Southern Ontario Cooperative of ESL Ministries
By Mary Ellen Tierney “Peace.” I hear God whisper. “How can I have peace when there is so much to do and COVID is swirling around?” I shout back, inside. “Peace.” He whispers again. The word “peace” is everywhere in the account of Jesus’ birth (the actual word itself, and implicitly in the angels telling […]
We asked the ESL teachers within our circles what they are planning to do this year with their students for Christmas. Since we’re under COVID, and some of us in lockdown, many in-person activities cannot be done. We need to be creative in finding new ways. Here is what some of them said: Latin American […]
Check out the rich Christmas resources on our SOCEM site including Christmas lessons from the Virtues series and the Conversation Guides: An excellent reading about the North American Christmas traditions, with a glossary: Christmas traditions around the world; good for starting conversations with students: Stories behind favourite Christmas carols and hymns: A Christmas story from […]
By Tom McCormick Editor’s Note: Winter, Covid, Christmas with limited gatherings, loneliness and missing home and family, the unfamiliarity of a new country and how things work – our students are facing multiple challenges that demand a lot of them. It is probably true that Christmas is not celebrated in their home countries in the […]
Editor’s Note: Perhaps most of us have chatted with our students about their lives under COVID 19. Seldom, though, have we seen them expressed in writing. We continue to publish selected writings from the students of an ESL teacher in our midst, submitted in their knowledge and with their permission. Let’s hear the voice of […]
By Allan Pole Marty was touring Europe just as they were breaking down the Berlin Wall. Wanting to get some historic pieces of the Wall, he headed for Berlin. Because he found the hotels there beyond his means, he asked a young policeman if he knew of an inexpensive place where he could stay. The […]
Love New Canadians is offering a free training workshop on “Using Zoom to Teach ESL Classes Online: A strategy to help churches develop pathways to Jesus for immigrants in their neighbourhoods” on September 12 and 19, 2020 (same webinar offered twice). For details and to register, contact Rick at rick@lovenewcanadians.ca. Tutela.ca is an online community […]
What words do your Chinese-speaking students have most difficulty with? Perhaps you thought of ‘walk’ and ‘work’; ‘bit’ and ‘beet’; and pronouncing words starting with a consonant cluster like ‘drape’ and ‘French’. Here are some articles on common errors of Chinese English speakers: 10 English Pronunciation Errors by Mandarin Speakers Chinese Pronunciation Problems in English […]
By Sandi Howell March 17, 2020, remember it? Everything shut down including ESL programs. This was the perfect storm for us at The Peoples Church as the computer program to enter our learners’ particulars was discontinued and we were waiting for the new system, so we were using a paper record of attendance. Our newest […]
Editor’s Note: Perhaps most of us have chatted with our students about their lives under COVID-19. Seldom, though, have we seen them expressed in writing. Below are some selected writings from the students of an ESL teacher in our midst, submitted in their knowledge and with their permission. Let’s hear the voice of some in […]