I have spent the last few years thinking of ideas to share Christmas in the classroom or anywhere else. The best thing I can come up with is The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Why this terribly annoying song? (Please here me out before you roll your eyes and leave this site!) First, it is memorable because it has been overdone. Second, the verses have a lot of meaning that can be explained. Third, it  repeats easily for lower level students. Repetition is the name of the game and this fits the bill! And you can always ask what their favorite Christmas carol is before or after. 

Here is the low-down on the verses:

”My true love” represents God who gives all the gifts in the song.

”A partridge in a pair tree” is Jesus, who gave his life on a tree (the cross).

”Two turtle doves” symbolize the Old and New Testaments.

”Three French hens” are faith, hope, and love.

”Four calling birds” speak of the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four gospels.

”Five golden rings” correspond to the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Penteteuch.

”Six geese a-laying” stand for the six days of creation.

”Seven swans a-swimming” are the seven gifts of the Spirit (Romans 12: 6-8).

”Eight maids a-milking” point to the eight beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10).

”Nine ladies dancing” signify the nine fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

”Ten lords a-leaping” represent the Ten Commandments.

”Eleven pipers piping” are the eleven faithful disciples. And finally…
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”Twelve drummers drumming” refers to the twelve points of the Apostles Creed.

This song has all kinds of hidden meaning like so many other things around Christmas time. Give it a whirl with the next group you are with and let me know how it goes!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Last year around this time, the Global Studies Department at Korea University was told that everyone was required to teach three textbooks for 2019. The textbooks were Great Writing, Mosaic Reading, and Mosaic Speaking and Listening. As you can imagine, this did not go over well. Most of us have trouble getting through one book in a semester, never mind three. We complained in the hallways about not being allowed to choose books that we thought were appropriate for the students here at Sejong Campus.

It’s a year later and the books are about to go. The director who instituted this changed resigned a semester early as well. It’s been a bit of a train wreck, but is there anything to be learned from this experience? Was there anything worth salvaging from the myriad of bad decisions that came down? I would like to say that there is something worth saving.

The material presented in the Mosaic 2 Reading book was worth the war we found ourselves in. It has promoted class discussions that I wouldn’t have had with students otherwise, and it has given us a lot of food for thought.

The first chapter was about language and learning. The students read an article about why bilinguals are smarter than monolinguals. I encouraged them with their language learning endeavours because it is making them smarter and more capable than their American and Canadian counterparts.

The second reading was on the effects of social media in the classroom. Surprisingly, the writer was for social media in the classroom as a way to promote interaction. I remember so many raised eyebrows with this. Still, it was good to show them another perspective. And this was just the beginning!

Danger and Daring was the theme of chapter two. We read “Into Thin Air”, a short article about a man who climbed Mount Everest and survived the storm on May 10, 1996. The article was by Jon Kraukauer, who was able to tell his story quite well. He described his numbness at the summit and all the trouble with the oxygen tank on the way down. I could sense the students were enjoying a story that was not watered down.

The second story in Danger and Daring was also worth reading. We read an except from Farley Mowat’s “Never Cry Wolf”. It was a well expressed piece on the world we have lost by not knowing about wolves and other animals. The writer expressed a moment were irrational fear set in and he forgot about all the time he had spent studying and learning about these magnificent creatures. Again, students were challenged and enjoyed the language being presented.

Chapter 3 had a review of the book The Richer Sex. The students were introduced to a new kind of family where the wife is the bread winner. They learned about the grading curve, boys’ clubs, and a new kind of trophy wife. They expressed their views on feminism. This was a topics I have wanted to tackle in class but hadn’t had opportunity until then.

Chapter 3 also had a reading entitled “Has Facebook Destroyed the Word ‘Friend’?” The students were introduced to a very negative presentation of Facebook. I was able to ask them what social media they use and how often they use it. They expressed opinions on Mark Zuckerburg. This had direct relevance for their lives and many of them agreed that Facebook has changed the word “Friend” for the worse. But it wasn’t all negative, and I left class thinking many of them were very thoughtful on the topic.

I still have chapter 4 to cover. One reading is in the Taj Mahal and the other is on plastic surgery. I’m looking forward to going to class. What will they consider to be a beautiful building or monument? Are there any other structures similar to the Taj Mahal? What will be there opinion on plastic surgery? Is okay for Asians to look like Koreans instead of the Caucasian beauty standard? I will find out and I’m sure I will get some intelligent, informed opinions.
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I would never have picked Mosaic 2 Reading on my own. I am thankful for this one gift from our previous director and I intend to use it next year. It gave me hope even though I thought the students would not be able to handle it. I’m chronicling hope in the university classroom. Reading aloud is a gift to be enjoyed for every student.

We are taking a break from the usual to tell you about something special that happened over the weekend. God can move in academic circles and this development proves the point.

​There was a panel discussion on women in  in leadership in ELT on October 12, 2019 at the KOTESOL National Conference. It focused on issues confronting women in the field of English language education.

What was enjoyable about this is that women in Korea and those in leadership roles in East and Southeast Asia were invited and to participate. Each area is traditionally male dominant and this was a welcome change.

