably together is planting seeds of the kingdom. The kingdom mark of healing is also something that can be evident in ESL/EFL classes. Teachers of refugee students or students in war-torn locations can help them process some of their trauma in class. ESL/EFL materials that focus on justice and righteousness can also be ways for teachers to participate in the kingdom. For example, I created materials on business ethics and whether one’s religious orientation makes any difference in how people behave in a post-Enron world. Another type of faith-related goal is related to virtues, the “qualities of a person that make that person a good person in community, that contribute to the good of a community, or to the good that humans are designed for.” These qualities include humility/gentleness, righteousness, kindness/compassion/love, forgiveness, purity/goodness, peace/patience,

endurance, joy, faithfulness, and self-control. In fact, there are ESL/EFL programs, along with other educational endeavors, that have focused on these virtues by including character training in their curriculum. For example, the Oasis Training Center in Gansu, China, was developed by Christians to “prepare adult students for success in a global marketplace with emphasis on … character-based ethics training.” In addition to the usual ESL classes such as grammar, writing, public speaking, and so on, they use the Character First curriculum, which includes truthfulness, virtue, wisdom, attentiveness, responsibility, humility, forgiveness, obedience, patience, and other such topics. The Southern Ontario Cooperative of ESL Ministries has lessons based on the virtues of contentment, courage, forgiveness, honesty, hope, joy, love, and wisdom. Another example is government-stipulated character education that has been implemented in EFL classes in Indonesia. Its values include religiosity, honesty, tolerance, discipline, and patriotism. One of my colleagues describes how he both teaches and enacts seven Christian virtues in his TESOL classes: compassion, contrition, gratitude, hope, hospitality, humility, and joy. A third goal would be to try to bring into the curriculum content related to ethical issues. Some examples (inspired by the contents of Kingdom Ethics) include causes of conflict and injustice; just and sustainable economic development; sources of resilience; restorative penalties as an alternative to the death penalty; the value of life at its beginning and its end; ways to strengthen marriage and prevent divorce; racial reconciliation; the right use of money; and the care of the creation. Actually, some of these topics are not only included in Christian ethics textbooks but are also of interest to many TESOL professionals, including textbook writers. To take just one example, Oxford University Press’s Q: Skills for Success has chapters titled • “When Is Honesty Important?” • “Is It Ever Too Late to Change?” • “What Does It Mean to Be Part of a Family?” • “What Can We Learn from Success and Failure?” • “Why Do People Help Each Other?” • “Are We Responsible for the World We Live In?”

• “What Risks Are Good to Take?” • “Can Money Buy Happiness?” • “How Does Power Affect Leaders?” • “Is One Road to Success Better Than Another?” • “What Does It Mean to Be a Global Citizen?” • “Is Bigger Always Better?” The British Council has created ESL materials to teach about conflict and peace with examples from Northern Ireland, India, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, and South Africa. The US State Department has also published a volume on peace education for English language learners. Michael Medley has written about language teaching and peace building. These ethics-related topics are also of interest to many students. For example, Chinese students watching Michael Sandel’s online course Justice have made him—a Harvard philosophy professor—as popular there as movie stars and NBA players. Crowds fill the auditoriums where he speaks on topics of moral philosophy such as “The Moral Side of Murder,” “Putting a Price Tag on Life,” “What’s a Fair Salary?” and “The Claims of Community.” Skilled kingdom-focused teachers welcome virtues- or ethics-related topics as opportunities to prompt their students to think about these important issues. CETs might create ESL materials based on the Sustainable Development Goals or how psychological insights can help people flourish. (We need to ensure, however, that we are not teaching a culturally biased view or personal opinion rather than true kingdom values.) All of this is to say that faith-related goals encompass much more than using the Bible as a text, sharing a testimony, or outlining steps to conversion. Yes, Christians know that being good is not what puts us in a right relationship with God and that, in fact, without a new heart, humans cannot transform themselves into who they want to be. Teaching students about virtues or ethics will not be enough. Teaching students how to “thrive” or “flourish” may be helpful but is not of eternal significance. Yet we also know that our students will be in many different places on their road to God. In addition, people come to faith in different ways. Some are loved into the kingdom, some have vivid dreams, some see a miracle, some receive a convincing piece of information. Some might, through the

activities of a CET, find themselves more aware of life beyond the daily grind, more focused on the spiritual side of life, and thirstier for something more. One teacher says, “I want my students to know the reality of the kingdom first. The mystery of the gospel can come later. The Trinity, the incarnation, atonement, salvation—these are very hard for my Muslim students to grasp. But if I start with a story about a father and his sons, or with flowers and birds, like Jesus did, their spirits will start to be awakened. They will start moving to a level of life where they care about spiritual things. Eventually, they are close enough to the gospel that it doesn’t seem like an impossible journey for them.”

FACTORS AFFECTING OUR GOALS With all these various goals, both language-and faith-related, how can we choose? The first thing that needs to shape our choice of goals is a clear and complete picture of our students’ needs. For example, are we teaching Chinese students who are experiencing what Evan Osnos describes as a “spiritual void”? Are we teaching deeply religious Arab students who might fear that English has a corrupting influence on them? Are our students studying English because it is a national requirement or because they have an immediate sense of its usefulness? Is there a grim exam looming ahead for them or a delightful vacation in a place where English is widely used? (And let’s remember that doing a good needs assessment is better than relying on our intuition.) In contexts that include freedom of religion, teachers can certainly use their out-of-school time in activities related to their beliefs. However, CETs in countries without such political guarantees, or in places without the kind of firm boundaries between one’s job and one’s private life that Westerners are used to, should be cautious. Depending on the institutional context, the goals we choose should be carefully considered in light of principles regarding proselytizing and integrity (dealt with in later chapters). In addition, our goals must take into account our audience—both those we teach and those we hope to bring good news to. For example, a teacher in a traditional village may have in his English classes young people on the fringes of their community, but might concentrate his religious conversation

with the elders of the village. A teacher of English in an elementary school may (out of respect for her students’ parents) see the audience for her evangelistic efforts as her school colleagues rather than her students. For other teachers, especially of university students and adults, the audiences for teaching and faith-related goals may overlap. The question of audience also brings up the issue of language proficiency. Beginning students will naturally not be able to talk about issues as deeply as advanced students. Some spiritual goals are best accomplished in the students’ native language rather than in English. This discussion of goals also brings up the question of partnership, as some goals can be carried out by teachers themselves, while others are best left to other Christians. What role does the local church play (assuming there is a local church and the teacher is not in a context without one)? What mechanisms are there for connecting students who are seekers or new converts with local Christians who can enfold them into a viable fellowship? Does our strategy maximize the respective gifts of local church members and international English teachers? Another reason interaction with other Christians is very important is so our students can realize that Christianity is not something that belongs just to English-speaking nations, but is a faith for all people. Nor is faith simply a matter of an individual and Jesus; rather, it is worked out and displayed in community. In sum, it is rare that CETs can accomplish kingdom goals on their own. Having a team, even an informal one, makes it more likely that goals can be achieved.

MODELS When schools, churches, agencies, and individuals seek to combine ministry and mission goals with ELT goals, it’s helpful to have models that allow them to work with integrity. Dormer describes four types of English ministry:

Table 3.1. Types of English ministry She also describes four formats, or models, for English ministry:

Fig. 3.1. Models for English ministry

I would like to add to this several analogies that help us envision ways of teaching as CETs. As I mentioned in Chapter 1, a secular context, not discipleship or education in a church or a Christian school, is assumed. The models are magnet, catalyst, nest, seed, branch, and molecule.

Magnet One model can be imagined as a magnet. This is the approach used by individual teachers who hope that by means of their good curriculum, excellent teaching, and winsome behavior students will be attracted to the Jesus whom they follow. The magnet model is also used by churches or organizations that have EFL programs in their buildings so that people who otherwise would never feel comfortable in a church get used to being there and may become interested in attending other church events. It’s used by camp programs that draw students with the promise of English and fun and offer them the gospel as well. Sometimes people are uncomfortable with this model, feeling that it smacks of baiting a hook to catch a fish. Ralph Winter frames it differently, however. He says that missions, which involves loving the needy in practical ways and engaging in transformational development, is “not primarily a ‘bait’ to attract people to Christianity, but a concrete means of portraying more accurately the true nature of a loving God.” There are some dangers to this approach—the main one being that students may be drawn in to an English program without realizing that there is a Christian agenda behind it and then feel betrayed. (I talk more about this in Chapter 4, on transparency.) A related danger is that all kinds of students will be drawn in, not necessarily those who are spiritually hungry. Nevertheless, the magnet model has been successful in many different contexts and is quite popular among CETs. One example is COnnect through ENglish, or COEN, in Hokkaido, Japan. The popular Café and the English school are the face of ministry for Evangelical Free Church missionaries and local staff. Interested students or café patrons can also attend the meetings of what they call the Bible Community. Another example is a conversational English program for university students in a

Balkan nation. Both of these are described more in depth in the “Additional Resources” section of Chapter 11. Sometimes the magnetic power of English happens without CETs even being involved. For example, Iranian migrants to Hungary found English easier to manage than Hungarian, and ended up in an English-speaking international church as they looked for ways to “belong” in their new community.

Catalyst The catalyst model focuses more on the classroom—what happens with our students there, and what teachers themselves can do. In a secular context, whether it’s a university or language institute, we can assume that there are some things we don’t do in the classroom. We say no to direct evangelism in the classroom—we don’t want to preach to a captive audience. We say no to using the Bible or other Christian materials as our main textbook—it’s usually the case that such materials don’t meet student needs (which are probably survival English or business English or academic English), and it’s most often the case that students and employers are expecting something else, so if we use the Bible too much we jeopardize the trust relationship we want to build with them. And we don’t really want to lose our job or our visa. But there are many things we can say yes to. There are many ways teachers can appropriately and effectively have a witness in the classroom, ways in which our teaching can lead to a powerful spiritual reaction among those students whom God has prepared, just as a chemical reagent or catalyst creates change. The rest of this book goes into more detail on how this can happen.

Nest The catalyst model sees the classroom as an incubator of ideas. However, the classroom is also a place of personal connections. The classroom provides a wonderful “nest” for the fostering of relationships—hence, the third model. Since being a Christian is about a relationship with God, it

stands to reason we must be a witness through relationships. Whether it’s responding to a dialogue journal, preparing students for a field trip, or getting to know students during a speaking activity, we are building relationships with them and being a witness. When students experience compassion and empathy from their teacher, they get a taste of how God relates to us in Christ who came to share our human trials and joys. When we treat all students fairly, we show what Micah 6:8 “doing justice” looks like. When we create a classroom where we and our students both give and receive hospitality, we show what Christian “love one another” looks like.

Seed We might also picture an EFL class as the seed of a home church. This was an image given to me by a CET working in a part of the world without a local church and with several people groups who had historically been in conflict with each other. As she saw students from these different groups conversing with each other in her oral skills class, sharing from their hearts, talking about issues like raising children or future dreams—she saw that they were starting to break down walls of mistrust. Could this EFL class be the beginning of a small fellowship group? Could the experiences that diverse students were having in the EFL class be practice for what they might do in the future in church?

Branch In the branch model, the ESL program is the start of a larger ministry. What starts as English classes might grow into teacher-training seminars for the whole province, a radio call-in show focusing on relational issues, an afterschool program with sports and art as well as language, or a school that teaches eight or ten world languages. What could branch out from a small beginning?

Molecule

In a molecule, different atoms are connected to form something new. In this model of ministry, the CETs focus on those outside their classes. They can build friendships with former students, their families, colleagues, and neighbors. Hosting Bible studies and discipleship groups with these people God has brought into their life is a way to expand their ministry. CETs can also form partnerships. In the same way that shared or transferred electrons create strong chemical bonds, partnerships between native and nonnative speakers, churches and agencies, or different schools can result in improved teaching and effective outreach.

SUMMARY CETs, whether working as individuals or in an organization, can be more effective if they have a clear understanding of the goals they are working towards and the model of their work/ministry. Knowing that there are many ways CETs can have an impact on their students gives them a broad middle ground between feeling, on the one hand, that they have to speak a Christian testimony to their students in the classroom or invite them to a Bible study to be effective as a Christian or, on the other, that they have to avoid all mention of their faith to be effective as a teacher.

PART 2

4 “THIS IS WHO I AM”: Being Transparent about Our Identity as Teachers One of the first things teachers do upon starting with a new group of students is to introduce themselves. What do we choose to say? And what do we choose to reveal to our students as the term progresses? My name is Camden Navarro. Please call me Mr. Thomas. I have an MA in TESOL. My degree is from Biola University. I’m married and have two kids. I’m from Minnesota. My family is originally from Lebanon. I’ve travelled to twelve different countries. I love cooking. I play volleyball. I’m a fan of the show NCIS. I sing tenor. I rarely watch TV. I have diabetes. I’m 29 years old. I broke my arm when I was 12. My parents divorced when I was in high school. I voted Democrat in the last election.

I’m a Christian. Looking over that list, which statements seem normal? Which seem too personal? Which seem irrelevant? Which seem important? How might this differ depending on our students’ culture(s) or our own? How might this differ depending on our status (e.g., a single woman living on campus versus a married woman with a family who commutes to the school)? In this chapter I’d like to focus specifically on how we convey our faith identity to students. Some teachers rely on nonverbal means to convey their identity as Christians. They wear a cross necklace, choose not to drink alcohol at a social event, or have a wall hanging with a Bible verse in their office. Without them saying a word, their colleagues and students might come to know that they are serious about their Christian faith. Sometimes it may not work, however. Nominal Christians may also wear a cross, people may abstain from alcohol for health reasons, and not everyone will come into the office. Other teachers allow their identity to be built up over time with natural, low-key remarks. It could be a comment about church on Sunday, or prayer for a family member. These teachers appreciate the chance to have time for their teaching to establish their reputation as a professional before their words confirm their identity as a Christian. Sometimes, however, the opportunities for informal interaction don’t seem to come, and teachers may not be certain that students even understand what has been mentioned in passing. Other teachers include an explicit statement such as, “I am a follower of Jesus” or “My Christian faith is very important to me” in the early stages of their introductions. They assume that their religious identity is just as important as their family status or education. Sometimes this can lead to misunderstandings right from the start, however, especially if students or colleagues have incorrect preconceived ideas about what Christians believe, think, or do. Teachers have to make personal decisions about what to convey regarding their identity. These decisions will vary depending on the class. Teachers might choose to reveal a lot and in so doing try to build rapport. They might choose to reveal very little in order to protect their privacy or to

enhance professional authority. They might be a bit fearful of what people will think if they are in a new job or in a context known to be hostile to Christians. Sometimes teachers’ fears of revealing their identity as a Christian come from strict warnings about not proselytizing in a given teaching context. I understand this because I taught in China in the early 1980s and have worked in US government–funded programs in places like post-Soviet Central Asia. However, while there may be some places where simply saying “I am Christian” would put authorities on the alert, it’s more likely that no one would be upset if teachers included a remark about their faith in an introductory personal statement or as an answer to student questions. But that’s very different from spending an hour of class time on one’s testimony or using a chapter from the Bible to teach about salvation as a class activity. Teachers’ fears might also grow out of assumptions from hyper-secular Western contexts. It is important to note that in many parts of the world, nearly everyone is religious. In multireligious India, people are used to others invoking their own religion rather than keeping spiritual ideas to themselves out of respect for the other. Many religious students in places like Indonesia would be more comfortable with a Christian teacher (who at least believes in God and tries to live a moral life) than with an agnostic or atheist teacher. One of my first students, a devout Muslim from Iran in the University of Pittsburgh English Language Institute in 1979, was drawn to me because she appreciated the fact that I, unlike many of the Americans she was meeting, believed in God. In addition, particularly in Muslim areas, there is an assumption that the US is a Christian nation (in the same way Malaysia is a Muslim nation or Cambodia is a Buddhist nation) and that all Americans must be Christians. Given that much of the media coming out of the US, as well as the lifestyle of many American visitors around the world, does not reflect Christian truth and values, it’s a good idea for teachers in these locations to clarify that, in fact, only 25% of Americans are evangelical Protestant and 23% of Americans say they are agnostic, atheist, or “nothing in particular.” CETs actually have good opportunities to break down stereotypes that Christians behave like people on TV or in movies and to show that we are not violent, disrespectful, and immoral, but rather are ethical, caring, and professional.

It is also important to note that labels like “Christian” and “evangelical” can be misunderstood; “missionary” is certainly misunderstood. We don’t want our listeners to think that we belong to a cult, are part of a group that participated in the Crusades, are people who follow a particular political agenda, or are people who eat pork and drink alcohol. Jesus had the same problem with the term “messiah,” and we see him trying to avoid being misunderstood as a political liberator. “Follower of Jesus” may be cumbersome, but it could distinguish us from nominal Christians. If someone asks, “Are you a Christian?,” it’s good to ask “What do you mean by ‘Christian’?” before answering. In today’s Google-connected world we should think about communicating who we are with a focus on what is core—a message we could speak at the same time to fellow believers, to suspicious secular onlookers, and to seekers. It is probably not going to be about church practice, doctrine, or any religious -ism; rather it is probably going to be focused on Jesus himself and the chance for all to know his love and blessing. Here are some ways CETs have chosen to identify who they are and why they do what they do. Which ones would work in your context? • “English teacher for the glory of God.” • “Following God’s command to bless others.” • “A teacher who wants to live and work like Jesus.” Finally, I want to emphasize that our identity as followers of Jesus is not just about a label that sums up what we believe. It’s about every aspect of our life. One teacher says, “Being transparent isn’t just about sharing what you believe. That’s doctrine; it doesn’t forge connections with students. But when I tell students (in a unit on family) that my father committed suicide when I was a teenager they are amazed. This kind of openness is contagious. Soon students are sharing things they otherwise don’t talk about. The English class becomes a support group.” Let’s look at more ways CETs can convey their identity in the midst of ordinary teaching. • A teacher in Albania was teaching a class on vocabulary and idioms. The textbook had several expressions with “believe,” such as “believe it or not” and “would you believe.” The teacher made

sure he taught the grammar associated with the basic verb “believe,” and how it is followed by “in” and “that.” The example sentences he gave were “I believe in God” and “I believe that people are created in the image of God.” These set the tone for subsequent conversations with interested students. • During a vocabulary and pronunciation lesson featuring words with l/r, a teacher was going over minimal pairs: glass/grass, lamp/ramp, play/pray … Realizing that the students were still struggling with the meaning of the words as well as the pronunciation, the teacher took a quick detour: “I play volleyball because it is fun.” “I pray to God because he answers prayer.” Here he was countering a local tendency to pray to impersonal gods in case you get lucky and they hear you. • A business English teacher in Turkey had students do regular reading in newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal. When he came upon a headline referencing a David and Goliath struggle between a small business and a multinational company, he recognized an opportunity for a quick explanation of the reference. He took out his Bible—so students could see that he owned one, that it was well-used, and that he revered it as a holy book—and explained the story—briefly. • During a lesson on personality types, David, a teacher in Spain, explained that by nature he’s pessimistic, but that his faith in God gives him a sense of hope for his future. • A teacher in China, Joy, visits an orphanage in her city once a month. During conversations with students about how they spent their weekend time, her weekend activities would sometimes come up, and when students asked her why she spent her days off this way, she answered, “Jesus cares especially for the weak and lonely, like orphans. I want to live like Jesus. That’s why I do it. Besides, I have a lot of fun with the kids.” • In a remote and beautiful part of Central Asia (without the infrastructure for trash collection), Ben spends Saturday afternoons picking up trash in the mountain stream. “God made this beautiful

valley. When I take care of what he has made, I honor him,” he explains to his curious students and neighbors. • Luke, a teacher in a university-associated intensive English program in Arizona, starts his classes each semester with “Ask me any question.” He prompts his students to ask him rapid-fire questions. They start with the usual practical and trivial questions: “How long have you taught here?,” “Do you enjoy teaching?,” and “What’s your favorite kind of food?” One year, however, students went from “Are you married?” to “How long have you been married?” When he answered “Twenty-nine years,” the students gasped and one asked, “Are you faithful to your wife?” “Yes,” he replied, “with the help of God’s spirit at work in me. Next question?” One never knows what our students will be curious about and what will have an impact on them. • Even beginning students quickly pick up the casual “Oh my God” they hear around them. Katya in Minnesota asks her Saudi students how they treat the name Allah in Arabic and whether they think it’s a good idea to use God’s name in English in a cavalier way. The students thank her for helping them avoid giving the impression of carelessness toward God; they also learn that she too honors God. • In his video English class, Tom, a teacher in a language institute in Southeast Asia, showed the movie College Road Trip. In a culture where parents are very protective of their daughters, it struck a chord with his students. It also prompted lots of intense discussion about father-daughter relationships. At the end of the discussion the teacher did something he often does—he shared his own opinions. However, he always waits until the end of class and does it in a low-key way, just providing something thought-provoking for students to leave with. While students were in discussion groups talking about what young adult children want from their parents and vice versa, he wrote on the board, “What I want for my kids: (1) I want them to talk to me. (2) I want them to become the person and do the things God had in mind when he created them. (3) I want them to relate to me and others not because of

obedience, submission, or honor, but love.” While most students left class and forgot about it, one student was especially struck by the third point and came back to the teacher to talk about it; the conversation eventually led to what God wants from his children. • When I was teaching in Turkmenistan, I was asked to speak at the English Language Club, a bimonthly social meeting with fifty or so university students in attendance. My husband and I decided on a talk entitled “Meet the Purgasons: A Typical American Family?” We talked about where we live in relation to our families of origin and typical American mobility. We talked about our family in relation to statistics about Americans and marriage, divorce, and number of children. We talked about religion, with a two-sentence summary of the gospel, and said that in this area we are not typical since although many Americans say they believe in God, only onequarter take their beliefs seriously. Finally we talked about interests and hobbies. Our last statement was: “As you have seen, in some areas we are typical and in other areas we are not. I think that’s true of everyone. We look forward to getting to know you better and to learning about Turkmen families as well.” During the informal chatting time after the program, several students who had picked up on our comments about belief came over to talk about their beliefs. These examples show that individual CETs can be respectful, appropriate, and yet clear about their identity. What about organizations? Again, in an internet-connected world, it is easy for anyone who really cares to find out the identity, motivation, or behind-the-scenes supporters of a teaching program or organization. We appreciate knowing who’s behind political campaign contributions or free events, and we can be irritated when there seems be some secrecy or hidden agenda. “Christian” does not have to be written in large print on the home page, but at some point students, parents, and administrators should be able to see who the group is and what role the group’s identity might play in the English instruction. This might be in the “About Us” or FAQ section of a website, or in the small print on a poster. Here are some examples:

• A church-run conversation partner program for international students in Canada: We welcome people from all religious backgrounds. We try to follow Jesus’ teaching to welcome strangers—that is our motivation for this program. • A summer camp in China: The program is designed and directed by teachers with MEd and MA TESOL degrees. The teaching assistants are volunteers, including college students and retirees. They are members of churches in Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. The camp curriculum focuses on character, integrity, and service. Some religious ideas may be discussed. • Another way organizations can deal with the integrity question is to clearly identify and separate any instruction that has Christian content. For example, a church ESL program for the community in the US: 9:30–11:30 am—Practical English, six levels, Cambridge University Press textbook series Ventures

using

the

11:45–12:30 pm—English through the Bible, two levels, using an easy-to-read translation and discussion questions Attend one or both sessions, depending on your time and interest. Some might ask, won’t being this open prevent us from getting a job, a visa, permission to operate, or students? That’s a possibility. But it’s also a possibility that it would bring in more students, relieved that they can attend a church ESL class where the textbook and instruction will be the same as they would get in the local school district and knowing they can skip the Bible lesson if they want to. It’s also a possibility that the government in Laos, Morocco, the Czech Republic, or wherever would be happy to have Christian teachers because their previous experience has proved that these teachers are hardworking, modest, and respectful of local customs. Each

situation is different, but my advice is that we follow Paul’s model: “We have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception” (2 Cor 4:2).

5 GOING DEEP: Questions about What’s Important Aiting teaches in a high school in China. She has high intermediate students in an oral skills class for one hour a week. She’s been with the students for half a year now and has built up rapport and helped them use their friendship with each other to support language learning. She’s chosen to use the Kelly Clarkson song “Dark Side” for one of her lessons. With its pop sound and clear lyrics, she thinks it will appeal to her students. The questions in the lyrics—“Do you love me?,” “Can you love mine?,” and “Will you love me?”—lend themselves to reviewing English yes/no question forms. She also knows her teenage students are struggling with negative emotions, the effort to keep up appearances, and a longing to be loved. Her goals are to get students to ask themselves the deep questions, “Who am I, really? What can I do about the negative things I see in myself? Should I reveal those things? Will anyone love me unconditionally?” CETs might think that the pinnacle of their teaching ministry would be an opportunity to tell students what they believe or to answer a question about spiritual things. I suggest in this chapter that we should, like Aiting, be working with questions instead. Talking about what we believe or telling students the truth about something can come across as proselytizing. An answer often sounds like a lecture, which students might not be in the mindset to receive. It might entail too much teacher talk in a class where curricular or pedagogical priorities are for students to talk. If we see our students as spiritual beings and if we trust that God is at work drawing them to himself, a better strategy is to look for and create opportunities to ask questions, and to prompt students to go deeper in the

questions they ask themselves. First I want to talk about questions themselves. Then I’ll discuss more specific teaching techniques. Some ESL/EFL materials have questions that are very superficial: • When do you get up in the morning? • How long have you lived here? • What did you do last weekend? • What kind of music do you like? • Where are you going for your vacation? • How many times do you go to the gym each week? • Who does the most shopping in your family? Students need to be able to recognize, respond to, and ask such questions. The grammar of English questions is complex enough to require lots of practice. However, as David Smith asks, are these “images of shallow consumers” compatible with “persons as images of God?” At some point, learners need to—and want to—use English to express more of who they are or to deal with issues that are more important than daily life, work, and recreation. Here are some questions (in no particular order) that take students deeper, at the very least helping teachers understand their students: • What do you want your future to look like? Which dreams can you make real? Based on your daily routines and habits, where will you be in five years? • What is gratitude? How do you show it? What are you most grateful for? • Who has been a big influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you? • What is forgiveness? How can you give and receive it? Is it important? • What is love? How can you give and receive it? Can it last a lifetime? • What are you most afraid of? What impact does that fear have on you? • What advice would your eighty-year-old self give you?

