By Mary-Jane Davison
Fight4Freedom (F4F) is a Christian ministry that outreaches to and journeys with individuals impacted by the sex industry and trafficking. F4F outreach teams visit locations known to have sex industry activities and seek to build relationships with the individuals at those locations. When they express interest to receive support and/or would like to explore options outside of the environment that they are in, the F4F survivor care team supports them through a case management approach to develop support plans to care for their needs in resources or services, such as support in groceries, bill payment, monthly rent, transportation costs, education and career development, counselling, and pastoral care.
My interest was piqued when SOCEM sent out a request last year from Fight4Freedom for an ESL teacher to provide free one-on-one online lessons for one of the women who wanted to improve her English to work in a coffee shop, restaurant, or store. Although I have no known experience working with individuals with a background in the sex industry, I was excited that one Christian ministry reached out to another with a practical request and a defined goal. Did God want me to be this ESL teacher?
After Gladys from F4F introduced me to Shelley (not her real name) during an initial Zoom meeting and we were able to understand each other, I discerned that God wanted me to be Shelley’s teacher. Shelley told me she especially wanted to improve her English reading ability, and I also made note of some grammatical errors. With Shelley’s goals in mind, our weekly Zoom sessions consisted of reading, grammar, vocabulary, and role-play practice. Shelley worked hard and further demonstrated her motivation by asking for homework!
I was thankful to find an assortment of fabulous resources. The websites of Bow Valley College and ESL Fast have free leveled stories for beginners that also include audio recordings. Bow Valley’s Canadian online books are about daily life, such as “Lien Goes Shopping” and “Pooja Finds a Job”. ESL Fast features hundreds of simple stories. ISL Collective shares innumerable free ESL worksheets. I had access to two helpful books, the Oxford Picture Dictionary for vocabulary and the picture-with-text beginner textbook English Made Easy for dialogue in practical social situations.
Over the months of building a relationship during our weekly Zoom meetings, I appreciated Shelley’s warmth, honesty, initiative, and sense of humour. More than once, she invited me to go for coffee with her if I was ever in her area. Aside from our sessions, Shelley spent most of her time at home by herself. She does not drive or use public transit. Shelley’s English confidence was growing, but she was isolated and missing opportunities to use her English skills with others. I sensed Shelley was ready to meet others in a program in her community. When I noticed her local library will be offering a weekly online English conversation circle in the fall on the same day of the week and in the same time slot as our weekly sessions, I knew my time as her one-on-one ESL teacher was winding down. Shelley is ready for the next step without me. Gladys from F4F was the one who connected the two of us initially, and she will continue to support Shelley as she works toward her goals. One day I hope to take Shelley up on her offer for coffee so we can catch up and so I can again cheer her on as she perseveres in freedom.