Hi, everyone....







Well, it's been some time since I entered a note about what God is preparing for the English Language Ministry (ELM).


On September 1st I will leave for Accra Ghana for a 2-week training institute. The first week will be in Abokobi, just northeast of Accra at the Presbyterian Women's Center retreat center. There may be as many as 35 to 40 attendees. Then the second week I will be in Takradi, the southwest port city at a Ghana mission ministry. Here there will be upwards of 100 teachers being trained using my new curriculum, USING EVERYDAY ENGLISH.


Assisting me will be Lori Martin, from LEI-Canada (Toronto area), Michael Tetteh, our English representative in Ghana who is hosting this institute, and Charles Udoh, from the Ivory Coast. Charles will be bringing 5 trainees with him so this ministry can advance more rapidly in that country.

All three books are completed; now, all that is needed is the audio for books 2 & 3 and a training video for the internet. All this should be completed by March of next year...Lord willing and by His grace!!

Returning from Ghana, I will rendezvous with Leona in London and meet with some missionaries who now live in northern England and are wanting to reach out to the immigrant communities that live in their neighborhood. We'll be joined with Georg and Martha Ort, our LEI workers in Tulsa who know these missionaries from their work in Nepal years ago.

We'll keep you posted to this progress. God bless...and thanks for all your prayers regarding this exciting ministry. God's blessings.

USING EVERYDAY ENGLISH in Brazil!



Alex Lowchinoscy is beginning an English language outreach in Brazil and asked permission to use the new curriculum, Using Everyday English, book 1-"Today!" I had no idea how large his class was, but it looks as if he is well on his way in promoting English through his church outreach ministry.



Book 3, "Tomorrow!" is completed and in field test mode, or "proof reading copy" mode for any of you who are wanting to use it and help us field-test it.

The appendix and addendem list all the verb forms and a list of all the games we enjoy playing. Included are the music lyrics and scores so if people from other countries are not familiar with our music, such as, "He has the whole world in His hands" or "the Hokey Pokey", they will have the written scores to be able to play it. Also, I intend to have all the music added onto the internet for downloading so anyone can listen to it.



I am grateful to our Lord for accomplishing all this enthusiasm. I want you to celebrate God's goodness, too. There's still more to do -- training video and special speech reproduction video for sound reproduction for those having difficulty with so many English sounds.

Fresno Training for Punjabi speakers

Last weekend in January, I led a 11 hour tutor-training workshop in Fresno, California at NorthPointe Church. There were 6 trainees and 4 Punjabi Sikhs who attended. Again we used the first book of Using Everyday English, "TODAY!" Don Fisher, Kim Gratson were great hosts and even though the clouds covered the San Joaquin Valley, there was plenty of "sun" inside our training room! God is slowly...making His message known in this resistent language group. They, like so many other ethnic groups, have difficulty assimilating into American culture. It's hard to let go of the old country. So, our best hope is the second or third generation as they have no experience of being in India. God is showing His love and grace through faithful loving Christians who have embraced these folks.

The picture to the right are the ladies pronouncing explosive letter sounds like 't' and 'p'. Always a good laugh and lots of fun.

I have said in the past the enormous importance of Clap the Stress

drills that help English learners (students) sense the music of our

language...probably even more important than grammar points or word placement.

OUR TRAINING IS OVER

LOOK WHO SHOWED UP ON SATURDAY MORNING UNEXPECTEDLY!

Twelve students showed up. And here is Ruth Russel, 80+ years young, teaching the pronunciation section. She spends time in Budapest teaching the Bible and has a great love for evangelism.

Oh yeah...nothing as much fun as singing, dancing and playing the Hokey Pokey!

Even though this picture is blurred, you can see the students (learners) using Kleenex tissues to practice making the sounds of 'b', 'p', 'h' and 't'.

They laughed a lot and that's the greatest pleasure we have in tutoring.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the fun a tutor-training workshop is and will want to begin your own English language outreach ministry.

Here's everyone gathered at the conclusion of our 41/2 day training workshop.

FIRST EVER ENGLISH TRAINING WORKSHOP IN TORONTO!

