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Welcome to our newest members, Redeemer Church of Arlington and Leesburg United Methodist Church!
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Thank you...
...to Jill Zabel and Bruen Chapel United Methodist Church for hosting our spring teacher training and our spring board of directors meeting
...to First Presbyterian Church of Arlington and Mt. Olivet United Methodist Church for their generous financial support
...and to all those who supported ESLIM through its annual fund campaign last year.
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| Member Churches
Bruen Chapel United Methodist Church
Calvary United Methodist Church
Centreville United Methodist Church
Community of Christ
Crossroads United Methodist Church
Culmore United Methodist Church
Dulin United Methodist Church
Ekklesia USA (associate member)
First Presbyterian Church of Arlington & Mount Olivet United Methodist Church (joint program)
Grace United Methodist Church
Graham Road United Methodist Church
Leesburg United Methodist Church
Lord of Life Lutheran Church
Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church (associate member)
Prince of Peace Lutheran Church
Redeemer Church of Arlington
Saint Matthew's United Methodist Church
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Greetings from ESLIM
Our ESL ministries provide a learning experience not only for our students but also for our many volunteers who make the classes possible. Volunteers serve in a variety of capacities, from teaching classes to preparing snacks to coordinating programs, just to name a few. And some of our programs offer childcare with paid staff and volunteers. In this issue, you can read about the impact of childcare on everyone involved.
Thank you for your interest in ESLIM's mission and for the continued support that makes these learning opportunities possible!
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Children from Around the World Make A Difference in Their Families' Lives
Submitted by Terri Kennedy, ESLIM Secretary and ESL Coordinator at Crossroads United Methodist Church
"At Crossroads, we view the ESL childcare ministry as a true ministry -- just like Crossroads Kids Sunday School, DC VBS, or the Ugandan ministry," says staff member Susan Yantis. "ESL childcare is not about babysitting -- it is about changing children's lives for the better and about truly being neighbors and our brother's keeper in every sense."
When their parents are in ESL classes, the children get help with homework, make crafts, take dance classes, eats snacks, and play games with each other.
"ESL childcare has taught me how smart and brave these young children are. In many cases they are the interpreters for their families, helping them with filling out forms, handling doctors' visits and struggling with their homework all by themselves," says Kathy MacKrell, an ESL childcare volunteer. "They always have a positive attitude because they feel they are in a place with more opportunities than their country of origin. This is inspiring to me. I probably would not have known this if I had not worked with these children."
"ESL childcare is a place where the kids can just be kids." Ron Harding, a longtime ESL childcare provider, says that "working with ESL childcare has stopped me from worrying about my own problems and helped me to concentrate more on other people's problems. All of the kids I come across only need a little attention from someone. When they are at home and their parents are working, they only watch TV or play video games. Interaction with other trusted adults becomes very important to them."
Whether teaching or assisting in the ESL classrooms, working in ESL hospitality or ESL childcare, you will be changed no matter where you serve.
"We can never know what it is like to walk in another's shoes, but until you walk into ESL you won't know how changed your life will be," says Susan Yantis. "I'm still processing the experience after spending just two hours with the kids in childcare last spring."
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Teacher Training
To register, send your name, the telephone number where you can be reached on the day of the training, the date you prefer, and the church ESL program with which you are volunteering to office@eslim.org. Dorothy Hettmann will reply with additional information.
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Teaching Tips
Bring authentic materials to the classroom.
Use materials like newspapers, sale flyers, and brochures in the classroom. These help learners connect what they are learning to the real world and familiarize them with the formats and information in such publications. (Be sure to pre-teach the vocabulary first.) For a lesson on food, bring items such as empty cereal boxes. For advanced classes, bring a job application.
Encourage students to make telephone calls for homework. Choose a museum or other organization that has a recorded information line. Ask students to call the phone number, listen to the recording, and obtain a specific piece of information, such as the hours of operation. (Demonstrate in class by putting your cell phone on speaker.) Ask more advanced students to make a phone call to a live person and ask a question.
Review! Remember that learning a language takes lots of practice. During each class session, go back over vocabulary, dialogues, grammar, etc. that you covered in previous classes.
Do you have a teaching tip, favorite website, or classroom activity to share? Please submit your ideas to office@eslim.org.
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About ESLIM
ESLIM's member churches offer low-cost English classes for adult immigrants, taught by volunteers. Students who cannot pay receive scholarships.
To support the efforts of each of the program sites, ESLIM handles a variety of tasks in a centralized way. Its activities include the following:
- Advertising for volunteers
- Placing and training volunteer teachers
- Advertising the class schedule in foreign-language media
- Maintaining a voice-mail line in which calls can be returned in English and Spanish
- Producing the Speak Easy e-newsletter three times per year
- Maintaining a website that features the class schedule, a variety of resources for teachers, and information for faith communities considering an ESL ministry
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