In terms of missions today there are many opportunities to reach people through the ministry of teaching English overseas. Not to take away from this great opportunity, I think we must also be cautious to jump the gun and assume that “Any English speaker can teach English to speakers of other languages.”
First off, language is one of those things that we think we know it until we have to teach it–and then we discover that we might not really know it as we think we do.
Secondly, the state of our education today is that many English classes in our younger years and also in College do not emphasize much on Grammar anymore and I think this is a reason in of itself to be cautious in assuming that just being a mere English speaker means we can teach the English language. I know this is a bit anecdotal, but I remember in Seminary many of those who grew up in the US and spoke English all the time might struggle more than those who were coming in from overseas concerning grammar, even things such as identifying the basics such as what is a preposition and participle, etc.
Thirdly, even those who teach English in the field already can further improve their skill of teaching English.
Fourthly, as in any area, I think teaching a skill require more than just being good in that skill; one must also be a good communicator in order to be an effective teacher.
Fifthly, related to the above, is the phenomenon that sometimes those who excel in something might not necessarily always be a good teacher of the very thing they are good at; personally, I feel this is especially true with those who are good at management but they are so good at it that they think it must be intuitive and struggle in passing on the skill to someone else.
Sixth, apparently the skill to teach English well is important enough that a major organization such as the Billy Graham Center has dedicated part of their mission to better equip those involved with teaching English as a mission.
Seventh, we must not forget that a missionary must not only be adept in language; he or she must also know the Gospel and know how to communicate it well. This might be a good time to say that we must not forget the priority that the missionary or evangelist themselves must focus more on actually knowing the Gospel really well.
Given the above, I think we should be at a minimum be cautious with the thesis “Any English speaker can teach English to speakers of other languages.”
Reblogged this on My Delight and My Counsellors.
Thanks for sharing this post on missions and speaking English =)
I can testify to your point number 2. Until I started homeschooling my boys, I was not aware of all the special rules of Spelling and English grammar.
I feel you brother!
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Thanks for sharing this post on missions and speaking English =)
You’re welcome. I’ve been told I only look at the pictures 🙂
My career was teaching second languages – English and French. Everything you say, SlimJim, is spot on.
Ah yes, you are a great reminder to me to be more careful with my own grammar…I’m still a work in progress.
Reblogged this on Christian Heritage News.
Thanks for sharing this!