The speakers included: Ji-Hyeon Jeon, president of AsiaTEFL and a professor at Ewha Woman’s University, Chimed Suren, ELTAM board member and a researcher at the National University of Mongolia, Issy Yuliasri, TEFLIN representative and Lecturer of the State University of Semarang (Indonesia), and Camilla Vizconde, PALT representative and Department Chair at University of Santo Tomas (Philippines).

This marks the beginning of recognizing the roles women have in society.  Grace Wang, the moderator and a friend of mine, was quoted in the Korea Herald saying this is “an exciting time for English-language teaching field” where we are “moving away from top-down, West-centric approaches and theories to what is considered model ways to teach the English Language.”

“Teachers at the grassroots level, rather than researchers in ivory towers” are increasingly being recognized as more credible authorities on what constitutes “best” English language teaching in local contexts.

“We need more teachers to become less comfortable with being directed on how to teaching, and more comfortable with venturing out to explore their own practice environments.”

A Facebook page was put on the same day of the conference  and has grown considerably.  Here are some highlights are worthy noting.
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Kimberly Roberts, the current president of Daegu-Gyeongbuk chapter, says that they don’t get many women presenters at their workshops.  This is her first step in changing that reality.

Kristen Razzaq, originally from London, is an elementary school teacher in Pusan. She asks the group what makes them curious.

Suzann Walters posted this as it reminded her of the panel. “Hi. Hey. You there. Imposter syndrome is lying to you. You are enough. And, you are good at what you do.”

Vanessa Virgiel, originally from the U.S., looks forward to the sharing of experiences and expertise.

Suzanne Walters, an English teacher in Seoul, is thirsting for knowledge and coffee and says that the panel helped her feel empowered by all the fabulous ladies in leadership in ELT.

Gyoung Sook Ahn is the director of the Kyoungsan Community Health Center. She has been an environmentalist for the past 30 years.  She organized Dr. Ahn’s institute for nature care in 2003, which focused on children’s educational and spreading educational materials and the NIE (Newspapers in Education) contests.  Her materials are all free of charge.

The purpose of this group is the support and encourage women in ELT to meet and rise above the challenges of a dynamic professional field amidst a rapidly world. The people in this group will help, support, and encourage each other just as we do in other areas of life. From those who are just embarking on an ELT career path, to those who are veterans of the profession and have served in ELT for many years, we all need support and encouragement. 

Greta Thunberg is the new face for the environmental crisis. She is young, sincere, and keeps telling the adults that they are not trying hard enough. Don’t you just love her?

The environmental crisis is not new news. It has been going on for thirty years. I would like to share a piece that was in the September/October issue of Sojourners magazine that you could use for your class or, at the very least, inspire you to do something about the situation we find ourselves in. The students could read it, ask questions, and start the conversation on a climate strike. Let’s empower the students to make change and possibly even empower ourselves. 

Bill McKibben is the founder of 350.org. His most recent book is Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?

Since last September, when Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunburg began her one woman campaign, school strikes have happened around the planet. At their height, in the spring, 14 million left class for a day, demanding that our leaders actually lead on the greatest crisis the planet has ever faced. In May, the students asked adults to join them, and so the first all-ages climate strike will take place across the planet.

Here is why you should join in making it the largest day of climate protest in history.

1. Because the climate crisis just keeps deepening.

When I wrote the first book about all this, 30 years ago this fall, scientists were issuing warnings about what would happen if we didn’t act. We didn’t act and now instead of warnings we are issuing body counts. Wildfire, flood, the spread of insects carrying disease: The iron law of climate change is that it affects first those who have done the last to cause it. But by now it’s reaching every part of the planet. Last autumn in California, we watched a city literally called Paradise almost literally turn into hell inside half an hour. This spring, we watched the relentless flooding across the richest grain belt of the planet.

2. Without rapid, trans-formative action, it’s going to get much worse.

So far, we have raised the temperature of the planet one degree Celsius – about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. But we’re on course not, unless something changes fast, to see it rise 3.5 degrees Celsius – 6 degrees Fahrenheit -by century’s end. Scientists say that would preclude civilization as we’ve known it.

3. We could change if we got our act together.

Engineers have worked small miracles, the price of solar power has dropped almost 90 percent in the last decade. So, if our government and financial institutions put their mind to it, rapid change is truly possible (and it would save us the vast amounts of money that would otherwise be spent trying to defend against cataclysm).

4. There is a big movement demanding change but it needs to get much bigger.

Right now, leadership is coming from front-line communities most affect by change. It’s coming from Indigenous communities around the planet. It’s coming from scientists and people of faith. But it needs to come from everyone! This is the defining issue of our lifetime – you need to to not just worry about it, but to get out in the street.

5. A strike – if only for a day – is the perfect way to do it.

We have to show that we’re willing to disrupt business as usual. Right now, despite the unfolding crisis, we most just get up in the morning and do what we did the day before – business as usual is literally what’s killing us.

6. It’s not okay to make ninth-graders save the planet by themselves.
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So, go to globalclimatestrike.net and make yourself an organizer for a day. It’s not hard and you will sleep better.

____________
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It would be totally cool if we managed to get five people involved in the climate crisis. Go ahead and sign up for this vitally important cause!

 It’s been over 20 years since I first started teaching in language classrooms in South Korea and I have learned quite a bit. Paulo Freire continues to inspire as does Zoltan Dornyei. This paper was submitted to Framingham University for a teaching methods class. 

