Fostering Friendship and Faith Through ESL | Trinity Talks

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla

and I'm the online engagement director here at Trinity. And there are lots of things that

happen in this church building every week that maybe you don't know about. And we're

going to talk about one of those things today and that is Trinity's ESL or English as a

second language program. And so I am very happy to be sitting down here with three of

the women who volunteer in that program. Thank you so much for joining me ladies. Thanks

for having us. So maybe we'll just get started and do some introductions. You can say sort

of who you are and how long you've been working with the ESL programs. Maybe we'll start here.

OK, I'm Ruth and I started in Trinity's ESL ministry in the planning stages before the

clusters actually got started. So it was Sheila, Joshi and I that met together at Diane's request

to start an ESL ministry. And this was in 2001. So this is 24 years ago. OK, so I was

involved in the planning and we did a few Saturday training volunteer volunteers and

we had a really good response. So we started with three classes per week, Tuesday morning,

Thursday morning and Thursday evening. And so Sheila took the morning classes and I was

leading the evening class. So I was already working full time as an ESL teacher at that

point. That's how come and Sheila had experience too. And so I did the evening class for five

years and then I took a long break. Yeah. Fifteen years or something like that. I retired

from full time teaching seven years ago. So then I came back to the Trinity ESL ministry

about five years ago. OK, I'm still there. OK, that's great. OK, and we'll move over

here. My name is Diane and I started with ESL as a dream in my mind, just hoping we

could get something going. I was working on the staff here at Trinity. OK. And I really

wanted to see something develop with ESL. And we had the blessing of some new person

arriving in a church as a newcomer, Sheila Joshi. And she was a missionary and I think

it was West Africa somewhere. And she taught ESL. And when I was talking with her, I thought,

oh, maybe we can really get something going now. Somebody knows what to do. And so I put

a call out to some people I knew, Ruth and some other ladies. And we got together and

did the planning. So I've been involved for about 22, 23 years now when we first started

this. Yeah, great. Well, I guess I should say that I was sort of coordinating it with

the people who were leading it. And then when I retired in 2012, I took on being one of

the regular teachers on Tuesday mornings and continued doing that until COVID kind of put

the kibosh on our being able to meet in person. And Ruth and Sandy Howell went ahead and did

an online class. How many did you have? About 10 to 12 students. And we all managed to figure

out how to use Zoom. That's when it was all new. And they were regular every week from

January to June. So then when we were able to start getting meeting in person, another

one of our initial leaders, Grace Daly and Leila Ramperas, who's not a member of Trinity,

but she was very much involved in teaching anyway, the two of them got together with

a couple of the students who really wanted to keep meeting. And so they've been outside

in the picnic bench for a little while and then started when we were able to meet in

person inside the building. They came in and started promoting it again. And I came on

and Ruth came on as table facilitators. And then that's when I joined the picture. Okay.

Great. So yeah, Ali, do you want to introduce yourself a little bit? Okay, I'm Ali. And

yeah, my story started during COVID with ESL. I had been tutoring some middle school students

and in English. And I thought during COVID, I thought, well, I've got all this time on

my hands. I'll actually do a formal qualification for teaching English as a second language.

So I did online college work during COVID, got the qualification. And as I heard about

the classes starting up again, I thought I went to Diane. I said, Diane, I'd love to

help. I've had the training. I've got lots of ideas. And she said, yes, please. So I'm

three years teaching downstairs on a Tuesday morning. Okay. That's great. Yeah. So you

already mentioned a little bit about some of the history of this ESL program. I'm wondering,

Diane, you said it was sort of a dream, a thing that you had thought about. So maybe

what prompted that dream for you? Well, we used to live in Australia six years before

we came to Canada. And the church I was going to there, one of the ladies taught ESL as

a part of a ministry. And it just intrigued me. So I thought it was such a great idea.

And so I just kind of had that in the back of my mind of something that maybe we could

do here at Trinity. Yeah. Okay. Great. So right now you've talked about sort of some

of the history of what this has looked like, especially through COVID. What does it look

like now? When and where is this happening? We meet once a week. We're one class at the

moment and we meet on a Tuesday morning between 10 and 12. So we have our tours every week.

