The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language was created by Eugene H. Peterson and published in segments from 1993 to 2002; it is an expressive paraphrase of the Bible. Grade Level: 4.8
The Lutheran Handbook: The essential field guide for all things Lutheran. This enjoyable, easy-to-read collection offers the essential information about our theology, culture, and principles of the Christian life, making many of the complexities of our religious tradition accessible for contemporary seekers Publisher: Augsburg Fortress http://www.augsburgfortress.org/
Reverend Fun: A collection of fun from the world's most popular online Christian cartoon.
Author: Dennis Hengeveld http://www.reverendfun.com/
The Lutheran Prayerbook: It is a pocket-sized prayer book that contains encouragement for day-to-day living through inspirational prayers. It can be obtained from:
Publisher: Vance E. Lichty www.thelutheranprayerbook.com
205 Questions Children Ask about God, Heaven and Angels with answers from the Bible for busy parents: A collection of responses for curious little people and busy adults.
Written by David R. Veerman, MDiv.; James C. Galvin, Ed.D. James C. Wilhoit, Ph.D.; Bruce B. Barton, D.Min. Daryl J. Lucas; Richard Osborne Illustrated by Lillian Crump Publisher: Testament Books in 2003.
This was a bilingual congregation in Aurora where my husband was the pastor. The 80% of this congregants were Latinos, coming from Central and South America, and the rest of church members were mainly Caucasian. There were two worship services offered on every Sunday morning; one was in English, and another one was in Spanish. Even though the bilingual worships (combined worships) were offered from time to time throughout the year when there were special festivals, the relationship between Latinos and Caucasian still has a great potential to grow. The languages have become the barriers for building relationships as well as the cultural views.
There were many children enrolling the Confirmation Program and Sunday School every year. The length of the Confirmation Program was designed for four years. The format of the program was for both the adults and their children. While children were learning their religious instructions (Ten Commandments, Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayers, the New and Old Testaments, and Lutheranism), their parents were also receiving similar religious instructions.
There was an ESL program offered in 2003 by a pastor who was also a professor from the seminary. The purpose of this ESL class was helping the members of the Latinos community speak English with confidence with help from the members of the Caucasian community. This was a very short course as a tryout and it turned out well. People came to the class from both communities and built a very good relationship. I could see that they talked to each other in between two worships on Sundays and at our fellowship events.
Therefore, I am going to use the context from the past as my hypothetical ESL setting for this project. May this project demonstrates the importance of building a learning community where relationship and trust is built upon our shared faith languages through the ESL program.
The ten-hour-teaching plans: Ideally, it would not be a holistic approach in teaching ESL without covering all four skills, listening and speaking elements, reading and writing. Even thought this project is designed for teaching reading and writing, the participants have opportunities to practice their listening and speaking through the classes. This is a ten-hour-lesson-teaching project, three lessons for each reading and writing with a final review lesson. Each lesson is one and a half hours.
Description of class: This ESL program is designed for a church setting in a Latino community, and the learning contents are related to the Confirmation program. For example, if the children are learning the Lord's prayer, the adult ESL class will also learn English with the content of the Lord's prayer.
Mixed levels of proficiency in English: For this project, the lesson plans are designed for those who have been in the United States for at least five to ten years, and whose children are attending high schools.
Notes: The Confirmation is a two/three-year program, and meets once a week. The main contents taught in Lutheran churches are: The Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the New Testaments, the Old Testaments, the Lutheranism, the sacraments of the Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and The Office of the Keys. When to meet: Confirmation students meet every Wednesday from 6:30pm to 8:30pm during the school year. Participants of the ESL program and their children are invited to join the refreshments after the class.
6:30-7:00 Checking in and fellowship time after dropping off their children for Confirmation program. 7:00-8:30 ESL Program 8:30-9:00 Refreshments
Participants: Students: adult members and non-members from the Latino community. Volunteers: adult members and non-members, whose native language is English or those who sound like native English speakers.
Fees per school year for students: Members: a small portion of the teaching materials $30.00 Non-members: since the ministry is supported mainly by the congregation’s tithing, we would appreciate your donation for the teaching materials, $50.00, and thank you for supporting this program and for being part of our faith journey. Scholarships: we have scholarship funds every year.