This was the last week of classes for the year at For the Nations. Though I'm sad that I won't see many of my international friends and students for a while, it's a blessing to look back over this semester at all they have learned, as well as all they have taught me. Since we will be celebrating their accomplishments at the FTNRO graduation ceremony tomorrow and I still haven't written about my adult ESL class, I'd like to share about a few of the students who have impacted me the most.
In my Level 1 adult ESL class, I
typically sit between whichever two students need the most assistance and guide
them through the lesson at their own pace, while the teacher instructs the rest of the class. This is Htwa Meh (right). She is from Myanmar (Burma), a country in Southeast Asia where minority ethnic groups, such as the Karenni, suffer from internal ethnic conflicts. Several of the students in my class, including Htwa Meh, are Karenni, and most have no background in English. Htwa Meh came to America about three years ago, but this was her first year to enroll in English classes here at FTNRO. What is most remarkable about Htwa Meh's success in English this year is the fact that she is deaf. That's right, she's trying to learn a written language for the first time, with unique phonetics that she can't even hear, at the pace of a roomful of hearing students! So back in February when I was asked to sit with her each Thursday during class, I gulped, prayed, and wondered how to teach a deaf person in a class that includes listening/repeating exercises and pronunciation. But God knew what He was doing. Htwa Meh was determined to learn, and she surprised me with her ability at lip-reading. Even better, one of the teachers had already taught her the American Sign Language alphabet, and because I had taken ASL in my last semester of college, I was able to teach her basic ASL vocabulary to go along with each English lesson. Once she finally realized that ASL is a legitimate language, we started having a lot of fun with it and bonding. She has made incredible progress in both English and ASL, and was one of the fastest learners in the class! Trying to interpret for her during the Bible lessons with our limited vocabulary was a challenge, however. Even though her background is strongly Catholic, I sense that she has very little concept of what is in the Bible. It is my prayer that she will someday be able to watch the Deaf Bible in ASL (www.deafbiblesociety.com) and understand its message of salvation!
Oo Meh (to the left of me) is another Karenni woman from the same ESL class as Htwa Meh. When she started class this year, she knew zero English and was entirely illiterate, even in her own language. She was shy and wanted to blend in with the group, constantly repeating under her breath whatever the teacher said without comprehending the meaning. When I tried to help her with the alphabet, she struggled a lot just learning to hold the pencil and tracing the letter "A." But gradually she began to pronounce simple words and associate them with pictures, and can now even write her name and copy words from the whiteboard! In recent weeks, some students from the Graduate Institute for Applied Linguistics (GIAL) in Dallas have been creating simple vocabulary sheets with pictures and corresponding words in her native language, but written with the Latin (English) alphabet. This provides a bridge between the two languages and gives phonetic meaning to letters on a page. It has helped Oo Meh immensely with adjusting to written language, and as this tool develops it will hopefully be useful for many similar Burmese students in the future. Even in this last week of class, I noticed how much confidence Oo Meh has gained. I'll never forget the smile on her face when she was the first to recognize and call out the "kitchen" flashcard! It has been very eye-opening and humbling
to be the “teacher” for this dear woman who has so much she should be teaching me! She inspires me by her perseverance to
learn new and hard things at her age.
I didn't know what to expect when I first signed up to help with an ESL class, having little experience and no certifications. But God knew just where He could use me most and teach me most. When I "randomly" decided to take ASL for fun in college, I had no idea I would actually have a use for it a month later. But "we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).
*To respect the privacy of individuals mentioned in this post, please do not share this information in a public setting or on social media.*
*To respect the privacy of individuals mentioned in this post, please do not share this information in a public setting or on social media.*
