By Nick Clarke, TEN Ambassador
In the last decade, many churches have discovered that offering English language classes opens up a new mission field. Several churches supported by TEN in Eastern Europe are now seeking to provide English classes to their communities. You will not be surprised to learn that people can improve their job prospects and earning potential by having a working knowledge of English.
Assisting with English classes can be very rewarding and a great help to our partners. The good news is that you don’t need an English teaching qualification, nor do you even need to work overseas.
Last year I completed a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course, which took me about 5 months, studying online in my spare time. As a result, I have a much better understanding of how to teach English grammar, tenses, and sentence construction. During the past year, I’ve been teaching two classes online from my home, to support a church initiative in Moldova.
From a mission perspective, there have been several opportunities to share Christian teaching and my own testimony. It does not matter what subject is being discussed, as long as the students are practising English by listening, reading, speaking, or writing. Also, volunteers offering free English lessons have more scope to share and discuss their personal beliefs than an employed person can do in a state educational establishment. On learning that I am an unpaid volunteer, students often ask, “Why do you do this?” which gives me a great invitation to share my Christian faith in the context of serving others.
If you are interested in teaching English from your own home and willing to take on a TEFL course, more English classes can be arranged by TEN’s partners in Europe. Please contact Melanie at TEN to find out more: melanie.griffiths@ten-uk.org
