Active participation in the Church

Post 2 in the series of Teaching methodology in the church. 

Obviously learning a language is different for Christian living and teaching from the bible and yet I still believe that there are many things we can take out of these ideas. Let me give you an example of our conversation club a couple of days ago. The conversation club was going well and people were discussing the topic with one person in effect reporting to the central speaker who usually then commented on what they had said and then relayed this back to the group for further thoughts. However near the end we broke the groups down into about 4’s [making sure there was a native English speaker and a woman in each group (we were discussing dating)] all of a sudden things picked up. Everybody suddenly started talking and I learnt more about my four peoples views in that 10 minutes then I did in the pervious 1hr or so.

If we had time then we could have relayed these views and ideas back to the central group and found out even more about a common group thought about what makes a good first date.

When teaching a language if students actually speak and practice speaking [even if they fail in using the target language] then you can claim some success in the lesson.  This is a point where things differ with teaching in the church. If someone merely talks about whatever they want then it’s not exactly successful teaching [though that is not to say that of topic discussions area failure]. If I came to a meeting and all I talked about a computer game in my small group discussions then I won’t learn anything [or contribute anything]. However if I come and discuss some person problem which isn’t connected at all then this can still teach people about God and can help me learn about God too.

With every person being able to contribute then we can use the knowledge everyone has [from personal experience/study/other] to teach everyone. Rather than have one person go away and teach everyone else [including the teacher]. With the current model then the preacher will know exactly what will be said and although they may have learnt some things from their own private study IF they has the opportunity to hear about a persons experience it may affect them and drill the lesson home further.

Likewise members of the congregation maybe able to accurately predict everything that will be said during the sermon [having heard it for the x number already] and yet when everyone contributes to the learning then it can produce a rapidly different result.

Where people can actually contribute as well as listen to the teaching then they will of course pay more attention [perhaps in the hope of catching the preacher out or some other noble reason] and as such listen to more of the sermon, even if it is to criticise it.

Having many people sharing experience actually increases the opportunity for the spirit to take a discussion in a completely different direction. Admittedly the spirit does guide those people who prepare sermons [though we sometimes choose to ignore him or don’t even consult him] But when it is more open then it means that we are instantly providing an opportunity for interference mid-flow. It is by no means guaranteed and pointless side tracks can be exactly that. However one of the most powerful moments I have had at church came when I was in a group and we started to share moments of intense suffering we had/were going though. It was amazing as we could minister to people when we normally wouldn’t have the chance to if it were simply set piece sermon with a call to visit the prayer ministry team at the end.

One of the key elements of providing the opportunity for students to speak is that it identifies areas where they don’t know the words/grammar. This is obviously also true within Christian teaching. During discussions with friends it is quite possible to realise that you don’t know something and then want to work out what the answer is. If we provide this space amongst a larger group where there are people who have a much greater knowledge then it can help teach other Christians even more. In addition when a student explains a concept [in EFL classes] they often can explain it better or increase their knowledge of the point or have it corrected by the teacher. All of which can be true in a church context too.

When people know that they aren’t just turning up to listen but to actually speak and have their opinions considered it can certainly lead to an increase in desire to study the passage beforehand. During my time at the well [when we were going through a series] I read the passage for the following week than I had previously in my entire lifetime. This is not to say I was perfect and I still definitely forgot/couldn’t be bothered on occasions but there was still a big increase.

People learn through very different methods, some do take information soley by listening to it without any additional prompts but many need different sources and methods. Luckily most churches now also use some images/words on a hand out with at least provides some visual prompt as well but this doesn’t go far enough. Some people need to actually repeat what they have heard so they can remember it. For a teacher this can be very annoying but it can be the most effective method for an individual to learn by. All these possibilities need to be allowed for and allowing for people to speak is a very small way of doing this. [more shall be covered later.]

