Southern Ontario Cooperative of ESL Ministries
Abridged by Colin Brewster There was a man. He was a kind, and mostly good man. He was generous to his family, and honest in his dealings with others, but each year when Christmas came along, he had a problem. He just couldn’t accept the Christmas story. “I’m really sorry to upset you”, he told […]
Check out the rich Christmas resources on our SOCEM site including Christmas lessons from the Virtues series and the Conversation Guides: https://eslministries.org/resources/teaching-materials/seasonal-resources/ An excellent reading about the North American Christmas traditions, with a glossary: http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/christmasday.pdf Christmas traditions around the world; good for starting conversations with students: http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/ http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm https://www.whychristmas.com/customs/ Stories behind favourite Christmas carols and […]
By Marion Chang Imagine that you are a tourist visiting Canada for the very first time during this holiday season. You see coloured lights on houses and gaudily festive store windows as you tour the city streets. There also seems to be a large, bearded, old man in a red uniform all over the media. […]
By Tom More The last time I wrote an article for this newsletter, I reflected on Jesus the refugee. At Christmas time, we recall that shortly after the jubilant birth and angelic choir, the shepherds and magi, after the gold, frankincense and myrrh, Jesus was on the road and on the run. It occurs to […]
On October 26, 2019, SOCEM held its annual conference, Gathering XVI, at Trinity Church Streetsville once again. There were close to 110 attending, and participants came from all over Southern Ontario including Kingston, Oshawa, the Greater Toronto Area, Niagara Falls, Kitchener-Waterloo and more. After a brief opening worship and devotional, participants spread into different rooms […]