My Pedagogical Creed for the Language Classroom

​Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18)

Article One: What Language Education Is

I believe language education is for the transformation of the student. Effective language learning takes place within a problem-posing perspective. "In problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation" (Freire, 2003, p. 83). 

I believe this begins with the educator’s willingness to give his/her students ample opportunity to engage in critical thinking. “His efforts must be imbued with a profound trust in people and their creative power. To achieve this, they must be partners of the students in their relations with them” (p. 83). Within this perspective, language education must strive towards genuine dialogue between students and educators.

I believe that language education is about the vision of the student. “Such a 
transformation of classroom practice has to begin with the teachers, because they are the people in the best position to shape classroom life” (Dornyei, 2014, p. 3). Teachers can be the transformational leaders and the engine for this drive is the teacher’s vision for change and improvement.

Article Two: The Language Educator

I believe the language educator should lower him or herself in order to teach well. 

I believe the language educator can lower him or herself through joining a language classroom. In that classroom, he or she will experience what it is like to be a student who does not have all the answers.
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I believe the language educator should understand the dignity of his/her calling. He/she is able to speak for what is right and wrong in society but recognize that it does not have to be pointed out.

I believe the language educator should be concerned about vision in the classroom. He/she can understand students current identity concerns, provide regular intervals of future tastes, use guided imagery and narratives, and ensure students are exposed to role models (Dornyei, 2014, p. 37).

Article Three: The Course Material in the English Language Classroom

I believe the selection of course material is of utmost importance in the language classroom. Eisner spoke of the strengths and limitations of task and materials. Getting smart, in this context, means coming to know the potential of the materials in relation to the aims of a project or problem; and since each material possesses unique qualities, each material requires the development of distinctive sensibilities and technical skills (2002, p. 72).

I believe the selection of course material should provide richness. “In order for students and teachers to transform and be transformed, a curriculum needs to have the ‘right amount’ of indeterminacy, anomaly, inefficiency, chaos, disequilibrium, dissipation, lived experience” (Doll, 1993, p. 176). 

I believe the selection of course material should provide repetition and recursion. Repetition will improve the student’s ability to perform. Recursion will improve the student’s ability to think (p. 178). Both are necessary for the language classroom.

I believe the selection of course material should provide a relational, pedagogical framework in a cultural way (p. 179). This will provide relational perspective within the Korean English language classroom. There are many different perspectives of what is right and wrong and they need to be discussed. 

I believe the selection of course material should provide rigor. Rigor is the exploration of the learning experience looking for new combinations and patterns in order to develop the ideas and concepts (p. 183).

I believe that once course material has been selected the educator and the student can pursue surprise. “To pursue surprise requites the willingness to take risks, for while surprise itself may emerge, its pursuit is a choice” (Eisner, 2002, p. 79). The language educator can ask questions and the student can respond.
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I believe that once course material is selected the language educator is able to go backwards and make sure the first assignment will tell who each student is through an informed opinion (Dornyei, 2014, p. 44).

I believe students need vision on how to “taste the future in order to desire it’ (Dornyei, p. 46). The language educator could invite successful language speakers to the classroom, participate in language encounters, or organize study abroad and field visits. These would be done with the intention of showing students what is out there and it will show what how students are best able to see themselves in the future.

I believe students will need their vision strengthened. Collectively, the group could be given a motivational speech where they are to describe themselves, their past, their present, and their future. The first section is about themselves as Korea university students. The past usually is a golden age where students did great deeds, like a legendary hero or heroine. The present is troubled. It is a critical moment where a fateful choice is made. The future is a dreamlike vision. There is hope and greatness and it is often related to the past. This will give a student a taste of language learning as vision that is within the student’s reach.
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I believe students who are positive will react to the above with clarity and vision. 

I believe students who are negative will require more to engage them fully. They need to be shown how to turn their negative thinking into something positive. In other words, like optimists, who formulate their possible selves on the basis of positive experiences, pessimists are inclined to use negative experiences as the foundation for extrapolating possible selves formations; this may lead to no possible self – or even a feared self – and certainly no forward pointing action (Dornyei, 2014, p. 93). One possible action for this is to draw a ‘Possible Selves Tree’ where they were come up with dangerous conditions of the tree. Termites, poison in the soil, lightening, etc. These are discussed with the language educator. Bringing worries like this to the surface could a first step towards finding a solution to the blocks or towards deciding on some course of modification in order to make it more realistic.

I believer that language learning is a process rather than an outcome. Language educators and students will always be somewhere on this path and will meet together.

Article Four: Methods for Language Teaching

I believe that what the educator says and does can help or hinder the student’s ability to learn. While there are moments when the educator should step in and direct students, it is better for educators to foster independence through scaffolding (Eisner, 2002, pp. 73-74). Scaffolding will provide the students with what they need and will lower the difference between educator and student.

I believe that the educator is responsible to provide English language learners with tasks within Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. “The zone is the space within which tasks need to be set to be, on the one hand, challenging and, on the other, capable of being successfully negotiated by the child with a helper, peer or adults” (Eisner, p. 73). 

