Theresa Roosendaal
About 7 years ago I helped my church begin a ministry to refugee families in Kennewick that we call the Family Learning Center. Last year we became a seperate non-profit. The Family Learning Center's mission is to help refugees thrive in their new homeland. We do this mainly through adult ESL and citizenship classes and after school homework club for school aged kids. Although we began this ministry through our connection to the Karen/Burmese community, we serve refugees from Somalia, Iraq, Eritrea, and Colombia as well. My work with this ministry has grown into a part-time job with World Relief. My title is Refugee Youth Education Coordinator, and I work closely with the school district to advocate and support high school students who are recent arrivals.
I live with my husband and 16 year old daughter in Kennewick. We also have 3 adult children.
Posted in: Studying the Book of Acts with ESL?
I've never found a really good Bible study resource for teaching ELL's. But I do recommend using the NIrV for your study. It uses a limited vocabulary and simple sentence structure, but still stays very close to the NIV.
Posted in: Studying the Book of Acts with ESL?
I responded to your question last night, and then during the night was reminded of a training I went to last spring--it was about using an evangelism/discipleship method that you can learn about at www.m28global.org. It's meant to be done with international students on university campuses--most of then are limited English speakers and probably have no Bible background. The principles they use--reading the passage several times, retelling...can be applied to any scripture that you're studying. Hope that helps.
Posted in: Respectful Witness to Refugees
Thank you for those encouraging words--very helpful for those of us who love refugees regardless of their religion, and also love Jesus.