• What advice would you like to pass on to future generations? • What is a regret you have? What is true about you today that would make your eight-year-old self sad? • Who has been kind to you? Who has encouraged you? Who has helped you be a better person? • What are you willing to struggle for? What is worth suffering for? • If you could hold on to one memory from your life forever, what would it be? • What needs to change in the world? How can you make the world a better place? • Who are you responsible to? How are you meeting your responsibilities? Who are you committed to? How do you maintain your commitments? • What has been an especially happy moment in your life? A sad moment? A proud moment? A peaceful moment? • What are the differences between your expectations and reality when … (e.g., you got to high school, you arrived in the US, you got married)? • What do others expect you to do with your life? What can you do well? What do you love doing? What need in the world could you meet? • What do you like about yourself? What do you wish you could change about yourself? How can you accurately see yourself? As I mentioned in Chapter 1, “The deeper the source of a sentence within the student’s personality, the most lasting value it has for learning a language.” Another TESOL professional writes, “Laughter, joy, excitement, sorrow, and anger can promote learning. Neutrality, numbness, and nullity cannot.” This means that good ESL materials will be about and for people who “fear, doubt, suffer, sin, hope, pray, or celebrate as well as work, shop, play, eat, and drink.” There is such a thing as “too deep,” however. Sometimes teachers can go overboard in the unusual and controversial; sometimes there are cultural differences between what students and teachers consider acceptable topics;

and sometimes students really just want what is practical. It’s important to find a good balance. Remember that in many cultures people don’t talk about personal things in public. Even with a class that has gotten to know and feel comfortable with each other, “you” questions that require an “I” answer might not be appropriate. Students might be more willing to deal with deep topics if the questions can be answered with generalizations: • What kinds of good things can money buy? What kinds of good things can’t money buy? • What are the differences between what we see on screen and real life? • What happens after people die? How does that make a difference in how people live now? • What are three important lessons parents should teach their children? • What qualities does a good friend have? A good teacher? A good business leader? • What choices do people have? What is beyond their control? • Is it more important for people in today’s world to slow down or speed up? Why? How can they accomplish that? • What causes conflicts between individuals? Groups? How can conflict be prevented? • How should people make decisions? • Who decides who is attractive? How does a person’s inner character affect their outer appearance? Sometimes students get stuck on questions like these. When they are in a conversation group they can’t think of anything to say. When they are responding to a writing prompt, they may stay on the surface. A good practice is to provide more detailed questions. For example, instead of simply asking, “What do you wish for your future?,” this list can stir deeper thinking: • What areas in people’s lives are within their control? • What areas in their lives are they powerless to control?

• How do decisions made when people are young affect their lives later on? • When should people set future goals? • What different types of goals do you have for yourself? • Which are most important to you? • How would you go about attaining them? • Which depend on you alone, and which on others? • How does your family affect the goals you set? • How many of the goals that you set are material goals? How many are spiritual? Sometimes teachers may worry that a question-based approach will simply allow students to speak platitudes or repeat untruths that they have picked up somewhere. It is fine to ask students, after they’ve wrestled with a question, whether they want to read or listen to how other people have answered the same question. That can provide an opportunity for students to learn what a psychologist has to say about self-esteem, what Christians believe about heaven, or the latest research on what makes a marriage last. It can also provide a model of good English. However, students are more likely to be interested in those texts if they’ve been wrestling with the issue themselves beforehand. As I said, we shouldn’t make everything too heavy. Many learners are not interested in spiritual things. School, high-pressured exams, the superficial stuff of modern life, or family and work responsibilities can all preoccupy our students. They may find it too tiring to go deep every single class period. Teachers should include lighthearted topics and everyday topics too. Options can also help students choose deep or shallow at a given moment depending on their mood. One teacher says, “When my students are learning how to write about a process, I ask them to describe the process of fixing something. I give both lighthearted and serious examples: fixing a bicycle, a torn shoelace, an estranged relationship, or a wrong attitude.”

LOWER-LEVEL STUDENTS

The previous examples may leave you wondering how to accommodate beginners. It’s true that many of these questions are too difficult for students unless they are at an intermediate or advanced level. However, even students with proficiency that seems low can manage a question with some scaffolding. Here’s an example of what to do for a beginning group or a multilevel class with the question, “What are you grateful for?” • Give beginners sentence stems, for example, I’m grateful for______. [my mother, a warm house, the public library] Encourage them to write three sentences. Brainstorm ideas in advance. Write on the board and put examples in each category: things, people, relationships, experiences, abilities, opportunities, challenges. • Give intermediate students more word parts and collocations: be grateful for, be grateful to, be grateful that, ungrateful, gratitude, ingratitude I’m grateful to ______ for ______-ing ______. [my husband for cooking dinners, Nana for encouraging me, God for loving me] I’m grateful that ______. [I can speak three languages, my job is interesting] • If there are higher-level students in the class, put additional questions on the list for them to write or talk about: How can we show or express gratitude? Why is it hard to be grateful? What things do we take for granted that we could be grateful for? Can we be grateful for hard things as well as good things? When students need more vocabulary to answer a question, a good way to provide it is with a checklist. The example below is about friendship. For homework or during a preliminary activity, students look at this list and

identify their top qualities. This time allows them to check words in the dictionary and learn new vocabulary. Once they’ve done this, they can more easily participate in a meaningful discussion, saying things like, “I think a friend should be loyal,” or “Is it more important for a friend to be interesting or to share your exact interests and values?” Which qualities are most important in a friend? Number your top qualities, from 1 (most important) to 5. ___ Patient (A friend can tolerate your weaknesses.) ___ Honest (A friend will share opinions openly.) ___ Interesting (A friend has a unique way of looking at the world.) ___ Flexible (A friend is adaptable and does not insist on doing things a certain way.) ___ Trustworthy (A friend will not betray you.) ___ Loyal (A friend sticks with you, no matter what.) ___ Supportive (A friend believes in your goals and supports you in them.) ___ Caring (A friend is kind and considerate.) ___ Accepting (A friend likes you for who you are.) ___ Available (A friend will be there for you.) ___ Encouraging (A friend can pick you up when you’re feeling down or insecure.) ___ Understanding (A friend empathizes with you.) ___ Helpful (A friend will lend a hand.) ___ Generous (A friend will share with you.) ___ Dependable (You can count on your friend.) ___ Good listener ___ Shares similar interests and values ___ Shares same religion ___ Other: _________________

QUESTIONS IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF CLASSES As far as class activities go, in a speaking class, students can answer questions in the following ways: • Discuss answers in small conversation groups • Give brief reports in front of the class • Do think-pair-share (students think of an answer on their own, share it with a classmate or in a small group, and then share with a larger group or the whole class) • Try a variety of formats such as those described by http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/speaking-listening-techniques/ • Record their answers for homework using a program like VoiceThread, Vocaroo, Voxopop, or Voci For a listening lesson or class, the teacher could have students listen to recordings of others answering the question: • Answers might be found online (search a site such as elllo.org, EnglishVoices.org, or EnglishCentral.com; or for more advanced students, the websites of Story-Corps or TED). • The teacher might record his or her own answers along with those of friends and colleagues. In a writing class, student responses to questions can take the form of: • An entry in a dialogue journal (where the teacher is the only reader and the teacher’s response is not formal feedback on language, but a reply as if in a dialogue with the writer) • A formal composition • Sentences for a post-on-the-wall activity (where follow-up activities might be “guess which student wrote this” or “which do you agree with”) In any class, literature, movies, and songs can prompt questions. • Play a brief scene from a movie with a quote to ask students about —for example, “Every man dies. Not every man really lives” (William Wallace in the movie Brave-heart). “Maybe God has a

bigger plan for me than I had for myself” (Jamie in the movie A Walk to Remember). • Use a short story to prompt questions. For example, Julia Alvarez’s “Snow” stimulates students to think about whether human beings are “irreplaceable and beautiful” or fodder for destruction in a nuclear war. (See Part 3, #4, discussion for a full lesson on this story.) • See “Additional Resources B” for the full lesson on Kelly Clarkson’s song “Dark Side.”

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS These examples assume that teachers have a lot of freedom to create materials and have enough time to develop their own lessons. That may not be the case, however, with teachers who have required syllabi and busy lives. Nevertheless, these teachers too can be alert to the ways good questions can be added to a required lesson. Here are some examples from a typical ESL textbook, the Let’s Talk series by Cambridge University Press, conversation books for adult EFL learners. • Book 1, for intermediate students, has a chapter called “saving and spending.” The unit opens with students talking about how they save money, e.g., by shopping in thrift stores. In the next activity they discuss scenarios such as what to do if you find a wallet with a lot of money in it. Another pair discussion includes “Do you prefer to save or spend money?” and “Can money make you happy?” Finally, there are some activities on gifts—what visitors in the students’ home countries might buy as souvenirs, and choosing from a list (such as chocolates, a t-shirt, a cat) what a good gift would be for each person in the class. This unit on money talks mostly about saving and spending, with a little bit on giving and on honesty. CETs might have some other values they want students to think about and develop—generosity, philanthropy, thrift, integrity, etc. The textbook pair discussion could be enhanced by adding more questions: “What things that money can’t buy are important in life?” “What are some ways to

earn money that you would be ashamed of?” “How can parents raise generous children?” • Book 3, for high intermediate students, has a chapter called “Good Luck, Bad Luck.” The unit opens with two stories about people who had bad luck, one with a lost lottery ticket and the other with a series of problems on vacation. Students tell bad luck stories based on a series of pictures in the book, such as losing one’s car in a parking lot. The next activity involves discussing superstitions such as black cats, Friday the thirteenth, and four-leaf clovers. CETs might have different opinions about luck. Most Westerners think casually about luck in terms of minor things like finding a good parking space, but perhaps we have students for whom luck is a potent spiritual force for good or ill, who believe in fate, or who try to do things to make their lives luckier. Instead of the activity on superstition, a class survey could be added, with agree/disagree statements such as: ∗ Our lives are governed by God, not luck. ∗ People “make their own luck” by working hard. ∗ There is limited good in the world and many bad things that are likely to happen. ∗ I believe in a God who wants to bless people. Sometimes it’s the examples we give that deepen our required materials. Faith, who teaches in an intensive English program at an American university, writes, “Although my curriculum is quite strict, I’ve found there are ways I can integrate big picture questions into my teaching. For example, my College Life class had a unit on Active Listening, in which students had to practice active listening with each other. Pairs were given a pack of question cards. One of the questions was, ‘If you could have the answer to a question that has troubled you for a long time, what would it be?’ Students didn’t understand what that question meant, so I told them, ‘Those are questions like, “Does God exist?” or “Why am I here?”’” I hope these examples show how adding one or two more questions to a required lesson or existing textbook can allow CETs to go deeper without taking too much extra class time or requiring hours of lesson preparation. Part 3, #7, has a list of more ESL books with topics that lend themselves to

extra questions that can prompt students to go beyond work, study, and play. There’s a wonderful story about how Mexican actor and producer Eduardo Verástegui moved away from his life as a sex symbol and returned to faith and a life of purpose as the result of his ESL teacher’s questions. He had hired a tutor who not only helped with English but also asked questions. “In a very subtle way, she was asking me a lot of questions that were challenging me. ‘Are you a part of the problem or the solution?’ ‘Are you using your talents in a selfish way or are you using your talents to create things for your community?’ ‘What do you want to do with your life?’ ‘What’s the purpose of your life?’” The article goes on to explain how these questions made Verástegui decide to rededicate himself to the Catholic faith he was raised in and, in order to have cohesiveness in his life, start his production company Metanoia Films. Questions from a teacher— that’s what did it.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES A: RESOURCES FOR CONVERSATION • StoryCorps is a public radio oral history project that has been getting people to ask questions of each other since 2003. Visit http://storycorps.org/great-questions/. • Kieran Donaghy’s website Film-English.com offers lesson plans based on short films, many of which have themes of interest to CETs. Other possible sources are FilmsForAction.org (see, for example, “The High Price of Materialism”) and WingClips.com. • InterVarsity has creative resources to start conversations called Proxes. Topics include scars, craving, resolve (good for the new year), money, evil, faking it, hope (racial reconciliation), and extreme makeover. See http://evangelism.intervarsity.org/how/proxe-station/pocketproxes-portable-conversation-starters. The art could be adapted for class, and the downloadable scripts have questions that can be included in a discussion. (I do not suggest using the rest of the evangelistic materials in most English language classes.) • Cru has several creative resources to prompt spiritual discussions. One, by Tanya Walker, is called Stripped and uses paintings by artists such as Gauguin, Munch, and Rembrandt along with questions about topics like isolation, reconciliation, and truth. See http://crupress.com/products/stripped/. See also Cru’s Perspective Cards and the Soularium photo and question cards: http://crupressgreen.com/perspectivecards/. (I do not suggest using the rest of the evangelistic materials in most English language classes.)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES B: “DARK SIDE” LESSON Target students: high intermediate.

Getting Started (5–10 minutes) Write on the board some headlines: There was a dark side to the famous movie star. Social media has a dark side. The problems in the town are revealing the dark side of economic progress. A spacecraft has crashed on the dark side of the moon. Ask the class to talk with someone near them for one minute about what they think “dark side” means: Something unknown? Something far away? Or something bad? After a minute show an image of the dark side of the moon and explain that the phrase originated with that, implying a side of something we cannot see, but it has come to mean a side that is not only hidden but also not as good as what we might expect.

First Listen (5–10 minutes)

Say: We’re going to listen to a song that says, “Everybody has a dark side.” [Write the phrase on the board.] Do you agree? Yes? No? Maybe? Take out a piece of paper and write in large letters what you think—then hold it up. Get a couple of students to glance at this informal class poll and write the rough results on the board as you set up the music. 60%—yes 10%—no 30%—maybe [Or simply ask the class to raise their hands.] Say: The singer asks some questions in the song. Listen for at least one question. Maybe you will hear more. [Play Kelly Clarkson’s “Dark Side.”] After the first listen, elicit from the students questions that they heard in the song such as “Do you love me?,” “Will you love me even with my dark side?,” and “Can you love mine?”

Key Phrases (15–20 minutes) Assign students to groups of three and give each group a phrase to focus on: Don’t give up on me. Nobody’s picture perfect. We’re worth it. Remind me who I really am. Promise me you’ll stay. One person in the group tries to understand the phrase (dictionaries allowed), another one tries to use the phrase in a different context (e.g., “The trip was worth it” or “Promise him you’ll come”), and the third prepares to teach it to the rest of the class. As the groups spend 10 minutes working on this, circulate to help groups. One group for each phrase gets to present. (These phrases could also be taught in a teacher-centered way,

which would take less time but wouldn’t help students develop selfsufficiency in their language learning.) Then play the song once more, with the lyrics in front of students.

Discussion (15–20 minutes) Put students in new groups to spend 15 minutes discussing the following three (or four, if groups finish early) questions. (The questions can be projected and gone over in advance, or given to the groups in the form of a handout.) To keep students on track, a group secretary is assigned to take notes and hand the note sheet to the teacher at the end of class. This is part of what the teacher uses for a daily participation grade. A student may also be assigned to keep track of the discussion time so 5 minutes are spent on each question. 1. The singer talks about a place that’s not pretty and that not many people have gone to. She wonders if her listener will run away if she shows it to him. She calls it her dark side. List at least five things that might be in her dark side. For example, she looks kind and polite on the outside, but she really has a lot of anger. That’s her dark side. What else might be in her dark side? The group secretary should write down the ideas. 2. The singer talks about “what I really am,” or her true self. Do you think that is her dark side, her light side, or both together? The group secretary should tally how many in the group choose which option. 3. The singer asks, “Will you love me even with my dark side?” Think of an example of someone who does this. For example, when you were little, your mother might have shown love to you even after you were very naughty. You might have read a news story about someone who forgave a person who had treated them badly. 4. If you have extra time: Can you think of a situation where it’s better not to stay with someone who has a dark side?

Writing Homework: For their journals (writing done for fluency, considered private between the teacher and student), students can write in response to one of the following: 1. Do you like this song? Why or why not? 2. What ideas in this song do you agree (or disagree) with? If you have advanced students who need an extra challenge, give them this prompt: The French author Victor Hugo wrote, “The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.” Compare this quote to the message of the song. Advanced students might also write a compare/contrast paper with another song by Adam Levine that has a similar theme, “Locked Away.” “If I got locked away and we lost it all today, tell me honestly would you still love me the same?”

Behind the Scenes A prayer before class: that students would be willing to look at their own dark side and bring it into the light; that if there are students who are ready to hear about the unconditional love of Jesus for all, that they would speak to the teacher or another Christian they might know; that the Holy Spirit would make Matthew 9:11–12 and Romans 5:8 a reality for the class: Some people criticized Jesus for spending time with sinners. He said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a doctor. Sick people do.” (NIrV) “Here is how God has shown his love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (NIrV)

6 “WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT MATTERS TO YOU?” Getting Students to Communicate Claire teaches in an intensive English program in San Diego that attracts international students, mostly in their twenties, from around the world. In her intermediate listening, speaking, and pronunciation class, she’s ready for “What Makes You Who You Are?,” Chapter 3 in Talk It Through, Level 2. The opening activity has students discuss elements of a person’s identity and brainstorm words to describe themselves. Next comes a listening activity about one’s dream identity. Students prepare by discussing their dreams in terms of job, location, and free-time activities. They practice listening to a conversation where Lauren tells Josh how she’s torn between what her father wants her to major in and what she wants to do with her life —filling in a chart first with main ideas and then with details from what they have heard. The pronunciation section of the lesson is about the intonation of questions and statements. Finally, the students practice the skill of asking follow-up questions in order to keep a conversation going. Claire is a busy teacher without much time to supplement materials, and the school is strict about covering the textbook. Still, she’s a little dismayed by how shallow the book’s take on identity is and tries to make some adjustments. The example in the book to get students started brainstorming vocabulary related to identity includes sports, soccer, music, play, dance, vegetarian, thoughtful, active. She adds devout, spiritual, kind, trustworthy, knowing that her Muslim students from Saudi Arabia and UAE, as well as her Christian student from Korea, might find the first two relevant, and

hoping that the last two vocabulary words might prompt all the students to think about character as a part of identity. The listening text itself is hard to change. But Claire is aware of the values it espouses (i.e., it’s more important to do what you want to do than what your parents advise) and adds two things to her lesson plan to expand the range of which aspects of their identity students are thinking about. In the prepare-to-listen activity, besides questions about one’s dream identity—“What job do you have?” “Where are you living?” “What do you do in your free time?”—she adds “Tell us about your family” and “How are you serving your community?” After listening to Lauren’s dilemma and doing the textbook comprehension activities, she adds a five-minute discussion (with the option for journal writing in case they run out of time in class) about how students make decisions about their future, with these prompts: “How do family members’ opinions affect the way you make choices for your future? Is finding God’s will for your future important to you or not? Besides your major or your job, what is an important part of your identity that you are trying to shape?”

STUDENT IDENTITY In this chapter we are going to look at our students’ identity—an important topic for all English language teachers. First, identity and language acquisition are linked. Researchers in the areas of second language acquisition, motivation, and autonomy highlight the importance of identity. They have explored whether acquiring a new language also entails acquiring a new identity, ways one can maintain identity even while learning a new language, as well as ways that a focus on identity can increase students’ motivation and engagement. We can help our students navigate these rough waters if we understand more about the importance of all this. As teachers, we tend to focus on what our students are doing in the classroom—are they turning in homework? Participating in class? Responding to feedback? But in fact, language learning is only a part of the complexity of our students’ lives, with their individual histories, goals, and identities. When we engage the identities of our students—soccer fan, devoted mother, future inventor, community activist—they are more likely

to get involved and invest themselves in the learning process. Merely demonstrating that one knows a grammar rule or has remembered a vocabulary word does not result in lasting language acquisition in the same way expressing one’s own identity does. Attending to our students’ identities in the classroom is not only good for their language acquisition; it’s also good for our students’ access to opportunities. “It is through language that a person negotiates a sense of self within and across different sites at different points in time, and it is through language that a person gains access to—or is denied access to—powerful social networks that give learners the opportunity to speak,” says Bonnie Norton. We know that some voices have fewer opportunities to be heard in today’s world. Those with foreign accents or those from obscure countries are typically not as privileged as those who speak or write English well. We want our students to have a positive impact in their families, communities, and nations, and in the rest of the world too; ensuring that they have a voice will help make that happen. Furthermore, when we are aware of students’ identity, we are also promoting their own awareness of who they are—and who they might become. Carolyn Kristjansson describes a language class in a volunteer-run church-based community ESL program in Canada that illustrates this. The teacher often started the class, in which there were fourteen Taiwanese and Korean women, with an extended discussion of “What did you do on the weekend?” One day the conversation, prompted by one woman saying she felt sad over the weekend, included several women speaking about loneliness and missing their grown children or travelling husband or holidays in their home country. The women encouraged each other (offering specific help) and the teacher affirmed the value of knowing that one isn’t alone in such feelings. This is an example of teaching that connects the students’ inner and outer lives, their identity as individuals, and their agency as people who will make a difference in their community. Up to this point in the chapter I have been talking about identity in general. Now I want to speak more specifically about the spiritual aspect of our students’ identities. In a wonderful article about language learners as spiritual beings, David Smith opens with a story about a math teacher trying to help a college student who had serious deficits in his math knowledge but had to pass statistics to graduate in his major. After some probing, the

student revealed that a first-grade math teacher had humiliated him, thus setting him on a path of resistance and failure. “You have to forgive that teacher,” the professor said (this being a Christian college). In fact, once the student did this, he was finally open to the tutoring and remedial work that enabled him to pass the class. We will probably not respond in exactly the way this math professor did, but we can follow his example in seeing the student as an individual with a soul, not just a body and a brain. Smith goes on to decry the way “a view of learning that marginalizes the spiritual and a view of spirituality that sees itself at the fringes of the mundane conspire together to prevent fruitful interaction between faith and pedagogy.” Spirituality is much more than adding prayer and Bible study. In the sample unit Smith describes in this article, he explains how he added simple opportunities for students to think about ethics, hospitality, failure, the nature of the good life, the value and source of hope, responses to human need, and cross-generational interaction—all more aligned with the spiritual than the grammar lesson’s original content related to buying and selling things.

TALKING ABOUT IDENTITY Let’s move on to helping students talk about their identity. Before our students can even think about changing their religious identity, their spiritual outlook on life, their view of Jesus, or their relationship to God, they will need to be able to talk about these things. As language teachers, we can ensure that our materials include the language to discuss beliefs and religious or spiritual identity (or lack thereof). For some of our students, their spiritual identity is closely tied to cultural or family identity: “We are Muslims.” “Of course we don’t believe in God; only uneducated, nonscientific people believe in God.” “My family goes to Mass on the big Christian holidays.” For others, the religious or spiritual is not something they usually think about. In China the first word for “spiritual” that many people think of is closer to “emotional” in English, and without a shared vocabulary, the conversation may get off to a rocky start. In many parts of Europe religion is not something anyone talks about at all, and learners would no more have the vocabulary to talk about it in English than they

would the words to talk about personal bodily functions. And yet, the “deep” things of life—fear of death, hope for the future, ethical behavior, and so on—are important to them. Most ESL publishers try to avoid religion as a topic (as we saw in Chapter 3), so if this is a priority for teachers, we will have to create or modify lessons ourselves. This is especially important if we have students for whom their religion is an important part of their identity. For example, Muslims studying in the US will need specific language to explain what they believe about jihad, headscarves, fasting, and other aspects of their faith that are easily misunderstood. If students have been warned that Americans will try to convert them or are frustrated by Americans’ limited understanding of Islam, they will appreciate the chance to acquire the English needed to speak up and explain what they believe. If they have ever been in a conversation about religion that makes them feel uncomfortable, they need to learn the language to politely step away from it. Students outside the US may also appreciate the chance to learn how to convey the religious part of their identity as they speak English with others. These students might be a Korean Christian who will be working in an electronics firm in Indonesia or a Thai Buddhist who will be hosting visiting health care workers from Bangladesh and Pakistan or travelling to DR Congo to oversee production of a new HIV/AIDS drug. In Christian contexts such as seminaries or Christian universities, content related to the students’ faith is especially motivating. Learning the language to express one’s deepest convictions can also counter fears that studying English will lead to the erosion of traditional values. Good teaching that respects students’ identity helps all these types of students. What might this look like? In this chapter’s “Additional Resources” section are some ideas for a lesson on how to explain the importance of one’s beliefs. In spite of the importance of valuing students’ identities, I can imagine classes where lessons such as “What do you believe?” would not go over well. A student may be reluctant to self-identify as less committed to his faith than a devout classmate. A student may be hesitant to self-identify as religious in a place where the dominant mindset is atheism. A student may believe that most of their opinions (other than their allegiance to a particular soccer team) are a purely private matter. In this case, it might be possible to

explore identity via literature or nonfiction reading, where students can talk about a character or someone else, rather then themselves. This leads to the topic of the next chapter—how to ensure that our classrooms are places where everyone feels safe and respected.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE? Target students: intermediate.