And we have probably in our register, we have over 30 students. And we look every Tuesday,

we're looking really between kind of 20 and 25 students. Okay, that's great. It's fantastic.

We have representation from many countries, from China, Japan, Russia, Egypt, Morocco,

Mauritius, Japan. And in fact, this week we have a brand new student from the Ivory Coast

in Africa. So we really have lots of lots of different home languages. And when we get

together on a Tuesday morning, we split the morning into two sessions of teaching.

The first hour and everybody loves the coffee at the break and an informal catch up. And then we

do a second session. But we're, we want our students to learn about Canada and our culture

and our traditions. They're coming in with their own backgrounds. And there's

Thanksgiving, for example. Many of them have no idea they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in

their country. So there's vocabulary around that. There's food there. And we can make it interesting

by doing I love grammar doing some kind of grammar past tense, future tense. Okay, so we

we're always looking to weave in all all different aspects of language and make it fun and engaging.

And also, of course, we are a church, we are Christians, even though this isn't a Christian

based teaching ministry, we do manage to at every opportunity just share faith. So Easter is very

important and Christmas is very important. And we can bring in our faith around Thanksgiving. And

even we have Valentine's Day coming up, we'll be talking about love. And this week, New Year,

we kicked off and we were talking about change. Not quite New Year's resolution, we were talking

about change in New Year's and, and, and idioms, a change of pace, a change of life. But we managed

to bring in and we talked about a change of heart. What does a change of heart mean? So we're,

we're always looking to be practical, but also to have fun. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Teaching grammar

and having fun. I think that's possible. I think that's possible. And the students really have

bonded. A lot of them have made friends and they really enjoy coming. They usually sit at the same

table with the discussion, you know, our facilitator, what we do, Ruth and I. Yeah, yeah, we have our

table. And we've just really bonded with our people and they with each other and they have a great time.

So the way we set it up downstairs, we have, so we have four main tables in front of the teaching

board and we have volunteer teachers at each table. So we have a really strong team. So that's four

volunteers at each table. When, when our lead teacher does the main teaching and then we break

into smaller groups for discussion, it means that there's more one-on-one interaction with the

students. And we, and we even have a couple of floating teachers where, where we have people

that maybe need some one-on-one support. We can, we can go from one to one. And then of course,

someone is taking turns at putting the kettle on and the coffee on. So it's a busy morning with

lots of leadership. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like you've got a really strong team. We do. That helps

make this run. I think the last ministry fair we had, we picked up two, yes, people and that really

took off. Yeah. Oh, that's great. So you said you have, you know, 20 to 25 ish people who are coming

out. Um, is there like a typical length of time that someone will sort of participate in this

ministry? Like once, once they're in, will they stay for years or months or? Yeah. So I think the

longest one is Faena because I remember her being in the class way back in the beginning,

that's early years. And I was surprised when I came back in 2019, she's still here and she's a

regular. She comes out rain or shine. She, she uses a walker, so it's not easy for her to get out,

but she looks forward to this more than anything else. It's her one outing. Uh, and then there's

other people who are, um, have been coming for years. Uh, there's a group of older Chinese women

who all, they live near each other. Some in the same building, they're really strong group of

friends together and they come as a group. And, and you know, sometimes we look at the weather

and say, well, I don't get many students today. It's icy, it's snow, it's cold. And some of them

walk over here and every time we've proved wrong because they all show up. So they're pretty

dedicated. And then at the same time, we just keep getting new ones in all the time. And that part

of that is some of the students are already coming. Um, we'll go, they meet someone, um, you know,

they, they, they go to a library group or something and they say, oh, yeah, come to my ESL.