Article Five: Social Progress in the English Language Classroom

I believe that as students learn they will change. We have the privilege of being a part of this in the language classroom. “The aim of the educational process inside schools is not finish something, but to start something. It is not cover the curriculum, but to uncover it. What one starts is an interest that sufficiently powerful to motivate students to pursue that interest outside 
school” (Eisner, 2002, p. 90-91).
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I believe that problem-posing education will affirm them as people. “Problem-posing education affirms men and women as beings in the process of becoming – as unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality” (Freire, 2003, p. 84). Language learning is about transformation.

 I had the pleasure of attending this year's KOTESOL conference. It had a simple and much needed theme. Focus on Fluency.

I caught the tail-end of Stephen Krashen's plenary session "The Secrets of Hyper Polyglots". He was presenting information from two amazing polyglots who have had a tremendous amount of experience acquiring different languages in different situations. They had written down their own conclusions about second language acquisition. His conclusions included that (a) polyglots understand that the driving force behind language acquisition is: comprehensible input and they recognize the limited role of conscious knowledge of grammar and error correction.
(b) They reject the popular immersion idea that all you need is to “go to the country".
(c) They seek high-interest “compelling” input.
(d) They warn us about striving for perfectionism, both in terms of producing and understanding language.
(e) They urge us to “trust the process.”

In terms of speaking dynamics, I was pleasantly surprised. He was engaging, told a number of jokes and made his points. And I admit I am intrigued by the idea of not having conscious knowledge of grammar. I am not sure I completely agree with him on this point. His polyglots were people who, for the most part, spent their time speaking the language. My students are supposed to be able read, write, listen, and speak in English. They are falling lately in the writing and reading of English because of only basic knowledge of grammmatical forms. 

Another session I particularly enjoyed was by the amazing teacher trainer who wrote the Communication Games series from years ago. Jill Hadfield was simply and quickly presenting information from her book Interaction Online. I did notice the connections between the in-class interactions from the Communication Games series with the online interactions she was presenting. There was a logical and categorized progression that she showed before she flashed her book on the screen for less than 30 seconds. I was not the only person more than a little surprised by this. Someone closer to the front was able to ask her to show the slide with the book on it.

Jill Hadfield had another session on Sunday that I was not able to attend. I understand from other KOTESOL members that it was equally amazing. I will be ordering the book closer to Christmas when I have time to read it.

The following weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a Christian Teachers Retreat/Picnic on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

I was greatly blessed by our small crowd who shared grace, food, educational thoughts, and service ideas for our group. I was blessed by Grant Rush, Jinny and David Toft, Elizabeth Belkour, Jensah and Jeku Aromin, Rosemary Sorg, Hansun Kim, Justin, Aidan, and Jordan and a few others. None of us taught oe led a session. We just had a great discussion on how to share our faith with students, colleagues, and other people within KOTESOL. I came away thinking that I was just as blessed by these people who work and teach regularly as I was by the  KOTESOL community and the presenters.

Service opportunities are everywhere here when we really look with our God-given eyes. I look forward to building community with the Christian Teachers Special Interest Group! And to teach and serve in a way that brings honour to God.

Reconciliatory approaches to language teaching and learning are important in developing all aspects of a student's person.  I had the privilege of interviewing Jan Dormer and Cheryl Woelk about their recent book, Teaching English for Reconciliation, for the Christian Teachers Special Interest Group.

1) Why is reconciliation important in educational contexts? 
 
Learner-centered educators have long realized the importance of holistic teaching – developing the whole person, rather than focusing purely on the transmission of information. Educational endeavors provide us with rich contexts for helping individuals not only to learn specific content (or in the case of ELT, acquire English), but to grow in their understanding of themselves, others, and their relationships.
 
2) Why is reconciliation important in English language teaching contexts? 
 
In English language learning classrooms, we find environments that are especially well-suited to develop the whole person, including their perspectives, attitudes, and relationships with others. Part of the reason for this is the relational nature of language. Language is learned for the purpose of communication. In English learning classrooms we must consider not only the actual words used, but also when, how and with whom those words are used for specific communicative purposes. Individuals who may have never given much thought to how they build relationships with others must now go below the surface and strive to understand the pragmatics of language use. And the English language is rich with a multitude of ways to soften language, be kind but assertive, concede a point… and a host of other language functions which are a legitimate and needed part of language acquisition. These factors and so many more can make an English language classroom an EXCELLENT place to learn and practice reconciliatory and bridge-building skills!
 
3) What biblical texts speak to the importance of reconciliation?
 
Themes of reconciliation are woven throughout the Bible, as writers depict God's ongoing efforts to restore a right relationship with people. This culminates in Jesus life, death and resurrection through which all are reconciled to God and made one with each other, as described in Ephesians 2:13-19. In  2 Corinthians 5:17-19, our response to this reconciliation is made clear: we are to join in with this "ministry of reconciliation" as ambassadors, reconciled to God and each other.
 
4) What are some simple ways to nurture spaces for reconciliation in the classroom?
 
Focusing on building healthy relationships and community in the classroom, drawing awareness to the need for reconciliation by looking at topics discussed in class from a peace and justice lens, practicing and modeling skills for dealing with conflict in life-giving ways, considering how our methods of teaching support a healthy learning community, and connecting our work with larger efforts for restoration of relationships in our contexts are ways that teachers can encourage opportunities for reconciliation. Our framework looks at how we can apply each of these efforts in detail in our classrooms and educational systems.
 
5) How does the view of the learner and teacher change when teaching for reconciliation?
 
