good class today...

Class today was on Body Parts and the Emergency Room/Doctor's Office. Had a lot of fun with our fake ailments and that ever present 'on a scale of 1 to 10'. 

Only one more class to go in this beginner's session. That will be on the subject of Clothing. Then the following day, Sunday, I will present certificates of completion at the Karen service. It has been a full and fulfilling two and a half years.

Winter session classes ended today! 

The 2010 Winter Session Beginner ESOL Class and the Teacher Assistant Class both had their last session in Pastor Gie Dor's apartment. Certificates will be awarded tomorrow at church between the two worship services. Fourteen participants will received a Certificate showing that they successfully completed the 9 week Beginner session. Five of these participants will also have it noted on their certificate that they had Perfect Attendance! The five Teacher Assistants will also receive certificates for the successful completion of the Winter Session Part 1 Course.

Winter Session starts!

The winter session of 'Pray, Play, Hello USA!' ESOL classes started today.

There is a training course for Teaching Assistants AND a Beginner English Class going on in Pastor Gie Dor's apartment on Alden Street.

Today's classes had four Teaching Assistants and met from 9:30 to 11:00 and thirteen beginning students from 10: to 11:00. The first half hour is an orientation session for the TAs where they find out the material to be introduced that day. Then they help out during the beginning class by servings as models, translators and group leaders. The session today went especially well for a first class!

We covered Identification patterns using 'my/his/her name' and I/He/She live[s] in Hartford. The letters Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd and Ee were covered along with the numbers 1 to 10. An ongoing pronunciation practice will be The Lord's Prayer. We went up to ...'hallowed be Thy name'.

Commitment Cards

On their commitment cards, several members have expressed interest in being 'guest presenters' at our weekly Play, Pray, Hello USA! classes for the winter session.

Those signed up so far:

Victor Agosto [returning]
Joan Breakenridge
Florence Cato
Bruce Davidson
Joan Davidson [returning]
Lynn Leavenworth
Norma Sproul [returning]
Cheryl Zeiner [returning].

There is plenty of time to get involved; just call the church office and let Linda know. We will have an information meeting at the end of January.

Music Class today!

Today's class in the 'Pray, Play, Hello USA!' series was taught by Norma Sproul and Joan Davidson. They taught the words in English to three Christmas Carols: 'Silent Night', 'Deck the Halls' and 'Away in a Manger'. They left 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful' for me to teach next week which is our last class of the Fall session.

I visited the class at the end of the session and they were all fully involved. The singing was beautiful. It is a blessing to work with a community so willing and eager to learn the new language.

Thanks to Joan and Norma for their help as Guest Presenters. I hope many more people will get involved in the Winter session that will start in January.

Planning Meeting

We held an important meeting today at Pastor Gie Dor's apartment. Attending from CBC there were Pastor Ich and Cheryl Zeiner. Also many people from the Karen community came to help with planning.

The decisions we came to:
1. keep the same format of ESOL classes at the same site
2. concentrate on all 4 areas of language learning: listening, speaking, reading and writing
3. change the day to Saturday morning from Wednesday afternoon
4. keep class attendance to improve attendance
5. give a certificate at the end of each seasonal session
6. advanced students would prepare extra written materials
7. institute the 'guest presenter' plan to involve more CBC members
8. individualize work for any student needing extra help

Diaconate Meeting

Today after service, I made a presentation to the Central Baptist Church Diaconate. I asked for their support in the continuation of the Karen ESOL Project. This is the draft of the letter I will send to the congregation.

‘Pray, Play, Hello USA!’

‘Play, Pray, Hello USA!’ is in the planning stages to be an integrated ESOL program of English conversation for the Karen Community of Central Baptist Church. This would be a weekly one-hour content-based course offered in Pastor Gie Dor’s apartment on Alden Street.

The setup of the course would consist of two-week modules: Week One concentrating on form and function and Week Two on a specific language topic. The continuity of the program will be held with Thomas Foran’s teaching the first week of each module. Different guest presenters would offer a new topic each second week.

Involvement in the ‘Pray, Play, Hello USA!’ program for individual guest presenters would consist of a one-time two hour commitment during the Fall/Winter session. You could even pair up with a friend. The first hour would be in developing the topic with the help of Mr. Foran and the second hour would be the presentation at the class site. Think about your gifts and turn them into talents. A talent is nothing but a shared gift! We all have gifts from God: fixing something broken, reading a story, writing a poem, teaching a hymn, baking some cookies, drawing pictures, etc., etc. All of these activities can be used to teach English. Together we will figure out the vocabulary needed and the verb forms to use for you to present it the first week. Then the second week, Thomas will review it and get the class ready for the next presenters.