And they introduce friends. And so we're always getting new, new students in. Sure. Yeah. I'd

say we have a few that have been coming at least 10 years. Okay. Yeah. And, and it sounds like

they're coming just as much for the community as for the lessons. Yeah. And it's often probably

one of the few places they can speak English because they're at home either alone or with,

uh, family, a lot of, a lot of seniors involved and they're just pretty isolated. And they,

when they're in their comfort zone, they speak their language, of course. And so we're one of

the few places they can come and use their English. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And really get that chance to

practice. Right. And it's sort of low, low stakes. It's a safe place for them that, you know, they can make mistakes.

They can just give it a go. And that's what, you know, when we're around the table, we make sure

everybody has a chance to participate and, uh, draw them out. So, and we hear from them that they,

especially for our seniors, they at home, when they're seeing their grandchildren, um, they're,

they're being encouraged to speak in their home language because of course the grandchildren are

are speaking English at school and they're, they're in an English environment. So it's important for

the families to, to maintain their home language and their heritage and their culture. So, and,

and sometimes our students even say to us, my grandchildren don't want to speak English to me.

And to, they say I'm too slow or I'm not good enough. And so they, they, they don't want to

speak English with me. So it's, they really don't, our students don't get as much practice.

So are most of the students then seniors or do you have other age groups that are sort of part of the,

the class? Well, it's quite a mix. Yeah, it's, it's, it is a mix, you know, sometimes we have

some students where, um, maybe we have some women and their partners, their spouse are on a work

contract. So they've been brought over here for a couple of years. So we've, we've had some,

some students come and then we're all really sad to say goodbye and they come and then they go.

But, and we maybe have some moms while their kids are at school.

And also we've seen people where they've come in and they're fresh immigrants and they don't

have work yet. So they're, they're looking for work and they're trying to improve their English and

find out, you know, we could, we, we share information with them about, you know, going

to the library. We've, we've had our local counselor has come in and spoken to us and talked about

facilities in Mississauga and things that they can get involved in. So we do see some of our

younger students are more likely to come for a while and then move on. But our seniors are,

our seniors are dedicated and regular. Sure. Yeah. So we've already talked a little bit about some of

those needs that this program is meeting, obviously learning English, building a sense of community.

What other sort of needs do you see being met through this ministry?

Sorry, Hugo, Diane.

Yeah, go ahead, Ali. Well, we just keep saying, we keep banging on about community.

This is people, especially after COVID, people were isolated and, and, and this gets people

out of the house and it gives them fellowship. And sometimes we say, we have discussions as

teachers, we have different levels, beginners, intermediate, and we say, oh, should we, should we

change up our intermediates and separate them from beginners and do different lessons? Because we,

we all work to one class at the moment and we just keep coming back to, but it's the friendships.

People come together and, and they help each other at the tables. So we want to, we, we want to provide

community within our local community. Yeah. You know, that's, that's very important to us.

But we've been inviting them to attend the community dinners that Trinity has put on.

Yeah. You know that. Yeah, that's been, that's been a really, they're very excited

about the community dinners now. And there's usually over a table of ESL students. And,

and so they've, it's, it's actually, it's really encouraged them to take their friendships out of

a Tuesday morning. They're, they're exchanging numbers. There's more of them beginning to meet

up now outside. And some of them are even have even volunteered to help at the community dinner,

not just eat at the community dinner, which is great. And another we've, we've also, it's,

it's been a really nice, it's, as we mentioned a few minutes ago, it's a nice way to introduce faith

in a respectful way, because we have other faiths coming. We, we, we have some Muslim students.

We have people who have no faith at all. And we have students who attend other churches in Mississauga.

And we want to be respectful to other people's beliefs and styles of worship and,

and the way they would approach faith. So a gentle way of introducing faith,

but then also just an opportunity to say, would you like to come to church on Sunday? And we have

an alpha course running. This is an introduction to faith. You can learn a bit more about faith.

And a couple of our Muslim students have come along and done some of the alpha classes.