Learner agency and power becomes a significant part of our consideration. Whether in making decisions about learning, working in groups, or assessing dynamics in the whole class, we see students as individuals with unique personal and collective identities that shape how they interact and communicate with others, thus shaping their language learning. Rather than seeing the teacher as a sole source of knowledge or power in the classroom, the teacher becomes an observer, supporter and coach for students to use their agency in their learning and interactions.
 
6) What are some practical ways to provide students with opportunities to learn about reconciliation in class? 
 
Our book focuses on exploring reconciliation in an English classroom through systems, methodologies, skills, issues and relationships. All of these can help students to learn about reconciliation. We can have systems in place that are equitable and just. We can use methodologies which provide a voice for everyone in the classroom, and which encourage relationship-building and risk-taking. We can purposefully teach skills of active listening to others, putting ourselves in others’ shoes, and clarifying meanings and understanding. In classes where the teacher can bring in his or her own topics and texts, we can explore issues which can help students learn about individuals who are peace-builders, or situations in need of reconciliation. Finally, the English language classroom should always be about relationships. We should be actively building relationships with each of our students, and should also be paving the way for them to build relationships with each other, in our classrooms.  
 
7) How can the Reconciliatory English Teaching Framework be integrated into existing curriculum? (Many teachers don't have the freedom to change curriculum) 
 
The framework we suggest has a broad reach. In places where teachers don't have freedom to change curriculum, there are still some aspects related to curriculum that can be adapted or highlighted. The framework can help guide the choices all teachers make in creating lessons in order to look for possibilities that are there, and be intentional about making decisions in the direction of reconciliation. This includes conducting careful context analysis, choosing collaborative methods to teach curriculum content, highlighting and using conflict resolution and healthy communication skills, framing issues from a peace perspective and prioritizing relationships.
8) Do you have recommendations on how to the Reconciliatory English Teaching Framework can be used in teaching English as a foreign language and international contexts? 
 
We believe that our framework can apply equally well to ESL and EFL contexts, and that it can be used anywhere that English is taught. In any given context, a good English language teacher must first learn the local culture and context well. Then, that understanding should serve as a lens in deciding which elements of reconciliatory teaching would be appropriate and beneficial for the learners. Our book includes stories from many different countries, in both ESL and EFL contexts.
 
9) Do you have recommendations on how to the Reconciliatory English Teaching Framework can be used in teaching English as a foreign language and international contexts?
 
We believe that our framework can apply equally well to ESL and EFL contexts, and that it can be used anywhere that English is taught. In any given context, a good English language teacher must first learn the local culture and context well. Then, that understanding should serve as a lens in deciding which elements of reconciliatory teaching would be appropriate and beneficial for the learners. Our book includes stories from many different countries, in both ESL and EFL contexts.
 
You can order the book from the William Carey Library by following this link.
 
https://williamcarey.com/products/teaching-english-for-reconciliation?utm_source=Jan&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Dormer
 
Or you can order from Amazon by following this link.
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079YWTHCD/?coliid=I3PWUU5AJJBSFH&colid=2AHPK794CIDOX&psc=0
 
These are not affiliate links.

​Dr. Jan Dormer teaches TESOL in the Messiah College Graduate Program in Education, after many years of teaching English in Indonesia, Brazil and Kenya. She wrote two textbooks in ACSI’s Passport to Adventure EFL Series, and the book What School Leaders Need to Know About English Learning (TESOL International Association, 2016). In addition, she is the author of Teaching English in Missions: Effectiveness and Integrity (2011). She served on the CELEA (Christian English Language Educators Association) Board as Past President.

​Cheryl Woelk is a language instructor and peace educator who currently serves as the head teacher at Connexus language institute and coordinates the Language for Peace project, integrating language and peace education curriculum. Cheryl is active in TESOL International and co-author of the book, “Teaching English for Reconciliation” (forthcoming). She holds a BA in English, a certificate in TEFL, and an MA in Education and Conflict Transformation.
 

Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie is actually a very short book about homeschooling, but it has much to offer in regards to teaching as a Christian.  Many of us get wrapped up in the everyday stress of checklists, homework assignments, presentations, grammar lessons, and the lot in regards to teaching.  Sarah Mackenzie, of Read-Aloud Revival (amongstlovelythings.com) fame, does a great job unpacking the concept of schole (Greek word for institutions of education) which has been interpreted as restful learning.  In this first post of a three part series, I would like to focus on the first part of the book entitled “Whose Well Done Are You Looking For?”.

In Philippians we are told to be anxious over nothing, yet we are anxious over many things.

Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

We worry and fret over our students, the quality of our lesson plans, our relationships with other teachers.  We easily fall into worry and fret about our own lives.  Our souls are restless, anxiously wondering if something else out there might be a bit better – if maybe there is another way or another book that might prove to be superior to what we are doing now.  We choose anxiety as our guide instead of humbly submitting to God and letting Him guide us.

This book is a plea and an explanation on how to seek Him first.  Can we live and teach from a state of rest? We can, but we must approach the Holy Spirit every single day, asking Him to lead us and to quiet or anxious souls so that we can really bless our children (students) – not with shiny curriculum or perfect lesson plans, but rather with purposeful, restful spirits.

