English is Her First Language

Tuesday nights have become a time for cross-cultural ministry for Stephanie Johnson at The Community Church. Tonight she enters the large, glass doors of The Community Church and walks down the expansive hallway to the Common Ground Café, the room looks like a coffee shop one would expect to find in Border’s Bookstore, but tonight the café is not filled with socializing coffee drinkers but rather; it is filled with the voices of Chinese men and women learning to speak English. There are six teachers and eleven students in the church’s English as a Second Language (ESL) class, which allows most to work in groups of one or two. Stephanie is the youngest teacher, a Central Missouri State University graduate student, and the most passionate, talented, and enthusiastic instructor the program has.
Stephanie sits at one of the small, round, silver tables surrounded by books on ESL and pronunciation, preparing for tonight’s lesson. Stephanie found her passion for ESL while she spent a year in Japan. “I really need to take some more Japanese classes,” she says. “I’ve lost a lot since I’ve been back. The language is easy to lose if you are not using it everyday.” This is why Stephanie is here at The Community Church. Together they want to help their students feel more at ease using English in their daily lives. Stephanie seems to understand the importance of simply getting them to use English everyday. “If you aren’t constantly speaking it then it is so easy to forget it,” she says. “It is much easier to just fully immerse yourself into the language. That’s what I had to do when I was in Japan, and that’s what these students are having to do now. They are surrounded by people speaking English, but they still need help in order to understand it, and that’s why I’m here. I want them to be able to understand, to communicate, to read, and to write all in English. I think it is important,” Stephanie says as she waits eagerly for her student.
Stephanie continues to look at her notes for tonight’s lesson with Hui Ming. Tonight’s lesson will be on vowel sounds, “Bead and Bit – I love teaching pronunciation,” she says as she smiles. For other teachers pronunciation is the hardest thing to teach, but Stephanie makes it seem simple.
Ching Yu, one of the organizers of the ESL program is fluent in English, but still struggles with perfecting his pronunciation, “It is difficult. I still have to stop and think about certain words,” he says. “Stephanie does a great job teaching the pronunciation. She really knows how it is best to do.”
Her student finally arrives. She is fifteen minutes late, but that is expected. Most of the students work full time and lack the transportation to bring them to ESL classes on a regular basis.
Stephanie stands up from the table and greets Hui Ming with a hug and a smile. Together they go and get a glass of water before they start their lesson. Stephanie and Hui Ming take their glasses of water and sit back down at the table covered with Stephanie’s books. They begin by talking a bit about the past week, and Stephanie listens closely as Hui Ming explains in broken English that she is very tired. That she has been working a lot, and is just very tired tonight. Stephanie smiles at her, and tells her that she understands. She too is tired from school, but maybe they can work for a little bit tonight on the vowel sounds and then on telling time. Hui Ming seems confused as she slowly repeats Stephanie’s words, “telling time?”
“Yes, telling time,” Stephanie repeats slowly while pointing at the clock on the wall next to them.
“Oh, clock. Telling time,” Hui Ming says as she makes the connection between the phrase and the object.
Stephanie continues the lesson having Hui Ming repeat the carefully selected words back to her as she holds up flash cards with the words printed on them the vowels in bold. The cards have simple illustrations to allow Hui Ming to make the connection between what she is saying and what the word means.
“Pin,” Stephanie says slowly emphasizing the short i sound.
“Pin,” Hui Ming repeats the word slowly trying carefully to form the same sound. Stephanie praises her efforts, and they continue on.
“Pie,” Stephanie says this time emphasizing the long i sound.
“Pie,” Hui Ming points to the picture as she says the word perfectly and she smiles. “Apple Pie,” she says.
They finish their lesson on vowel sounds, and Stephanie takes out a yellow textbook, and opens to a page filled with photographs of clocks. Stephanie points to the first clock and begins by asking Hui Ming, “What time is it?” When Hui Ming says that she doesn’t know Stephanie encourages her, “That is okay, let’s see the little hand is on the three and the big and is on the twelve.” Stephanie points to the hands of the clock as she explains. Hui Ming nods understanding. Stephanie continues, “The little hand points to the hour and the big hand points to the minutes. We count the minutes in fives, and when the big hand is on the twelve we say it is something O’clock,” Stephanie stops to make sure that Hui Ming is understanding, and Hui Ming nods and repeats parts back to her, so Stephanie continues. “So if the little hand is on the three and the big hand is on the twelve what time would it be?”
“Umm, little hand three, big hand twelve, umm, three o’clock?” Hui Ming looks up at Stephanie waiting to see if she got it right.
“Good job. That’s right. Three o’clock,” Stephanie says as she smiles at Hui Ming. Stephanie continues the lesson pushing Hui Ming further by explaining the differences between AM and PM, noon and midnight, and the common phrases that we use when telling time; Half-past, Quarter-past, Quarter-Till, etc.
Later after all of the students have left Stephanie sits with the other teachers and discusses their student’s progress. “I love seeing the progress,” she says. “When they start reading and really becoming truly fluent, it makes my time worth it. I love teaching.” Stephanie continues to talk with the other teachers trying to come up with new ways to encourage their students to keep up the hard work even as they grow tired. “What if we had an awards night? We could create a certificate that showed them how many hours they had put towards learning English. It would make them feel like they were accomplishing something.” Stephanie is beaming. The ideas keep flowing. “Maybe we should have a calendar. If we laid out the plans for each week, maybe they would be encouraged and excited to come,” Stephanie says. Taking her hands from the pockets of her red hoodie and reaching for a pencil, she is full of ideas, and she gets everyone else excited about them as well. That is Stephanie’s way. It is her dedication and passion for the students at The Community Church that she draws her energy from, and it is her talent and knowledge that helps them succeed.