Are there consecrated or lay people missions doing EFL (English as a foreign language overseas); ESL (English for immigrants)?

[foolishmortal]

I just completed a program in doing either and wouldn’t mind doing it for free, if insurance and English-speaking priests (for confession, if in a remote area) are included. It seems many lay volunteers do mostly social justice work (for that matter, are there any doing abortion mill protesting as being amongst their duties?).
On the domestic front, I’m not for non-refugee illegal immigration or amnesty for them, but you’d think that, if any are harbored by some more left-leaning communities or parishes, they really couldn’t require experts for ESL teaching, like the main school systems must because, “hey!”, they’re illegal! “Do they even want to learn English?” would be a connected question. If my needs were provided for, I could be like “Don’t ask; don’t tell”.
Overseas, I’d think it would be easier–especially at a place for the poor.

 

[Tsuwano]

I’ve been teaching English in a Catholic school as a lay missionary in Japan for more than 20 years. There is a great need for Christian witness in various areas of Japanese society, and of course, education is one of those important areas where it is possible to meet and influence numerous people, especially the youth who are often looking for examples that stand out from the crowd. I would say the same for other countries in Asia, though an outward confession of faith or admitting your role as a missionary may have to hide behind your career as an educator, especially in China or Indonesia.

 

[foolishmortal]

Thanks! What order or organization are you working for? Yeah, Japan’s pretty bad, I hear, which is unfortunate, because I like their sense of aesthetics with natural things and the silly light-hearted humor in a lot of their anime. Korea has adopted a lot of bad things from The West, especially America, and Japan (like “love” hotels). I’d only go to China for a religious mission or disaster relief help, as I don’t want to support their government financially. Our TEFL teacher was saying how nice Thailand was because two men could go to bed together without any trouble and that, yes, the child trafficking sex trade was allowed, it’s the Western men making that business possible. Wouldn’t you think a compassionate Buddhist nation would say they don’t want our sickos’ business? That’s the disturbing thing about many expats working overseas. The liberal ones, and most are, I think, can be worse than the pedophiles in that they can affect more souls in a hellish way and usually unconsciously so, such as with video aids with questionable morals and opinion providing. It just comes naturally. Now, very Catholic Poland has opened up to expat ESL teachers. Yikes!

 

[Tsuwano]

Thanks! What order or organization are you working for? Yeah, Japan’s pretty bad, I hear, which is unfortunate, because I like their sense of aesthetics with natural things and the silly light-hearted humor in a lot of their anime. Korea has adopted a lot of bad things from The West, especially America, and Japan (like “love” hotels). I’d only go to China for a religious mission or disaster relief help, as I don’t want to support their government financially. Our TEFL teacher was saying how nice Thailand was because two men could go to bed together without any trouble and that, yes, the child trafficking sex trade was allowed, it’s the Western men making that business possible. Wouldn’t you think a compassionate Buddhist nation would say they don’t want our sickos’ business? That’s the disturbing thing about many expats working overseas. The liberal ones, and most are, I think, can be worse than the pedophiles in that they can affect more souls in a hellish way and usually unconsciously so, such as with video aids with questionable morals and opinion providing. It just comes naturally. Now, very Catholic Poland has opened up to expat ESL teachers. Yikes!

I work for Nanzan Gakuen, an institution founded by the Divine Word Missionaries, which incorporates a web of schools ranging from elementary education to post graduate education at Nanzan University.

 

[foolishmortal]

I’ve been getting stuff from Divine Word Missionaries. It’s a missionary school, right? I thought they were all priests. It said something about a seminary. I’d either be a brother or a lay volunteer or worker. Do they have strict standards for hiring? My certificate isn’t all that much, but it’s given be the building blocks for grammar teaching, as well as curriculum and lesson plan making. The teacher was out in the field for over 10 years. I wish I’d absorbed that kind of stuff from a few teaching books I got before I tried Korea. I’d like to work at a Catholic school in my favorite other country (Italy has The Vatican and where saints were, I guess, but there’s something that got me more in Japan–and Mary did visit someone on the main island and there’s St. Maximillian Kolbe’s legacy in the West side).

