“Do-You-Speak-English?”

Time and again, it’s been our experience that teaching English can be a valuable way to connect with people. Every Tuesday, the members of the Rome City Team join other Christ-followers in the city to run English classes of 5 levels, at the Rome Baptist Church. Recently, I (Sarah) did a lesson on from the Gospel narrative of Jesus Heals a Deaf-Mute. I introduced it with a discussion about the film “The King’s Speech,” linking it to the issue of speech impediments: giving vocabulary to talk about them, their categories, the treatments, and the social implications. Then we looked at the miracle healing of someone with an extreme disability and we focused on Jesus’ treatment of that person. Sound like a Bible Study? Instead it was English class, and my Italian adult students engaged the topic with gusto.
After class, a first-time student came to me and said, “That was the best hour and a half I’ve spent in a really long time!”
Then, a mature Italian lady from another class wandered into my classroom - raving about her teacher - and asked me: I just would like to know if you would let me into your weekly Bible Study here at the church? The Bible is difficult for me even in Italian, but I’d love to come and try in English!”
One of my students, herself a school teacher, asked me to help with her high schoolers in conversational English, as they prepare to take the Cambridge Standard English exam. It has opened up a friendship and led me to meet some of the faculty in this private Roman high school where I volunteer once a month. The kids are serious and appreciative and I find yet again how language learning builds bridges and broadens our perspective.
Meanwhile, I’ve been working on an online TEFL Certification Course. TEFL is “Teaching English as a Foreign Language”. It is a rigorous course and I’m learning a lot.
As the Rome City Team we want to be effective in touching people’s lives and being Good News to them. Communicating is an essential part of our presence in Rome. So, whatever it takes, let’s get the conversation started all around!