Providing opportunities for non-native English speakers to practice their English, each week, the Literacy Outreach Program and the International Student Program work with Memorial Road, Capitol Hill and Britton Road to encourage international conversations and relationship building among students and people of different cultures.
Oklahoma Christian University freshman Yuri Kimura, an exchange student from Japan, met her current International Conversations partner in the library the first week of school when she needed help using the printer. According to Kimura, the student then invited her to Memorial Road’s International Student Program to participate in one-on-one English conversations.
“It made it easier because we were already friends, so I was more comfortable communicating in English,” Kimura said.
According to Kimura, the English conversations are not centered on teaching the Bible unless the international students ask to study the book specifically. Although it is not the main purpose of the conversations, Kimura said many students and others come to learn about God.
“My university in Japan is also a Christian university, but before coming here, I had never opened a Bible before,” Kimura said. “The English conversations taught me some of the basic stories of the Bible that I have never heard before.”
The International Student Program at Memorial Road takes place every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. with reoccurring partner work. An international student or member of the church is partnered with an American student at the beginning of each semester to learn English and share the Gospel.
“There have been a lot of occasions where the one practicing English is interested in the Bible, so their partner grabs a Bible and studies with them, meanwhile learning English through it,” sophomore Isabella Preciado said.
In a similar program, students majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Oklahoma Christian visit the Capitol Hill Church of Christ every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. to teach and share the Gospel.
“It provides an experience in teaching for the students, as well as you get a look into the people’s different cultures,” junior Joshua Clements said. “For example, for the past year I have been teaching at Capitol Hill and there is a very high Spanish speaking population, and so I got to build relationships with them, learn about their way of life, their family and culture.”
Clements said the Literacy Outreach program is not only beneficial to the ones learning English, but also gives Oklahoma Christian students a background in teaching English as a foreign language.
“I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work when teaching English, and so it benefits in a lot of ways, not just for them but for me,” Clements said.
According to junior Hannah Tabor, the English conversations boost a learning experience for both parties. Each side gets a look into how the other culture lives and learns, bonding two people together.
“I feel like it has helped me expand my own Spanish vocabulary, because I am a Spanish minor,” Tabor said. “It is also helpful to see how people on the other side of town see things and the struggles they go through every day as they try to learn a new language and try to communicate.”
These type of programs do more than just teach English, Preciado said. Friendships are formed, which benefit both the teachers and the international participants.
“I guess the main reason is just having a place where you can feel that you have a purpose, because international students do go through a lot, so there are moments where they feel very alone,” Preciado said. “But, if they do have a person they can talk to, that’s an awesome reward from it.”
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