Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id g9FM9HX11003; Tue, 15 Oct 2002 18:09:17 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 18:09:17 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <sdac3d39.008@nmail.epcc.edu> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Andres Muro" <AndresM@epcc.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8224] Re: Preaching in ESL classes I need HELP X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise 5.5.5 Status: O Content-Length: 3542 Lines: 53 In a public institution, like a state university, preaching religion is not allowed. If it is a private Christian college, they may be able to offer this. The problem with teaching by preaching religion, is that it may offend those who do not share in that religion. It is the right of a person not to have to listen to religious preaching outside of a religious context of their choice. Problem is that a lot of good natured volunteers may do this with the best intention in their hearts. We often run into this sort of situation in El Paso w/our students and staff, since El Paso is a "very catholic" town, and so are most of our students and employees. You need to tell the volunteer in the most polite way possible that it is against the law to preach religion in a public space outside of a predetermined religious context, especially in a public school, college or university. You may want to check the official college policy on this matter. There is probably a human resources department in your institution that can help you with this matter. In addition, they may also offer to talk to the volunteer instead of you. In the case of having a lot of foreign students, it is possible that many of them have different religious practices and may not be interested in hearing religious preaching. All of the above, aside from the fact that teaching by preaching may not be the most pedagogically sound method. Andres >>> karamera@boun.edu.tr 10/15/02 02:15PM >>> Sorry for the length of the message... Hi, I have a problem in the institution that i currently do some voluntary teaching. And i feel you are the correct body to give me the advice i need. Firstly, this institution is a university and they offer free English / speaking classes to the spouses of international students and scholars and they work with volunteers and i am the newest guy in the block. Because i showed up after they formed the classes and assigned the volunteers i am supposed to be helping the lady who teaches the beginners speaking class which is an open enrollment class. Apparently this lady comes from a church and has really good intentions and wants to be of help, but the problem is we had checked the university bookstore for the kinds of books that we could make use of and the library and as an English teacher who has been teaching Beginners i had a few suggestions. The first day of the classes i saw that she actually preferred preaching from the Bible and expected them to converse about religious matters. I feel, actually strongly believe, that the Bible is a really heavy reading for beginner students and thus is discouraging as they only looked at each other during the class and possibly did not understand even a word she was saying. I preferred to speak rather slowly and after the class i worked on some minimal pairs with three of the students. Then they went to her and said i was a very good teacher and they could understand me better. So the lady got offended. Now, should i go tell her directly that this is not the way to teach beginners speaking or is it better to talk to the person in charge? Other than the difficulty of the Bible as an English reading, I have the motto "no religion, no politics, no soccer" in my class (British people can easily understand the third one, I don't know yet if it is valid in the States). Given the sensitivity of American people after September 11, do you think they would misunderstand me as i am also Muslim? I got really stuck and need HELP. Thanks in advance Meral
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