Coffee and Conversation Honors Its Students
Professionally developed programs for English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) are conducted right around the corner at Catholic Charities and FSCJ. These classes meet multiple days a week with trained ESOL instructors, and most of our refugees are enrolled. So, why then, do we at St. John's offer Coffee and Conversation on Sunday mornings?
Our purpose is different. We aim to engage new refugees with St. John's parishioners. In a relaxed atmosphere we provide opportunities to practice English, have fun with the language and gain confidence. During the past five months, we've played lots of language-learning games, sometimes with comic prizes. We've discussed and compared cultural mores, and we used a lot of picture cards. We have English speakers of all levels and everyone improved!
Over the summer, we hope our new English speakers will come to breakfast on Sundays. We also hope parishioners will engage in conversations with them. They may not understand every word but they will get the gist, so don't be shy! Remember practice makes perfect and they are eager to learn more about American culture.
Pictured from left to right in the front row: Pat Ellis, Barbara Fiser, Lois Lawrence, (not pictured: Nancy Caulfield and Jan Miller,) have made new friends while teaching English language skills to students from South Sudan (pictured in the back row from left to right) Rina Angelo, Yacoub Elmahi and Kawasar Tower. Each of these students spent over 12 years in refugee camps in Egypt before obtaining Refugee Visas to come to the United States. We congratulate them for participating in Sunday morning Coffee and Conversation and improving their English! It has been a wonderful learning experience for all.