There is a special feeling coming to Toronto for an English Language Training workshop. In the picture (left) standing next to me is Paul Terry Robinson and in front in the blue blouse is Mabel Wee. Paul Terry and Mabel attended the 2003 training institute in Tulsa and returned to Toronto with ESL as their vision and passion. I came to Toronto in 2003 and led a workshop using PASSPORT to the World of English as our text. Over the seven years, they have created English classes among the muslim community and established a resource cooperative for any church or Christian in Toronto teaching English - all online over the internet.
Between Paul Terry and Mabel is Carey Jo Johnston who leads our LEI-Canada office as well as co-pastoring Knox Presbyterian Church in a small town an hour away from Toronto. The two on the end (right) is Ken and Lori Martin. Lori is preparing herself to be the lead English trainer for Canada. She is scheduled to join Carey Jo on a primer construction training and project in Sierra Leone late October and November. She will be quite versatile and an indispensible member of the new Canadian team. Ken supports her work with a full-time employment in Toronto.

Juanita is working with Peng and Steven on lesson 2 of Using Everyday English doing the Theme Picture. Peng was quite advanced in English and was able to create some incredible storylines which made all of us roll with laughter. Steven felt a tad overwhelmed with Peng's stories, and being an electrical engineer was enjoying the stories and adding more. Peng's comment to us when before leaving was "I enjoy tonight. It is more fun! In my ESL class there is one teacher and 30 students. I don't speak any English. Here is speak a lot." A good commentary on the value of the textbook and the need for English ministry within the local church.

Here is Ruth leading the Theme Picture. The video will show you how creative Peng is. Ruth is 80 years 'young' and travels annually to Budapest, Hungry where she is part of Scripture Union and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. While in Hungry, she teaches Bible classes with small groups of university students and plans on using the ESL methods and skills on her next trip this Fall. I hope when you watch this video that you will be convinced that age is not a factor when tutoring. Her humble spirit, passion for the lost, compassion to bring people close to Jesus through teaching and language learning is a great inspiration to all of us.

September in Toronto!

Heading to Toronto in September for the first major English Language Ministry training workshop using book 1, "today!" of my new series, Using Everyday English. Carey Jo Johnson, our LEI rep in Canada will be organizing and preparing everything. All Leona and I have to do is to get there! We plan to drive our motorhome across the upper states and park it in the church's parking lot during the training.

Hopefully we'll be visiting churches on the way. Included is a possible visit with our friends, the Woods, who live in Ithica, NY., the Cranks in Cinncinati, and relatives in Tulsa. We'll be looking forward to seeing our "great grandson" Dylan who lives in Broken Arrow, OK.

Thanks for your prayers regarding this long trip...and a first for us in a motorhome.

Requests for 2011 are already coming in: our LEI directors in Malawi, Maxwell Mpinganga and Michael Tetteh in Ghana both want some training using UEE. This is planned around this time next year.

There are also two requests in Mexico, so we will see what God is doing and be as prepared as possible to assist the nationals and missionaries located there.

Coming to the finish line!

Yes! Thank you Lord, Jesus. This is July 1, 2010 and my goal was to complete the last 6 lessons of Using Everyday English (UEE) before the end of June. All I have left to complete is "How to teach a lesson" and the appendices which include charts of the verb tenses, adjective and adverb endings, prefixes and suffixes, etc., and finally, lyrics from the various songs included in the lessons and suggested games which are played during a training workshop.

Now, the big development will be to revise the training DVD to include the new curriculum, and (this is where I really need your prayers!) the production of a 3-D (3 dimensional) phonetic drama that will depict how a person can make the correct sounds of the English letters.

I have found that the two most challenging sounds for new English speakers are: th (both voiced and unvoiced) and the r (gutteral rather than dental). The letters n and l also give various learners trouble.

My goal, which you can continue to pray for me, is to complete this project before the end of this year, 2010.

Thanks for reading this blog. I only wish I had something more to share with you like a YouTube video, etc., but working on curriculum is like watching grass grow!

Blessings to you.