Opening (1 minute) Ask the students: Is there something you strongly believe in? It might be related to religion, politics, or something else. How important is that to you?

Discovery Learning (10 minutes) Via handout or slide, give these clusters of statements to the students. Say: Here are some statements. Put the three in each group in order from “weak belief” to “strong belief.” Pay attention to the words used to indicate strength of belief. Use a dictionary if needed. Masoud is a devout Muslim. Sadiq is fanatical about Islam. Farid comes from a Muslim family. Veera is a strict Hindu. Premala is a nominal Hindu. Saroj is a practicing Hindu. Stefan cares about animal rights. Jonas zealously supports animal rights.

Lukas advocates for animal rights. Lauren is an activist Democrat. Molly sometimes votes Democrat. Elise is a member of the Democratic Party. Jose is a big fan of soccer. Carlos is a soccer fanatic. Miguel watches soccer. [After students have finished, make sure they know the correct answers.]

Preparation for Discussion (5 minutes) Say: Now choose three things: something you are passionate about, something you somewhat care about, and something you are only moderately interested in or believe without strong convictions. Write three sentences. Use appropriate terms to indicate the strength of your belief or interest. Pay attention to word forms, e.g., Be an advocate (noun) of To advocate (verb) for and word grammar, e.g., Fanatical about something A fan of something Check the Longman English Dictionary Online or Cambridge Dictionaries Online to make sure you’re using a word correctly.

Walk and Talk (15 minutes) Say: Walk around the room, talking to your classmates. Find someone with a belief that’s similar to yours. Find someone with a belief that’s different. Be ready to tell the whole class. For example: Both Sarah and I are practicing Christians. Zhang Wei is a big fan of Kobe Bryant, but I am not. [Extra: If you and the students have more time, see the public radio program This I Believe and the ESL textbooks based on it.]

7 HOW WE RELATE TO EACH OTHER: Cultivating Respect Emily, an ESL teacher in an adult ESL program in Arizona, is sometimes surprised at the conflicts that seem to simmer just below the surface in her normally polite class of students from around the world. The other day a Shia Muslim from Iraq and a Sunni Muslim from Syria interrupted the class with an argument she couldn’t really understand but which they were passionate about. Buddhist Karen and Muslim Rohingya students, both from Burma, try to avoid each other, as do Somalis and Somali Bantus. One year a vocal evangelical Korean student seemed to be alienating other Korean students who weren’t as religious as he was. She also heard about a colleague with two Vietnamese students who were in conflict—one was an elderly immigrant who escaped Vietnam and who fought the Communists in the civil war; the other was a young woman from Hanoi who said her hero was Ho Chi Minh, the Communist leader. Derek is an American Christian teaching in Saudi Arabia. Although he would love to help his students know Jesus, he is careful to follow the rules of his employment and not talk about religion with them. They, however, are quite vocal in trying to convert him to Islam. Kevin has just started teaching in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. He has been impressed at the well-mannered interaction between his Muslim students in long sleeves and headscarves and his Christian students in skirts, but he wonders whether they really do get along. He’s also heard students utter negative stereotypes about certain ethnic groups, such as the Madurese or Banjar; that makes him wonder what would happen if someone from one of those groups were present in the class.

Laila teaches in an intensive English program in Texas and feels that she’s constantly managing her students’ strong opinions. In one class a student from China and another from Brazil clashed over abortion. In another there was an argument about the news coverage of terrorism between an outspoken Russian student and equally passionate students from several Middle Eastern nations. Sometimes her traditional female Saudi students criticize and ostracize fellow Saudi women who aren’t dressed as conservatively. Korean and Japanese students frequently find news items to remind them of past historical conflicts. Jennifer wonders how to contain a vocal and thoughtless student from Latin America in her freshman ESL writing class. “Who cares about Cambodia?” he asks when she tries to elicit an opinion from a quiet Cambodian student. “Don’t you eat dogs?” he sneers at a Korean student who is struggling to say a few words about his culture. Each of these situations highlights the importance of the teacher cultivating an atmosphere in which everyone can talk with respect about subjects that people might be passionate about, that might be controversial, or that might polarize the class. Learning how to act respectfully is important not only for the class ambiance but also for how the students will get along with others in the rest of their lives. The first step is to understand our students, especially in light of controversial, polarizing, or hot-button issues. To find out general facts about our students—for example, what refugees from Somalia are like—we might look for published materials or consult an insider. To find out more about who our particular students are, for example, Aasha in our beginning level class, we can use personal introductions, dialogue journals, and surveys. In addition to the usual ESL teacher questions about what motivates our students, what language they need, what they enjoy, and what they are struggling with, we can try to find out about their religious background. Is religion important to them or irrelevant? Do they identify themselves as members of a religious group because of cultural affiliation or because of personal faith? Are they similar or dissimilar to the other students in the class and to me? What specific aspects of students’ identity that are important to them do I need to show respect for? When we listen to our students we put into practice biblical commands such as “Everyone should be quick to listen [and] slow to speak” (James

1:19 TNIV). Don Snow reminds us that when we listen to our students and encourage the rest of the class to listen too, we are building their self-worth. We “reflect the Christian conviction that each person is of value in God’s eyes.” Respect is an element of hospitality. The second step is to establish the class atmosphere in terms of community, privacy, disclosure, and comfort level. Some students will be very comfortable sharing about any topic and others will have a strong sense of privacy and personal/public boundaries. Obviously the exact way we talk about the class atmosphere depends on the proficiency of the class, but here are some things to communicate: • If you don’t want to answer a question for any reason, just say, “pass.” • If a topic in class makes you uncomfortable, please let me know after class. • If another student in class is acting in a way that you feel is disrespectful, please let me know. It might seem unnecessary, especially in a class of adults, for the teacher to speak explicitly about the importance of respect, but putting “We respect each other” in the list of class rules or principles is always a good idea. I tell my students that my class is a place where I want to cultivate respect for all, regardless of age, religion, ability, and so on. I add that my class is a place where we can all express opinions, question each other, even criticize each other—so long as it is done with respect. Teachers who come from a tradition of freedom of speech and teachers whose communicative teaching philosophy leads them to encourage vocal students may find it hard to commit to making everyone feel safe and to encouraging our quiet and reticent students. This balance is crucial. Thirdly, we need to teach and model the language of respect. It is not easy for native speakers to engage in civil discourse; it is even more challenging for language learners to use the complex language and subtle intonation necessary for speaking and listening respectfully when talking about controversial issues, matters of conviction, or beliefs. All of our students will eventually experience encounters with people they don’t understand or don’t agree with. It may be a Chinese engineer who will use English with Japanese clients, or a Polish doctor preparing for an

international conference in South Africa, or a Turk and an Armenian who find themselves living in the same neighborhood in Los Angeles. Cultural, political, and religious differences abound. Thus, teaching the language of respect is important for our students’ futures as well as for what happens in our classes.

TEACHING THE LANGUAGE OF RESPECT Sometimes the lesson will be spontaneous. When a student says, “That’s stupid,” in response to a classmate’s comment, we need to be prepared to teach a mini-lesson on lexical choice by stating, “In the US ‘stupid’ is a word that may insult the person who hears it. Here are some other ways to respond: ‘I don’t understand that’ or ‘I disagree with that’ or ‘I see things differently.’” When students snicker at an overweight student’s comment about her body or laugh at a pronunciation error, we need to say, “Laughing at others that way is disrespectful. That’s not what our class should be like.” Some teachers might hesitate to step in and tell a student, “That’s not appropriate,” but it is part of creating an atmosphere of respect and letting the rest of the class know we care about every student. In some teaching contexts we may be able to build into the curriculum a series of lessons on the language of respect. The first lesson is on why respect is important and what respect is (see “Additional Resources A”). The lesson includes definitions of respect, what respect looks like in the students’ culture(s), and whom people show respect to and why. Students are usually surprised to learn something about a new culture—for example, that direct eye contact is a sign of respect in some cultures but that downcast eyes signal respect in others; or that different languages encode respect in ways ranging from verb endings in Korean and Japanese, to T/V pronouns in languages like Spanish and Russian, to softening phrases such as “If it’s not too much trouble” in English. Paralinguistic issues such as volume or interruptions may also be mentioned. The second lesson is on ways to show respect in English. Some of these ways are nonverbal and paralinguistic—conventions of eye contact, listening, asking questions, and volume. Word connotation also has to be mentioned. For example, is “pious” a compliment or an insult? What about

“progressive,” “liberal,” “orthodox,” and so on? This second lesson can also include phrases for use in both formal class discussions and in informal interaction. Language learners need alternatives to the simple “I disagree” or “That’s wrong” and to be taught more respectful and productive phrases such as “I’m surprised to hear you say that.” See “Additional Resources B” for more examples. Phrases are actually just the starting point, since so much of the discourse of respect arises not out of individual lexical items but out of intonation, context, the way we speak, and so on. For example, even “I disagree” can come across in a way that shuts off further comments, or it can be lighthearted, good-humored, and encouraging of further interaction. Given the tendencies in today’s online world, where students might be picking up English, they may also need to be coached to avoid ridiculing, mocking, name-calling, exaggerating, or insulting. The third lesson includes scenarios of conflict, disrespect, insults, and threats, so students can come up with alternative discourse. Activities include role-plays of likely scenes of conflict to practice the language taught. In the US, especially, the lesson should have some scenarios where one student’s freedom of expression infringes on another’s sense of safety and well-being. These lessons are important not only for creating a good atmosphere in class, but also for preparing our students for out-of-class interaction. International students in the US may not be used to the way Americans navigate the confusing territory between valuing free speech, condemning hate speech, embracing self-expression, and trying to be politically correct. Having time for three lessons to cover the language of respect is rare. It is more likely that teachers have to rely on a statement in the syllabus or an extra handout at the beginning of the term. Here’s an example from a teacher in a Southern California community college. He puts at the bottom of all his syllabi this statement: Respect is extremely important in class participation. Please, remember that each student is wonderfully different, but all students have equal value, so they should receive equal respect. Participating in class activities in an American culturally appropriate way is essential for learning English and being

successful in this course, other college courses, and life in the U.S. When he goes over the syllabus he tells the story of what happened one year when one student said something offensive to another. (He doesn’t reveal that in this case one was Arab and the other was Israeli.) As ESL coordinator, his intervention couldn’t prevent the wounded one from leaving the college entirely. “Many of you have left conflicts in your home countries. Please don’t bring them into our classroom. Respecting others— not agreeing with them—is the key to the level of peace we have enjoyed in the U.S.,” he adds.

RESPECTING OUR STUDENTS One more point needs to be made about the impact of these principles on us as teachers. Compared to our students, we may be experts on how respect can be conveyed in English; nevertheless, we should view ourselves as lifelong learners in the area of communicating politeness and power. We have to be prepared to hear opinions that we do not believe or approve of, recognizing that, “if we value the right of every student to express individual opinions, then we must be prepared to listen to both sides of the argument, even if that is uncomfortable for us as teachers.” We will come back to this point in Chapter 10. For Christian English teachers, such an atmosphere will also allow us to comfortably communicate who we are in terms of our religious beliefs and values. While it is true that students need to be practicing English and, therefore, that teachers should speak as little as possible, there are occasions when students make comments that teachers should respond to, when materials call for an observation, or when students ask questions. There are times when teachers want to be able to freely share what they believe as Christians. The framework of respect that exists in the classroom helps students know the teacher is not forcing them to believe something just because the teacher has said it.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES A: PRINCIPLES FROM I BEG TO DIFFER Below are some helpful ideas from Tim Muelhoff’s I Beg to Differ: Navigating Difficult Conversations with Truth and Love.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES B: LANGUAGE FOR RESPECTFUL DISAGREEMENT Language for respectfully talking with people who may disagree with you:

8 GOOD TEACHING: Balance and Excellence Have you heard student complaints like these? • Our teacher keeps talking about her pet dogs. It’s annoying. • Just because our teacher likes politics doesn’t mean we like it and want to talk about it. • This class is a lot of fun, but we don’t always learn useful things. • The teacher thinks we need all these grammar explanations, but we really need to just practice more writing. • Half the students speak English freely but make a lot of mistakes and the other half are pretty accurate but rarely open their mouths. The teacher doesn’t help either group improve. • I am tired of hearing all about American culture. If I ever use English it will be with people from other Asian countries, not from the US. A good general principle of English language teaching is that instruction needs to be balanced. In a multi-skill class, a good curriculum will have a balance between speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In a speaking or writing class, a balance between accuracy and fluency is important for strong language acquisition. Good teachers try to balance challenging and fun activities. They also try to focus on the students’ immediate needs (e.g., a high TOEFL or IELTS score) without neglecting their future needs (e.g., academic skills for English-medium university study). TESOL experts use phrases like “eclectic” and “principled” for this sort of balance. One expert says that all language classes need balanced

attention to four strands: meaning-focused input (especially while listening and reading), meaning-focused output (especially while speaking and writing), language-focused learning (a deliberate study of language features such as grammar and vocabulary), and fluency development (using what one knows). A single emphasis or a heavy dose of a particular kind of activity can end up unbalancing a class, making students feel bored, irritated, or ignored. This is a problem not only for teachers with religious convictions but for any teacher who has a particular passion. For example, a case study in one professional book describes how students grew weary of a teacher constantly using the environmental issues he was dedicated to as prompts for writing and discussion. I especially want to focus on the danger of unbalancing a class with materials that deal with the spiritual side of life. If students are reading a text about a Christian, is that balanced with a text about someone of a different faith? If students are listening to an audio text about the role of faith in business ethics, is that balanced with another about secular influences on ethics? The bottom line is that all students, whatever their beliefs, should feel at ease in our class. How a lesson feels to students will depend on who they are and whether they are religious or not, and what religion they adhere to. Teachers should definitely avoid putting explicit pressure on students to believe one thing or another, but they should also avoid the implicit pressure that comes from overemphasizing certain content. Balance at the curricular level might simply be good teaching. This kind of balance requires being aware of student needs and having skills to teach multi-skill and multilevel classes. Some resources for interested teachers include methodology books by Snow, Harmer, Brown and Lee, Woodward, Hess, and Nation. (See the endnotes for these references.) In the rest of this chapter, I want to talk more about balance at a lesson level: how to ensure that a given lesson, especially one in which we have included some content dear to us as CETs, feels balanced and even-handed to our students. One important way is to not present Christian content on its own. • Mark, teaching oral English in Southeast Asia, taught a lesson on visionaries—people who used their foresight to help people. In his list he includes Bill Gates, Confucius, Mother Theresa, Socrates,

Jesus, and others. Quotations that exemplified the teachings of the visionaries were featured. For Bill Gates, the quotes include “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure” and “Good leaders empower others.” For Jesus, the quotes include “For God so loved the world” from John 3:16– 17, “Love your enemies” from Matthew 5, and “Do not worry” from Luke 12. • Ava, teaching ESL to international students visiting Boston, was planning a lesson on money and wanted to get the students to think about the dangers of accumulating material goods. She decided to include Matthew 6:19–20. To even out the potential pressure of the Bible verses, she added some other wisdom too: ∗ Make some money but don’t let money make you. —Proverb from Tanzania ∗ Wealth is like dung—useful only when spread around. —Proverb from China ∗ Do not gather for yourselves riches on earth. Moths and rats can destroy them. Thieves can break in and steal them. Instead, gather for yourselves riches in heaven. —A saying from Jesus, recorded in Matthew 6:19–20, the Bible (NIrV) • When I taught in China at a time and place where authorities were alert to any hint of proselytizing, I wanted to explain the origin and meaning of Christmas. My lecture (for a listening comprehension lesson) had three parts: Christmas in the US as a time for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus; a time for businesses to make money; and a time for families, no matter what their religious beliefs, to get together for traditional food, gifts, and activities. This even-handed approach defused potential accusations that I had stepped over the line by talking too much about Jesus. The three lessons in “Additional Resources” provide other examples of how to present information about Christianity and quotations from the Bible in an even-handed way.

This is a good place for a brief detour on using the Bible in a lesson. Scripture can be a powerful way of communicating values and truth to our students. There are also biblical passages that are part of what every welleducated Westerner knows. Books such as Using Folktales, published by Cambridge University Press, include wellknown Bible stories such as the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Sometimes when CETs bring in a Bible to identify the source of a quotation (“See, here is where ‘the love of money is the root of all evil’ comes from”), they convey to their students that they take this holy book seriously. For students in some parts of the world that is very important. However, in other parts of the world, students are quite cautious about being “Christianized.” They may have been told that reading the Bible is dangerous. Tom, in Southeast Asia, has a couple of techniques to allay this fear. One is, as illustrated above, using a mixture of sources—for example, texts from the Koran, the Bible, and a contemporary author—in the same activity. Another is not identifying the text as being from the Bible. For example, he will bring up the fruit of the Spirit in class, but frame it in this way: “Here are some qualities of a well-rounded person. Which of these do you want to see more in your life?” He wants students to interact with the ideas without worrying that the source will corrupt them. Some teachers might feel uncomfortable putting God’s word on the same level as some other source such as a folk tale or local saying. Others will be pleased to have an opportunity to let students read something from the Bible, allowing the Word to have its promised impact on their lives. Another way to achieve balance is to give students choices in their assignments. In Ava’s lesson about money, for example, students can be allowed to discuss or write about the quotation of greatest interest to them. Another example is that in a lesson on Eric Clapton’s song “Tears in Heaven,” students can be given short texts on three views of heaven— Christian, Muslim, and Clapton’s—and given a choice to write a comparison between any two, including their own view. (More information on this lesson is given in “Additional Resources.”) When the CET has something in the lesson that might not appeal to a student who isn’t interested in spiritual things, as long as there are alternatives it is unlikely to provoke complaints.

Including choices for students is not always easy. Teachers have to do a bit more work to prepare materials. Students from some educational systems may not be used to having choices. Students will need more time in class or more homework time to read more than one text. However, I believe giving students choices is worth it for the potential of having more spiritual content in our lessons while remaining appropriate and professional. Allowing students choices means that the idea or text that a CET is most excited about is scattered among others and might end up getting lost. Then again, if this means our overall teaching is more excellent and less imbalanced, it is worth it. In Chapter 3 we talked about the “catalyst” approach. Remember that even a tiny amount of a catalytic agent can cause a large reaction.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: THREE LESSONS THAT ILLUSTRATE BALANCE 1. Messages of Love Target students: intermediate, university or adult students, in the US. Preparation: Do this lesson near Valentine’s Day. Prepare a small baggie with a good variety of conversation heart candies for each group of 3–5 students. Lower-level students can have fewer hearts to work through. Each group should have at least one with a positive message such as “true love” or “forever.” Examples: Marry me. All mine. Wink Wink. Hug me. Play time. Text me. Pick me. Adore me. True love. High five. Let’s kiss. Say yes. Forever. You rock. Soul mate. Cutie pie. Crazy 4 U. Forever. U R Hot.

Group Discussion Give students the following instructions on a handout or the board. Depending on the students and the class, specify the relationships for the discussion—for example, husband-wife, parent-child, friend-friend, boyfriend-girlfriend, God–human being. 1. Look at the messages on your hearts. Write them down. Think about each one: a. What do you think it means? b. Would you like to get this message from someone? Say: Yes, No, or It depends. Give reasons.

c. Would this be a common expression of love in your culture? If so, who would say it to whom? 2. What are some common ways people express love in your culture? 3. What message of love would you like to receive from someone? Give to someone?

Writing 4. Here are four quotations about love. You will be writing about one of them. Here are three writing prompts. You will choose one of these prompts for the quotation. a. Choose a quotation that you believe to be true and explain why. b. Choose a quotation that you wonder about and discuss your questions. c. Choose a quotation that you disagree with and explain why. ∗ By accident of fortune a man may rule the world for a time, but by virtue of love he may rule the world forever. —Lao Tze, Chinese philosopher, c. 604–531 BC, Tao-te Ching ∗ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. Here is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only Son into the world. He sent him so we could receive life through him. —John, early Christian writer, c. AD 50, 1 John 4:8–9, the Bible (NIrV) ∗ The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved—loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. —Victor Hugo, French author, 1802–1885 ∗ Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. —Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French author, 1900–1944 (A homework writing activity allows students to share more personal thoughts with the teacher, but it might not fit into the curriculum. These quotes can also be used for a walk-around-the-wall activity. Quotes are

posted on the wall and students rotate around the room in groups to talk about each one for a few minutes.)

2. Lesson Plan Ideas Using the Song “Tears in Heaven” Target students: intermediate. Preview: Write on the board “heaven.” Ask students to write (or share with a partner) one or two words or sentences that come to their minds.

Listening 1. First listen. Say: This is a song about what one person thinks of heaven. His name is Eric Clapton. This song won a Grammy Award in 1993. [Allow students to simply listen.] 2. Second listen. At this point, students listen to the song again with gapped text and fill in blanks. [Possible blanks: Level 1: name, same, strong, belong, hand, stand, way, stay, door, more. Level 2 with grammar focus: would, know, if, saw, would, be, if, saw, etc.] 3. Explanation. Ask: Who is the “you” in the song? Who is Clapton writing for? Clapton wrote this song after his four-year-old son died. His son died a tragic death, actually—he fell out of a building. 4. Third listen and comprehension check. Students listen (and read the lyrics if desired or needed) and answer the following true/false questions (on handout, board, or projector): a. The singer knows exactly what heaven is like. [False; he’s asking questions, using “if.”] b. The singer knows he has to live on earth now, not heaven. [True; “carry on,” “don’t belong here in heaven.”] [Alternative interpretation: the singer doesn’t think he’ll ever be in heaven.] c. It’s easy for the singer to live on earth now. [False; “carry on,” “bring you down,” “break your heart.”]

d. The singer believes people won’t cry in heaven. [True; “there’ll be no more tears in heaven.”] Check answers by referring students to actual words in the song. At this point, teach vocabulary or phrases as necessary.

Reading and Writing Give students two short paragraphs (no more than 200 words each), one with a description of what Christians believe about heaven and the other describing what Muslims (or other religious group relevant to the context) believe about heaven. Say: Choose two of the following four and write a paper comparing and contrasting them. [Note: If students had not had experience in writing this kind of paper, instruction and modeling would be necessary.] • The singer’s view of heaven • Your view of heaven • The Christian view of heaven (as in the reading) • The Muslim view of heaven (as in the reading)

Grammar Review Say: This song has the word “if.” Remember that one use of “if” is to talk about things that are unreal or untrue at the time. If I saw you in heaven, you would know my name. Here are some other examples: If I had a million dollars, I would travel around the world. Do I have a million dollars? No. That’s not real. The “if” verb is in the past form [underline]. The other verb form is “would” + verb. [Add personalized examples, and pause before writing verbs to elicit from students—e.g.,

If Eza had a better job, he would be happy. If Lela were younger, she would exercise more.] Now you write some sentences. Choose and finish. Remember to change the verbs. (On board) [Alternative: brainstorm with the class for unreal situations] win the lottery can change one thing in my life can have a wish come true

Discussion Students in small groups or as a class discuss the following (or, if more appropriate, write on this topic in their journals): • Have you ever had someone you loved die? Did you want to go with them? How were you able to “carry on”? • Most people believe that heaven is a place with “no more tears.” Does that make it easier to bear with tears on earth? • In your view, what happens to people when they die? If you believe in heaven, who do you think will go there? (Final listen. Listen to the song one more time just for fun.)

3. Jigsaw Reading from “The Gods of Business” This lesson is part of a unit based on Krista Tippett’s radio program Speaking of Faith (now On Being). I developed the episode “The Gods of Business” (http://www.onbeing.org/program/gods-business/199) into ESL materials for a high-intermediate or advanced ESL class. I chose “The Gods of Business” for several reasons. One is that it is related to business, an area of interest for many international students. It also features speakers using clear English in various accents. Another reason (important to me, a Christian teacher) is that it was quite positive about Christianity. However, it is not from a specifically Christian perspective (in fact, the interviewee, Prabhu Guptara, is a Hindu), and its

perspectives on various world religions make the lesson inclusive (important because I want to encourage discussion about spiritual matters without proselytizing). Materials for the entire unit can be found here: http://tesolresourcesfromkitty2.pbworks.com/w/page/20606621/gods%20of %20business. Included here is only the jigsaw reading section. Students are put into “expert” groups and each group is given a short text. Their responsibility is to understand their text and present it to the rest of the class. While the class listens to their classmates’ presentations, they complete the gaps in the handout. Jigsaw reading allows a teacher to introduce a variety of content to the class, requires that students read only a short text, gives students a motivating reason to read, encourages thoughtful listening to classmates, and provides a final worksheet with all the content included for everyone. While some of the material was provided on the public radio website, I rewrote material to ensure that each of the texts in the jigsaw was about the same length and difficulty and fairly presented its content. (This unit was positively received by advanced students in a listening/speaking class in a California community college and in an intermediate/advanced business English class in Mauritania.)