When we talk to people about ideas and try and communicate through a language we naturally get to know them. Whilst this may not be a required outcome in a language school setting it certainly is within a church. Fellowship isn’t an option in Christianity, it’s a requirement. We have been called into a family and unfortunately that means we have to get to know people we don’t want to and be annoyed by each other. Fortunately we have the spirit and this can help us overcome such petty things as finding people annoying and come to love and value the person for who they are.

 Many people will wonder why this shouldn’t just be for small groups and we can use the main church service for preaching. There certainly is an argument for this and I hope that preachers do keep writing sermons for big groups following this classical model, I find them very interesting and very useful in my own growth. However, why should a highly ineffective method remain the main method that is used to speak to most people? Surely if there is a more effective method we should use that as our PRIMARY means to teach people otherwise it is like saying that schools should continue to use bad methodology [because it’s always been that way] and private school can use the more effective stuff. This is especially true due to the fact that many church goes aren’t part of any small groups and so don’t gain the benefits of the other members.

The Next in the series shall come next Monday at hopefully a more reasonable hour.

Active participation from all.

One of the key elements in modern communicative methodology is that students don’t just sit there and listen or translate documents. They USE the language, ask questions, and complete tasks to work out the meaning and usage of the new language they are encountering. The idea of a student coming into a lesson, sitting in the classroom, singing a couple of songs in English and then listening to someone speak for an hour is absurd. If they wanted to know about history of the English language, how English as Lingua Fraca could be challenged by Mandarin or other such topics they can look it up online [and some do] but what these students need is how to communicate in English and how to incorporate ideas [such as talking about the past/present/future] into their day to day language [rather than just understanding the rules about talking about the future in English].

A case in point is when a student comes into class [having just sat a placement test], they understand the grammar very well [certainly much better than an average native English speaker. If you had asked me a year ago to talk about what grammar I am currently using I wouldn’t have been able to (it’s a mixed conditional by the way, 3^rd and 2^nd conditionals)] However when we ask them to (in English) talk about a topic they can be completely stumped! It can also be the same when people go abroad and try and use the language they have learnt, they can know rules [such as for Russian; when we are talking about something we like, we use the dative to show what we like (which changes feminine A sounds to OO sounds) and yet when I came over here I couldn’t even order some food In a restaurant.]

When a student actually speaks the language they do a few things that don’t arise in different circumstances.

One they realise what they can’t say in the language they are trying to speak. Thus it can show a grammar point or some vocab that they need to learn [basic example if I am talking in a Russian Class and I don’t a verb then I can ask the teach for the verb I don’t know].

Second it is a much better method of remembering a language point [this includes vocabulary and grammar]. There are a good few reasons for this, such as the fact that speaking is (general) quicker than writing, and as such you can use a word many more times (which helps to memorise a word) secondly students are generally encourages (and tend to even when not) to use this new grammar to talk about themselves, which again helps students to remember the new language. Thirdly they can help correct another student, where they may have to explain the language/vocabulary point again and [as long as it isn’t incorrect] this again helps with memorising a word. Thirdly there is no option to sit back and not think about the language. If you have to talk using this language then you HAVE to think [even if you don’t understand] about what you are suppose to do/are trying to do.

Another point is that it provides the teacher with an opportunity to correct errors as they occur during the lesson [not always with the target language]. If a student is perhaps pouncing words incorrectly or has forgotten earlier grammar then the teacher can hear these mistakes and address them in the class. This can be true of areas that students don’t feel confident with or are very confident with.

Thirdly it is also more interesting and fun for the students when they are engaged [which again assists with memorisation and extra curricular English activities.] This is almost an added bonus rather than a desired outcome but if this was not true would then the impact of the other effects would also be diminished as well. If students don’t enjoy lessons [or at least find them relevant and engaging] then they will probably TRY and forget the lesson and possible the English they “learnt” along side. I can certainly testify that this can be backed up by the test result of my teenagers in particular. The grammar they have found the hardest was the grammar that was presented in the least interesting way to them. 

This is only a brief summary of the main points and many chapters can and have been written on this topic.