This program could start in the Fall of this year; the first session running from September to December. If this program is successful, a second session could be planned starting in January as a Winter/Spring course.

Please let me know if you might be interested in using one of your many gifts as a talent. Your involvement in this program: ‘Play, Pray, Hello USA!’ will make a world of difference to the Karen community. An orientation session will be held in mid-August after service.


John 5:30 “I can do nothing on my own”.

News Release #4

The ESOL classes for the Karen community are finished for the summer. July 15th was the last class in this conversational English course held at Pastor Gie Dor’s home in Hartford

Our guest presenters for the summer session were: Bruce and Joan Davidson, Amy and Jeremiah Endler. Ask them about the experience; they all had a great time!
The four-week session that was scheduled to begin on August 5th has been cancelled. We are using that time to refocus and restructure the course for September with the guidance of Pastor Ich, Pastor Gie Dor and members of the Karen community. An Information Session will be scheduled for Sunday, August 16th in the Church Library. At that time, Thomas J. Foran will give details on this new program where you can become involved in a class.

You can read entries about all the eight classes already held with the Karen community at Thomas’ website: www.mispos.blogspot.com

Hello USA! Class #8

The Lord surely works in mysterious ways!

Today's lesson was to be the eighth and final lesson of the introductory series. But attendance today was very poor. However, Pastor Ich was there to visit and a member of the Karen community who speaks excellent English was there also. Pastor Gie Dor came in a bit later after his driving lesson.

So we had a great planning session. Pastor Ich and Pastor Gie Dor will meet on Saturday to help refocus the program. A new day and/or time may come out of the meeting. I stressed that the community's needs were the most important and a program could be made to fit any situation. We will go on 'summer vacation' while this planning is being done. The middle week of September will be our target date to start a bigger and better program.

I will meet with the Board of Deacons on July 26th to explain the 'guest speaker' function of a coming program and ask for their blessing. This is stewardship in it's true meaning. Then I will meet with interested members of the CBC congregation on August 16th to outline the program and ask for volunteer 'guest presenters.' Everything is falling into place. Praise the Lord!

blognote: Pastor Gie Dor's youngest son, Blu Mission Ku Taw, got up from his nap and sat on my lap [again]. What a thrill to have a nearly two year old from another culture show so much trust. God is good!

News Release #3

THOMAS J. FORAN continues to work with ABCCONN in teaching ESOL classes for the Karen community. The classes are held at Pastor Gi Dor’s home in Hartford.

AMY and JEREMIAH ENDLER visited and helped out with their Family Tree and JOAN DAVIDSON assisted in a lesson about Food, Cooking and Shopping. Ask them; they both had a great time!

July 15th will be the last class in this series. A new four-week session will begin on August 5th and continue each Wednesday until August 26th. Come and visit us at 1:00 any Wednesday afternoon.

Watch for exciting news about the Fall/Winter session where you can become involved in a class. You can keep up with THOMAS at his website www.mispos.blogspot.com

Hello USA! Class #7

At the beginning of class there were only two women in attendance. This was good in one way as the class was all about food, cooking and shopping. Several of the young girls sat in and helped out a lot. Pastor Gie Dor came in later after his driving lesson.

Joan Davidson was our guest teacher today. She had brought so many items from her kitchen. First we started out setting the table and learned the names of all the dishes and the cutlery. After that we 'cooked' a few things with the use of different types of cooking vessels. Then we talked about shopping and decided the mystery vegetable in the refrigerator was lemongrass. Everyone had a fun time.

Next class will review the entire session of seven classes. We will take a two week break and then begin a four week session. These new lessons will concentrate on Transportation and Housing and incorporate some writing.

blognote: The class was interested in fitting us all into a family tree when they found out that Joan is my sister-in-law.

Hello USA! Class #6

Today's class was great! There were five adults and half a dozen children.

We spent a bit of time on the pronouns: I, he and she. This went along with the verbs to be and to have; the change from 1st and 3rd person singular was our goal. We practiced body parts and going to the Emergency Room and describing our problem to the nurse/doctor.

The topic for the day was Clothing. We learned a lot of new vocabulary and ended up telling what each person was wearing. Then we discussed what one would wear to a specific place or activity. 'I am going to church. I have on a white shirt, etc.' This necessitated a review of colors which most everyone had under control.