Religion and Business Ethics: Jigsaw Reading 1. Read your section. 2. Make sure you understand it. 3. Prepare to present it to the rest of the class. Do not read it out loud. Present it conversationally. It is OK to use your own words. The class will be listening to your presentation and filling in the blanks on their worksheet. 4. After the worksheet is completed, you’ll be discussing the ideas. [Note that students who are not used to listening to each other or who have difficulty understanding each other’s accents may need some training and encouragement to do this successfully.] 1. Islam

God has given laws and teachings that believers must follow. They are written in the Koran and the Hadith. These laws include many teachings related to business ethics, especially: • Don’t charge interest, since it leads to exploitation and oppression. • Engage in charitable giving. Other teachings important for business tell Muslims: be trustworthy; keep your commitments; don’t earn a living through illegitimate means; treat workers fairly; and don’t engage in practices such as hoarding or giving short measure.

2. Judaism Jews believe that God is in a covenant relationship with his people. This means believers must act as God does. They find out how God acts by reading the holy books of the Torah and the Prophets as well as the interpretations of the Talmud. Core teachings of Judaism include: • Don’t oppress the marginalized—widows, orphans, the poor, foreigners. • Actively help the needy. • Treat workers fairly. Other teachings include directives such as: use accurate measures; don’t deceive or misrepresent; don’t cheat; and follow local laws, e.g., regarding taxes.

3. Christianity Christians, like Jews, follow biblical guidelines from the Old Testament. These include: take care of those who are vulnerable, such as foreigners or widows; help the poor; and treat workers fairly. In addition to this emphasis on justice, the teachings of Jesus Christ add the dimension of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” or mutual respect. The New Testament also tells people not to be greedy, urges people to trust in God for material needs, and reminds Jesus’

followers that caring for the poor is like caring for Jesus himself. Fraud, deceit, cheating, and so on, are forbidden, as in other religions. Additional teachings encourage obeying local authorities. Historically, Christians have worked in organizations to make the world better.

4. Buddhism Some Buddhists believe that life is full of suffering and that desire leads to suffering. This means that they emphasize withdrawal from the world and are not interested in business. For other Buddhists, teachings such as the Noble Eightfold Path and the Five Precepts give them practical guidelines for all behavior, including business ethics. One teaching is “right livelihood.” This means don’t engage in a job that results in harm to other living beings. Buddhists are also instructed not to take what is not given and not to engage in false speech. Overall, Buddhism has a strong emphasis on compassion towards others. Other materials in the unit that are not included here are readings about Confucianism, Hinduism, and atheism/materialism.

Religion and Business Ethics Jigsaw Reading Worksheet How does religion affect business? What religious beliefs might shape the way we do business? Listen to each group’s presentation and fill in the blanks. 1. Islam The Koran and the Hadith are holy books that contain ______. Laws from God include many that are related to business ethics, for example: ∗ Don’t _____________.

∗ Engage in _______________. Other related teachings are: ∗ Be trustworthy. ∗ ______ your commitments. ∗ Don’t earn a living through illegitimate means. ∗ Treat workers ______. ∗ Don’t do such things as _________ or __________________. 2. Christianity Christians, like Jews, follow biblical guidelines from the Old Testament. These include: ∗ Take care of vulnerable people—for example, ______. ∗ Help the ___________. ∗ Treat workers ______. In addition to this emphasis on justice, the teachings of _______ add the dimension of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” or mutual respect. The New Testament has some specific teachings related to business ethics, for example: ∗ Don’t be _____________. ∗ _____________ for material needs. ∗ Caring for the poor is like _____________. As in other religions, fraud, deceit, cheating, and so on, are forbidden. Christians are encouraged to _____________ local authorities. Historically, Christians have _____________ to make the world better.

Discussion • Do you follow one of the religions described in the presentations? Do you agree with the summary?

• Some people or groups claim to be religious, but they don’t always live by the ethics of their religion. Why do you think this happens? • If you could write ethical guidelines for your business, what would you include? Would you include any of the teachings from the religions summarized in the presentations?

9 GOOD TEACHING: Critical Thinking Teachers in many schools around the world are exhorted to include critical and creative thinking in the curriculum. Experts bemoan the fact that students only care if something is on the test, are too used to parroting answers, and can’t recognize whether what they read is true or what they do is wise. Employers were surveyed and found to be more interested in candidates’ capacity to think critically and solve problems than the subject candidates had majored in. Critical thinking is not only important for our students’ employment; I believe it is also important for their spiritual development. Without critical thinking, students will not be able to consider a religious choice that may be different from what they have grown up with, differentiate between religion and faith, or counter objections to following Jesus. We don’t want students to abandon their home culture or disrespect their families, but we want them to be prepared to approach whatever they read or hear with discernment. We don’t want them to be vulnerable to: • Conspiracy theories: ∗ The Holocaust never happened. ∗ The Haiti earthquake was caused by a US weapons test. ∗ Water fluoridation is used by governments to make citizens docile. • Folk beliefs: ∗ Sitting next to an open window even in the summer will make you ill.

∗ If you put your purse on the floor you’ll have financial problems. ∗ Women who have a second toe longer than their big toe are domineering. • Prejudices and spin: ∗ They are all criminals. ∗ They are poor for a reason. ∗ They are smarter than everyone else. ∗ They have the only solutions. If people have never been taught any critical thinking skills, they easily believe things they hear from a popular peer, a beloved grandmother, an authoritarian news source, a clever website, a cult, a powerful government, or an extremist recruiter. Critical thinking gives students confidence to independently interpret what they read or hear and to come to their own conclusions. If students are accustomed to rote learning of facts that experts have told them, they may doubt their ability to read the Bible—something we hope they will do— without an authority figure to explain it. Critical thinking, and its important companion creative thinking, is a bit like a Swiss army knife for life—a tool that allows us to accomplish many useful things and successfully solve problems. It’s also like safety equipment such as goggles or rubber gloves that allows us to explore potentially dangerous ideas without fear of contamination or injury. Critical and creative thinking enable us to face new ideas that come from an increasingly complex, diverse, and interactive world with many choices. The more sophisticated technology becomes and the more linked the world becomes, the more we are confronted with information and images that may or may not be accurate. Critical thinking enables us to be wise about what we see, read, hear, and respond to. Critical and creative thinking allow us to answer new questions and solve new problems in a way that would be impossible if we simply memorized what a teacher or book told us. CETs from some traditions are well trained in critical thinking. They would agree with this American CET working in Asia who says, “I try to foster critical thought in all my teaching. This stems from my faith because

I believe God wants us to develop to our highest potential as thinking, rational beings.” They are used to wrestling with doubt, contradictions, paradoxes, and conflicting views. On the other hand, not everyone has these skills. Teachers are not inherently stronger nor are Westerners necessarily better critical thinkers than their students. Critical thinking is a skill that everyone should work at developing and maintaining. Critical thinking is usually presented as being supported by certain intellectual traits or cognitive skills (and opposed by their opposites): Intellectual traits that aid critical thinking

Intellectual traits that discourage critical thinking

humility

arrogance

courage

cowardice and fear

empathy

narrow-mindedness

perseverance

hypocrisy

integrity

laziness

confidence in reason

reliance on emotion

fair-mindedness

selfishness

flexibility

rigidity

contextual perspective

tunnel vision

inquisitiveness

apathy

reflection

impulsiveness

Our students may need to be reminded that critical thinking does not mean being critical and censorious of other people; in fact, critical thinking can help us work more cooperatively by preventing narrow-mindedness. In addition, critical thinking is not rigid and rule-bound; instead it goes hand in hand with creativity because people are freed from being trapped by what is familiar and popular. In this chapter I give some ways teachers can encourage and explicitly teach critical and creative thinking. More ideas are presented in the “Additional Resources” section. Since this chapter cannot cover all the definitions, components, and teaching suggestions one might need about

critical thinking, see the notes for this chapter for some of the many resources on the topic. The first way to encourage critical thinking is to simply resist uncritical thinking in our classes. When students say things like, “Everyone knows that …” or “It’s obvious that …” or “I heard that …,” teachers should reply with, “Let’s find out more.” If their source is a single news source, blog, or book, get them to look for other sources. If students quote someone, teach them to find the original source and give them examples of problems that occur when people are quoted out of context. Encourage them to regularly check websites that uncover hoaxes, rumors, and misinformation. For example, when a student says that an American missile was what crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 or that all Arabs are terrorists, don’t just roll your eyes and wonder how they can be so ignorant. Instead, ask them to take three important steps: identify exactly where they heard it, examine the veracity of that source, and look for at least one opposing position. Another important aspect of critical thinking is encouraging different viewpoints. Critical thinkers are curious and inquisitive. They recognize that stories all have more than one side. They look for multiple sources and are not afraid of complexity. They are suspicious of narratives that are cast in terms of absolute black and white or good and evil. They are able “to appreciate ambiguity, to explore contradictions without fear, to appreciate the truth of paradox.” Any time teachers supplement a reading with another text about the same topic from a slightly different point of view, or use two or three texts with different perspectives on the same issue, they are teaching critical thinking. For example, a teacher could look for or create four different short readings about women dressing modestly from different perspectives—a man who would rather not be confronted with tempting images all day, a mother who is trying to raise her sons to avoid temptation regardless of what women around him are wearing, a woman who does not want to be viewed solely in terms of her physical body, and a woman who values the freedom to dress as she wants to. Students would analyze the arguments made in each text. Another example, in which students look at different perspectives on their heroes and are pushed to consider that the beautiful and popular may not, in fact, be the best role models, is found in “Additional Resources.”

When possible, teachers who care about critical thinking should teach logic, reasoning, and statistics. Logic and reasoning are skills that contribute to critical thinking. When we teach students about a non sequitur, a straw man, the bandwagon fallacy, an ad hominem argument, or causation vs. correlation, we are helping them (and us!) become better critical thinkers. A basic understanding of statistics is also important. How else can we understand the impact of a five percent chance of serious side effects from taking a medication, or whether we’re more likely to be killed in a car accident or a plane crash? Teachers can also point out ways that critical thinking can be impeded or enhanced. Sometimes critical thinking is hindered by mind traps such as seeing only what we want to see or protecting our earlier choices. When students get out of the rut they’re in, they can be more critical. Critical thinking can also be strengthened by creative thinking. One creativitysparking technique is a set of questions organized around the acronym SCAMPER. Here’s an example with questions related to language learning. S (Substitute): “What can I substitute in my learning process?” C (Combine): “How can I combine learning with other activities?” A (Adapt): “What can I adapt or copy from someone else’s learning process?” M (Magnify): “What can I magnify or put more emphasis on when learning?” P (Put to Other Uses): “How can I put my learning to other uses?” E (Eliminate): “What can I eliminate or simplify in my learning process?” R (Rearrange): “How can I change, reorder, or reverse the way I learn?” Teachers should also work with their students on the skill of argumentation. Critical thinkers know how to construct a good argument, claim, or thesis statement—with a clear assertion, good reasons, and strong evidence. Whether for a debate in an oral skills class or a composition in a writing class, students need to be taught how to do this. Teachers might start with a low-key argument such as “Bananas are better than mangoes” and brainstorm with students to come up with reasons and evidence such as “Bananas are better than mangoes because they are more nutritious. For example, they have 422 mg potassium, compared to 323 mg in mangoes.” Or “Bananas are better than mangoes because they are easier to eat. For

example, you can peel them without a knife. You can eat them without getting juice everywhere.” They can evaluate their classmates’ statements against a checklist: Is it clear? Is it accurate? Is it precise? Is it relevant? Is it deep enough? Is it broad enough? Is it logical? Is it fair? Thus, a statement about the nutritive value of bananas can be challenged in terms of precision and depth. “What about Vitamins A and C? Don’t mangoes have more than bananas?” The role of personal preference can also be examined. It is certainly fine for this particular argument to simply say, “I like bananas more than I like mangoes,” but that type of reasoning is recognized as one with limited persuasive power. Academic reading and listening classes for ESL students are great places to teach them how to process information critically. Four skills to include are: 1. Assess the source: Is the source trustworthy or not? Well-respected or not? Read by a variety of people or a small group? Is it a recognized news source or someone’s personal blog, for example? 2. Recognize the author’s purpose: Is the purpose to persuade, critique, or inform? What content was included and what was left out in light of their purpose? 3. Recognize bias: Given the source or the author, what bias are they likely to have? Is a given statement a fact or an opinion? 4. Understand tone and persuasive elements: what kinds of words are used and why? Are the words neutral or provocative? For example, is someone described as “unfamiliar with X” or “hopelessly ignorant about X”? Are claims worded with appropriate cautions? Here’s an example of leading students through these steps. The teacher starts with an article with the headline “Harvard Study: Pasteurized Milk from Industrial Dairies Linked to Cancer.” • What’s the source of the article? A website called NaturalNews. • What bias does the source have? The website says it promotes holistic health and criticizes drugs-and-surgery medicine and factory farming. • What is the tone? Some emotionally loaded terms are used, such as “shaken the foundation of mainstream science” and “dangerously

high levels.” Claims are worded strongly: “directly implicated” and “clear link.” • What is the purpose? The purpose is to persuade people to drink raw milk. Going deeper into how the purpose affects information chosen, students read the original source from Harvard cited by Natural-News. They learn it was a news article about a lunchtime talk, not an article in a medical journal. They also see differences in the wording of claims, such as “cautious about the implications,” “suspected role,” and “may not be.” These suggestions and examples show that teaching critical and creative thinking requires a lot of time and would be difficult for teachers of beginning level students. There are also cultural differences in what is considered a good argument, locational differences in what is available on the web, and personal differences in how important this kind of thinking is considered. A student in a Muslim part of Southeast Asia told her American teacher, Sam, “If we get smart like people in the West, we will lose our morality.” We know that is not our goal, and we hope it is not an unintended consequence. Nevertheless, with employers, educators, and governments around the world calling for more training in critical and creative thinking, we can’t ignore it. Furthermore, when students have a foundation in critical thinking, they will be able to push back when they hear things like: • “Christians are immoral infidels.” • “The Bible is a corrupted text and you will be corrupted if you read it.” • “Only weak people have to believe in God.” • “You can’t be a scientist and a Christian.” Teachers will only have students in their classes for a short time. We cannot teach students all the truth and values students will need. However, teachers can give students tools so that they will be more receptive to truth in the future. Students will not come to believe that there might be some truth in the Bible after all, that Jesus is more than a great teacher, or that they might be able to change their religion, without the capacity to think critically.

In this chapter my earlier examples have been ones any teacher, not particularly a CET, would use. In “Additional Resources,” I give examples that are ones of more particular interest to CETs. The first is about a topic that I think is related to kingdom purposes—namely, recovery from conflict, trauma, and violence. One of the sources brings up a specifically Christian concept: forgiveness. The second provides opportunities for CETs to share positive role models, including Christians, with students.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: TWO LESSONS THAT ENCOURAGE CRITICAL THINKING 1. A Reading Lesson on National Recovery from Conflict The lesson, for an advanced reading class, opens with the question, “What is the best way for a country that has suffered from civil conflict to recover and move forward?” Our students, perhaps from Rwanda, Kosovo, Sudan, or Iraq, may have their own personal experience of conflict, but sometimes it helps for them to address the question obliquely, from the perspective of some other nation—for example, Germany after the defeat of the Nazis, South Africa after the end of apartheid, or Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge. Because the students may not be familiar with the historical details, provide enough background so that they are aware that in each of these situations, leaders who were once in power committed terrible crimes and that under their rule many people suffered greatly. Then tell students that they will be reading three different texts about how people can cope with such a past. One text advocates a court to prosecute those who have committed war crimes, one advocates a “truth and reconciliation commission,” and the third advocates simply forgetting the past. Students will be practicing what they have learned about critical thinking with these three texts. Remind them that critical thinking entails looking at multiple points of view and that critical reading involves assessing purpose, bias, and tone. Students will be answering the following questions about each text: • What is the purpose of the text? How might that goal have influenced what is written? • Who has written the text, or who speaks in the quotation? How might the person’s background have influenced what they wrote or

said? • What is the tone of the text? What words make it neutral or push it in a certain direction? Students can read all three texts, or, if time is limited, can be assigned only one to read and then report about it to the rest of the class. Each text is about 150 words long, is from an authentic source (i.e., not simplified for nonnative speakers), and is followed by similar questions. Students may be given time not only to read and understand the texts, but to do additional research (e.g., on what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission accomplished, or on what Christians believe about forgiveness).

Text A In July 1998 in Rome, 120 Member States of the United Nations adopted a treaty to establish—for the first time in the history of the world—a permanent international criminal court.… The Court has a mandate to try individuals rather than States and to hold them accountable for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community—genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and, eventually, the crime of aggression.… “The long-held dream of a permanent International Criminal Court is nearing reality,” United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said recently. “Our hope is that, by punishing the guilty, the ICC will bring some comfort to the surviving victims and to the communities that have been targeted. More important, we hope it will deter future war criminals, and bring nearer the day when no ruler, no State, no junta and no army anywhere will be able to abuse human rights with impunity.”— http://www.un.org/News/facts/iccfact.htm (site discontinued) This is a 1998 press release from the United Nations. It includes a quote from Kofi Annan, then United Nations Secretary-General. The International Criminal Court was established for situations when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute crimes against

humanity. For example, in 2009 the ICC indicted the president of Sudan for a campaign against civilians in Darfur. • What is the purpose of both the overall press release and the quote? • What bias, if any, do you expect from this source (the UN and the Secretary-General of the UN)? • What words carry emotional weight? What tone do they give this text? • What makes you more or less likely to agree with this text?

Text B Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned that putting more Khmer Rouge cadres on trial for crimes committed during Pol Pot’s 1975–79 reign of terror could plunge the country back into civil war. “I would prefer to see this tribunal fail instead of seeing war return to my country,” Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge commander, said a day after the joint UN-Cambodian court resumed its trial of Pol Pot’s chief torturer. “If as many as 20 Khmer Rouge are indicted to stand trial and war returns to Cambodia, who will be responsible for that?” Hun Sen added. If nothing else, Hun Sen has been consistent in his wish to have the issue of the Khmer Rouge period and those associated with it relegated to the past. As he said as long ago as 1998, Cambodia and its population “should dig a hole and bury the past.”— http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/2009/04/02/Hun-Sen-draws-adiscrete-veil-over-Cambodias-past.aspx This is from an electronic newsletter published by the Lowy Institute, an Australian “independent international policy think tank.” It quotes Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge commander and the current prime minister of Cambodia. Between 1975 and 1979 the policies of the

Cambodian Communist group Khmer Rouge, under the leadership of Pol Pot, led to the deaths of about 25% of the population. • What biases, if any, do you expect from the sources (an Australian think tank and Hun Sen)? • What is the likely purpose of Hun Sen’s recommendation that Cambodia bury the past? • What is the tone of the quotes? Of the article? What words create the tone? • What makes you more or less likely to agree with this text?

Text C Without forgiveness, there is no future.… To forgive is not just to be altruistic. It is the best form of self-interest. It is also a process that does not exclude hatred and anger. These emotions are all part of being human. You should never hate yourself for hating others who do terrible things: the depth of your love is shown by the extent of your anger. However, when I talk of forgiveness I mean the belief that you can come out the other side a better person. A better person than the one being consumed by anger and hatred. Remaining in that state locks you in a state of victimhood, making you almost dependent on the perpetrator. If you can find it in yourself to forgive then you are no longer chained to the perpetrator. You can move on, and you can even help the perpetrator to become a better person too.—Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town, Chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. From http://theforgivenessproject.com/stories/desmond-tutu-south-africa/. This is from Desmond Tutu, an archbishop in the Anglican denomination of the Christian church. He was also chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC was created by Nelson Mandela’s Government of National Unity in 1995

to help South Africans deal with the aftermath of the apartheid government. The TRC let victims speak the truth about their suffering and let perpetrators of abuse receive amnesty. • Given Tutu’s role in the TRC, what was his purpose in making this statement? • Given his role as a leader in the Christian church, what bias is he likely to have towards forgiveness? (For example, Jesus said, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you”; Matthew 6:14, the Bible.) • What is his tone—neutral or persuasive? Which words tell you that? • What makes you more or less likely to agree with this text? Following the reading, a class with extra time could engage in a debate about the values of dealing with crimes or abuse by the three different methods: prosecution, forgiveness, forgetting, or a combination. Critical thinking can be encouraged by having students prepare to speak on any of the three sides and by having students check each other’s statements for such things as clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, and fairness.

2. Who Is Your Hero? The previous lesson, “A Reading Lesson on National Recovery from Conflict,” took a while to create and assumes a high level of reading ability. An easier way to encourage critical thinking, and one that is applicable to lower-level students, is to include lots of questions that push students to get beyond the surface with writing or discussion prompts. A typical ESL writing prompt is “Who is your hero?” Teachers might look forward to the potential of discussing positive role models like Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Helen Keller, or Christopher Reeve only to be discouraged by students choosing popular media or sports figures of

dubious morality as their heroes. Students will think more critically about their choices with more questions such as the following: • Who is one of your heroes? • What exactly do you admire about him or her? • How did he or she acquire those traits? • How do you know this person is the kind of person you think he/she is? • What do those who don’t admire this person say about him or her? Why do they think so? How do they know? • How could you find out which is right? • Along with the things you admire, is there something about this person that you don’t think you should emulate? What? Why? Since students appreciate samples, not just instructions, to help them with an assignment, CETs might take the opportunity to create a sample that presents a positive role model as well as important values or truth. Here’s one written for high intermediate students: One of my heroes is Pandita Ramabai. She was born in India in 1858. It was a time when women were rarely educated and when a widow (often just a child herself) was often turned out of her husband’s house or burned on his funeral pyre. Ramabai’s father was a highcaste Hindu scholar who, unusually, included his daughter in his studies. When her parents died during a famine, she supported herself by teaching religion. This irritated some orthodox Hindus. That prompted Ramabai to explore Christianity. After her husband died, Ramabai became concerned about the plight of widows. She started several homes and schools for widows, orphans, unwed mothers, the blind, and the homeless. By this time she had decided to follow Christ, whom she saw as a person who cared about poor women. She was honored as a social reformer by both the British Raj and the Indian government. I admire Ramabai for several reasons. One is that she was a scholar; she read and wrote many languages. Another is that she devoted her life to the poor and vulnerable. Third, I admire the way

she approached her new religion. She spent many years reading the Bible, thinking about Christianity, and interacting with Christians before she decided to become a Christian. The articles I have read about her have all been quite positive. However, I’m sure Ramabai had some faults. She became a Christian while she was studying in England, so I’m sure she struggled with what that meant for her as an Indian. Hindus were angry she’d become a Christian, and some Christians were angry that she didn’t make the girls in her centers convert. Many social reformers have critics, so it would be interesting to read more about her approach to women’s education too. Perhaps I would learn about something that would change my opinion, but for now, I am filled with admiration for this pioneer of social activism in India.

Sources: http://www.gratefulness.org/giftpeople/ramabai.htm discontinued).

(site

Pandita Ramabai [web article]. (2016, June 3). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandita_Ramabai. Pandita Ramabai: Founder of Mukti Mission [web article]. (2010, August 13). Retrieved from http://www.jeevanmarg.com/testimonies/pandita-ramabaifounder-of-mukti-mission/. Woodridge, J. D. (1994). Ambassadors for Christ: Distinguished representatives of the message throughout the world. Chicago, IL: Moody. Note that this kind of assignment needs to take into consideration students’ abilities to navigate multiple sources (without using webpages in their first language, if our goals include developing reading as well as writing skills). Realistic sources can be illustrated in the model and included in a web hunt prepared in advance (where good sources are gathered in one place for students).

