ESL Teacher Refresher and Training

God has brought people from 80 countries to the Augusta metro and we have the delight to know them and the priviledge to serve them through small groups called English classes. We’re bringing in certified trainer Patti Devlin from Texas to conduct the training for us on August 16-17.

“But I’m a native English speaker, I don’t need training.”
As books like More than a Native Speaker by Snow and Teaching English in Missions by Dormer point out, being a native speaker can be helpful for being a conversation partner, but it’s not enough for helping non-native English speakers make progress in English language learning.

“But I’ve had the training before.”
This will be our Director’s 4th time through it, having done online, in person, and hybrid formats in the past. If you can say you remember and use even half of the 180 page gold mine of the training book (Teaching English Language Learners the Good News), then you don’t need to come. 😊

“Is there a book?”
If you have been through the training before, please bring your Tech English Language Learners the Good News. But we’ll also have a limited supply of printed books for those who don’t have one.

“But I don’t have teaching experience.”
That may actually be better! It’s better for the students and for us if we look at our role not as a teacher but as a coach. As one of our volunteers put it, our job is to be “the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage.” In fact, we’re leaning toward changing the title of the role entirely this year: from “teacher” to “coach.” This may seem like semantics, but it may help both students and teachers understand who is the focus (the students) and who has responsibility for their progress (the students).

“But I may have a scheduling conflict.”
We just ask that you try to join us, but we understand if you cannot.

“Will it be recorded?”
We have permission to record the drills only.