Writing Pains

Writing can sometimes be somewhat of a duel headed beast for me. On the one hand the actual process of writing can feel highly liberating and bring a sense of freedom I seldom find elsewhere. As I hammer the keys on my laptop and explore my thoughts, recent events in my life and share interesting facts I have found it can release a great joy from within. However the other head of the beast is the one that quickly follows the release of the written work.

As soon as the “Publish” button is hit on the blog page the first seed is sown and my doubts start to bubble up from the within. “Was there really any point in writing that?” “Will anyone like it?” “what will people think about me for writing that?”

These are usually only small thoughts but certain events can cause the seeds to blossom into full blown feelings of low self confidence. Someone telling me they read my blog recently, or a comment appears on the blog, or even something as little as noticing someone has visited from somewhere I don’t know [and thus I don’t know them, what would a strange think about what I’ve written!].

This experience is of course not limited to written works but to all sorts of creative things. Just before the Holiday I sang a song for the schools Christmas party. Although I have sung at open mic nights and other similar events many times before, my stomach was still turning like a butter factory. Straight after I finished all I wanted to do was to go to a corner and just act like nothing happened at all.

It appears that within me there are two forces competing with each other. The first loves do creative things and Loves to hear people compliment me for them [and perhaps really wants to be praised as well]. The other, meanwhile, hates to step out in a crowd and be thought of as different (at best) and bad at whatever I am doing (at worse).

And so that brings us nicely to all things blog based and in particular the first of one of my 2011 aims. Bellow is the first of the songs. Admittedly this isn’t one I really wrote. The words and foundation of the song was written by my friend James Townsend during our gap year in Leeds, However I have arranged it differently so it kind of counts…

Perhaps I have chosen this because it is the easiest to do [during this very hectic month] or maybe it has more to do with the slightly increased shelter for this, my first recording of singing online! Whatever the reason I hope you enjoy it.

A little treat

A few photo's I've snapped in the parks of Dnipropetrovsk from the Christmas and New Years Celebrations. Interestingly enough New Years is the bigger Holiday here and Also comes first in the calendar (christmas is the 7th of January)

Teaching methodology in the Church

whilst I was on my Gap year I helped out in a youth group on Sunday mornings with a group of women from the local areas. During one of the meetings an issue was brought up in the continued running of the Sunday schools as we looked at where to have them and what ages to have them for. This issue was that the fellow leaders were worried about getting "fed" at church.

Looking at the positives of this statement it shows that these women really care about what spiritual input they are getting, after all most of them ran the Sunday School every Sunday...and when they didn't, they were away. The negative comment that could come would be towards those who aren't involved in any service in a church [especially one that might involved not being in a sermon] and use not being fed as the reason. In these cases the statement becomes an excuse for not serving. 

Why do I mention this, well for one it's an interesting diversion/lead into the topic of teaching within the church, it also allows me to mention my friends blog piece about taking responsibility for being "fed" but most importantly to mention that desiring God, desiring teaching isn't a bad thing [which can come across sometimes].

In the world of English language teaching many changes have taken place in the methodology of how lessons are taught. In the past there was a formal sitting down, reading and translating a text approach with very little focus on students actually being able to use the language or communicate but instead knowing the rules of the language and as such being able to answer questions about the text. 

If we look at teaching within the church we can see similar comparisons, a text is read, a teacher then instructs the students on new or unfamiliar words and explains the translation. the students sit there and perhaps write notes with no certainty that they are listening or absorbing the information. The students leave the lesson, head home and probably don't use this knowledge till the next lesson, at which point the process is repeated. 

Some students love the methodology. They learn the rules and can recite them at will [or command of the teacher] they study at home all the time, they translate text after text and can't understand why other students don't enjoy or find the lessons engaging. 

Others hate the methodology, they don't engage, although they want to learn the language they just can't manage to put up with the lessons and so they give up. Stop attending the lessons and go away with a small knowledge of the language never to expand it. 

