planning.planning.planning.

More planning today. The five Teaching Assistants will be: Hser Nay Chris, Peh Htoo, Tha Lord, Maw Lay and Htoo K Paw. We have decided on a ten week oral course for 15 to 20 beginning students. The classes will start on February 20th and end on April 24th. Cheryl Zeiner will assist with the TA class and we have developed a job description for them.

[previous post January 16th] Saturday morning, I met with a core group from the Karen community to plan for the Winter/Spring session. Pastor Ich and Cheryl Zeiner were there to assist. We decided to concentrate this session's efforts on the beginner students and offer an oral ESOL class. Five students who have a higher level of English proficiency will be trained as Teaching Assistants. They will meet at 9:30 to get ready for the 10:00 to 11:00 class. Members of the congregation will be able to help out as Conversation Partners arriving at 9:30 to find out the theme/grammar for the day. This will allow for more interaction for all three groups: Beginner ESOL, Teaching Assistants and Conversation Partners.

quote from facebook

Volunteers in Global Mission "And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives....and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted." Nate Saint

bloginfo: from Angela Sudermann's facebook

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.

Shining Stars

At today's service [postponed Lessons and Carols], I awarded a Stewardship 'Shining Star' certificate to each person that helped out this session in the 'Play, Pray, Hello USA!' ESOL classes for the Karen community.

The certificates went to the three pastors: John Endler, Ich Duc Nguyen and Gie Dor.

Those who had helped out with the program [in many different ways] were: Victor Agosto, Linda Carrasquillo, Bruce Davidson, Joan Davidson, Amy Endler, George Grisevich, Kari Miller, Norma Sproul and Cheryl Zeiner.

Without the help of the above, the program which provided 243 hours of English instruction would not have been possible. Thanks to everyone!

Certificate Party

Today we held our Certificate Party. Many were in attendance; Pastor Ich and Cheryl Zeiner attended also.

We opened with a prayer by Pastor Ich in Vietnamese, myself in English and Pastor Gie Dor in Karen. Then we all introduced ourselves with the help of a passed box of candy canes.

A crossword activity with Christmas was a lot of fun. Then the Karen community sang a song and presented me with a beautiful jacket which I will wear to church soon.

Certificates of Attendance went to:
Hser Nay Paw
Say Lway
Lay Naw
Day Mu Si
Ner Ri [received a Special Award for Perfect Attendance]
Hser Nay Chris [also received a Special Award for Perfect Attendance]
Gie Dor
Peh Htoo [& received a Special Award for Excellence in Story Writing]
Sha Thaw
Taw Nay Moo
Sha Kier Moo
Say Lay Paw
Htoo K Paw
Po Day
We closed with The Lord's Prayer

Cheryl Zeiner then took over and conducted a meeting concerning:
Workshops for Jobs
Prescription Cards
Opportunity to sell handicraft items in the CBC Crosswinds Store
Listing specific needs of the Karen Community

This was definitely the highlight of my Christmas season! Thank the Lord for the opportunity to work with such wonderful people. Hallelujah!

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.

Our Personal Commitments

2010 ‘PRAYERFUL’ PERSONAL COMMITMENT

Today is Pledge Sunday. You have heard from many people about the importance of pledging both your time and money to increase the life of the church and the power of its congregation. I ask you to consider the Time, Talents and Energies booklet. A pledge of assisting the Karen community in their English classes would be most appreciated. Next year, starting in January, we will embark on an improved program of ‘Play, Pray, Hello USA!,’

I would like to thank those of you who have already been involved in the program. Would the following please stand up: Victor Agosto,  Joan and Bruce Davidson, Amy Endler, George Grisevich, Kari Miller, Norma Sproul, and Cheryl Zeiner.

Joan, Bruce and Amy came in to assist with a class.

Cheryl came in to assist with a meeting.

Victor, Cheryl, Amy and Kari taught classes.

George will teach next Saturday.

Norma and Joan will teach two weeks after that.

Eight people have been involved. Next year we can do much better with more people and offer a program that far surpasses anything done in any other church in Hartford. We will meet next January for a presentation about the new program. God bless you all!