I appreciate that Mackenzie brings up the point that rest is not ease.  “This isn’t idealism. It isn’t simple and peaceful in the sense of being easy or gentle.  Teaching from rest is meaningful learning and growth – but without the anxiety and frenzy so common in our day.  Contrary to what you might think at first when you first hear ‘teaching from rest’, teaching from rest will take diligence, attention, and a lot of hard work” (4).

Unshakable peace is not going to come from getting through a certain amount of material over a specified amount of time, but it also doesn’t come from throwing in the towel and giving in when things get hard.  Peace comes from knowing that our genuine task is to wake up each morning and “get our marching orders from God” (4). It comes from diligence to the work God has given us, but this is diligence infused with faith, with resting in God’s promises to guide and bless us.

The bottom line is resting is about trusting God.  “Rest is trusting that God’s got this, even if I’m a mess, even if I’m not enough, even if I mess up everyday.  Because I do” (4).  Rest is also trusting that even though some of your students are not progressing in their English skills they way you intended for a course, they are learning and God is there with you in that process.

The author brings up the important point of rest being a virtue between negligence and anxiety.  Teachers, like homeschooling mothers, find themselves likely to fall prey to one camp or the other.  A course that is so condensed that it leaves no room for the soul to breathe will suffocate, but so will the absence of purposeful and intentional teaching. If we are doing our students a disservice “shuttling them through a set of books and plans without consideration for their souls, we are doing them an equal disservice by ignoring their formation and leaving our children (students) to form themselves” (7).

If our students are images of God (of course they are), then we are not meeting their needs or tending to their real nature when we swing like a pendulum to either the vice of anxiety of the vice of negligence.

Personally, I spent my first few teaching years leaning towards negligence.  I was relaxed.  It was not laziness exactly.  I went in to teach them intentionally and I thought it would a wonderful gift to my students to allow them to bloom on their own terms.  My neglect fostered laziness, carelessness, and a somewhat self-centered view of learning.  I was thinking about wisdom and wonder, and had come to the conclusion that I should do my best to step out of the way.  I had failed to build a bridge between the students God had put in front of me and the person intended each of them to be.

“The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.”      Plutarch, “On Listening” in Essays, trans Robin H. Waterfield, ed. Ian Kidd (London: Penguin Classics, 19930, 50.

This quote tells us that education is not the filling of a bucket.  This is not about filling the mind with information.  It is the lighting of a fire.  We have to remember that a fire does need to be lit and then stoked.  Otherwise, it will burn out.

In Luke 6:4 we learn that when a student is fully formed he or she will become like his teacher.  Clearly, a teacher cannot form a students by staying in the shadows.

Consequently, rest is not the absence of work or a failure to consider and carry out a plan.  It is work and leisure properly ordered.  It involves doing the right thing at the right time and realizing that our task to hear God’s call and follow His Commands, and then trust that God will God.  In a sense, to be at rest even while at work.

Our anxiety could be sidestepped by simply acknowledging who we are trying to please.  It might sound simplistic, but consider that your days will likely look different depending on whether you are doing it all for His pleasure, or doing it to please students, administration, colleagues, or anyone else.  Who are you trying to impress?

Teaching from rest is also about excellence.  Sometimes we get caught up with our exceptional language learners and focus on them.  We need to remember that God never demands that we produce prodigies or achieve what the world would recognize as excellence.  “Rather, he asks us to live excellently – that is, to live in simple obedient faith and trust.  He asks us to faithfully commit everyday to him and then do the day’s tasks well.  He’s in charge of the results” (10).
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Teaching from rest has many aspects of what it isn’t.  It isn’t anxiousness, worry, or anxiety.  It isn’t idealism.  It is meaningful learning and growth for our students that will take diligence, attention and hard work.  It is a virtue that falls between the vices of negligence and anxiety.  We are to trust that God has everything just where He wants it to be.  Teaching from rest is about living in relationship with God; we are to live in obedient faith to the day’s tasks and He will bless the results.  In the end, teaching from rest is about being at peace in God’s presence.  As we rest in His presence, we are better equipped not only for teaching, but life in general.

​It’s autumn and the ground is covered in leaves.  The crimsons and golds of this season are barely noticeable when walking down the street.  It’s something we step on, something we step over.
 
Have you ever really looked at an autumn leaf?  Have you thought about God’s faithfulness as you looked at it?
 
A leaf. Behold a single leaf. So fragile, it tears like paper, crushes in your hand to a moist stain, sharply fragrant. Dry, it burns swift and crackling as newsprint, pungent as gunpowder. Yet a leaf may withstand hurricanes, stubbornly clinging to its limb.
 
Hold it open in your palm. It is perfect as a newborn’s smile.
 
Pinch its stem between thumb and forefinger and hold it to the light. Eden bleeds through. Its veins are like bone work in silhouette.
 
This single leaf, joined to the tree, drinks poison from the air, drinks it serenely as Socrates downing his cup of hemlock, and refuses to return in kind, instead spilling out life-giving oxygen. This leaf tilts to catch the sun, its warmth and radiance, to distill the heat and light down to the shadows, down to the roots, back up to limbs. To shade the earth. To feed you and me.
 
A leaf. God makes these season after season, one after the other, billions upon billions, from the Garden to the New Jerusalem, most for no eye but His own. He does it faithfully, or else I would not live to tell about it, or you to hear.