10 POWER DYNAMICS: Appropriate Teacher-Student Relationships An EFL teacher writes, “While I was on a mission stint in my college years, one of my ‘students’ and I became ‘friends.’ Months later, he disclosed through a letter that he had ‘faked conversion’ so that he could spend time with me. In his mind ‘free’ classes came at a cost—conversion.” One of the most challenging realities for teachers who want their students to learn new ideas along with new language is that there are different norms for the teacher-student relationship in different cultures. Don Snow writes: Teachers virtually always have authority and power over their students. The degree of this power varies greatly from one situation to the next. In a school setting where the grades a teacher issues may determine a student’s future, the degree of power is considerable. In an informal evening conversation class for adults, the teacher’s power may be considerably less. … In most cultures the role of teacher inherently carries with it a degree of power and influence, even when no grading is involved. Also, the fact that English is a scarce and precious commodity, and that foreign teachers are even rarer, gives CETs an added degree of power and influence. In some cultures the power dynamic is such that students must not only listen to but also agree with and even obey everything the teacher says. In other cultures, students may conform to teacher’s expectations because of

face. Their respect for authority means they don’t want a teacher to lose face when a student doesn’t agree. For teachers raised in a culture where students are taught to think for themselves, routinely disagree with teachers, and value independent action, being with students from the opposite side of the spectrum can be disconcerting. Yes, it can be pleasant to have compliant students, but if teachers are unaware of their students’ culture, it can lead to frustration on both sides. It is especially important for CETs to be aware of how this power dynamic affects the way students respond to the teacher’s interest in the gospel. Here are some examples. • When the teacher says something foreign to the students’ religious beliefs, she will expect that students may ignore it or even push back. However, the students may feel pressure to agree, or at least to express polite agreement, and therefore become resentful that they are being asked to agree with something so alien. • When the teacher asks students if they want to hear more about his faith or stories related to his belief, the teacher expects students to honestly say yes or no. However, when students are used to politely agreeing with any suggestion from a person in authority they will say yes, even if they are not particularly interested in the topic. • When it becomes apparent to students that the teacher values religion, students who are used to doing whatever it takes to side with the teacher will also express an interest in religion. For the students it is not that they really care about religion, but that they live in a culture in which people have learned the expedience of aligning themselves with those in power. They are being practical, realistic, pragmatic, and convenient—not spiritual. • When a teacher invites students to an extracurricular event (e.g., a Bible study or church dinner), she expects that students who want to come will and those who don’t won’t. However, the students interpret an invitation from a teacher as an imperative and are unhappy that they are being “forced” to attend a religious event that they are not interested in. They may say yes (because that is how one responds to an invitation from a superior) but not show

up (because that is also culturally appropriate), or they may show up but feel resentful. Some schools and some teachers cope with this reality by sticking strictly to the textbook, carefully monitoring any talk about religion (or other sensitive subjects), and forbidding extracurricular contact between teachers and students. However, such policies are discouraging for teachers who hope to have a chance to build relationships with students, and the policies also mean students lose out on opportunities to use English in genuine ways. Some teachers may think that giving students control and power—for example, by means of discussion-only classes—is a solution. This approach not only abdicates our responsibility to teach well but also may just conceal who has the real authority. Empowering learners is a central theme in much current professional literature, but it can be complicated. Instead, sensitive teachers (and good school curricula) will build in elements that teach critical thinking (see previous chapter), polite disagreement, and appropriate expectations for the teacher-student relationship. In terms of disagreeing with the teacher, a teacher can tell students at the outset of class that they don’t have to agree with everything she says, and can teach polite phrases for expressing differences of opinion. She can try a disagreement game, telling the students that at some point during the day or week, she’ll say something that they should disagree with, and that points will be awarded to the student who does so in an appropriate way. She can give example conversations such as: Teacher: I’ll see you in class tomorrow. Student [raising hand]: Excuse me, tomorrow is Saturday. Do you mean Monday? Teacher: The capital of Thailand is Chiang Mai. Student [raising hand]: I’m sorry, Ms. Thompson. Chiang Mai is a fine city, but the capital is actually Bangkok. Teacher: I think Deeply Loved Public Figure X made a bad decision.

Student [raising hand]: Well, not necessarily. Many of us think it was a good decision. There are some students who have no trouble disagreeing with a teacher and will argue points of grammar and many other things to the point of annoying their classmates as well the teacher. If teachers have such students in their class, they may want to emphasize the politeness aspect of this lesson rather than the challenging the teacher aspect. Shouting out disagreements or corrections, speaking too bluntly (e.g., “You’re wrong”), or continuing to push for one’s opinion after saying it at most two times can mean students lose rather than gain points. (Teachers may also have rebellious young people in their classes who seem to have power over their instructors, rather than vice versa. That is a classroom management issue and beyond the scope of this chapter.) Another way to help students learn that they have autonomy and the ability to say either yes or no in the classroom is for teachers to give students choices, as noted in Chapter 8. Thus, if a teacher wants to invite students to something extracurricular at a church, with Christian friends, or in any way associated with the gospel, it’s a good idea to provide options. For example, the teacher can give students a list of four ways to get extra practice with English: join the Saturday creek clean-up walks with the Sierra Club, attend a Friday Bible study at a church near campus, try out the Monday noon Toastmasters meetings, or come to the Wednesday night board games event at a local coffee shop. Grades are an important way that students experience the power dynamic between teachers and students. Students may come from places where final grades depend on a single test, which might be a subjectively marked oral interview; they often feel powerless in the hands of a teacher who might need to be cajoled or bribed into giving a good score. Students may need to be oriented to unfamiliar systems that involve multiple attendance, homework, and test scores, along with inflexible policies (e.g., “If you miss a test, you get a zero”). Thus, offering extra credit to do something like attend a Bible study is not a good idea for teachers who are trying to carefully navigate between offering students opportunities to explore spiritual ideas or experiences and not pressuring students. Students may also assume that agreement with the teacher is a requirement for a

good grade. Teachers need to reassure students (especially in writing classes) that their scoring rubrics may include marks for well-organized or supported content, but that specific ideas will not be part of the grade. Power dynamics are especially critical when students are children. Parents must be clearly informed about any religious teaching that children are given. Schools and camps that will include a religious message should inform parents what this will entail. Parents who are not Christians may still be happy to have their children in a program that includes character building and a community committed to showing God’s love—as long as they are informed in advance. Christian teachers should not have hidden agendas or secret identities (as was noted in Chapter 4). Finally, when children or their families are vulnerable or dependent—for example, in an orphanage or refugee camp—teachers should take special care that families don’t feel compelled to respond to a religious message in order to get the support they need. As members of Christ’s kingdom, in which the last shall be first and in which Jesus tells us to learn from children, we can also push against the usual teacher-student power dynamic by being open to learning from our students. Jody Fernando gives this wonderful example: It was a simple statement, created in the moment by one of my Syrian students attempting to form a dependent phrase, but it stopped us all in our tracks. Everyone else in the class (teacher included!) had created much lazier sentences: “When I’m bored, I watch TV.” “When I’m bored, I go to sleep.” “When I’m bored, I use the computer.” But none of us had considered offering this depth of insight when tackling grammatical structures in English sentences: “When I’m bored, I ask my heart what it needs.”

The simple phrasing of his words lingered with me. How often do I ignore what my heart needs by calling it boredom? I wondered silently, the teacher-in-me suddenly becoming a student. These students. Though they may use broken words at times, they have so much wisdom to share. Christian English teachers can probably quote several scriptures related to power. We know we should have the “same attitude that Christ Jesus had, [who] gave up his divine privileges” (Phil 2:5–7 NLT). We know that our answers to questions should be given with “gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 3:15) rather than with dominance. But we should also not be naïve about the effects of the teacher-student relationship on our witness. We need to educate ourselves about the cultural and personal factors that may influence how students hear what we say and find practical ways to mitigate those influences.

11 OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM I hope that this book gives you lots of ideas for what you can do in the classroom through the materials and activities you choose. However, it is also true that sometimes classroom opportunities are limited. This could be because of tightly managed syllabi that leave little room for teachers to add anything different. Teachers may be required to cover a certain number of chapters in the textbook, forcing a brisk pace every hour. Students may expect that every minute in class will prepare them directly for a highstakes test or their next academic classes. Limitations could also be caused by institutional, cultural, or legal restrictions on what teachers can and can’t talk about. Even without such restrictions, following the suggestions in this book may lead only to students asking questions and not allow for exploration of the answers. Furthermore, spiritual conversations often require long-term relationships, and teachers’ time with students is always limited. They may also require the student to have advanced proficiency in English and/or the teacher to know the student’s primary language. Finally, some teachers may not have a formal teaching assignment due to job or family situations. All of their work with students may happen in their living room or a coffee shop—in other words, “outside the classroom.” For all of these reasons out-of-class activities are important. It was when I invited students to my home for Thanksgiving and an Iranian woman reciprocated with dinner at her home that a relationship of more than thirty years was born. It was during an open house at our home in Turkmenistan that we got to show the JESUS film to interested students and colleagues (who could also choose a room with games or crafts). It was in a semiprivate conversation during office hours in China that I got to talk to a

student about decision making, discernment, and her future. It was on the bus coming back from a class picnic that a Tajik student and I had a discussion about Muslim and Christian conceptions of the final judgment.

FIVE QUESTIONS What This chapter on out-of-class activities is framed around five questions. First of all, what. The simplest way to be involved with students outside of class is through office hours. These may be required by the institution or set up voluntarily by the teacher. They provide a chance for students, whether alone or in small groups, to come to the teacher’s office or to another school location and ask questions about assignments or chat informally about life. They may be in-person or via Skype or an online meeting app. Another kind of out-of-class activity is a social event such as an occasional party or a regular gathering. Some teachers host weekly or monthly gatherings in their home. Some teachers sponsor or participate in English clubs or other student groups. Sometimes an opportunity such as a big birthday, national holiday, or special occasion prompts a get-together with or for students. Events can have English-focused activities such as watching a movie in English, listening to a talk in English, or playing word games. They can also feature fun activities that even beginners can enjoy— jigsaw puzzles, games of Uno or whiffle ball, and music. Students who are quiet in class may shine in an extracurricular context. A third type of out-of-class activity takes the form of service. Teachers of immigrant students who are new to the area may find that someone needs an introduction to local thrift stores or a ride to the doctor, for example. It can go the other way too. When teachers are the newcomers, they might be the ones asking students for help shopping for a specialty item or visiting a local landmark. Teachers who are too busy for much social interaction with students can use the time otherwise spent on errands to have the conversations both are hoping for. Students who may be feeling depressed by their poor English can benefit from being experts, in a position of responsibility. More extensive service learning, where students help out in a

retirement home, soup kitchen, orphanage, or refugee camp, can be a great way to provide language learning and good conversation opportunities. This might be informal, as a few students accompany a teacher in her own service, or a formal program built into the curriculum. Class field trips can also open up great learning opportunities and in-depth conversations. Finally, more extensive out-of-class activities take the form of English camps. For a weekend, a week, or a month, students gather for all sorts of activities in English, including games, sports, crafts, music, stories, and dramas.

Who The second question is who. Obviously, many of these out-of-class activities can be undertaken by the teacher alone. However, sometimes it helps or is just more fun if a few friends or family members are involved. International students far from home often enjoy interacting with their teacher’s children. Students who visit their teacher’s home and get to see family interaction typically comment on how meaningful it is to see husbands and wives respecting and helping each other, parents showing discipline and love to their children, and young people responding with courtesy and friendly curiosity to the international students who visit. Teachers who are busy or shy can benefit from having a few other people around to help with a meal, conversation, or driving. Friends can also be important when female teachers have male students to interact with and vice versa. Teachers who want to keep firm boundaries between themselves and current students appreciate being able to delegate social interaction to others. Teachers in remote locations can recruit friends to interact with their students via Skype, Google Hangouts, or the equivalent. Finally, largerscale extracurricular activities, such as a big Friday night event or a summer camp, require a whole team. Having a team allows people with different gifts (explaining grammar, evangelism, cooking, telling jokes, discipleship, speaking the students’ home language) to all contribute to what God is doing. Teachers who can involve others, whether a formal team or an informal group of fellow believers, are less likely to experience blurred teacher-student boundaries that can lead to perceived conflict of interest.

They are also more likely to be able to engage in kingdom work without burning out.

When The third question, when, has already been touched on. Some events are regular, such as Tuesday afternoon office hours, Friday evening English movie nights, or monthly English club meetings. Others are more ad hoc: a lunch meeting with a student who has lots of questions about applying to university, a World Cup final game viewing party, or a ride to a nearby bigbox store.

Where Where do out-of-class activities take place? Many different locations. They often occur at school—in teacher’s offices, dining halls, or student unions. Sometimes the teacher’s home is a good location. Other times, because of privacy concerns, gender propriety, space limitations, or distance, a public place such as a coffee shop, community center, or park is better. Some organizations have a designated space—for example, Café COEN in Sapporo, Japan (read more about this in this chapter’s “Additional Resources” section). Some activities require only cyberspace, such as long distance conversations between students and friends in an English-speaking location.

Why Wrapping up the questions is why. Out-of-class activities may be a part of the school’s program. Field trips, project work, or service learning might be built into the curriculum. Each activity would have objectives related to language and culture acquisition. Apart from institutional goals, individual teachers might engage in out-of-class activities because of their beliefs about language learning. They know that informal interaction can help students build fluency and can motivate students by connecting classroom

activities to the real world. Finally, Christian English teachers know that relationships are key to accomplishing their goals of “giving a reason for the hope they have.” Their ministry with students and colleagues occurs largely outside the classroom.

EXAMPLES • Jonathan and Naomi were a “retired” couple teaching in rural China. Although they had 500 students between them, they invited them all to a Christmas open house in their apartment. Students signed up in small groups to come early to decorate or to cook (pineapple upside-down cake made in a skillet). When the guests came, they could get their picture taken in front of a tree, decorate gingerbread cookies, listen to music, make popcorn, sing, and pick up a bilingual booklet about the meaning of Christmas if they chose to. • Joy and Adam are a married couple both teaching in a university in a medium-size city in China. Through various networks, they often host visiting groups of English-speaking Christians. Sometimes they set up extra English corners on campus and have the foreigners lead small group conversation, activities, or games. Volunteers also visit their classes. When visitors are in town, the students can be split into small groups, the visitors rotate among the groups, and the students ask questions. Music concerts or talent shows allow their students and the visitors to perform and share music. Guests have sung songs about their faith and explained why the songs were important to them. For groups with a different kind of talent, sports weekends in English are popular. The students love these extra opportunities to practice English and the guests enjoy talking about spiritual issues with students. • Students enrolled in a college intensive English program in Connecticut spend time once a week engaged in service. They serve meals in a soup kitchen, build houses with Habitat for Humanity, help PE teachers or tutor kids in math at a local elementary school, or visit with seniors in a retirement center.

Back in the classroom they read about issues like homelessness, welfare, affordable housing, childhood education, and the elderly. They also discuss their experiences. Language learning becomes doubly meaningful. Since many of the service opportunities are through Christian organizations or with Christian volunteers, students have opportunities to develop positive views of Christians. • “Free ESL” is an educational outreach hosted by a couple who both teach ESL for residents, visitors, immigrants, or internationals in a small city in Southern California. They meet once a week in a community center. Their notices read: Our approach is “faith-based,” but we welcome ESL students from all faiths (or no faith at all) and those from all cultures. Our purposes are to help: your English language skills and your life skills. (1) English Language Skills—We teach language skills (i.e., US Culture, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, listening, speaking, conversation, reading, and writing). (2) Life Skills—We teach relevant life topics (e.g., better connections with self and others through love, joy, peace, patience, struggle, celebration, rest … “but the greatest of these is love”). We hope to see you soon! And bring a friend with you! And remember, it’s free! The attendees include Christians, people from other religious traditions, and nonbelievers. (A firsthand account with more details about this class is in “Additional Resources.”) • Mark is an American teacher working at a university in Central Asia. He includes a “Skype to speak English” class session at least once a semester in his small classes, or schedules it for office hours if he has a large class. All of his friends from the US and Europe who have volunteered for this project are strong Christians, and often speak boldly about their faith. The students also ask tough questions of the volunteers. Students are enthusiastic about this opportunity to speak real English.

• A church near the University of Michigan offers a summer English camp for the children of the many international students there. Professional teachers in the church write the curriculum, train volunteers in weekly sessions, and offer on-the-spot support during the camp. Volunteers teach in teams. The whole church prays for the camp and participates in welcoming next steps for internationals, such as family-friendly picnics. Relationships between church members and international students develop, and some students have joined the church. The response was slow at first, but over the course of ten years the camp has developed a good reputation among internationals at the university.

POSSIBLE ISSUES In the United States, there are some institutions that welcome the involvement of faith-based organizations and teachers with their ESL students. They are happy for local ISI (International Students, Inc.) volunteers or staff to pick international students up at the airport, for local churches to facilitate Thanksgiving dinners for their students, or for teachers to invite students to Christian events. A community college in Kansas partners with a church outreach center to offer their beginning level adult ESL classes, happily publicizing the church’s services to students such as child care, health care, food, and emergency assistance that can help them persist in their English learning. Other schools, however, are unwilling to let outsiders, especially Christians, have contact with their students. A successful conversation partner program in Northern California, for example, was shut down when a school administrator found out the English-speaking volunteers came from churches. While such restrictions may be disappointing to CETs, we can also appreciate institutions that want to protect students from aggressive cults. There may also be liability issues that prompt schools to have rules against teachers giving students rides—which would prevent the implementation of some of the ideas I’ve presented. In international settings there is a similar range of possible responses. Some governments or schools welcome Christian individuals and groups

even at the same time they tell them “No proselytizing.” The authorities have come to appreciate the teachers’ good morals and high-quality teaching over possible religious differences. Joy, a CET at a university in China, told me that a foreign teacher had been asked to leave because of giving extra credit to students who came to a Bible study in her apartment. However, the activities that Joy and her husband engage in (game night, baking together, ping pong and basketball games, outings to local tourist spots, coffee off campus, etc.) have never been censured. Similarly, some US schools place no limits on how teachers meet with students. Extra tutoring, invitations to play softball, lunch meetings—it’s all fine. Other schools, surely for the protection of both teachers and students, do not allow any out-of-class interaction between students and teachers unless it is with a group. A teacher could have lunch with the whole class, but not with only one student, for example. While this might seem overly restrictive (what about the student in the hospital? What about the spontaneous meeting at the local coffee shop?), it is obvious how this rule could guard against situations such as students receiving unwanted sexual advances from teachers, or teachers being stalked by aggressive students. Some teachers, perhaps because of their personality or age, can balance in-class discipline at the same time they cultivate out-of-class relationships. However, other teachers find this equilibrium hard to maintain. Thus, for some teachers, a good rule of thumb is to reserve out-of-class relationships for alumni rather than current students. That prevents worries about the appearance of favoritism, grading fiascos, and other pressures. Working with alumni assumes that students and teacher will stay in touch long-term. If there are students who want more contact than the teacher can manage, given time constraints, it would be helpful to connect them to other people, especially those who are fluent in the students’ languages, and to churches willing to welcome newcomers. The value of friends, fellow church members, or teammates helping out has already been mentioned. However, a word of caution when relying on others is in order. Sometimes such helpers have no idea how to talk to nonnative speakers. Guidelines such as “Avoid idioms” and “Pause often to allow processing time” can be helpful. One’s helpers may also be naïve or uninformed about how to talk with people from another religious background. It’s a good idea for teachers to provide guidelines about their expectations and even specific wording for

commonly asked questions—for example, “Don’t press for on-the-spot conversion” or “If asked why you are doing this, explain that Jesus tells us to love our neighbors and that this meal and conversation time is our way of doing that.” Teachers should not hesitate to offer advice and training to volunteers or newcomers joining a team.

CONCLUSION Whether for reasons of personal goals, professional boundaries, or practical constraints, for many CETs most of their ministry will occur outside the classroom. Even though relating to students outside of class may allow more freedom, we shouldn’t take advantage of the lack of institutional or government oversight. Our reputation as teachers still depends on managing events and relating to students with integrity.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: FOUR EXAMPLES OF REAL CETs HAVING AN IMPACT OUTSIDE OF CLASS 1. Free ESL James Scott (pseudonym) writes: A few years ago I had a deep spiritual experience. In spite of years of missionary service and a fulfilling career as an ESL teacher in the US, I felt that I had not really shared what I’ve experienced of God’s love with others. Wanting to share with others was the catalyst for the class Free ESL. We meet between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Tuesdays in our local community center. I don’t advertise Free ESL in my Southern California community college classes (though the college has gained some students who first started in the class)—most students have come through word of mouth. We also have a Facebook page. My wife and I both teach the class. The tag-team dynamic adds a lot to the class, stretches our relationship, and shows students what a broken/beautiful 30-year marriage looks like. My wife often opens with a vocabulary activity or a song with lyrics. Then I’ll lead activities related to reading, speaking, or pronunciation. The last activity has students write something that they can read to the group at the end if they choose. We save half an hour at the end for eating. We bring something simple like fruit or quesadillas and the students often bring

something too. This a great time for conversation and getting to know newcomers. Ninety percent of our time is spent on the English language, but nearly every week there’s 10% for personal/spiritual input (for example, “Those of us who follow Jesus believe that …”). My wife and I are very open in sharing our lives, both highs and lows. We are not interested in converts. We only want to share love and acceptance and sensitivity to see what God might be doing in someone’s life. We plan the semester’s lessons during the previous winter or summer break so everything’s ready when our busy teaching time begins. During a recent semester our theme was love. Each week we talked about another characteristic of love: patient, kind, not envious, not rude, not proud, not selfish, not easily angered, forgiving, rejoicing in the truth, protective, trusting, hopeful, persevering, fearless. An earlier semester focused on balance in faith, family, friends, community, identity, emotions, education, nutrition, exercise, work, rest, celebration, time/talents/treasures, past/present/future, and goals. Before that a semester’s topic was connections: upward to God and mentors, outward to family and friends, downward to the world and the weak, and inward to various kinds of personal health (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, financial, vocational). Most of our students are middle-aged females, perhaps because it is offered in the middle of the day. Some students have been coming faithfully for three years: a Korean Presbyterian, a Chinese Baptist, a Guatemalan Catholic, a Mexican Pentecostal. Other students come once or twice only. The average is about eight in any given day. I would say that we have had about 100 people attend at least once.

Here are some things that God has done. One day our zealous Pentecostal Mexican student befriended a new student from Mexico and the next week announced that (after class the previous week) she had led her new friend to the Lord. (How foolish to think that we were the only ones who could have such influence!) An El Salvadorian woman asked to meet with my wife outside of class to go through The Purpose Driven Life (in Spanish and English). She and then, after a month or two, her adult daughter came to the Lord, and both were baptized. A Korean woman (one of our faithful few) joined our “House-toHouse” group with her African American husband. They had hosted a Korean fellowship in their home, but we are seeing her husband grow as a leader/husband in our English-speaking fellowship. A Chinese Taoist man has attended off and on, and I have made him my friend (maybe more because I needed him than he needed me). He is still a Taoist, and may always be, but that doesn’t matter really. He is my friend. We never saw this unlikely friendship coming. The bottom line for me is that this class has simply been an instrument to attempt to let God’s love flow through us to those in our tiny sphere.

2. COEN COnnect through ENglish is the ministry in Japan of three Americans, two Japanese, and various short-term volunteers. It consists of a Bible community (with worship opportunities in English-friendly Japanese and Japanese-friendly English) as well as a café and English classes. They write on their website (http://www.coenlife.com/): We operate a café and English school because they: ∗ are ways to meet people’s needs. ∗ provide open doors to build relationships. ∗ give us opportunites to show our faith. ∗ are a self-sustaining way to pay the bills.

