Comments on Teaching ESL to Adults: Using a Christian-Based ESL Curriculum

I have thought about this "exploitation" of the st...

2010-09-01T01:24:59.568-07:00

I have thought about this "exploitation" of the student mentioned above. My opinion, as of now, is that it would depend on the situation. I think that if the methodology and goal of the teacher as well as the student were clearly stated and understood by the students beforehand, if there were other avenues of learning English which were similar in accessibility, if children were not taught (the only possible exception I could think of is if the parents were directly involved and completely understood the teaching methodology and goals.) and absolutely no coercion or pressure were used (i.e."I'll teach you English if you stay for my religious study after wards. I'll teach you English if you go to my religious group. I'll allow you into the advanced course if you go to my religious group. Now that you've heard the message won't you please accept it now... etc.)These people are by no means stupid or gullible; we're not talking about brainwashing here; no one is being tricked into anything or pressured to accept any kind of position. These are rational intelligent adults who are perfectly capable of benefiting from the English instruction and judging the merits, or demerits, of a presentation of ideas that may be a part of the instruction. If everything is clear and above board, no coercion or pressure is used, and it is in an environment where other means of studying English are, more or less, equally accessible then I don't see this as crossing any kind of ethical line.

Frankly, religious groups teaching English is deep...

2010-06-14T13:45:59.771-07:00

Frankly, religious groups teaching English is deeply concerning to me. Is their true goal to help their students in their daily lives, or is it to "Westernize" or "Christianize" them? If the students are already Christians, then fine... but do not exploit students desire to learn English as a means to assimilate them.

Good discussion. As you may know, many Christian o...

2010-04-17T15:32:16.375-07:00

Good discussion. As you may know, many Christian organizations have done an exceptional job of both teaching English and spreading the gospel. Do you TESOL.org yet? It's the largest international English Teachers organization, and I believe they have an interest group called Christian Educators.
Go to their website, look around, and consider joining.

At our California CATESOL conferences, for instance, you will find many excellent presentations from BIOLA University (Bible Institute of Los Angeles) students and faculty that focus on effective teaching techniques. If you Google "Korean" and "Christian" and "English Curriculum", you will find some resources of potential interest.

Let me also share another fine resource for both secular and religious volunteers leading conversation clubs: http://eslconversationclubs.blogspot.com/

Good luck.

it occurs to me that there is a lot of information...

2010-02-10T14:44:18.578-08:00

it occurs to me that there is a lot of information on the web by Christian families who homeschool. Perhaps a google search for homeschool curricula might be useful?

Thank you very much for this tip. I hope Sally wil...

2009-10-05T15:58:57.872-07:00

Thank you very much for this tip. I hope Sally will stop by again to see it!

Best,
Debra

I go to Moody Bible Institute where I believe ther...

2009-10-05T14:57:42.774-07:00

I go to Moody Bible Institute where I believe there is a biblical based ESL curriculum that is used by the ESL majors...It is by Wally Cirafesi and is called English in Action