 

[Tsuwano]

I’ve been getting stuff from Divine Word Missionaries. It’s a missionary school, right? I thought they were all priests. It said something about a seminary. I’d either be a brother or a lay volunteer or worker. Do they have strict standards for hiring? My certificate isn’t all that much, but it’s given be the building blocks for grammar teaching, as well as curriculum and lesson plan making. The teacher was out in the field for over 10 years. I wish I’d absorbed that kind of stuff from a few teaching books I got before I tried Korea. I’d like to work at a Catholic school in my favorite other country (Italy has The Vatican and where saints were, I guess, but there’s something that got me more in Japan–and Mary did visit someone on the main island and there’s St. Maximillian Kolbe’s legacy in the West side).

The Divine Word Missionaries is a Catholic religious society of priests and brothers founded by St. Arnold Janssen who dedicate themselves to preaching the Gospel in cultures and among people who have yet to hear it. They are found in a variety of countries throughout the world and do have a college seminary located outside of Dubuque, Iowa. Their headquarters in the U.S. is in Techny, Illinois, northwest of Chicago. I am not a member of the society, so it would really be best for you to get more information about them from the society itself. Yes, Japan is a fascinating and rewarding country in which to work. I’ve enjoyed my time here and truly feel that this is where the Lord has called me to be. I hope you are able to discern your call in a clear manner and are able to respond generously. My prayers are with you.

 

[foolishmortal]

That Nanzen Gakuen looks like a university. I’d probably need an M.A. or something that high to work there.

 

[Tsuwano]

Nanzan Gakuen is a cluster of schools ranging from an elementary school to a major university. You would indeed need at least a Masters Degree to teach in the university, but an undergraduate degree would serve you in the elementary school or any of the Jr. or Senior High Schools. Of course, most of the teachers at Nanzan are Japanese and a working knowledge of Japanese, or at least some familiarity with Japanese culture, is usually required. Your best bet would be to come to Japan as a member of the Government’s JET Program, learn about the country, and then see what kinds of opportunities come your way.

 

[foolishmortal]

Thanks!

 

[ack]

Hello foolishmortal,

I’m glad to see that you’re interested in teaching ESL.

At my parish, we have a volunteer ESL program taught by a group of consecrated and lay parishioners and community members. Teaching ESL is hard work, but it’s very rewarding, and you don’t have to go overseas to do it. There is a strong demand for ESL programs in dioceses all over the USA that attract immigrants.

There is no need to be a “professional” teacher for a parish adult ESL program, because these classes are not regulated by the government and students have no need to receive standardized credentials upon graduation. (Adult ESL students are learning English so they can use it in their daily lives…they have no idea what the TOEFL is, nor do they care.)

For an example of such a volunteer ESL program, see this program run by the Arlington diocese. Their website has lots of information: ccda.net/programs_hogarhispano_esl.php

On the domestic front, I’m not for non-refugee illegal immigration or amnesty for them, but you’d think that, if any are harbored by some more left-leaning communities or parishes, they really couldn’t require experts for ESL teaching, like the main school systems must because, “hey!”, they’re illegal! “Do they even want to learn English?” would be a connected question.

I’m confused by what you’re saying here. Parishes are not “harboring” anybody…they are responsible for serving the spiritual needs of anyone living inside their boundaries, regardless of what the government says about them. The legal status of a person is considered irrelevant by a parish and its ministries, and such questions will rarely come up in practice. (Although, if you have any kind of personal resentment towards those who came to the US illegally, you aren’t going to last very long in ANY ministry that often serves immigrants. Having such a person working in these ministries would do the immigrants a disservice.)

 

[foolishmortal]

Thanks, Ack!

I forget that churches can be places where the government can’t reach. Still, one working with those known to be non-refugee illegals could be arrested, so I figured parishes and workers with these illegal aliens would need to be clandestine about it. I do think that they may be taking advantage of the USA with our anchor baby provision, as other immigrants with just as less worked hard to get a green card and learned English. If these ones are learning English, then that should be supported. I’m just saying that you can’t just overlook one virtue for another, just as Jesus says that those who say his name, but do not do his Will, will not go to heaven. If I’m working at a concert and someone wants to sit down, but has no ticket, and I give it to them, those who did pay can’t sit down. I made that error. That’s false charity. I think there may be liberal parishes that overlook justice with bleeding hearts, but what if an illegal immigrant is next in line at a free clinic and an impoverished citizen’s child, who’s next in line, dies as a result of that. If the illegal immigrant were about to die, you can’t just let him/her die, but he/she shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Illegal immigrants should not be sent back to a hostile zone or if ill, but at the next best time and place, I believe justice would dictate they should be taken to their country unless, perhaps, the immediate family of an anchor baby.
That’s the truth of it, but I’m a softy in person.