And we've had some students do the whole alpha course and, and find Jesus. And also for some of

her students who are already Christian, alpha is a great way. They, they don't know how to talk about

Jesus in English. So it's, it's been useful for them to come along and just, it's, it's a whole new

vocabulary. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Even for those of us who speak English. Christianity is a whole new

vocabulary. Well, I had a fun story. I had one student who's, who's a Christian. And he said to me,

of my Bible, he said, I have a Bible. And he said, and I am a Christian, but he said, I just don't

understand the reading the Bible in English. And, and we talked for a minute and I said,

what version are you using? And he brings out a King James Bible and he has an older style. And

he has an older style and he didn't understand the, and thou. And so we, we managed to connect him

with a, with a Bible that he actually, he, he understood the vocabulary and much easier.

It's amazing what comes up when you're just having conversations downstairs.

Yeah. So for, you've mentioned that this isn't a sort of necessarily Christian program, but it is,

as you've said, a way that you can introduce some faith elements there. I'm wondering for, for you

guys as leaders, as volunteers in this program, how do you see your faith connect with this,

this work? Like, are there ways that you have grown in your faith or ways that you sort of see

this as an expression of your faith? Well, it's definitely an expression of it. Okay. In terms

of wanting to be loving and caring for all people. And I think we just kind of admire their,

their abilities to just reach, start something new and start new lives, coming to a new country and,

and having to learn a different language and find their way. And it's, it's just an encouragement

to us to see, see how that works. And I just, and I love sharing the Christian story to Christmas

and Easter. And it's just really rewarding to see. Yeah. For sure. What about for you, Ali?

Well, I mean, we, we read in our scripture about loving our neighbor and this is, yeah, it's an

expression of love. It's, it's sharing our skills, you know, so often, and I mean, recently in,

in our teaching series in church, we were talking about the gifts. Oh, Bill Crawford was talking

about our spiritual gifts. Right. And we've all been given gifts. And, you know, if, if ESL

is training and teaching is training that a lot of us have had along the way, we are using our

gifts and we are sharing with others and we're called to do that. And, and also just caring for

the vulnerable. So many of our students are vulnerable in different ways. Um, and we can

provide a safe and caring environment for them to come. Um, and just their perseverance is so

encouraging. They, like Ruth said, they come out in the cold and the rain and even over the summer,

they don't want to stop. Um, they want to keep going. They don't want to break. They want to

keep learning and trying and, and that's encouraging for us. So that makes our job as a volunteer easy

when, when they're so willing to show up every week. The other thing that strikes me is just the,

the variety of cultures and, uh, races and that all combined together and people that come from

traditions that were our genemies are now sitting around the table, learning English together.

Quite something. Yeah, it is. It's fascinating. You meet all different kinds of people,

all the different backgrounds and to see how they interact with each other and overcome some of

those, maybe, you know, other preconceived ideas. They just see each other as friends. You're

learning English. I'm learning English, but let's help each other as somebody. So they're patient

with each other and, um, and, and they help, they help each other along. So, and they're also very,

very appreciative of us and are giving our time. And I can't remember the number of times they'll

say, thank you so much. You're so good to do this. I know you're giving up your time and they know

that we're volunteers. And so they just express their appreciation all the time. And I say, you

know, but we get as much, maybe more back from them. And so, uh, you know, and when you're teaching

them English, you want them to talk and express themselves. So at the table talk, you want, it's

just interesting to listen to them. They come with all their life experiences. They, they know a lot

of things. They've, they've got interesting ideas and, and, um, things that they've been through.

And so it's interesting to listen as much as we're teaching you, showing you this language,

we want you to them to use it. And so when they, when they talk to us, um, just getting to know

them on that, and, and as we do sit with more or less the same group every week, you really get

to know the students at your table and you can have a bit of a fun with them and, you know,

interact in a very friendly way. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. When you were talking about this idea of

like different people from all of these different races, nationalities, backgrounds, like coming

together and sitting around the same table, it evoked this idea for me of like, this is what the

kingdom of God is like, right? Like we read about in Isaiah, you know, the lion will lay down with

the lamb. The people who, it seems like they could never get along. They, they're coming together and

they're supporting one another, as you've said, and learning together. And that's the kingdom of

God, I think. Yeah. And we are really important food. Food is important for hospitality for all

of us. And two really important times of year for us are our, our end of semester at Christmas and

in June. And we, we host a, we have, we have a potluck lunch and this, it's one of my favorites

because everybody is so happy to bring along some food from their home country, from their culture.