[maybe you can see some similarities, if not then either your church is using a varied teaching approach or maybe you find the methodology engaging]

So what are the key characteristics of EFL communicative methodology used today and how can we translate them into the church.[In no particular order]

1. Real life situations

2. Using audio, visual And Kinaesthetic techniques to focus on a holistic learning approach

3. Students don't just study but use the target language in class.

4. Repetition of material

5. Allowing participation from all students to maximise practice.
6. Inductive learning not Deductive learning [a possible example]

[feel free to point out other essential element that shall be added to the list.]

And so these are the idea's I shall start to explore with relation to teaching in the church in the coming week with the aim of a post every Monday addressing one of these idea. Please feel free to suggest idea's, to critique the article/idea, comment etc [as long as it's not a personal attack].

Back to the Ukraine

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After a long time worrying about all the possible problems coming back to the Ukraine I have actually managed to get back to Dnipropetrovsk with relative easy. The main highlights of the journey include:

1. The metal detector mysteriously going of as I walked through it despite taking all metal items out of my pockets/belts off etc. 
2. Bumping into a student of the school in the train station who was getting the same train
3. Meeting a Brazilian English teacher [ricky] in McDonnalds
4. Buying a train ticket in Kyiv on my own...in Russian, with someone who spoke no English, then forgetting the word for 11 so I could say what time I wanted my train for and yet I knew exactly what I was being asked!
5. Actually achieving the amazing feat of getting some sleep on the overnight train, despite being far too tall for the sets and being scrunched up the whole journey. 

So all in all a rather successful journey. This post is making up for the one I happened to miss on Monday [I was travelling, I'm sorry] and has some details of the posts to come. I have the idea for the first of the short films and songs [it's an old song to start things off] and also Friday's post is and introduction to a new topic covering two combine interests. Teaching English and Christianity [what can the church learn from teaching English]
Also you may notice that there is now a page with my Aims for 2011 pinned to it. This has a link to the original article and links to all post relating to the new years aims [except the aim of regular blogging...I won't link to every blog article I write!] take a look and keep asking me how I am doing on each task or suggest ideas for each one.

2010 review of Wilson's words

This year has certainly been a big year for me. This time last year I was single, living at home, in a job that wasn't really very rewarding and not really going anywhere in life. Fast forward 12 months...and I am still single, but I have spent the last four months in the Ukriane, I have been doing a job that I love, and I have certainly grown up a lot! So let's look back over some of my favourite posts of the year.

I think the best post has to be the night I had a gun pointed at my head.

My best political post [for analysis wise] has to be Why does David Cameron want Turkey in the EU.

Best video: it was a hard one But I think Russian Winnie the pooh [Vinnie Puh] wins [My video from being on the pitch of Shaktar Donestk was pretty special to me]

Best EFL: Not sure that I made any outstanding posts but I think my observations about learning a language abroad will have to do.

Best Christian:

My Most visited for the year: for some reason my in joke [which really isn't very funny] about blaming Ollie Ewing for everything got the most hits? very strange. However on a more serious note my personal reflection "words on a white board" has done very well.

My Articles that got into the Lib Dem Golden Dozen. Why are Labour Targeting the Lib Dems and My shock that Conservative home want the Lib Dems for 5 years.

I have to mention Lee Griffin article on Higher Education funding

So those are last years highlights. If you look back over the blogging history you will no doubt notice that the focus has shifted from political blogging to more general updates and general thoughts. One which I feel completely happy about and shall continue with. I hope you enjoyed the Blog last year and will continue to enjoy it this year.
[final Blog stats, Since I transfered over to this blog on blogger (sometime in June) I've had 4,872 page visits with the top post having 216 hits]

Friendly promotion

Well haven't you all been busy bee's on the blog today! Very little visits and comments for a long time and then all of a sudden everyone is commenting and my hits have shot up! As such, here is a special post promoting an old friend from university Jennie Mahood. She is off out in America and is making wonderful little songs. So go check out her website, listen to some songs, follow her on twitter...whatever.