Now let me reflect for a moment on students.  

Students come in many shapes and sizes.  Their smiles, their ideas, their thoughts touch mine every day.  Their diversity touches me very hour I teach.

The general hum and roar in the hallways is from exhausted students struggling with homework.  They are trying, they are putting in the effort, they are learning to be more.   Their effort is a thing of beauty.  Their effort is work in faithfulness.
 
Perhaps of all my many sins against heaven, this ranks with the worst: Until this moment, I have never thanked God for a single leaf.  Until this moment I have not expressed my thankfulness for the faithfulness of my students.  I have expressed gratitude for the few that have come back and thanked me, but not for all the students that I have taught over the years.  
 
Which is the problem with faithfulness: We hardly notice it.
 
Faithfulness is, by definition, the predictable, the habitual, the sturdy, the routine. It is the evidence of things seen, but seen so often we’ve grown blind to them.
 
It is the substance of things expected, expected so unthinkingly that we now take them for granted. It is the air we breathe, the ground we walk on, the skin we inhabit, the way our insides tick and pulse and spin all on their own, in season and out, whether we sleep or work or play, without asking us or us having to ask.
 
It is these myriad amazing things—toes and eyes, leaf veins and cloudbursts, bedrock and ozone, seed and sap—that by their very constancy and durability have worn familiar or become invisible. The sheer steadfastness of things that surround and uphold us are dull with the caking of the ordinary.
 
We live amidst surpassing wonders, but most of it has become run-of-the-mill. We dwell among endless miracles that, repeated day after day, have grown tedious. We are lavished with gifts that we now expect or ignore or begrudge.
 
Faithfulness bores us.
 
Who among us leapt up this morning as the sun rose, exclaiming, “Look! Look, everybody, look! The sun! Here it comes! Hallelujah, it’s here again!”?
 
Or who ran through the house shouting, “Ha ha—air! Behold! Air! Clean air, fresh air, air to fill my lungs, air to shape my words, air to move the clouds, air to lift the birds”?
 
Not me. I woke up groaning.
 
In both creation and relationships, faithfulness is the most amazing yet least captivating trait.
 
It is one quality—in the cosmos, in God, in others—that we can’t live without, but that we don’t much live with, either, mindful of it, thankful for it.
 
Look how we use the word itself in everyday speech. “My husband. How can I describe him? Let me say this: He’s faithful.”
 
Code language for he’s a drudge, a bean counter, a plodder. He gets the job done, but with no aplomb or pizzazz.
 
If we call a car faithful, we mean it’s functional, not fast, not flashy. It’s drab and boxy, an old dray horse.
 
Faithfulness is not only boring. In some contexts, it’s almost embarrassing.
 
J. Allan Petersen, in The Myth of the Greener Grass, tells the story of a dozen married women at lunch together. The conversation got more and more intimate, under the skin, the sharp tip of inquiry corkscrewing into inmost places, prying loose tightly held secrets.
 
“How many of you,” one woman asked, “have been faithful to your husbands?” Only one woman out of the twelve raised her hand. At home that evening, one of the women who didn’t raise her hand told her husband about the lunch, the question, her reaction. “But,” she quickly added, “I have been faithful.” “Then why didn’t you raise your hand?” “I was ashamed.”
 
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS IS one divine characteristic that we rest in so completely that our rest has become apathy. “In him,” Paul declares, “we live and move and have our being.”  We just hustle in, heads down, duty-bound, and clear the table.
 
So our dilemma: How do we rest in God’s faithfulness, but never take it for granted?
 
Maybe the best way to begin is to examine how God describes His own faithfulness. Allow me to summarize the biblical texts on this theme.
 
He abounds in faithfulness, and by faithfulness He keeps His covenant of love to a thousand generations. Because of His faithfulness, He does no wrong. He shows Himself faithful to the faithful. He’s faithful in all He does, and by it He guarantees that His words are right and true. His faithfulness reaches to the skies, is sent down from the heavens, and is appointed to protect us like a shield and a rampart. God’s faithfulness surrounds Him and goes out before Him. He will not betray it, and it endures forever.
 
In faithfulness, God disciplines His children. Because of His faithfulness, He will keep all His promises. His faithfulness is great. It is not canceled out by our lack of faith. Because of it, He forgives us and cleanses us from confessed sin, and He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. By His faithfulness, God sanctifies us and keeps us blameless until the coming of Jesus, and by it He gives us strength and protection from the evil one.
 
Faithfulness is one of Jesus’ names. What’s more, the faithfulness of God is connected with His love, righteousness, truthfulness, steadfastness, compassion, mercy, peace, grace, slowness to anger, creative power, mightiness, justice, deliverance, relief, and holiness. 
 
Old Faithful indeed.
 
There’s a common thread in all this: you and me.
 
The touchstone of God’s faithfulness is His way with people.
 
It is mostly about a journey He took, His house to yours, in order to bring you all the way back again to His. Behind the drama of the incarnation, the atonement, the redemption; behind the drama of Jesus calling Zacchaeus down from the sycamore tree, calling Peter away from his nets, calling Matthew away from the tax booth, calling you from wherever you were when He found you; behind all that is simply this: God is true to Himself.
 
God is faithful.