And so we lay, we set out tables and this feast appears of homemade food, but we don't just tuck

in before we tuck in, we all stand around the tables and everybody explains this dish and how

it's made and why it's important and when they eat it and how it forms part of their traditional

celebrations. So again, it's, it isn't just about them, our students coming along and learning about

Thanksgiving or Easter or our traditions. We are learning about their traditions and we are,

we are learning about each other. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Do you have any favorite memories

or stories that sort of stand out to you from your time? I know that you two in particular have been

around a long time, so maybe there's more memories to think through, but. I wonder recently, you know,

last year, one of our students and who was at my table moved to, I think he moved to Markham.

This is Anthony and he, among other things that he did, he was a guitar player. He taught guitar.

Okay. And so he said before at his last meeting, before he moved, he wanted to come and sing a song

to the teachers and the students. And so he got up at our last potluck meeting there and with his

guitar and then it turned into a bit of a sing-along, right? He sang his song that he wanted to sing to

us. And then we just joined in a couple of others with him and that was really special. It's yeah.

That sounds lovely. Yeah. I've had a special relationship with one of our students. She's

Shiting from China. She's been coming for at least 10 years. And when I was teaching a lesson

in January, I don't know, maybe 10 years ago or something, I talked about New Year's resolutions.

And she had the idea that she wanted to write about her life in English so she could have to

share with her grandchildren. Okay. And she asked if I could edit it for her. And so she would write

out a story of something in her experience and send it to me by email and then I'd edit, correct

the English and then send it back to her. And then she would put it all together. And we did this for

several years. Okay. And then her daughter put it together in a book and printed it. So just a

self-publishing thing. Yeah. And she was just so thrilled with that. And for me, I learned so much

about a woman close to my age growing up in China and going through the Cultural Revolution and how

she had to leave school and go off into the forests and do things. And she just brought herself back

and finished her education and became a teacher. It was amazing. Yeah. So we have a special bond.

Yeah. And so cool that you get to really journey with people in that way, right? Yeah. It really

is much bigger than just teaching English. It's building these relationships, right? Yeah. Yeah.

What about any favorite memories for you, Allie? Well, I'm a bit newer.

I, this last summer, I really enjoyed a more low key lesson. It was one lesson we be over behind

the church on the other side of the road. There are a couple of seniors homes and we actually,

because the camp is using the church, we can't use the church over the summer. Right. So we only use

the party room in one of the seniors homes and it's a bit more unplugged. It's not as formal.

And it's a bit more unplugged. It's not as formal. It really is very conversation based.

And we had an hour where we talked about childhood memories and a bit like Diane was explaining,

it's really lovely to hear about people's memories from the other side of the world,

how they grew up. You know, some, some of them maybe weren't even able to go to school

and they had to work as children. And so just hearing about their, their upbringings and,

and hearing about them laughing and just getting into trouble as children as well. That's always

quite funny when you have, when you have someone who's older and talking about that and their,

and their large families and then hearing about their stories when they came to Canada, because

it's, it wasn't all joy when they came. It was hard. And especially our Chinese students,

they were having to leave their country because they're unhappy and, and it's difficult for them

politically. That's, they've, there's been a lot of hardship. And so it's, it's humbling. It's humbling

to, to be a part of, of hearing their stories and, and having their friendship. Yeah, for sure.

Thank you so much ladies for sharing these stories, for giving us a little taste

of what this ministry is like and all of the ways that it is blessing you and blessing those that

you are working with. I think for me, it's just this reminder that, um,

we can find connection with anyone across any sort of boundaries. And also a reminder to

that need for, for empathy and for care, right? That, that, as you mentioned, folks are, are

struggling folks are coming in, not, not knowing what, what to do or how, but they're trying.

Yeah. Right. And so extending that empathy in those moments. And thank you for tuning in to

this week's episode of Trinity Talks. I hope that you are also able to find some moments of

encouragement and challenges towards empathy and connection. And we will see you again next week.