The café is popular with folks who pass by on the cycling road, college students from nearby Hokusei University, and moms with kids who like the playroom. A large center table and a collection of games encourage interaction. WiFi and single tables let people work individually. English classes provide weekly opportunities to connect. Four teachers teach about 80 people of all ages in both private and group lessons. Hiromi Takahashi, one of the Japanese EFL teachers, writes: When I started teaching at COEN, I was afraid that there may not be much demand for a nonnative English-speaking teacher (NNEST) like me because, in Japan, native English speakers are often regarded as the ideal English teachers. But I have learned that most adult learners who come to COEN need and appreciate explicit grammar instruction in Japanese, and my own English-learning experience in Japan coupled with my MA in TESOL has enabled me to meet these learners’ needs. Some learners, especially older students, say that they are afraid of having contact with native English speakers because they are not confident in speaking English. They are often more at ease starting with a Japanese-speaking English teacher like me. Mrs. S., a beginning student in her sixties, is one of these people. About one and a half years ago, she visited COEN to ask us for help. She was learning English in an adult education course at a nearby college, but she couldn’t understand what the native English-speaking instructor was saying in class. So she signed up for a private lesson with me to prepare for her weekly English conversation class at the college. I used Japanese and answered all her questions about the grammar and vocabulary in her textbook. I also helped her with pronunciation. Then, she gradually started to understand what was going on in her conversation class. She was so happy that she started telling her classmates about us. She even brought some of her classmates, who later became our students too. One of these people started attending our Sunday worship, believed in Jesus, and was baptized in April! There was a time when I thought of my status as an NNEST as a weakness, but

now I see it as a powerful key to the hearts of Japanese learners of English. My identity as an NNEST is a precious gift that the Lord has entrusted to me for his kingdom. In my earlier days at COEN, I was anxious to share the gospel with unbelievers. I would think to myself, “What if these people don’t have another opportunity to hear the gospel in their lifetime?” I would grab every opportunity in and outside the classroom and try to convince the students and customers that English is not the ultimate source of life, but Christ is. This approach, however, didn’t bear much fruit. Now I have found that my rejoicing in Christ often “speaks” more powerfully than my speaking of Jesus. People often ask, “Why are you so happy all the time?” “Why are you so positive about everything?” “There’s something different in you. What’s your secret?” These questions all lead to one answer: Jesus Christ. As I seek him more than anything else and rejoice in him, the Lord himself “speaks” to the students and customers through my whole being. All I need to do is love the Lord with all my heart and love all the people he has created for himself. As I devote myself to this, the Lord opens doors to heart-to-heart conversations with the students and customers. Even my simple greeting like “How are you doing?” leads a person to open up. Then the Holy Spirit prompts me to share with her what Jesus has done for me in my life or what the Bible says about the life issues she is dealing with. What I do is just bask in the Lord’s love for me and love him by obeying his command: “Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

3. Tom in Southeast Asia Tom (pseudonym) is an American with a master’s degree in TESOL who has been teaching in a Muslim area in Southeast Asia for many years. He started working for a chain school, opening a branch for them in a new city. Then he opened his own school where he could implement a philosophy of

“transformed teachers making their classrooms environments where students are transformed and prepared to bring transformation to their world.” He hires teachers who are relational toward students, passionate about teaching, and communicative in methodology. Local teachers are placed in classes suitable for their English proficiency and given free classes to improve their English if needed. They are paid by the hour; teachers from abroad typically volunteer. Classes include conversational English for all ages, business English, test preparation, and specialty classes such as English for Leadership and Video English. Eventually a likeminded local colleague became the owner-director of the school. Tom teaches about twelve hours a week, doing teacher development as well. This arrangement allows him time for other activities he is committed to. These extracurricular activities are critical to Tom’s work and calling. One activity Tom takes time for is teacher training for local universities and the government ministry of education. This is his way of giving back to the community; it also builds goodwill with local authorities. One-on-one mentoring is another of Tom’s priorities. Over the years there have been administrative staff with whom he has spent significant weekly time. Two of these mentees were Christians, so this involved what might be called discipleship. Seeing what Tom was doing with them, the school’s Muslim program coordinator asked for the same kind of gettogether. For five years Tom mentored him in kingdom values. Tom also has time for futsal, a form of indoor soccer that is popular in their city. It keeps him fit and allows school staff and students to do something fun together. Tom is passionate about prayer. In a nation with a Muslim population, it’s not unusual for schools to have prayer rooms, but in their school the House of Prayer room is a place where Muslims and Christians alike spend time alone or together for special events. People who come to the House of Prayer are moved when they hear prayers that are not a recitation in a foreign language, but heartfelt conversation. The program coordinator said, “I felt guilty because I found it hard to pray five times a day. But since I’ve been coming to the House of Prayer, I find myself praying all day.” Participants are also moved by answers to prayer. Tom recounts how one day the school’s new security guard joined them for prayer. As always the men went around the room one by one sharing

concerns and encouragements (“This week I’ve been battling illness and depression …”; “This week I struggled with pornography …”; “This week I read about how God cares even for the sparrow …”). The guard then spoke. “I had a bad fight with my wife. I beat her up. Yes, I was drunk at the time, but she deserved it.” The response in the room was, “We know how you feel. We know how frustrating our wives can be. We will pray for you.” Three months later he quit beating his wife. He still has no interest in Jesus, but his wife does and has been meeting with Tom’s wife to learn more. For Tom, the House of Prayer is the “engine room” behind everything they do. Finally, prompted by Tom’s desire to bring Christians and Muslims together, the school promotes Peace Generation, or PeaceGen (PeaceGeneration.org). This group, cofounded by an American and a local, creates interactive materials and events for peace education among youth. The school offers an English club using PeaceGen materials, and has PeaceGen extracurricular events. This club is a great way to involve students who want more than English classes, but who aren’t interested in something explicitly religious. The school also transformed a room in their building into the Peace Café, providing a space for informal meetings and formal events, such as a discussion about and a fundraiser for the victims of fighting in Palestine (a popular cause among Muslim youth around the world). The English classes bring lots of students into contact with Tom and his staff. The classes act as the wide end of a funnel, so to speak, allowing students who want more to hang out at the Café, play futsal, or come to the House of Prayer.

4. Conversational English in the Balkans Darrell (pseudonym) writes: Today’s college students in this part of the world were born after the 1995 end of the brutal ethnically and religiously motivated civil war. However, they still live under a government suffering from post-Communist inertia, in an economy with high unemployment, and in a society pulled by

Muslims, Orthodox, and Catholics living in the same region. In other words, there is much to both try to forget about and to talk about. It was in this context in the early 2000s that the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) invited teams of American InterVarsity students to come teach a summer conversational English course. A local IFES worker followed up with interested students throughout the year. Now there are more native speakers of English on the IFES team, so the course can be taught more often. Intermediate and advanced level classes are held once a week, for 90 minutes, over ten-week sessions. They meet in the IFES office downtown. Students are told in the first session, “Why do we offer these courses? We love your nation and want to help students. We are followers of Jesus and in the Bible he says ‘Serve.’” In the beginning, classes were publicized with flyers and posters around campus, but now most of the promotion comes from students and former students who use their departmental and personal Facebook pages. The curriculum is theme-based and conversation-focused since none of the team are trained in TESOL. A typical class consists of a warm-up, 30–45 minutes of small-group conversation, and a wrap-up activity like a game or debate. After class, the teacher invites the students out for coffee. During the main conversation time, students are talking about questions in trios and the teacher is circulating, listening, and occasionally joining in. What are the course rules? Speak English, make mistakes, encourage each other, turn off your cell phone, and attend at least 80% of the time to get a certificate. Topics in the advanced course include “The Good Life,” “Hopes and Dreams,” and “Revolution and Protest.” The topic “Life Timelines” generates lots of good talk and allows believing students in the group to share their story. The topic “Ethics and Morality” also provokes lively conversation.

During the topic “Religion” students tend to fall back into safe truisms. The lesson on “Dating and Sex” begins with the idiom “the birds and the bees.” Small-group discussion questions include: What do you look for in a dating partner?, What does a relationship need, to last for the ages?, What is the role of sacrifice and suffering in love?, Do you believe that a couple should try sex before marriage to see if they’re compatible?, and several more. The wrap-up activity for this lesson focuses on 1 Corinthians 13. The introduction reads, “This is a piece of poetry from the Bible, which speaks of love between people and between God and man. It is extremely famous, and often is used in American weddings (even by non-religious people) and referenced in popular culture.” In table groups students discuss: What parts stand out to you? What do you think of this view of love? Would you like to experience love like this? Are people capable of love like this? Students are also invited to monthly free dinners, followed by a brief talk (which has been advertised as part of the dinner), usually about the uniqueness of Jesus with an encouragement to learn more about him in the Bible, and small-group discussion. Usually about 100 students will attend a class; 40 will socialize around the class (e.g., have coffee afterwards); about 20–40 will attend a dinner; about 20 will actually have a spiritual conversation with a staff member; and about 5 will study the Bible—some for an occasion or two, some for nearly a year. In this region, IFES’ paradigm is a modified version of “disciplemaking movements.” This means that when staff study the Bible with a group of students, the conversation ends with, “If/Because these are God’s words to us, how will your life change?” and “Who else needs to hear this?” Before students have even come to faith, they may try out Jesus’ way and see

that it is best. People who are hungry for wisdom and the good life come to faith via obedience before intellectual assent. In addition, teamwork between the international and local staff is very important.

12 SPIRITUAL REALITY: Nurturing Our Spiritual Lives and Praying for Students Up to now in this book I have directed our gaze outward—to good materials, to our students and colleagues, and to their futures. However, what happens inside our hearts is also critical. Parker Palmer writes, “We teach who we are.… Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one’s inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together.… Good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” Another way to look at it, he says, is that “bad teaching involves a disconnect between the stuff being taught and the self who is teaching.” I don’t think this means we shouldn’t try to be energetic and positive with students even if we’re feeling down; rather it means that the state of our soul, like it or not, will eventually impact our students. CETs have to take care of their souls in order to have a positive effect on their students. “Living out our vocation is both an inner and outer journey,” writes Gloria Durka. If we want our students’ inner lives to awaken, it “requires continually becoming awake and open to deeper levels of our own inner life and intentionally nurturing them.” Another teacher told his students, “I think hard … about who I should be as the kind of person who will help determine the kind of persons you will be.” We each have different ways of tending to our souls: times of worship that direct us to the greatness of God, retreats when we can be silent and

still, group prayer when our burdens can be lifted by fellow believers, meditation on Scripture to remind us of what is true. This is how we stay planted by streams of water so that we have water that not only quenches our thirst but also wells up to eternal life, and is living water others can taste. This is how we can have the light of life and walk in the light—the only way it’s possible for our light to shine before others for the glory of God. Otherwise we are easily overwhelmed by a dark world, tempted to veer off into self-indulgence, or dried out by the tedium of daily life. One form of soul care that I think is especially valuable for CETs is the kind of prayer Henri Nouwen describes in The Way of the Heart. It’s not an activity that involves our intellectual capacities where we speak to God or think about God, with “interesting words or pious emotions.” Instead it is “standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart.” It entails choosing a simple word or phrase and repeating it throughout the day. If our phrase was, for example, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” it would give rise to “an inner experience of God’s shepherding action in whatever we think, say, or do,” including our teaching. I have used the phrase “wisdom from above” from James 3:17 (RSV) to remind me that as a frail human I may not know how to solve classroom problems or respond well to students, but that God provides the insight I need. I like to set reminders for myself to pray in this way. It may be the few seconds’ wait while my online grade book loads, the fountain I walk past at the entrance of the university, or my first cup of tea in the teacher’s lounge. Waiting for the page to appear on my screen, passing a visible monument, or sipping the fragrant brew acts as a trigger to pray for myself, my students, my class, and my colleagues. Some other prayers triggered by typical teacher actions might be “Lord, write your Word on their hearts” as we pick up a marker to write the first word of the day on the board or “Protect them from the words of the enemy” as we erase the board at the end of class. If we carry around a heavy teacher’s bag, picking it up and feeling its weight could trigger the prayer, “Be my strength, Lord,” or “Lord, I want your yoke.” Washing our hands or face can trigger the prayer, “Cleanse me from pride and ego that will taint my teaching.” Nouwen’s way is a huge relief for CETs who might feel burdened by lessons to plan, students to bless, colleagues to support, or a job to protect.

“As long as ministry only means that we worry a lot about people and their problem; as long as it means an endless number of activities which we can hardly coordinate, we are still very much dependent on our own narrow and anxious heart. But when our worries are led to the heart of God and there become prayer, then ministry and prayer become two manifestations of the same all-embracing love of God.” This way is also important because it attunes us to the things in our heart that can spoil our efforts as teachers— such as a desire to be loved, a need to control, a lack of humility, or a fear of failure. No matter how well we choose materials or plan lessons, we know that we cannot give our students everything they need—both in terms of the English language and in terms of their spiritual needs. But when we pray for them with the prayer of the heart, “all those who have become part of our lives are led into the healing presence of God,” Nouwen says. Prayer of the heart leads to purity of heart, and that lets us see both our anxious, distorted needs and the loving face of God, which in turn leads to rest for our souls (the easy yoke). “It is this restful heart that will attract those who are groping to find their way through life.” We can also pray traditional prayers for our work and the people we work with. • Lead me to people who are spiritually hungry; lead me to those who promote peace (as in Luke 10:6). • Help me get to know my students’ needs. • Guide me to materials that will nourish my students. • If I have planted a seed, bring it to fruition. If I have used a catalyst, may the right reaction occur. • Give me wisdom to solve this problem. • May my students make choices that will lead them in your paths, both now and in the future. In fact, that kind of intercession may be the most important thing we do as CETs. Scott Breslin says that the identity of all Christians as priests (1 Pet 2:5–9) will primarily be accomplished in the workplace. One of the roles of priests is to proclaim who God is—which can often be accomplished on the job with attitudes of thankfulness, humility, optimism, and expectation—and to intercede to God on behalf of those we work with.

“The priest prays, ‘Jesus, how do I represent you here?’ and not just ‘Jesus, how can I share the gospel here?’” If CETs are unable to implement any other ideas in this book, they can still pray for their students. Our prayers may be general or specific. Tom, a teacher in Southeast Asia, says, “I want to notice and point out to my students what God sees in them. I pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal to me something of my students’ beauty or destiny. This way when we do our class activities that allow students to share themselves, I can speak to my students words such as, ‘Akbar, I like the way you are willing to take risks in English class. I can see that you will be a risk-taker in the work place too and that means you can end up being a world changer!’ Whenever students say something about themselves, for example presenting a timeline of their lives in front of the class, I find something about them to affirm.” When we pray, we can, as Gloria Durka says, “humbly admit that the final fruits of our efforts rest in God’s hands. Our failure to teach with such hope will only make our calling become an intolerable and lonely burden. But to have confidence in the promises of the One who calls us sustains us in our common work and helps us to ‘keep heart’ in our calling.” Some CETs may be anxious that they are not good enough evangelists and are not having a spiritual impact on their students. Others may worry that they are in some inappropriate way offending or pressuring their students as they seek to live out their calling as Christ followers. Others may wonder if they are teaching the language well enough. Others may fret about their interaction with teammates, the local church, or other fellow believers. These are things that we should make every effort to take care of. Reading a book on cross-cultural communication of the gospel, taking a TESOL class, or working with a counselor on interpersonal relations could be just what is needed. At the same time, we need to remember that fretful worry is not the way of Jesus. When worry floods our mind, let’s take care of our souls, stretching our roots deeper into his love, and let’s lift up our students, entrusting them to the God who “makes things grow.” Let’s remember that “abiding in the vine” is the means to good fruit. Personal soul care and prayer for students and colleagues—they should be intertwined with the pedagogical ideas in this book.

PART 3

MORE TEACHING IDEAS

1. “LOVE ONE ANOTHER” (SONG) LESSON PLAN This is a lesson plan using the dance pop song “Love One Another.” It was recorded by the Dutch singer Amber in 1999 and by the American singer Cher in 2001. There are video versions on YouTube that you can play (without showing the video to the students). I’ve given several different options for different levels and kinds of classes.

Warm Up Say: “Today we’re using a dance song called ‘Love One Another’ in our lesson.” Play the song halfway through, just to get the students used to what they’re going to hear.

Stand When You Hear This is an active alternative to filling in the blanks that gets students out of their seats and listening carefully. Choose key words from the song. (They might be words that your students are likely to know, words that carry significant meaning, or words that are easy to hear—depending on your goals for the class.) Print each word on a large card that will be visible from across the room. Give one to each student. Say: “When you hear your word, stand up and hold your card high.” Play the song from the beginning. If

there’s time, get students to swap cards so everyone has a new word to listen to and then do this activity one more time.

Beginning Level Class • Write the lines Love one another, sisters and brothers, Love one another, father and mother on the board. Make sure students know the meaning of the family words. Do some listen and repeat for pronunciation. The /th/ sound can be difficult for students. Play that section of the song again, if possible, and have students sing along. • Most beginning level textbooks have a lesson on family. Tie this to other vocabulary students have learned in their book, including children, daughter, son, parents. • Ask students to say something about their family. Model sample sentences such as “I have two brothers,” “My mother lives with us,” “My father died last year.”

Beginning Level Grammar Class • Write the lines “Everybody needs, everybody cries …” on the board. Remind students that the –s at the end of the verb is important in English (third person singular simple present) but hard to remember. (Most beginning books will have a lesson related to this.) • Do some listen and repeat with the lines, emphasizing the –s. • Ask the students to write their own poem about what everybody does. You might give them an example like this, but tell them it doesn’t have to rhyme: Everybody works. Everybody sleeps. Everybody wakes up. Everybody eats. • Have volunteers recite their poem aloud, paying attention to the pronunciation of the –s verbs.

Intermediate or Advanced Conversation Class • Give students a copy of the lyrics. • Depending on the time available and your student levels/interests, choose from among the following discussion questions. Conversation formats could be: ∗ Large group. Teacher leads discussion with students in a circle. ∗ Small groups. Students talk about the questions in groups of three, four, or five. This is facilitated when students are given roles such as leader (reads the question aloud), timekeeper (keeps students on schedule, e.g., three minutes per question), secretary/reporter (takes notes for a report to the whole class), and language monitor (makes sure students don’t use their first language). Which roles you need depends on the teacher’s plans and the students’ needs. ∗ Wall stations. Questions are posted around the room. Small groups of students walk from station to station, talking until the signal is given to move on to the next one. ∗ Question cards + walk-and-talk. Each question is put on a card and each student is given one. Students walk around the room, looking for someone to talk to. Pairs exchange answers to their questions and then walk to find someone new to share ideas with. • Use the following questions: ∗ The singer says that “everybody needs, cries, bleeds, dies, dreams, wakes, makes mistakes.” What else does everybody do? Are there more similarities among human beings or are there more differences? ∗ The singer says, “Everybody makes mistakes.” What are some mistakes you’ve made? It might be a mistake in English that made you laugh, or a mistake when you were in primary school that you remember even today.

∗ The singer says, “Everyone needs a release from the cell they lock themselves in.” What do you think that means? What kinds of “cells” might she be referring to? Do really people lock themselves in? What kind of release do you think is possible? ∗ The singer says, “It’s easier to walk away when you’ve got wounded pride.” This means that when two people have difficulty in their relationship, they usually leave—abandon the relationship. The singer adds, “When two people stand together, that’s how they heal inside.” This means that healing can only occur when people are willing to stay together and work through difficulties. Do you agree? Can you think of some examples? ∗ The singer says, “A fist is just a hand—it can come apart.” Talk about some examples of people raising their fists in anger or protest. (It would be good to have photo examples.) How easy is it for a fist to be released? ∗ The singer says, “Let go of the past, let go of the fight, forgiving fills the world with light.” Talk about some examples of individuals or groups that have had a hard time letting go of the past and forgiving wrongs. Talk about some examples of individuals or groups that have practiced forgiveness instead. What makes forgiveness difficult? What makes it possible? ∗ The singer says, “We were given a world so beautiful—I know we can make it a better place if only you and I love one another.” Do you agree that love is a way to make the world a better place? What makes love difficult? What makes it possible? ∗ (Optional, depending on the context.) “Love one another” is a quotation from Jesus (as recorded in John 13, the Bible). Do you know any other religious leaders who said something similar? Something different? • Some of these questions can be assigned as writing prompts too.

2. “LOVE REMAINS” (SONG) LESSON PLAN This is a lesson plan using the country music song “Love Remains.” It was recorded by Collin Raye in 1996. Several people have posted video versions on YouTube that you can play (without showing the video to the students). I’ve given several different options for different levels and kinds of classes.

Warm Up Choose (1) or (2) or a combination. The second might be easier for lowerlevel students, but eventually students will need to know the meaning of “remain.” 1. Show several pictures of things that remain. Describe them with sentences like, “After the fire, nothing remained but the stones,” or “These ruins are the only thing remaining from the original city,” or “After the new management plan starts, only half the workers will remain.” Define to remain as “to continue to be for a long time, especially after others have gone or been used or been destroyed.” More advanced students can use a thesaurus to explore the differences in meaning and collocation between remain, last, endure, stay, persist, and carry on. 2. Show pictures of a life history, such as a child being born, parents taking care of a kid, a young person leaving home, a couple being married, a young family in a new home, children growing, an aging couple. (Try to have a variety of ethnic and cultural perspectives.) Explain: We’re going to watch a song about something that remains or lasts forever OR about stages of life.

Activities with Lyrics 1. Choose from among these four ways of having students interact with a transcript of the lyrics, depending on the level of your students. a. Number the lines as you hear them. ______ Mama smiles daddy cries 1 We are born one fine day ______ Through it all love remains ______ Children of God on our way ______ They protect us till we’re of age ______ Miracle before their eyes b. Unscramble words within lines. 3

1

2

4

takes boy moves on a bride faithful stands by his side she a home they tears and sweat build a family raise their own of they pain share joy share they love remains through it all c. Match the beginnings of lines (on the left) with the ends of lines (on the right). Kingdoms come and go Before you know In spite of what’s been lost We are living proof

the future is the past that love remains but they don’t last and what’s been gained

d. Look at the underlined words. Listen. Circle the one that you hear.

I don’t know baby what I’d do On this earth / world without you We all live and we all cry / die But the end is not goodbye The moon / sun comes up and seasons change Through it all love remains An eternal burning / yearning flame Hope lives on, love remains 2. If you don’t have a copy machine for option (1), try a group dictation with key words on the board. Assign individuals, pairs, or groups (depending on the size of the class) to each be responsible for one of the lines. As they listen to the song, they must write down all the words in their line. They are responsible for just that one line. Write numbers on the board, with one, two, or three key words for each. The fewer the words, the more challenging for students, so you can set it up for a multilevel class with some students assigned to easy lines and others to more challenging ones. (Note that the smaller words might actually be more difficult for students to hear. Experiment with what students are most likely to be able to comprehend.) 1. born 2. children 3. mama 4. before 5. protect of age 6. through remains Point to each line as the song is played. Afterwards, combine the students so they can compare notes on their individual lines and copy all the lyrics.

Discussion

1. Lower-level Students Give students various words and pictures and tell them to sort them into three columns: “lasts a short time,” “lasts a long time,” “lasts forever.” Items could include grass, oak tree, mud bricks, concrete blocks, meteor, planet, writing on paper, writing on stone, wood, gold, memory, love, God. If students are able to, ask them to give reasons.

2. Intermediate and Advanced Students Ask students to brainstorm in small groups things that are short-lived, things that last a long time, and things that might remain forever. Provide some categories and examples to get them started: natural things (e.g., flowers, rocks), man-made things (e.g., books, buildings), abstractions (e.g., love). Encourage them to talk about how things might not last: “Yes, rocks last a long time, but eventually wind and water break them down.”

Connect Song and Literature 1. Lower-level Students Tell the students that the singer may be referring to the famous quotation from the Bible (1 Cor 13), “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Have students repeat this verse, focusing on pronunciation. Ask them if they agree that faith, hope, and love will last forever. Ask them if they agree that love is greater than faith and hope.

2. Intermediate and Advanced Students A common theme in literature is “what lasts” compared to “what is temporary or fleeting.” Read the lyrics to Collin Raye’s song, 1 Corinthians 13, and the poem “Ode to Broken Things” by Pablo Neruda. Ask students what each of the writers says will last. Do they agree? Why or why not?

3. KINDNESS (VIDEO) LESSON PLAN Materials: A five-minute video showing people passing kindness on to others: “Kindness Boomerang,” http://www.lifevestinside.com/film/. Target students: Immigrants or international students in the US. (The video shows things like parking meters and hot dogs that would be tedious to explain to students who hadn’t seen them.) This lesson would be best for students at the low-intermediate (B1) level or above, though high beginners (A2) might also succeed. Hints for multilevel teaching are included both in the lesson plan and at the end.

Goals Language: Students develop oral fluency, the ability to describe people and actions, and the ability to narrate a story. Character: Students consider the nature of kind actions and the importance of kindness. Students may also make personal choices to be kind.

Opening (5 minutes) Objective: Alert the class to the teaching point, kindness. Show still pictures of the boy falling off his skateboard (0:24) and the man about to help him (0:26), or play the video up to this point. Ask the class, “What happened? What will happen next?” If the students don’t mention it, ask, “Will the man help the boy? Will the man be kind?” Write “kind” on the board.

Language Focus: Describing People (10 minutes) Objective: Review or teach ways to describe people. Language: For lower proficiency students: a young boy, an old woman, a woman with white hair, a woman with a ponytail, a boy with a skateboard, a woman with two bags, a woman in a black and white dress, a man in a black suit, a man in an orange vest. For higher-level students, add: a woman trying to cross the street, a woman looking for change [Note: don’t confuse descriptions, e.g., There’s a woman trying to cross the street, and actions, e.g., The woman is trying to cross the street.] Activity: Give students the examples, either on the board or via a handout. Add a few more illustrations of how we use with for hair and other physical features or things we have and in for clothes, using examples of students in the room. Optional additional language: indirect objects—hands him the wallet, gives him a hotdog, buys her flowers, leaves her some money, pours him a glass of water

Listening and Speaking: What’s Happening? (15 minutes) Objective: Students speak in English, developing fluency and accuracy. Language: Lower proficiency students: descriptive language as above. Higher-level students: a and the (She sees a man. The man drops something.). Activity: Orient students to the next task by playing the video segment of the boy falling and the man helping him up (no sound). Say, “Listen and

watch. A young boy is skateboarding. He falls down! A man in an orange vest sees him. He picks up the boy’s papers. He makes sure the boy is OK. The boy says thank you. Now it’s your turn.” Put students in tango pairs. Students sit next to each other. A faces the front (and can see the screen); B turns around and faces the back of the room. It is A’s turn to tell B what he sees on the screen. Show the street-crossing segment (about one minute). Stop when the boy hands the bags back to the woman and ask the pairs to switch positions. Now it is A’s turn to turn around and listen and B’s turn to face the front and describe. Show the parking meter and dropped card segments (about a minute). It might take this much time for the students to get the hang of what’s going on. If they are struggling, play the segments again with everyone watching. Pause at various points and elicit from students descriptions, e.g., A man in a black suit drops something. Encourage the students that they can do some more tango pair descriptions of what’s happening. One round can include the heavy case and the hotdog segments. The next one can include the rest of the scenes. Optional: Play the whole video again, pausing after each segment. Have the students write at least one sentence, using the language of describing people. Model for lower proficiency students: The man in an orange vest helps the boy. [Present tense, simple descriptions] Model for intermediate: The woman with white hair gave the young woman some change. [Past tense, more descriptions] Model for advanced: The man in a black suit helped the man struggling with a large case. The woman with long hair noticed a woman sitting alone in a restaurant. [Past tense, use of present participles to describe, accurate distinction between “a” for the first mention of a character and “the” for subsequent mentions]

Discussion: Kindness (5-15 minutes)

Objective: Students develop oral fluency. Activity: Play the video again, if necessary. Give students these discussion questions. In small groups, have them talk. (Lower-level students should be able to do #1 and 2. More proficient students will be able to do the rest of the questions.) 1. You saw at least ten examples of kindness in the film. Which one did you like the best? 2. Tell your group about when someone was kind to you. 3. Give your group examples of situations where people are not kind, for example, bullying in schools, neglecting elders, or ignoring low-status workers. 4. This film was shot in Red Bank, a small town in New Jersey, the US. Were there ways of showing kindness that seem especially American and that might not work in your home culture? What are good ways of showing kindness in your home culture?

