Categories
Devotional

Peace in the Midst

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 […]

Categories
ESL Program Ideas Holidays Seasonal

Ideas for celebrating Christmas with our ESL students under COVID

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 […]

Categories
Holidays Seasonal

Christmas and New Year ESL Resources

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 […]

Categories
Language Learning

On LanguaCulture

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 […]

Categories
Language Learning

Living and learning in the age of COVID 19

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 […]