New Years Aims 2011

For the last few years I have written a list in private of about 10-20 things I want to achieve in the coming year. Most of these have previously revolved around getting a job/new job and moving out of home etc. However this year I actually HAVE a job [that I love] and I have moved out of my old home...so this years list is going to be slightly different!
I have decided to post it on to my blog after reading this article on sucessful new years resolutions and in addition I will post a monthly update on progress so people can ask me/offer help on achieving these goals. SO without further ado. [the words in Red have been added since the original publication]

1.I will give at least a 10% tithe in addition to any other giving I will do.
 I have been horrifically bad at tithing in the past. However after reading Blue like jazz I was struck by how important it is to give a tithe. As such I will stick to it this year.

2. Making Prayer a stronger habit. 

Traditionally I have included such spiritual things as "try and read the whole bible in a year" or just read more of it. However, upon reading the advice in the article linked above [not to repeat the same resolution year after year] I have decided to change it a bit and focus on Prayer this year.
Every Friday morning I will go on a prayer walk around Dnipro, I will seek to join a Prayer group. If you want me to pray with you [over the phone/face to fact/other] then ask and I would be more than happy to. [other ideas]

3.Use skype more to chat to people back home/Britain

I have a constant fear when I see someone on skype that they are actually too busy to chat and so end up not having the guts to ring them but send a message instead. I'd much rather actually chat, so that is what I will do.

4.  I will improve as an EFL teacher.

This shall partially by passing my young learners course but also by continuing to try and post about TEFL and doing some proper research into each post. Admittedly just teaching should lead to this occurring without much effort but I will invest effort as well so that it isn't left to chance. I will continue to read "language tasks for English teachers" by Scott Thornbury, Once I have finished then I will move on to another book and I will also invite and pursue more observations and feedback on my own teaching insuring I am observed at least once a month preferably more. 

5. I will improve my Russian.

Like the 3 Aim this too should occur without intentional effort but again I want to put effort in as well. As such I am setting myself the task of spending an hour twice a week studying Russian [Monday and Wednesday evening at 6-7] and recapping the new words I have learnt that week. I will also do a post with the new words that I have learnt this week to help reinforce their meaning and to perhaps teach some new words. Aiming for at least 5 new words.

6. I will write more songs.

After a hiatus of about 3 years I feel it's time to write some songs again. I will aim to write one a month and publish them on this very blog. Sound quality may be poor but still it will be an attempt at something! Please be kind on them.

7. Host a weekly meal at my flat.
 I have hosted a couple of meals at my flat and though it isn't the biggest I want to continue this. There have been occasions when other people have hosted a meal and If this continues then I wouldn't object but instead seek to host a weekly gathering of some sort.

8. Regular and higher quality blogging.
The last while in the Ukraine has taught me a few things about blogging. It's hard to do regularly and it's hard to keep the quality high when you do it frequently. So it may appear like I am trying to have my cake and eat it [and expression that I have always personally found to be very strange. If I have a cake of course I want to eat it...unless it had mushrooms or something but then what cake has mushrooms? If it did indeed have mushrooms then I probably wouldn't want this cake anyway and thus I would neither want the cake or eat it.] When in actually fact I am instead committing to reduce the number of posts to two [with a possible 3] each week [I'm thinking Monday and Friday morning] and then insure that when a post is finished it is given a proper edit to avoid simple mistakes.

9. I will get involved with some form of charitable work in the Ukraine.
One of the things that I feel is serverly lacking in my currently life in the Ukraine is that I am not involved with any groups that are really in contact with and help the less well off. As such I am going to seek out some groups or organisation who do and get involved with them. If there are none then I guess I will just have to look at either setting something up or similar.

10. I will make a Public video each month.
Over the last year I have started to make and send a few video's about, mostly as a form of communication with my friend Steve, but some have also been general videos like this one about a Mr Cameron. As such I'm going to try and make a little video [even if it's just an update on things in the Ukraine] each month for people (note this won't count for the music task as well.)

So those are my Aims for 2011 as I said at the start, ask me how they are going and I will do an update each month.