Dialogue Journal (10 minutes or homework) Objective: Students develop oral or written fluency. Give students a choice of one of these prompts. In a dialogue journal, the students record or write—and the teacher responds—as if in a dialogue or conversation. The emphasis is on ideas, not correct language. • Did this film inspire you to be kind? What will you do? • Does the world need more kind people? Why or why not? • Your choice.

Optional Extension: Pay It Forward Explain: In the film, a person receives kindness from one person and then gives kindness to another. This is an example of “Pay it forward.” This

means that you don’t thank or repay a person who is kind to you. Instead, you do something kind to someone new. • In advance, the teacher prepares a list of suitable websites (news about generosity, more inspirational videos, relevant songs) so each student has one to read/watch and report back to the class on. They should report on both the content and at least one language item they learned (e.g., “do something nice for someone,” “reciprocity,” to “make someone’s day better”) • Invite students for an after-school viewing of the 2000 movie Pay It Forward.

Optional: More Language for Advanced Students Teach more kindness-related vocabulary: compassionate, considerate, empathetic, thoughtful, altruistic, neighborly, generous. A good way to get students invested is to give each word to a student or small group and have them look up examples (e.g., at ldoceonline.com) and prepare to teach the word, including collocations such as: be thoughtful, show thoughtfulness, that was thoughtful of you.

Hints for Multilevel Teaching The vocabulary that students know can be idiosyncratic, depending on many factors. http://vocabulary.englishprofile.org is a tool for determining which levels of students are likely to know which words. Vocabulary relevant to this lesson has been run through the profile to identify which CEFR level of student might be familiar with it. Words likely to be used in describing the video that are not mentioned below (e.g., boy, woman, help, bag, look for, buy, give) should be familiar to level A1 students. Vocabulary that students may not know until level A2: kind, skateboard, worker, try, cross, sunglasses, change, purse, heavy, case, free, bottle, alone

Vocabulary that students may not know until level B1: fall, coin, drop, trunk, sidewalk, hot dog Vocabulary that students may not know until level C: return something to someone, homeless, vest, parking meter, dreadlocks, ponytail, vendor Note that the teacher does not have to feel obligated to teach all these words. A student can be just as successful in describing the video saying, “She gave the woman money” as saying, “She gave her a coin for the parking meter.” If students really want to learn more vocabulary, after they have done the tango pair descriptions the first time, teach some of this vocabulary and then have them try one more time.

4. JULIA ALVAREZ’S “SNOW” (SHORT STORY) LESSON PLAN This short story of less than a page in length is ideal for a class who has neither the time nor the proficiency to tackle longer pieces of literature. The main character is a recent immigrant to the US learning English, someone many students can identify with. It deals with the theme of the uniqueness and value of each individual and gently contrasts that with nuclear war and its potential for wiping out human beings. Source: “Snow” is a standalone chapter in the longer novel How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. A search for and should pull it up.

Preliminary Information Students: High school and above, US-based (though EFL students would also enjoy the story). Level: Intermediate and up (some of the activities below are more suitable for advanced students). Context regarding Christianity: Varied. Curriculum: All skills are taught; reading is important; literature per se may or may not be required.

Objectives for the Lesson* 1. Language learning objectives: a. Literature reading: Students will be exposed to a work of contemporary American literature.

b. Reading skills: Students will practice good foreign language reading strategies by moving from basic comprehension of the plot to comprehension of the author’s point through several readings of the story. c. Vocabulary: Students will learn at least ten new words for both recognition and production; students will learn other new words for recognition purposes; students will practice strategies for dealing with unknown vocabulary on their own. d. Speaking: Students will gain confidence and fluency as they engage in discussion, a sequencing activity, and a dramatic activity. e. Writing/Thinking: Students will write a short essay in which they must state a point of view, support their opinion, and draw implications for their own lives. 2. Spiritual objectives: a. Students will consider the idea that each individual person is unique and to be valued. b. Students may have the chance to connect that view of personhood with the fact that God created human beings in his image.

Activity 1: Pre-reading: What’s the Connection? Objectives: Arouse student interest in the story, activate schema (background knowledge), and prepare them to read. Details: Teacher shows students large pictures (at least two, more if available) of the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb, snowflake crystals, a nun in a traditional habit, and a classroom of elementary students. Teacher elicits from students what each picture represents. Teacher is prepared to offer these words if necessary: • atomic bomb, Hiroshima, 1945, nuclear weapon, radioactive fallout, radiation sickness [Ask if any students were alive when the

bomb was dropped or during the ’50s when people were afraid of atomic bombs.] • snow, snowflakes, crystals, each one different [Ask how many students have seen snow.] • nun—Catholic, devoted to God, often teach in school, called “sister.” Teacher: We’re going to read a story. Each of these things is in the story. Can you imagine how they are connected or related? [Students call out answers or discuss with their partner/small group.]

Activity 2: First Reading: What’s the Main Idea? Objective: Students practice reading for the main idea. Details: Teacher: There are two main characters in the story: Yolanda, a fourth grade girl from some country in Latin America; and Sister Zoe, her teacher in the Catholic school in New York City. When you read, look for the answers to these questions: 1. What are people afraid of? 2. What does Yolanda see for the first time? [Students read silently, or read while listening to the teacher read aloud. Teacher checks answers to the main idea questions. Teacher can illustrate the drawing Sister Zoe put on the board for her students to illustrate the mushroom cloud and the dusty fallout. It may also be necessary or helpful to explain the Cuban Missile Crisis as historical background at some point in the lesson, but don’t spend too much time on this, as students can understand the story without knowing it all.]

Activity 3: Second Reading: Details (Strip Story and Summary) Objective: (1) Students are given a basic summary of the action of the story to ensure comprehension. (2) Students use and develop their knowledge of

English discourse to sequence the strips (e.g., her must refer back to something; at first must precede then). Details: Students read the story once again. Teacher has prepared the following strips, which summarize the action of the story. Teacher gives one strip to each of eight students in a group. Students (by reciting their sentence, not just showing it to their group to read) must put themselves in order. Groups say the summary out loud when all have finished. Yolanda was a new student in her school. Sister Zoe was her teacher. At first Yolanda learned words like laundromat and snow. Then she learned words like nuclear bomb and radioactive fallout. Sister Zoe drew a picture of dots coming out of the sky to explain what fallout was. One cold day Yolanda saw dots in the air. She thought a bomb had fallen and that they would be killed. It turned out to be snow! (An alternative is for the teacher to ask students questions that elicit the above statements; as students orally summarize the story, teacher writes the summary on the board.)

Activity 4A: Language Exploration (Optional) Have students read the story once more and then go over vocabulary or grammar in more depth. Try to make this involve more student action and less teacher lecture—for example, by having students look up words in a dictionary and teach their classmates. Whenever possible, help students

guess meaning from context (and then, if necessary, confirm meaning with another source). Be selective in what is covered so students are not overwhelmed. Don’t spend too much time on this. Key words: missile, air-raid drill, to fall out vs. fallout, to dot and dots, flake, irreplaceable Additional words: enunciate, holocaust, to be in the air, wideeyed, trained on (= aimed at), ominous, rosary, bomb shelter, daydream, shriek, shocked, to fade, warily, crystals, dusty and to dust There are several instances of the same basic word playing different functions; it’s a good opportunity to teach students to look at a word’s position in a sentence and decide whether it’s a verb or a noun. There are also several words with meanings different from the most familiar one students may know; teach students to check their assumption about meaning with the context. Examples: “Russian missiles were trained on New York City.” In this sentence, is train (a) a kind of transportation, (b) similar to teach, (c) aim, direct? Prefixes and suffixes can be reviewed with irreplaceable.

Activity 4B: Literature Exploration (Optional) Choose some literary techniques for students to learn about or review, e.g., metaphor (like dolls in mourning), images (followed my breath to school), special word choice (wide-eyed classroom).

Activity 5: Read Again: What’s the Author’s Point? Objective: Go beyond basic comprehension to the meaning of the story.

Details: Teacher has students read the story one more time. Lower-level students can do the choice version; more advanced students can say or write their own statement of Alvarez’s point. Choose which statement represents why Alvarez has written the story: a. She wanted to explain how hard it is for children to learn new words for things they have not experienced. b. She wanted to contrast an approach to life in which each person is treated as a valued, beautiful, individual human being versus an approach to life in which bombs destroy many human beings. c. She wanted to say that Catholics are better than Communists. d. She wanted to describe the terrible effects of nuclear war. If students need help in articulating or choosing the point of the story, have students read the last sentence of the story again. Make sure students comprehend it. Use pictures of snow crystals (and perhaps also of a variety of different people) to illustrate.

Activity 6: Follow-up Work on Oral Skills: Drama (Optional) Have students create a dramatic version of the story and perform it for classmates. Small groups can each work on one scene: Scene 1: Yolanda arrives and is introduced to the class; Scene 2: Sister Zoe tutors Yolanda; Scene 3: TV news with President Kennedy; Scene 4: Sister Zoe explains the Cuban Missile Crisis to the class; Scene 5: an air raid drill; Scene 6: Yolanda at home praying for peace with her family; Scene 7: Sister Zoe explains the bomb and fallout to the class; Scene 8: Yolanda sees snow.

Activity 7: Follow-up Work with Related Literature (Optional) Give students the following quotes (or others): • “God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him.”

—Genesis 1:27, the Bible • “Man is more interesting than men. It’s him, not them, whom God made in his image. Each is more precious than all.” —Andre Gide, French writer, 1869–1951, winner of the 1947 Nobel Prize for Literature • “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” —Joseph Stalin, Russian dictator, 1958 Have them write or discuss responses to the quotes. For example: Choose two quotes and compare them; or, Which quote is illustrated by “Snow”? Explain why.

Activity 8: Follow-up Work: Personal Response Have students either discuss as a class, discuss in small groups, or write responses: • Do you agree that each person is an irreplaceable and beautiful individual? If so, why? What gives them that quality? • (For advanced students) What implications does this have for one of the following areas: government policy, medicine, birth control?

5. TEACHING IDEAS FOR POETRY: EDWIN A. ROBINSON’S “RICHARD CORY” Getting Started Use visual images to help students grasp meaning. A photo of a rich American gentleman from the 1900s means that you can skip a lot of vocabulary explanations. A photo of factory workers or miners from that time period illustrates the contrast better than providing a lot of background explanation.

Dealing with Difficult Language Don’t spend too much time on language that is not going to be useful to students, such as the old-fashioned use of school as a verb. Provide glosses on the copy of the poem (e.g., crown = head) or tell students to ignore the words. They can understand the main idea from the visual images and just a few words and phrases, such as gentleman, rich, wish we were in his place, work, went without meat. It’s better for students to spend time on the language they’ll need to discuss the poem. A key phrase is wish we were in his place. This can be tied to a grammar lesson on unreal conditional, or the teacher can quickly review.

Dealing with Literature If your curriculum includes literary techniques, this poem illustrates ABAB end rhyme and the rhythm of iambic pentameter.

If you are not required to cover literature, treat the poem simply as a source for discussion.

Dealing with Content Don’t lessen the impact of the poem by explaining things in advance. In fact, for the first reading, give students a copy of the poem without the last two lines and ask them to predict the ending. After the second reading, before the discussion, make sure even lowlevel students understand the main idea. One way is to have the class choose the best summary, for example: • Richard Cory wants to be king and wear a crown. The people in the town curse him and kill him. • Richard Cory is rich and handsome. The working-class people in the town envy him. Surprisingly, Richard Cory kills himself. The distractors should include some words from the piece to tempt students who haven’t paid attention. The correct summary should be written simply and clearly. Understanding it will allow students to take part in the next activities.

Going Deeper Discussion questions (or writing prompts)—choose questions that fit your students: 1. How did the people of the town feel about Richard Cory? [envy, resentment] Do you think people now feel the same about anyone? [movie stars, billionaires, oligarchs, political leaders] 2. How does this poem illustrate the saying, “Appearances are deceiving”? Can you think of other examples?

3. How does this poem illustrate the saying, “Money can’t buy happiness”? Do you agree? 4. What are some possible reasons that Richard Cory killed himself? [lack of loving family, financial trouble, bad health, clinical depression] If Richard Cory came to you for advice, what would you tell him so he might choose life instead of death? 5. Are you thinking, “I wish I could be ______” about anyone? How does reading the poem make you feel about that envy?

Adding Media, Other Literature Find related news articles, literature, songs, or video: • Simon and Garfunkel’s song of the same name from the album Sounds of Silence • Jesus’ parable of the Rich Fool from Luke 12 • Articles about rich people committing suicide; contrasting articles about rich people who live meaningful lives (and make sure their employees are living well too).

Other Poems to Consider Using • “Dear Father” by J. Ivy, a hip-hop style poem about a young man forgiving his absent father: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Xdta43fVmes. “These words are being spoken and written because my heart and soul feel broken …” • Naomi Shihab Nye is a Palestinian-American poet. Perhaps these poems would be suitable for you and your students: “Famous,” “Shoulders,” “Many Asked Me Not to Forget Them,” and “Happiness.” • Wendell Berry is an American novelist, poet, and environmentalist. You might like “The Peace of Wild Things,” “The Real Work,” and “Like the Water.” • Billy Collins is a hugely popular American poet. His poems aren’t very spiritual, but many are funny, and if you need something

lighthearted as a break from the serious work you’ve been doing in class lately, consider “Another Reason I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House,” “On Turning Ten,” “Forgetfulness,” “Child Development,” “Man in Space,” or “Thesaurus.”

6. TEACHING IDEAS FOR SAYINGS, PROVERBS, OR QUOTATIONS Why? As short texts, sayings, proverbs, and quotations don’t require much time to read. They cover many aspects of life, generating interest among all kinds of students. They lend themselves to communication about students’ home cultures, understanding their new culture, cross-cultural comparisons, or critical thinking. They allow CETs to include wisdom from the Bible and other sources. Which ones? They may be traditional, like “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” or they may be contemporary, like “Just do it” or “Shop till you drop.” Other topics about which you could find a dozen good quotations include failure and success, happiness, love, change, friendship, money, and more.

Sources Nussbaum, S. (2005). American cultural baggage. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis. http://www.englishdaily626.com/proverbs.php?016 http://www.michellehenry.fr/proverb.htm http://www.intercultural-help.com/readings.htm http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics.html

As an Opener Put a quotation on the board for students to write or talk about as they come into class. For example, on a day when the textbook topic is health, choose: “A cheerful heart is good medicine.”

—Proverbs 17:22, the Bible 1. Do you agree? Why or why not? 2. Give an example of this in real life. 3. Do you know any other sayings similar to this? 4. What are some other sayings about being cheerful or positive? 5. What are some other sayings about medicine or health? Teachers may use a saying of the day that is just up there for anyone interested to notice it rather than use one for a particular activity.

For Student Presentations Instead of the teacher explaining what a saying means, assign sayings to students (as individuals or in small groups) who will present them to the class. The teacher should model what is expected (e.g., a visual illustration, a translation into the students’ first language, a parallel saying from the students’ culture, a real life example, or background on the author). For example, these seven sayings could be divided into pairs or trios in a class of 20. In a mixed class, the lower-proficiency students can be given an easier proverb. • “The greatest wealth is health.” —Virgil (Roman poet, c. 50 BC) • “He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.” —Arabic proverb • “Don’t attempt to cure the body without the soul.” —Plato (Greek philosopher, c. 400 BC) • “To avoid sickness eat less; to prolong life worry less.” —Chu Hui Weng (Chinese king, c. 400 BC) • “Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.” —Socrates (Greek philosopher, c. 400 BC) • “There are some remedies worse than the disease.” —Publilius Syrus (Latin writer, c. 30 BC)

• “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” —Benjamin Franklin (American statesman and scientist, c. 1730)

With Language-related Teaching Points Proverbs can be tied to specific language lessons, for example: • Pronunciation of /i/ and /i/: “Beauty is only skin deep.” • Pronunciation of /e/ and /ei/: “Better late than never.” • Pronunciation of /l/ and /r/: “Every cloud has a silver lining.” • Pronunciation of /dj/ and /z/: “Keeping up with the Joneses.” • Pronunciation of word and sentence stress: “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” • Grammar, simple present: “Practice makes perfect.” “Great minds think alike.” • Grammar, comparatives: “Actions speak louder than words.” “It is better to give than to receive.” • Grammar, relative clauses: “Home is [the place] where the heart is.” • Grammar, noun clauses: “What you sow is what you reap.” • Grammar, infinitives: “It is better to give than to receive.” • Grammar, participial adjectives: “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” “Let sleeping dogs lie.” • Grammar, conditionals: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

Discussion “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” —Albert Einstein (physicist, 1932) 1. Make sure students know what the saying means. Lower-level students can be given a paraphrase (e.g., “If you want to have a worthwhile life [a useful and meaningful life], you must live for

other people [serving and helping other people]”) while high-level students can work it out for themselves. 2. Provide specific discussion questions. They should be organized so everyone can discuss the first several, while more capable students can go on, if they finish early, to discuss the rest. For example: a. Do you agree? Why or why not? b. If you agree, who are the people we should live for or serve? c. Talk about some people who exemplify this quote (or provide counter-evidence). d. If you live this way, what helps you or inspires you? 3. If students need help, provide sentence stems and useful phrases, for example: I agree with Einstein because … I disagree with Einstein because … I think I should live … [for myself / for my family / for my community / for my nation / for the people of the world] It’s important to … For example …

Formats • Class circle—suitable if the class has eight or fewer people • Small groups—students in threes or fours • Classroom walls—discussion prompts posted around the walls of the room allow students in pairs to get up and walk around, moving from station to station as time is called.

Conversation Card (Walk and Talk) Format Put related sayings each on one card, with enough for the whole class (there can be duplicates). Students walk around the room talking to each other about what’s on their card. For example: • “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”

—Albert Einstein • “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” —Mahatma Gandhi • “We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved to serve.” —Rick Warren • “Self-improvement comes mainly from trying to help others.” —Sir John Templeton • “Our prime purpose in life is to help others. And if you can’t help, at least don’t hurt them.” —Dalai Lama • “We only have what we give.” —Isabel Allende

Version A: Repetition A reads her card aloud to B and responds to it. B does the same with her card. Both walk to find someone new to talk to. In this way, students talk to three or more people (depending on the size of the class and the time allowed), each time getting a new chance to express themselves. They often make corrections, remember a new word, or even hear something from their partner that they want to incorporate in their own talk.

Version B: Exchange A reads her card aloud to B and responds to it. B does the same with her card. A and B exchange cards and then walk to find someone new to talk to. Now A has a new card—but she has heard B’s response, which might give her some ideas of what to say and how to say it. This variation provides a little more challenge and variety.

In a Multilevel Class

Regardless of the format, in a multilevel class, the fact that students are speaking in pairs allows for quite a lot of individual variation. A beginning level student may only be able to read the quote aloud and say, “I like this,” or “This is a good idea.” An advanced student can say a lot more in a brief time, elaborating and giving examples. Be sure to model both of these possibilities so students feel comfortable doing either one. You might want to color code the cards so that ones with quotes that are easier to understand are yellow and others are blue. This facilitates handing out suitable cards to lower-level students.

Debate Perhaps because our world is such a complex place, there are a number of contradictory proverbs. For example, what’s true: Too many cooks spoil the broth or many hands make light work? Is it better to do something by yourself or to have a lot of people working on the task? This provides fuel for class debates. It doesn’t have to be a formal debate—it could be as simple as a pair discussion with A taking one side and B taking the other. Think-Pair-Share is a good format for this. For example, divide students randomly into “too many cooks” and “many hands.” First students work alone, thinking about what their assigned proverb means. Then students pair up with someone who has the same proverb. They think about when they would use this saying. Finally, students talk in groups of four—one pair from “cooks,” one pair from “hands.” They try to persuade the opposite pair that their saying is true. (All this is facilitated if the teacher has used a highlighter to mark some color on the handout given to the students. Then you can say—and show—things like “If you have a yellow handout, meet with someone else who’s also yellow” and “Now yellow pairs and green pairs meet in a group of four.”)

Projects With more time, students can take a single saying or a pair and turn it into a project such as a skit, poster, or video. For example, one group of students has “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and the other has “Clothes make the

man.” Clear statements of steps to the final project (along with group report sheets, where students have to say who did what) make this more likely to be successful for everyone—for example: 1. Draft a brief explanation of what the saying means. 2. Check vocabulary and grammar in your explanation. 3. Copy the saying and explanation on the poster. 4. Plan a visual to illustrate the saying. 5. Draw the illustration on the poster. 6. Explain your poster to the class. This can also be done with sayings from different cultures—for example: • Time is money. (US) • He who rushes, arrives first at the grave. (Spain) • The more haste, the less speed. (Japan) • Drips of water wear through stone. (China) • The peanuts don’t grow until the rain comes. (Congo)

Campus Interviews A culture-related quotation or proverb project, which is particularly viable with international students who are on an American college campus, is to have them go out and interview people. • Have you heard the saying, “……”? Examples: ∗ Just do it. ∗ The road to hell is paved with good intentions. ∗ Actions speak louder than words. ∗ Put your money where your mouth is. ∗ Talk is cheap. • Have you ever used it yourself? • When was it used? When would you use it? • Do you think it expresses a typical American value?

Students come back to class with data about which sayings are current and widely used and how the sayings do or do not express cultural values. By the way, if your students are not in a position to go out and interview people on the street, they can still find out roughly how frequently sayings are used by doing a Google search for the phrases. They’ll see, for example, that “Put your money where your mouth is” comes up only 460,000 times, compared to “Actions speak louder than words” at 750,000 times, and “Just do it,” which comes up 55,100,000 times. Here are a variety of ideas for adapting a campus interview project for lower-level students: • Give them sayings that are short and easy so they don’t struggle to pronounce too many difficult words when asking their questions. • Have them ask fewer interview questions. • All students need in-class preparation and practice before going out to the street, but lower-level students need even more. • Allowing them to record answers on their phone or device will lessen any anxiety they might feel about not comprehending what their interviewee is saying. • Finally, if you send them out to prescreened interviewees, such as the institute secretarial staff, it will be less nerve-wracking for lower-level students.

Quotations about Love Materials: 18 cards with quotations about love for a Conversation Card activity + 12 that are easier (copy on another color of paper); in a class in a secular context, I use fewer biblical quotations.

Relatively easier sayings about love:

The Scripture quotes above are from the NIV, but teachers can choose an easier version of the Bible, such as NIrV or CEV.

7. PUBLISHED TEXTBOOKS: ADDING MORE Here are some ideas for teachers who don’t have time—given their tightly controlled curricula—to add an entire lesson such as the ones above. Instead, CETs might consider slight additions to or modifications of their required textbooks.

Sources Anderson, N. (2013). Active skills for reading (3rd ed., Vol. 1). Boston, MA: National Geographic/Heinle. Craven, M., & Sherman, K. (2011). Q: Skills for success; Listening and speaking (1st ed., Vol. 3). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Douglas, N., & Morgan, J. (2013). World Link: Developing English fluency. Boston, MA: National Geographic/Heinle. Lynn, S. (2011). Q: Skills for success; Reading and writing (1st ed., Vol. 1). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Reppen, R. (2012). Grammar and beyond. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. (2013). Interchange (4th ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J., & Bohlke, D. (2012). Four corners. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J., & Sandy, C. (2015). Passages (3rd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Smith, L., & Mare, N. (2011). Topics for today: Reading for today (4th ed.). Boston, MA: National Geographic/Heinle. Wegmann, B., & Knezevic, M. (2013). Mosaic: Reading (6th ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. * Depending on which activities the teacher chooses.