This post was originally published on the chroniclesofhopekorea.wordpress.com.  I'm reprinting it here so other people can read and be inspired by Amanda and the amazing work she does.  Amanda DeCesaro teaches and inspires at Chongshin University.  She is an amazing bundle of energy that truly enjoys Korea and her people.

How did you become involved in Christian English language teaching?

After graduating university with a degree in Animal Science, the last thing I thought I would be doing is teaching. I went on to become a missionary with the formerly named Campus Crusade for Christ in Australia. I had previously attended a missions conference in Busan but it was in Australia where I discovered my love for the Korean people. Many of my students were Chinese or Korean and I even shared a house with two girls from Busan. Following my two -year commitment to serve in campus ministry, I knew God was calling me to Korea.

I began looking into opportunities that would take me to Korea and as most could guess, the only opportunities I came across were teaching positions. If I had still been in college I may have given up; however, Australia also showed me that I had potential for teaching others. I realized guiding others to understanding brought me great joy and also served as a tool to form relationships. Looking back it is evident in how God led me and prepared me to teach English in Korea. I did not want to arrive unprepared, so prior to applying for any positions I completed an SIT TESOL program. The training I received as a missionary combined with my education set me on the path for missional language teaching. And I cannot be more grateful for how God has used my life so far.

How long have you been here?

I have been in Korea for five years. I spent my first year at an English village and the past four years I have been teaching at Chongshin University. It has gone by so fast and I hope to be here for much longer.

What is the most challenging aspect of Korean culture for you?

One challenge that I have often discussed with my students is being the "foreigner" which I have found to be equivalent to “outsider”. On several occasions I have expressed to friends that even if I were to fluently learn Korean, gain citizenship, and assimilate as much as possible I would never be fully accepted into Korean society. It is not that I desire to do so, but the outsider feelings are definitely felt. However, God has been teaching me through this and shown me unique opportunities only a foreigner could have. Most of my students are more open with me because I'm not Korean, and so I am able to offer support and advice they would otherwise not receive. While sharing with some of my North Korean students that this was the most difficult part of living in Korea they expressed a similar notion. North Koreans often try to hide their dialect and accent in fear of being found out that they are from the North. Because many South Koreans view them as separate from the current society, my students have shared that they too feel like outsiders. Having this in common has helped me connect better with the North Koreans I minister to. I have grown to see this challenge as a blessing, sometimes a painful blessing, but a blessing nonetheless.

What aspects of Korean culture do you particularly enjoy? 

This summer I was able to visit my family back in Wisconsin and while reverse culture shock was not as dramatic as I have experienced in the past, I definitely was able to reflect on Korea. I was missing my friends and church as I expected but I also missed some things I had just taken for granted while living in Seoul. Whenever I went to a restaurant people just ordered their own food and would not share. I wanted to order a variety of food and share with everyone, just as I often do in Korea.

Another thing I noticed about the food was that most things tasted very salty or very sweet. Korea had changed my taste buds, but probably for the better especially for my health. For several days I was without a car and my family members were all working. Forced to stay at my parents’ home, I felt stranded and longed for the very convenient transportation of Seoul. Even though my interactions with people were very different, I couldn't exactly put my finger on what it was. Although I knew it, this trip caused me to really feel the fact that Korean culture had changed me; things I had viewed as strange are now normal and I really enjoy many things. The main aspects I enjoy are food, language, fashion, and many relational interactions.

What other ministries are you a part of?

I attend New Harvest Ministry (NHM) which is the English ministry of Sarang Church. It was here that I really got connected. I am currently a small group leader, as well as a team leader. As a leader I am able to see others grow closer to God and with each other. It has several challenges but I love my group members. Team leading has had its own challenges, but coming alongside other leaders and helping them with their struggles and having the opportunity to pray for them is really great. Soon after I started attending NHM I became involved in Sarang's North Korean ministry. The ministry runs a school called Banseok, preparing young North Korean students for university. These students, just like my Chongshin students, have become my kids, brothers and sisters, and friends. I love them all so dearly.

How do you connect your faith to your teaching?

Just as naturally as breathing is how I desire my faith to fuel everything I do in my life. I look for and create teachable moments in each class. Because I teach at a Christian university I have the unique opportunity to be extremely open about my faith. Praying with my students during class and asking for prayer requests for me to pray throughout the week is one of those amazing opportunities. I do not think I would teach much differently in a secular environment, though my speech may not be as overt, I would still seek out times to impress the love and wisdom of God upon my students.  

Do you think there is a Christian way to teach English?
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I believe there is a Christian way of doing everything, not in the sense of morality or in the act itself, however, the very fact that as a Christian we are a new creation. Christ Himself dwells within me and my worldview is very different from someone who doesn't know Christ. I see with an eternal perspective and ideally everything I do is for the glory of God. Though externally many things I do may look similar to a non-Christian, God looks to the heart of a man. When it comes to teaching English I see so many wonderful opportunities to glorify God and love my students as Christ. Because I am entrusted with the responsibility to not only teach a language but also communication and human interaction, I do not view what I do simply as a vocation but as a calling. God has gifted language to us because we are beings of relationship. Because I personally know the creator of us and of language I am even more deeply equipped to teach with a perspective that reflects God's original design. With themes of reconciliation, justice, real love, and so much more English does not simply remain a language that must be learned for various secular reasons, it becomes a means for deeper connection.