Teaching International (ELL) Students

As I’ve written previously, our international students (ELL for the sake of brevity), predominately from China, come with needs and challenges and strengths that we are blessed with a chance to address. It truly is global missions brought to America.

As I promised in the previous article and failed to deliver until months later, here are some tips for teaching this population.

  1. Check your biases and prejudices

Though my intention in my first article was to chisel away at these things that exist in all of us, it bears a reminder for teaching this population.  I have seen many wonderful Christians carry anger and hostility for our international students for merely being who they are: teenagers living thousands of miles away in a totally different culture, immersed in a school that is not using their primary language, all without daily parental contact.

Continue reading “Teaching International (ELL) Students”

Bringing 耶稣 (Yēsū) (Jesus) to China in America

 

Part 1:  Understanding where our Chinese students are at

God has called me to go on two mission trips.  One to Istanbul (Merhaba arkadaşlar) and another to Guatemala (Hola, amigos).  Those of us who have gone on trips know the cross-cultural beauty of these experiences: the depth of human connectedness, the tragedy of spiritual darkness, the hope in the Gospel, the power of the name of Jesus / Isa / Jesús / יֵשׁוּ הַנוֹצרִי / యేసు.

Sorry, I got a little Chris Tomlin-y on that last part.

Continue reading “Bringing 耶稣 (Yēsū) (Jesus) to China in America”