NOTES

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Page 4 ELIC: English Language Institute. ESEC: Educational Services Exchange with China. ERRC: Educational Resources and Referrals – China. “Teaching English Feeds a Worldwide Craving”: Baurain (1992). evangelistic conversational English program: Woodward (1993). Page 5 A handbook for current and future missionaries: See Teaching More Than English (1997). Christianity Today cover story: Tennent (2002). “Imperial Troopers and Servants of the Lord”: Edge (2004). “teaching English as a missionary language”: Pennycook & Coutand-Marin (2003). Smith and Carvill: Smith & Carvill (2000), p. 128. A key work in 2001: Snow (2001). Page 6 Recent publications: Dormer (2011); Wong & Canagarajah (2009); Wong, Kristjansson, & Dornyei (2012).

ground rules for missionary activities: Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief (2009). Section 2.1.3.1 of this document reads: When providing education for others, religious organisations should be transparent about their religious affiliation and/or objectives. Missionary organisations maintain the right of those who run schools to promote their own belief traditions. However, religious organisations should never use the offer of education merely as a tool to gain a foothold within another religious community. When running preschools and schools, religious organisations should respect the religious affiliation of the pupils and not involve them in religious activities or expose them to religious propagation without explicit and voluntary consent of their parents or legal guardians. The schools should not prevent or discourage such children from practising the religion of their family while attending the institution. Where such instruction is customary, organizations that run schools which provide religious instruction should allow access to alternative religious instruction for pupils with different religious affiliations. “Christian Witness in a Multi-religious World”: World Council of Churches et al. (2011). This document sets out the following principles for fulfilling Christ’s commission: • Acting in God’s love • Imitating Jesus Christ • Acting with Christian virtues, e.g., integrity, humility, compassion • Engaging in acts of service and justice • Using discernment in ministries of healing (i.e., not exploiting the vulnerable) • Rejecting violence • Supporting freedom of religion and belief

• Committing to mutual solidarity for the common good • Respecting all people • Renouncing false witness • Encouraging personal discernment (for any who decide to change their religion) • Building interreligious relationships “public-school teachers are required by the First Amendment”: First Amendment Center (1999), pp. 3, 5. Page 7 Thiessen’s work: Thiessen (2013), p. 224. Note also three responses in the pages following the main article. For a more complete treatment see Thiessen (2011). foreigners working abroad: Ford (2006). Universal Declaration of Human Rights: United Nations (1948). unlike some fields: International Union of Psychological Science (2008). Their principles include respect, competency, integrity, and responsibility. In his new edition … H. Douglas Brown: Brown & Lee (2015), pp. 579–580. Page 8 “teachers with convictions” or “global Christian professional language teachers”: These are terms used by Purgason (2009) and by Wong (2009). spiritual and religious identities: “Faith and spirituality are deeply connected with questions of identity for an enormous proportion of the human race,” writes David Smith (2007a), p. 18. Page 9 The content may be a major part: See, for example, Brinton & Snow (in press).

culture(s) associated with the target language: See, for example, Kramsch (1993). “Images of Others, Images of God”: Smith & Carvill (2000), p. 128. Page 10 four textbooks: See Gray (2010), p. 107. See also Gray (2012). To be fair, a review of Gray (Stranks, 2012) points out that current textbooks are changing, are more likely to eschew celebrity culture, and are more likely to be more globally representative. view of some Moroccan college students: Sellami (2006). Research analyzing 19 essays written by Moroccan university seniors majoring in English literature and linguistics showed that these participants had very negative views of British and American cultures: • “They worship money and lust” (p. 179). • “They have become slaves of sex, money, and alcohol” (p. 179). • “Their love for money and superficial life have made them forget about real values” (p. 180). • “Because they live in religious vacuum, they have no value for human life” (p. 180). • “They lack spiritual and moral ethics because they are not religious” (p. 179). • “They are having too much freedom without limits” (p. 180). • “Children rebel and resist any kind of rules formed by the family or the society” (p. 183). The article frames this research in terms of the need for EFL teachers to develop their students’ intercultural awareness, teaching them ways to critically read the media and to avoid bias and stereotyping. Argentine teachers created a supplementary curriculum: Banegas (2010). environmental issues in ESL textbooks: Jacobs & Goatly (2000).

Social justice is the focus: Cates (2002); Osborn (2006); Safriani (2008); Smith & Osborn (2007). A teacher in South Africa: Dennis (2010). Global Issues: Sampredo & Hillyard (2004). Everybody Up: See the product page on OUP’s website: https://elt.oup.com/catalogue/items/global/young_learners/everybo dy_up/?cc=global&selLanguage=en&mode=hub. Social Justice in ELT: Hastings & Jacob (2016). ten-chapter volume on civic education: Stoller (n.d.). A Russian student in England: Sokol (2004). Page 11 “the deeper the source of a sentence”: Stevick (1996), p. 196. responsibility of creating excellent Messerschmitt, & Vandrick (2002).

materials:

Hafernik,

“frameworks for considering how”: Pennycook & Coutand-Marin (2003), p. 352. “It would be a great loss”: Snow (2001), p. 66. “coherent” … reflective … faithful: Scovel (2004). Page 12 “Those who use teaching”: Wong (2009), p. 93.

CHAPTER 2: BIBLICAL FOUNDATION Page 13 Several biblical passages: I discussed some of these principles in Purgason (2009). Page 14 1 Cor 3:5–7: This is an important text in Snow (2001).

church planting, missions, evangelism, and witness: I suggest Choung (2008); Pippert (1999); Stetzer (2006); and Winter & Hawthorne (2009). For those who have Muslim students, I recommend McCord (2012); Mousri (2014); and Qureshi (2014). Page 15 A gentle, respectful answer: Muelhoff has a good case study on speaking about religion in the workplace with gentleness and respect (2014, pp. 178–191). Page 16 Jesus models for us how to listen: A version of this paragraph first appeared in Purgason (2009). Finally, living the Golden Rule: Some parts of this paragraph first appeared in Purgason (2009).

CHAPTER 3: GOALS AND MODELS Pages 19–21 language and content goals: This list started with one from Graves (2000). Snow (2006) has good lists in Appendix 1 (“The Goals Menu”) and Appendix 2 (“Culture-topic Activity Ideas”). Page 21 six C’s: Miller (2014–2015). “All teaching aims to change people”: Johnston (2003), p. 5. Page 22 “All teachers proselytize”: Baurain (2007), p. 208. This entire article is well worth reading. a Chinese teacher: Wette & Barkhuizen (2009). Vietnamese proverb: Breach (2005). “Your role as a socially responsible teacher”: Brown & Lee (2015), p. 585. Page 23 “I do not see myself”: Ferris (2009), p. 212.

survey of nearly 300 teachers: Foye (2014). At the same time, the majority of respondents agreed that it was OK to discuss religion in a neutral way and if raised by learners, noting also that it depends on the students and class policy. “Walk into my office”: Sandy (2005, May). Page 24 negative baggage: Purgason (2014). a teacher in China: Smith (2014, June 25). a teacher in an ESL institute in Minnesota: Katya (pseudonym), personal communication (April 28, 2012). Page 25 Wei Chen: For more about the boycott and the peace prize, see Thompson (2015) and http://peacefirst.org/prize/2013-12-09-1450-21/winners/item/91-wei. materials that help students manage stress: David Cooke in Japan uses Parks (2000). Jonathan and Naomi (pseudonyms) in China use Covey (2006). lives that try to bring about these words: See Wallis (2014). Page 26 “What better gift can we offer”: Klassen (2011, Summer). “What If Learning”: WhatIfLearning.com. Kingdom Ethics: Stassen & Gushee (2003). marks of God’s reign: Stassen and Gushee’s marks (based on their analysis of Isaiah and Matthew) also include deliverance/salvation and the presence of God/Spirit/Light. Both of these are more difficult to exemplify in a secular classroom, except via the indirect influence of our personal life and prayer. Page 27 process some of their trauma: Michael Medley (personal communication, February 9, 2011). Now at Eastern Mennonite

University, he is writing an intermediate ESL textbook for this audience tentatively titled Resilience. See also Miersma et al. (2013) and Dormer & Woelk (2017). materials on business ethics: These were based on a public radio interview from the program On Being called “The Gods of Business.” I chose it in part because the interviewee was an ethicist working for a Swiss bank who, although he identified himself as a Hindu, spoke very positively about Christianity as a source of ethical behavior in business. See http://being.publicradio.org/programs/godsofbusiness/. Virtues: Stassen & Gushee (2003), p. 32. Oasis Training Center: This center has since closed, and the website has been discontinued. Character First curriculum: For more on Character First, see http://www.characterfirst.com/aboutus/qualities/. Page 28 Southern Ontario Cooperative of ESL Ministries: https://sites.google.com/site/eslministries/Home/esl-lessons/esllessons-based-on-virtues. government-stipulated character education … in Indonesia: Qoyyimah (2016). seven Christian virtues: Lessard-Clouston (2016). Q: Skills for Success: Scanlon et al. (2015). Page 29 British Council has created ESL materials: https://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/classroomresources/list/teaching-divided-histories-international-conflict. peace education: http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/peace-

education-ejournal.pdf. Michael Medley … peace building: Medley (2016). Michael Sandel’s online course Justice: Osnos (2015), p. 309. See also justiceharvard.org. Sustainable Development Goals: See, for example, https://www.britishcouncil.org/sustainable-developmentgoals/what-are-they. how psychological insights can help people flourish: For resources see http://cct.biola.edu/resources/theme/psyc-spirit-formation/. we are not teaching a culturally biased view or personal opinion: Readers might appreciate the insights of Adeney’s (1995) Strange Virtues: Ethics in a Multicultural World. Pages 29–30 thirstier for something more: James (2012). Page 30 “I want my students to know the reality of the kingdom”: Tom (pseudonym), personal communication (July 31, 2014). a clear and complete picture of our students’ needs: Resources for doing a good needs assessment include Huhta, Vogt, Johnson, & Tulkki (2013) as well as Center for Adult English Language Acquisition (2007), especially III.A.1. “spiritual void”: Osnos (2015), p. 277. deeply religious Arab students: Al-Abed Al Haq & Smadi (1996). Pages 32–33 four types … four formats: From Dormer (2011), pp. 28, 65. Reprinted by permission. Page 34 “not primarily a ‘bait’”: Winter (2013), p. 529.

Iranian migrants to Hungary: Dr. Darrell Jackson, personal communication (February 25, 2016). Page 35 responding to a dialogue journal: Although the private teacherstudent communication in a dialogue journal can be very important for teachers seeking to understand and relate to their students, in some contexts, the religious atmosphere is such that teachers are reluctant to put anything explicitly Christian in written form that might later be used against them. When students experience compassion and empathy: Snow (2001), p. 92. give and receive hospitality: Smith & Carvill (2000). working in a part of the world without a local church: Lena (pseudonym), personal communication (July 20, 2008).

CHAPTER 4: “THIS IS WHO I AM” Page 43 Only 25% of Americans: http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changingreligious-landscape/. Page 44 communicating who we are with a focus on what is core: Love (2009). “Being transparent isn’t just about sharing”: Tom (pseudonym), personal communication (July 31, 2014). Page 45 David, a teacher in Spain: David (pseudonym), personal communication (July 19, 2016). Page 46 a teacher in China, Joy, visits an orphanage: Joy (pseudonym), personal communication (July 13, 2014).

Ben spends Saturday afternoon picking up trash: (pseudonym), personal communication (June 1, 2015).

Ben

Luke, a teacher in a … program in Arizona: Luke (pseudonym), personal communication (March 27, 2015). Katya in Minnesota asks her Saudi students: Katya (pseudonym), personal communication (July 19, 2016). Page 47 In his video English class: Tom (pseudonym), personal communication (July 31, 2014). Page 48 secrecy or hidden agenda: An example of what happens when it hasn’t been made clear can be read in Areddy & Audi’s (2013, July 10) account of Chinese parents not realizing their students were going to a church-hosted camp. Page 49 Each situation is different: For an excellent essay on ethical dilemmas concerning truth, concealment, and identification, see Robison (2009).

CHAPTER 5: GOING DEEP Page 52 “images of shallow consumers”: D. Smith (2007b), p. 41. Page 53 “The deeper the source of a sentence”: Stevick (1996), p. 196. “Laughter, joy, excitement”: Tomlinson (2003), p. 18. people who “fear, doubt, suffer, sin”: Smith & Carvill (2000), p. 144. unusual and controversial: For an example of a teacher who likes to include controversial ideas, see the June 2012 post at http://eflthoughtsandreflections.wordpress.com/.

Page 54 cultural differences: Timina & Butler (2001). A survey of university students in Taiwan revealed that although about 30% were interested in talking about anything in class, about 40% expressed reluctance to talk about topics such as personal weaknesses, sex, family income, politics, religion, and alternative families. In addition, teachers working in the Arabian Gulf reported that, when surveyed, their freshmen said they didn’t want to talk about pets (especially dogs), “negative” topics like death or big social problems, and topics “incompatible” with Islam like alcohol or women’s liberation. (From incomplete notes from a TESOL 2008 conference presentation.) want what is practical: Deckert (1996). Page 55 “When my students are learning how to write about a process”: Katya (pseudonym), personal communication (April 28, 2012). Page 60 Faith, who teaches … at an American university: Faith (pseudonym), personal communication (June 8, 2015). Page 61 Eduardo Verástegui: Toomer (n.d.).

CHAPTER 6: “WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT MATTERS TO YOU?” Page 67 Talk It Through: Kozyrev & Baker (2001). Page 68 Researchers … highlight the importance of identity: For an overview, see Chapter 5, “Agency in Language Learning,” and Chapter 8, “Cultural and Sociopolitical Contexts,” in Brown & Lee (2015). Page 69 “It is through language that a person negotiates a sense of self”: Norton (2013), p. 45.

awareness of who they are—and who they might become: “By promoting autonomy and motivating learners to speak as themselves now, we may enable them to fulfill their potential to be the persons they want to become or grow to value, and to use the language to do the things they want or grow to value, in a healthy and adaptive way that is internally consistent with their own motivation and sense of self” (Ushioda, 2011, p. 22). community ESL program in Canada: Kristjansson (2013). Page 70 article about language learners as spiritual beings: D. Smith (2008), p. 40. Page 71 first word for “spiritual”: Gray (pseudonym), personal communication (n.d.). Page 72 Christian contexts such as seminaries or Christian universities: Lepp-Kaethler & Dornyei (2012). erosion of traditional values: Al-Abed Al Haq & Smadi (1996). This article about westernization and the spread of English in Saudi Arabia tried to challenge the concern that the use of English will lead to imitation of the West and corruption of students’ religious commitment. how to explain the importance of one’s beliefs: More ideas can be found in the World Religions category on Janice Penner’s site http://aace-english.com/free-lesson-handouts/. explore identity via literature: For example, in Philip Roth’s short story “The Conversion of the Jews,” an inquisitive student in Hebrew school preparing for his bar mitzvah clashes with the rabbi over the question of why an omnipotent God couldn’t have arranged a virgin birth for Jesus. Hemingway’s “A Day’s Wait,” about a boy who mistakenly believes he is going to die, allows students to explore themes of fear and death. Another story about a

teenager wondering what will happen to him after he dies is John Updike’s “Pigeon Feathers.” Page 74 radio program This I Believe and the ESL textbooks based on it: With both print and audio (different voices and accents) versions of a wide range of brief personal essays, there is a lot to help intermediate/advanced students develop their language. See ThisIBelieve.org. For textbooks based on it, see Boettcher & Ward (2008).

CHAPTER 7: HOW WE RELATE TO EACH OTHER Page 76 “Don’t you eat dogs?”: Based on Esbenshade (2002). Learning how to act respectfully: While I have attended conference sessions and read articles on this topic, currently available published material is hard to find. Readers who want another source might look at United States Institute of Peace (n.d.). To find out general facts about our students … look for published materials: For example, Flaitz (2003, 2006). Page 77 “the Christian conviction that each person is of value”: Snow (2001), p. 88. Respect is an element of hospitality: For more, see Burwell & Huyser (2013). Page 78 a series of lessons on the language of respect: Going even further, Stillwell (2010) designed an elective in English for conflict resolution and mediation for his advanced intensive English students. Page 80 the way Americans navigate the confusing territory: Advanced students may be interested in ways Americans struggle with this;

see, for example, Tannen (1999). A brief summary can be found at DeborahTannen.com. Another source is civilconversationsproject.org. a teacher in a Southern California community college: James Scott, personal communication (July 12, 2014). Page 81 “if we value the right of every student”: O’Mochain, Mitchell, & Nelson (2003), p. 131. Page 82 Helpful ideas from Tim Muehlhoff’s I Beg to Differ: Muehlhoff (2014).

CHAPTER 8: GOOD TEACHING: BALANCE AND EXCELLENCE Page 87 TESOL experts use phrases like “eclectic” and “principled”: Brown & Lee (2015). Pages 87–88 balanced attention to four strands: Nation (2014). Nation has written many books published by top publishers in the field of TESOL, but this is a nicely written summary available for the public to download. Page 88 a case study in one professional book: Messerschmitt & Hafernik (2009), p. 154. methodology books: Brown & Lee (2015); Harmer (2015); Hess (2001); Snow (2006); Woodward (2001). Snow (2006) is written for novice teachers. Page 89 taught a lesson on visionaries: Mark (pseudonym), personal communication (January 4, 2016). Page 90 part of what every well-educated Westerner knows: See selbl.org and BibleLiteracy.org.

a couple of techniques to allay this fear: Tom (pseudonym), personal communication (July 31, 2014).

CHAPTER 9: GOOD TEACHING: CRITICAL THINKING Page 103 Employers were surveyed: https://www.aacu.org/press/pressreleases/employers-more-interested-critical-thinking-andproblem-solving-college-major. Page 104 they may doubt their ability to read the Bible: Dan Cothran, English teacher in Taiwan, personal communication (July 2014). be wise about what we see, read, hear, and respond to: For example, this site talks about how to authenticate YouTube videos: http://blog.amnestyusa.org/middle-east/real-vs-fake-howto-authenticate-youtube-videos/. Written in 2014 for human rights workers, it illustrates how challenging it can be to separate fact from fiction. Page 105 American CET working in Asia: Baurain (2012), p. 326. They are used to wrestling with doubt: See, for example, Reichard (2013). intellectual traits or cognitive skills: http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/valuable-intellectualtraits.cfm. Page 106 some of the many resources: Recommended resources: • http://philosophy.hku.hk/think/ • http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-where-tobegin/796 • http://www.ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/summer08/vol65/num09/Preparing-Creative-andCritical-Thinkers.aspx

• http://austhink.com/critical/index.htm • http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2011/11/04/the-best-resourceson-teaching-learning-critical-thinking-in-the-classroom/ websites that uncover hoaxes: For example, FactCheck.org and Snopes.com. stories all have more than one side: Two examples to help teachers think about the danger of black-and-white stories or single stories: http://storylineblog.com/2012/12/11/are-thenarratives-our-leaders-tell-us-lies/and http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a _single_story?language=en. They are able “to appreciate ambiguity”: Palmer (2010). Page 107 a non sequitur, a straw man: Logic, e.g., https://bridge8.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/critical-thinkinganimations/. basic understanding of statistics: Statistics, e.g., http://www.fallacyfiles.org/readpoll.html, http://www.senseaboutscience.org/data/files/resources/1/MSofStat istics.pdf. One pitfall that many statistically illiterate people fall into is that there are different types of “average.” Another is that when extreme numbers are reported (for example, “Temperature could rise by 11 degrees”), we’re not always told the probability of that happening. A third pitfall for people reading statistics is lack of context. Is $10 billion a lot or a little? “Statistical significance” is a tricky concept that is important for understanding how confident we can be of a given statistic. Finally, the difference between absolute and relative risk helps us understand such things as statements about the risk of getting killed in a car accident versus a plane crash, or whether married people really have a 50% chance of getting divorced.

strengthened by creative thinking: Litemind.com. Page 108 construct a good argument: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/argument/; http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/evidence/. evaluate their classmates’ statements against a checklist: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/universal-intellectualstandards/527. process information critically: http://ollie.dcccd.edu/services/studyhelp/studyskills/sub/rdgcri.ht m. Page 109 “Harvard Study: Pasteurized Milk”: My sources are http://www.naturalnews.com/035081_pasteurized_milk_cancer_d airy.html and http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/12.07/11dairy.html. Page 110 A student in a Muslim part of Southeast Asia: Sam (pseudonym), personal communication (July 19, 2016). calling for more training: For example, http://www.npr.org/2010/12/29/132416889/chinese-top-in-testsbut-still-have-lots-to-learn. Page 116 Who is your hero?: This example was adapted from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/remodelled-lessons-69/463.

CHAPTER 10: POWER DYNAMICS Page 119 “While I was on a mission stint”: Chamberlain (2009), p. 49. “Teachers virtually always have authority”: Snow (2001), pp. 75–76. Pages 119–20 they don’t want a teacher to lose face: Wu

(2015, Jan–Feb). Page 121 conceal who has the real authority: Wolterstoff (2006). Empowering learners is a central theme: Lessard-Clouston (2015). Page 123 Power dynamics are especially critical when students are children: Children should not be asked to make religious decisions. See Bush (2013). when children or their families are vulnerable or dependent: This and more from http://www.europeanea.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/09/Ethics-and-Cautions-in-Mission-withChildren-Dr-Dan-Brewster.pdf. Page 124 Jody Fernando: http://thelinkbetweenworlds.com/2014/05/09/when-im-bored-iask-my-heart-what-it-needs/.

CHAPTER 11: OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM Page 126 service: There is quite a lot in the TESOL professional literature about service learning and language acquisition. For a reference list, see “Service Learning” at http://www.tirfonline.org/resources/references/. Page 127 Class field trips: Field trips should be planned well to be useful to ESL/EFL students. Unfortunately, the literature is sparse and dated. See Eyring (2001); Fried-Booth (2002); Hendrick & Butler (1992); Jerald & Clark (1989); Montgomery & Eisenstein (1985); and Santopietro (1988). English camps: To my knowledge, there is not a good source of information about English camps or a clearinghouse for camp curricula. Everyone who runs one seems to work very hard on

their own, without a good mechanism for sharing resources. The professional literature is also rather sparse. See Dormer (2011); Forseth & Forseth (1996); Ismail & Tahir (2011); Renaud & Tannenbaum (2013); and Rugasken & Harris (2009). Page 129 “giving a reason for the hope they have”: 1 Peter 3:15. a “retired” couple teaching in rural China: Jonathan and Naomi (pseudonyms), personal communication (July 12, 2014). a married couple both teaching in a university: Joy and Adam (pseudonyms), personal communication (July 11, 2014). Page 131 an American teacher working at a university in Central Asia: Mark (pseudonym), personal communication (January 4, 2016). A church near the University of Michigan: Rachel Lee, personal communication (June 30, 2016). Page 132 ISI: International Students, Inc.—a group that exists to “share Christ’s love with international students and equip them for effective service in cooperation with the local church and others.” See ISIonline.org. A community college in Kansas: Christiansen-Bullers (2014, September). Thanks to Cindy Goforth, who sent me a copy of this publication. A successful conversation partner program: Shonda: (pseudonym), personal communication (October 24, 2016). institutions that want to protect students: To read a sociological perspective on Christian volunteer organizations serving international students, see Li (2011). Page 133 a CET at a university in China: Joy (pseudonym), personal communication (July 11, 2014).

some US schools place no limits: Good resources can be found through the website of NAFSA: Association of International Educators; see nafsa.org. They have a Christian specific interest group, a network devoted to community programming, and a statement of ethics, which includes the following: We will demonstrate the appropriate level of transparency in dealings with individuals and organizations. In collaborations with other institutions and individuals we will proceed on the bases of equality and mutuality. Transactions with external providers of programs and services will be conducted professionally, always keeping the welfare of students foremost, and disclosing any potential conflicts of interests. We will provide faculty, staff, students and scholars with the information they need to make good decisions about program participation and to facilitate their adjustment to the locales and cultures where they will study or work. Page 135 Free ESL: James Scott (pseudonym), personal communication (July 14, 2014). Page 137 COEN: Hiromi Takahashi, personal communication (July 7, 2015). Page 140 Tom in Southeast Asia: Tom (pseudonym), personal communication (July 31, 2014). Page 142 Conversational English in the Balkans: Darrell (pseudonym), personal communication (January 28, 2015).

CHAPTER 12: SPIRITUAL REALITY Page 145 “We teach who we are”: Palmer (1997), p. 2. “bad teaching involves a disconnect between the stuff being taught”: Palmer (1999).

the state of our soul: In a discussion group on Parker Palmer, one CET wrote, “On one hand, I feel that when we aren’t doing well, we can ‘fake it.’ I know I have done so many times! These times have usually not been successful for me. But on other occasions when I haven’t been doing so well, I have also had times of great success in avoiding projecting negative messages to my students. Usually I confess my condition and ask for God’s help to help me teach my students. One thing I have tried not to do when I teach is dump my problems and emotional garbage on my students. It seems that by confessing our true condition to the Lord, we avoid violating our personal integrity. We remain true to ourselves (and to God) and as a result, God is then free to strengthen us without hindrance” (Ed, pseudonym, February 1, 2003). “Living out our vocation”: Durka (2002), pp. 74–75. “I think hard … about who I should be”: Gregory (2002), p. 10. Page 146 streams of water: Psalm 1:3; John 4:14; 7:38. light of life: Matthew 4:16; John 8:12; 1 John 1:7. the kind of prayer Henri Nouwen describes: Nouwen (1981), pp. 74, 76, 82, 85. Page 147 “As long as ministry only means”: Nouwen (1981), p. 87. “all those who have become …”: Nouwen (1981), p. 86. “It is this restful heart”: Nouwen (1981), p. 90. Page 148 identity of all Christians as priests: Breslin (2015). a teacher in Southeast Asia says: Tom (pseudonym), personal communication (July 31, 2014).

“the final fruits of our efforts rest in God’s hands”: Durka (2002), p. 78. Page 149 stretching our roots deeper into his love: Ephesians 3:17. the God who “makes things grow” … “abiding in the vine”: See 1 Corinthians 3:6–7 and John 15.

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