International Graduate Student Ministry – Gracepoint Berkeley

On the way to English class, I was trying to remember how many years that International Student Ministry has been holding our English Class: Effective Communication for Success. Maybe it’s age or  the fact that every year is so filled with great memories but I had to check my pictures to count the number of years we have been conducting the English class. This year we have many firsts: Sharon is not the only certified TESOL teacher, but also Carolyn. Thanks to her, the material has been refined and expanded. Sara is a PhD student in English- how fitting! We also have two teachers, Alex and Eebeen, from our visiting scholars ministry, part of the Praxis group of Gracepoint Fellowship Church. This year, in addition to our session at Barrows Hall, we are holding another session at the UC Village Community Center.

The first Sunday at Barrows Hall, we had 47 new students from all over the world: Turkey, Israel, Chile, France, Japan, Korea, China, and more. In my group, in addition to me teaching English and word stress, I learned about English courses in other countries, how prevalent British English is, and the popular culture in other countries. In Israel, they start learning English in third grade. I am learning as well.