The Bible passage for the day was John 9:25 - "...I was blind, now I see." During the Lord's Prayer at the end of class, the 'baby' [2 in August] came and sat in my lap until I was time for me to leave.

blognote: At some time after our last class of this session [in two weeks], we will meet and sort out the best way to continue classes in the Fall. It is my hope that some members of CBC will get involved.

Hello USA! Class #4

Very good class today with several new female students. The Wednesday afternoon Karen ESOL Conversation Class is getting popular.

Everyone came in and sat on the floor so that is the way the class went. We were all so much more comfortable that way. We reviewed my Family Tree and identified each member of the family. Practiced the difference between father and grandfather/mother and grand mother. Also spent time reviewing occupations/workplaces/tools.

The core of today's lesson was Seasons and Weather. Since summer starts this week, we wrote down the dates for each season. Today was hot and sunny and not breezy. Everyone had a good idea of telling time and the numbers but we practiced half-past and quarter after/of.

Pronunciation practice this week concentrated on the first eight books of the New Testament.

blognote: I can't believe that we are half way through this eight week session.

Hello USA! Class #3

Today's class had a guest speaker! Bruce, my brother-in-law, came along and added to the lesson.
We reviewed last week's work and focused on the days of the week and months of the year. Bruce introduced himself and we went through our ritual of say, spell and write.

The Bible passage was 2nd Corinthians 5:14 and we concentrated on the pronunciation of Christ /krayst/ emphasing the final consonant cluster. Everyone did very well on that.

There were two topics for this week. The first was family. I showed my 'family tree' and we learned the members of the immediate family. After stressing my two children and two grandchildren, we contrasted that to Bruce's family. He has four children and eleven grandchildren. The students had fun repeating the names of all our grandchildren.

The second focus was occupations. We learned those of the people present: teacher, pastor, student and engineer. Bruce had brought a mini toolkit. The students learned tool vocabulary and we discussed uses of tools with appropriate verbs.

Each week the student population changes a bit. This week, with school in Hartford out for the year, the students were at a bit higher level than the first two weeks. I will adapt those differences into next week's lesson.

Hello USA! Class #2

Today's class had several more people. Pastor Gie Dor was the only male in the class. One of the female students has a very good grasp of English and was able to help out in some of the cultural portions of class. All in all, it went very well.

Since most of the class had not attended last week, the handout review became the basis for the lesson. They seemed to enjoy seeing the vocabulary and grammar patterns in writing. The students took copious notes. They are surely an enjoyable group with a great desire to learn this new language.

Today's Bible verse [1 John 4:19] emphasizes the role God plays in our life on earth. I went on to introduce the days of the week and months of the year. We practiced yesterday, today and tomorrow; and this month, last and next month. The pronunciation contrasts need more work on my part as it is difficult to find known vocabulary that fit a sound pattern.

News Release

English Classes for the Karen Community

Thomas J. Foran is teaching an eight-week course in English for the newly arrived Karen community. He devised the course, Hello USA!, to meet the needs of this particular language group. The classes are being held each Wednesday afternoon at Pastor Gie Dor’s apartment. The Rev. Linda Lee Snyder, ABCConn, was instrumental in setting up this program while the Rev. Nguyen Duc Ich is helping in the coordination.

You can follow the progress of Hello USA! at Mr. Foran’s mission.possible website: www.mispos.blogspot.com.

Hello USA! Class #1

The first class went well. Pastor Ich accompanied me to the apartment. This was Pastor Gie Dor's apartment on Alden Street. His family comprised most of the class. There was one other student and there will be more next week.

All of the students are at differing levels of English but I am used to this. The first class was really for me to get to know levels and numbers. Now I have a good idea how to proceed for the next seven weeks.

We covered Introductions [name, address, birthday], Greetings, a Bible Passage [John 5:30], Numbers, Spelling [alphabet letters] and a Pronunciation Contrast [/iy/ vs /i/ (feet vs fit) as this is a problem for Karen speakers].

I had a great time and know that this 8 week session will be just the beginning. God willing!

HELLO USA!

Watch for the Hello USA announcement.

There will be classes starting soon.

Classes start on Wednesday, May 27th from 1 to 2 pm at Pastor Gie Dor's apartment at 57 Alden Street in Hartford for the Karen community. Pastor Ich will go with me the first few times.

The pronunciation Bible passage will be "I can do nothing on my own." John 5:30