Teaching (newsletter part 1)

This is part of a newsletter we wrote about our work in China. This article is about our teaching experience. The two pictures are of our evening and morning classes.

The stated purpose of our trip was to teach English but it was much more than that. In fact, the relationships we formed with our students were more important than any English lessons we taught. While teaching English made it possible for us to come, worshipping together was what really reinforced our unity as members of the worldwide church of God. We were blessed by the love and warmth we were shown by our students.

The two groups we taught were quite different. Our morning group was a group of mostly older people who spoke no English and were very eager to learn. We taught them Psalm 23, the Beattitudes, many worship songs, and basic English vocabulary. The students were very appreciative and encouraging to us and loved teaching us “Jesus Loves Me” in Chinese.

Our evening group was made up of high school and college students who all spoke English quite fluently. They wanted help with pronunciation and new vocabulary. We enjoyed teaching them, and especially liked playing Uno and just sitting around and talking with them.