 

[ack]

I forget that churches can be places where the government can’t reach. Still, one working with those known to be non-refugee illegals could be arrested, so I figured parishes and workers with these illegal aliens would need to be clandestine about it.

Arrested? Clandestine? Says who? As far as I know, it isn’t illegal to provide social services to illegal immigrants, even if you specifically seek out illegal immigrants to help. It’s only illegal to actually smuggle someone across the border, or employ them illegally.

We advertise everywhere and it seems inconceivable that we would get in trouble for it.

 

[foolishmortal]

I didn’t mean an illegal never should have gotten medical care, but shouldn’t have been in the country at all, unless as a refugee.

If workers could be fined for hiring illegal immigrants, why couldn’t one be fined or arrested for being an accomplice in aiding illegal immigration? I believe I’d be deported from Mexico if I were an illegal there. China is pretty tight about that as well. They are pretty liberal countries and yet, they use more common sense about their sovereignty than we. They understand foreigners can’t just come on over and, without any trouble to them before or after, get tax-payer services. An economy can’t maintain that. That’s taking charity too far (the same with if all kinds of junkies and attention-getters keep getting themselves treated). Get them back safely to a Catholic Charities or mission in a safe part of their home country.
One should not commit others by force to paying for one’s charges. Religious organizations and ones that get donations from others can care for these people. That is, by the way, the answer to nationalized health care. If illegals want to learn English and work their way up like the immigrants of a 100 years ago, great, but I don’t think that’s the case. I’m not sure how the Ellis Island immigrants with only the clothes on their backs came legally, but not people from Mexico, who have less of a boat ride. Am I wrong?

I’m a softy, in person, but this is a place of ideas and making illegal immigration profitable to others from the same countries is false charity. The same would go for not requiring rehabilitation of junkies (those who can’t do a part, due to a severe mental ailment, gets a pass). Otherwise, it drains money that should go to America’s poor and where’s the justice in that? Requiring accountability is a work of charity. It is important we don’t make coming here to use our system pay-off without becoming part of the tax paying system. Those who can pay the system back by providing a service, must, unless under-age (no child-labor, though something light, like a bicycle route or something should be rewarded).

 

[ack]

If workers could be fined for hiring illegal immigrants, why couldn’t one be fined or arrested for being an accomplice in aiding illegal immigration?

Because employers who hire without the proper documentation are breaking labor laws. The documents that an employer must request and verify are clearly spelled out in federal law (as seen on the I-9 form).

You can’t be fined or arrested for “aiding” illegal immigrants because it’s not illegal… although you could be arrested for actively hiding an immigrant who being sought by the INS (under existing criminal accessory laws.)

I’m not sure how the Ellis Island immigrants with only the clothes on their backs came legally, but not people from Mexico, who have less of a boat ride. Am I wrong?

It seems that about 50% of the Central American immigrants that you’ll meet are here illegally – either from overstaying visas, or from sneaking across the border.

If illegals want to learn English and work their way up like the immigrants of a 100 years ago, great, but I don’t think that’s the case.

A ridiculous assertion with no evidence. Forget everything that I said about teaching English to immigrant students in the US – when you’re prone to making such bad-faith assumptions about the character of your students (or their friends and family), there’s no way that you’ll be able to serve them with your whole heart, without reservations.

Of course illegal immigrants come here to “work their way up”…why else would they come here? They come here because they want to get rich, and that means working as hard as you can. Given that it’s generally impossible for an illegal immigrant to receive any kind of public benefits or welfare (beyond emergency medical care and municipal services), why would someone risk their life to come here if they weren’t going to work?

 

[QuiteRight]

You can’t be fined or arrested for “aiding” illegal immigrants because it’s not illegal… although you could be arrested for actively hiding an immigrant who being sought by the INS (under existing criminal accessory laws.)

You are commiting a crime by aiding the illegal alien if you are not related to him/her in any way. At least in Illinois. But the law is not being enforced. That’s the problem.

 

[foolishmortal]

I have been a friend of an atheist and a person who lives the homosexual lifestyle, while conservative. People have the mistaken notion these days you have to approve of people’s behavior, especially the controversial kinds that must be labelled :not good", totally to show love or enough love. If you don’t, you’re a hater or getting there.

 

[ack]

You are commiting a crime by aiding the illegal alien if you are not related to him/her in any way. At least in Illinois. But the law is not being enforced. That’s the problem.

This is news to me. Can you give me a reference to the law in question?